Silent Hill 2: The Novel (2025)

Horace Derwent

2,397 reviews226 followers

Want to read

all i feel is only endless despair when i see angela walk into flames, the sea of fire is not salvation and redemption, it's just the abysshttps://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1yA4...

This game wasn't about being terrified. It was about that unbearable sense of dread caused by man's total desperation in the face of mortality and agony and the dark side of the human soul. —some YouTuber

"Mary, are you really waiting for me? Or are you somewhere waiting for me in that little town?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resting in a grassy meadow by the lake’s shore, Lauraspread out Mary’s letter on the ground in front of her.It was the one addressed to James. She had read itmany times before but…whenever she thought ofMary—the woman she loved like a mother and sodearly missed—it brought her a small amount of comfort.So she read the letter again.In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill.You promised me you'd take me there againsomeday. But because of me, you were never ableto. Well, I'm alone there now…In our ”“special place.”Waiting for you…Waiting for you to come to see me. But you neverdo. And so I wait, wrapped in my cocoon of pain andloneliness. I know I've done a terrible thing to you.Something you'll never forgive me for. I wish I couldchange that, but I can't. I feel so pathetic and uglylying here, waiting for you...Every day I stare up at the cracks in the ceiling, andall I can think about is how unfair it all is...The doctor came today. He told me I could go homefor a short stay. It's not that I'm getting better. It'sjust that this may be my last chance...I think you know what I mean...Even so, I'm glad to be coming home. I've missedyou terribly. But I'm afraid James. I'm afraid youdon't really want me to come home. Whenever youcome see me, I can tell how hard it is on you...I don't know if you hate me or pity me... Or maybeI just disgust you....I'm sorry about that. When I first learned that I wasgoing to die, I just didn't want to accept it. I was soangry all the time, and I struck out at everyone Iloved most. Especially you, James.That's why I understand if you do hate me. But Iwant you to know this, James. I'll always love you.Even though our life together had to end like this, Istill wouldn't trade it for the world. We had somewonderful years together.Well, this letter has gone on too long, so I'll saygoodbye. I told the nurse to give this to you after I'mgone. That means that when you read this, I'llalready be dead.I can't tell you to remember me, but I can't bear foryou to forget me. These last few years since Ibecame ill...I'm so sorry for what I did to you, did tous...You've given me so much and I haven't been able toreturn a single thing. That's why I want you to livefor yourself now. Do what's best for you, James.James...You made me happy.“I love you, Mary.” As the car began to slowly sink to the bottom of thelake, James pulled his wife close and gently held her.Their wish had finally come true. They would betogether. And now they had an eternity to enjoy theirhappiness.

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the best horror vidgame in my heart ever, they really should make a remake of this like CAPCOM's re2 and re3. great gratitude to master akira yamaoka, without him there'd never have been SILENT HILL

and plus, FUCK YOU, KONAMI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tt22892938

yes, they remake this, but still FUCK YOU, KONAMI

Hussein Baher

222 reviews18 followers

"In my restless dreams, I see that town..."

REREAD: I still cry everytime :') to make it brief about my opinion about this book: UGH!

WRITING: 3.75/5PLOT: 5/5PACING: 3.5/5CHARACTERS: 5/5ENDING: 5/5

no matter how much I read this I'll always be hit with the endless surge of nostalgia and emotions.the foggy town of silent hill and the wary humans it attracts to face their sins will always hunt me, and like our characters, it will hunt me to it too(again).is this book for everyone ? no.is this book perfect? absolutely not.does it give the video game justice? to a certain extent.but regardless due to my subjective biased opinion about the story I grew with during my childhood will always and forever appeal to me.who should read this? hardcore silent hill fans and horror fans. but for the people unfamiliar with silent hill they won't appreciate this enough.this is a story that I still think about all the time and theorize all the possible explanations. I am obsessed with the characters( despite the fact there are few of them) and the mystery.I hope someday more people would appreciate this story.

2018 2020 4-5-stars

Bon Tom

856 reviews53 followers

Be it a video game, movie or a book, Silent Hill always works for me. Which is pretty unique.

fiction

Matias Bruna

20 reviews

Pensé que leería el juego en papel, pero no. En este libro se indaga mucho más en la psique de los personajes, de todos ellos, del porqué están ahí. Se comprende mejor como funciona el pueblo, y el porqué los personajes se quedan en Silent Hill a pesar de los monstruos que ven...y a pesar de aquellos que no ven, pero si sienten. También se vé como ellos comprenden a este pueblo. Y es increíble como el final me sigue sacando lagrimas, como esas últimas palabras son hermosamente tristes.

Carm

465 reviews4 followers

“Silent Hill 2” is one of my all-time favorite video games, so I was pretty stoked when I found out that there was an English translation of the Japanese game novelization floating around. Unfortunately, this reads like someone took two decades of YouTube fan theories, made them James’ internal monologue and then laid that over the 2001 Prima strategy guide. Also, while the translation is good... there are times when I wish the translator had just lifted text directly from the video game. Instead, they translated it from the Japanese, causing slight differences that were pretty jarring, especially in well known dialogue like Mary’s letter. (I know this isn’t their fault. The Japanese version and the English version differ on who Mary blames for never returning to their “special place”. This is just my personal preference.) Overall, this was a fun read, but mostly due to nostalgia.

"In my restless dreams,I see that town.

Silent Hill.

You promised me you'd take methere again someday.But you never did.

Well, I'm alone there now...In our 'special place'...Waiting for you...”

berkan berghahn

35 reviews

love the game so much. the book is a decent take

Ramza

21 reviews11 followers

The Silent Hill franchise is often hailed as an epoch-making landmark in Horror gaming history, and for good reason. In a time where the Resident Evil series marked the golden age of Survival Horror, and uninspired, paint-by-number copycats of said games ran amok, Silent Hill was certainly the most unique new arrival if there ever was a word for it, taking the genre to unparalleled heights. The franchise really helped demonstrate to the sceptics of the time that video-games could indeed be considered a form of art, and for me personally, it proved a life-changing (if not slightly traumatic) experience.

Silent Hill favours emotional vulnerabilities and unsettling imagery as the driving force behind its horror mechanisms instead of jump-scares and tense situations à la Resident Evil. It is the very epitome of psychological horror, and goes to great, disturbing lengths in embodying it. Knowing how Silent Hill mainly relies on subtle yet ubiquitous symbolism, perturbing renditions of mundane life and some of the most distressing soundtracks you'll ever encounter in the medium (Dark Ambient at its finest!), it came as no real surprise when this official novelization of Silent Hill 2—a strong contender for best SH instalment, best horror game, or "best video game evaaaar!!" depending on who you ask—failed to convey the sheer stressing scope of that nightmarish yet eerily alluring adventure.

With no ambient sounds or sinister visuals to assist him, Sadamu Yamashita was left with his arrant mastery of words alone to properly project Silent Hill's distinct aura on his readers' minds... only he's really not that gifted. The events are rushed, the rendition of the game's undercurrents is weak, the characters are offered no proper establishment, and the sexual overtones the series is known for are outrageously toned down for some reason. I'm not sure if it stems from the fan-translation but the narration is lamentably crude and the prose can only be described as shoddy. Also, in desperately trying to expound some of the gaming world's most improbable logic (as in why would anyone jump down a bottomless pit in a monster-infested town or even linger there in the first place), Yamashita-san comes up with ridiculous explanations more laughable than said unsound logic. Finally and most irritating of all, he constantly keeps spoon-feeding you the main character's musings, obnoxious uncertainties, and every single drawn conclusion. The only good segments were those taken straight out of the game, namely dialogues, memos, newspaper scraps, and of course, the famed letters essential to the plot. If the book has one saving grace of its own, it's the little bits of additional insight on Angela Orosco's story that were absent or made more obscure in the game.

Even the first Silent Hill movie, and despite my many issues with it, succeeded in perfectly encapsulating the games' particular atmosphere (and in all fairness, it's still in my opinion the best video game adaptation I ever chanced to see on the big screen—and those are plenty) whereas this novelization proved to be a pretty tame affair. It reads more as a hastily embroidered walkthrough and less like the nonpareil experience it ought to be. If like me you're the nostalgic fan in need of every Silent Hill media you could get your hands on, then by all means proceed with this reading, but if you're new to the franchise and want this book to introduce you to this most peculiar world, I certainly won't recommend it as it does the the source material a substantial disservice. In case gaming isn't your cup of tea and you're still interested in experiencing Silent Hill to some extent, the aforementioned eponymous movie (of 2006, not the 2012 crappy sequel) from French director Christope Gans will do just that.

Usually, book with all the previously mentioned flaws would garner no more than a [1star] rating, but after all—as a certain Ernest Baldwin would say—this is Silent Hill.

Sah

153 reviews

This novel is one of the most interesting novels that i have read so far, aside from the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' by George R.R. Martin. The story of Silent Hill 2 revolves around James Sunderland in the search of his wife Mary, actually Mary died 3 years back due to chronic disease, but James went to look for her because he received a letter written to him from Mary.

It is said,

In my restless dreams,I see that town.

Silent Hill.

You promised me you’d take methere again someday.But because of me, you were never able to.

Well, I’m alone there now…

In our “special place”Waiting for you…

And that 'special place' is the whole town, Silent Hill that made James confused where to find his wife.

My Review:

Translation: I've read this novel in English thanks to Emily 'Lady Ducky' Fitch. Her grammar is so concise that i felt like the real author wrote it. She translated it so well, she even use simple grammar that make it easier for the readers to understand. I'll wait for her next Silent Hill translation.

Story: The story is like any other story in the Silent Hill game or movie, i've watched the movie and played only the Silent Hill 1, and all of them contains the sad nature and psychological aspect of each character. I loved it. That each monsters represents for example, the monster the James encountered in the novel and in the game has somehow a psychological symbol to him, unconsciously, like the mannequin that describe as lust, the armless monster that symbolizes confinement, and whats more the red demon, that what James would call it, that symbolizes remorse.

What i also liked about this story is that, it unravels the story of James and his past, what he did to his wife through what was happening to the Silent Hill and what he encountered in the Silent Hill.

Note: I remember the movie Silent Hill, that i think i read that the movie was based on both Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 2 game, and the clearly explained why there is pyramid head or the read demon, the armless monster, because the main character, the mother i forget her name was so attached to her daughter, Sherry just like James as he is so attached to his wife Mary. But of course, in the movie, the mom didn't do anything to Sherry unlike James that did wrong to her.

But in all of that, after reading the novel, i was so touched to the ending because Mary, his wife, want only one thing, and that is, James not to forget about her.

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Biondy

Author9 books230 followers

Judul: Silent Hill 2: The NovelPenulis: Sadamu YamashitaPenerbit: Konami Digital EntertainmentHalaman: 303 halamanTerbitan: 2006

"Silent Hill 2: The Novel" adalah novelisasi dari video game Silent Hill 2 yang dirilis pada September 2001. SH 2 bercerita tentang James Sunderland, seorang pria yang menerima surat dari Mary, istrinya yang telah meninggal 3 tahun lalu. Berpegang pada harapan bahwa istrinya masih hidup, James pergi ke Silent Hill, sebuah kota kecil yang pernah dia kunjungi bersama istrinya dulu.

Tapi kota kecil itu tidak lagi sama. Saat James sampai di sana, tempat itu telah menjadi sebuah kota mati yang diselimuti kabut. Dalam pencariannya, dia bertemu dengan seorang anak kecil yang juga kenal akan Mary, seorang wanita yang sangat mirip dengan Mary, seorang pemuda yang tidak stabil, dan seorang wanita muda yang mirip dengan istrinya, tapi memiliki gaya berpakaian dan bicara yang bertolak belakang dengan Mary.

Serta monster. Monster-monster yang siap menghabisi James kapan saja.

Review

First of all, and I think I should write this in English, I read the fans-translation version of this book. Thanks to Emily "Lady Ducky" Fitch for the beautiful translation. It was so good, it felt like professional work. I'm forever grateful for your effort. If one day the book is translated into English or Indonesian, I will buy the copy.

Suka banget sama ceritanya. Tampaknya penulisnya cukup setia mengikuti alur di gamenya, walau kelihatannya ada beberapa tambahan yang dimasukkan supaya ceritanya bisa lebih nyambung dengan baik.

Di bagian awal, jujur "game"-nya terasa banget. Seperti waktu James menemukan senjata, atau waktu dia memutuskan untuk menggeser jam besar dan menemukan lubang.

Untungnya hal itu perlahan-lahan hilang. Di 2 bab terakhir khususnya, nuansa "game" itu sudah tidak terlalu terasa.

Adegan pertarungannya James tidak terlalu banyak di sini. Ya, bagaimanapun juga, novel tidak punya ruang seperti di game untuk bertarung dengan sekian banyak monster sih. Lagipula bagian terkuat dari SH 2 ini memang bukan soal pertarungannya, tapi atmosfer serta plotnya.

In my restless dreams,I see that town.

Silent Hill.

adaptasi favorites horror

Fabio

72 reviews123 followers

What could happen if one of the most beautiful plot in videogames history, with lots of remarkable characters and storyline that you could easily think it's taken from one of David Lynch's movie, has the chance to be adapted as novel?Sadly, nothing.At least in this case.I'm not gonna lie, when I discovered that Silent Hill, one of my favorites videogame of all time had been adapted as novel the hype was really high, so as my expectations for this novel that sadly, it didn't accomplish the mission to bring all the psychological pathos that makes Silent Hill one of the biggest horror videogames ever. And it's sad, it's sad because if the videogame itself has already plenty of things to tell, lots of psychological features about the characters, well... you should expect the same as a novel, and maybe even more as you have the chance to describe them more carefully. Unfortunately, it lacks of emotion and the consistency of the videogame, the story (which I really think could be an amazing story to adapt, if adapted properly ) it's a sort of short resume of the original storyline with no adds at all.What a pity, because with characters like James, Maria and especially Angela (remember all the pathos during the staircase scene in the vg? Well, forget it.).If you're an hardcore without any expectations about it, go for it, it's still something... cute.If you don't, please have a seat and pray with me that one day Stephen King will buy the plot and he'll bring this amazing story to its true dignity as it should be.

short-novel videogames

Cudahy Family Library

129 reviews9 followers

This is a great novelization of the video game Silent Hill 2. It takes the entire story from the game while leaving behind the time-padding in many parts of the gameplay. For instance, what takes hours to get through in Woodside Apartments, with the checking of every room and doing all the puzzles (many of them being nonsensical), is shortened down to a few lines having James checking a few doors, but mostly consisting of a chapter worth of story; that has James wondering what’s going on in town, the existence of the monsters, and finally seeing the other people that are stuck in Silent Hill as well.

The novel lays the pieces throughout the story that hints at what’s really going on and why James is stuck in Silent Hill, much better than the game does, as the reader has insights that the player cannot. Having played the game prior to reading the book, I enjoyed seeing all the plot elements building upon themselves. Not only that but it’s in this novel that all the backstory and explanation exists. You want to know more about the other people that are stuck in town with James? It’s in this novel. You found the second half of the game (after entering the historical museum and going down the holes) confusing? Well wonder no more, it finally makes sense here!

I was surprised with the ending the novelization decided to go with, especially considering where James’s mindset was once he realized the truth about Mary and why he was drawn to Silent Hill and seeing the monsters in town. But other than the ending choice, Silent Hill 2’s novelization was excellent and really gave more meaning to the game; I would absolutely recommend it, especially for those that have played the game!

adult-fiction

PsypherPunk

98 reviews5 followers

Silent Hill 2 is still considered by many to be a landmark game and a genuine contender for "best ever", mostly due to its compelling story. Given that this is essentially a retelling of said story there's little way in which it could actually be bad and thankfully, for the most part, it isn't. It's rather flat and repetitive in places, highlights a little too clearly some of the game's more bizarre moments of video-game-logic and at the end explicitly draws conclusions on the reader's behalf but it's still a good story.

Anton Manfre

27 reviews1 follower

I am so afraid to look into the mirror, so afraid to face the horrible thing that no longer looks like me.

(2.5/5) Too early on into reading this specific English translation of the novelization of Silent Hill 2 (a enormously beloved game and story to me) I knew it would pain me to speak of it with anything harsh to say.

A disclaimer that I need to scream about this. The novel was never officially and formally translated- so this copy I purchased off of Amazon was self translated through various English PDFs floating around Silent Hill forums and self published. I would love to hear a Japanese reader’s review of the novel because my translation was beyond poor. Grammatical errors every other page, a paragraph in Spanish, butchering of critical quotes, misnaming characters. (Yeah, Maria was called Mary countless times and when you’re calling a demon doppelgänger by the name of who they���re appearing as you have to physically withdraw yourself from the story and just laugh). That being said, it was harder to enjoy since I couldn’t get immersed the way SH intends. I am just speaking of this specific translation.

Focusing on the parts of this novel that only deepened my love for SH, there were multiple transitions into Eddie and Angela’s POV. This gives you the opportunity get a better look into the tragic circumstances that led them to Silent Hill. Both characters backstories are written through their own words and the tragic mastery is unrelenting. It elevated the characters so much for me, and offers a faithful expansion to the game’s canon. Additionally, you get deeper mediations on the various bodies and forms of the monsters roaming Silent Hill, what they mean, and how they represent different shadows of James’ pain, grief, and hatred. I was most excited to step deeper into the psyche of James, this was a chance to explore his stream of thoughts and emotions rather than awaiting cut scenes to better understand his emotional state. The novel does a disappointingly adequate job at this. A personal favorite part was James describing his feelings towards using violence against monsters in Silent Hill. “He didn’t dispute wanting it dead, but his actions didn’t feel like “murder”. No, it was different. It felt more like he was taking advantage of the situation, like he was finally in control.” James also describes his killings deriving not from a sense of justice but feelings of disgust. This directly correlates in his selfish motivations for killing Mary. Regardless of if he had love for Mary, his murder of her came from a place of darkness- he was disgusted how she malformed during her illness and he wanted his life back. In murdering the monsters in Silent Hill, James is choosing to kill his wife again and again.

I was disappointed that in my translation, the concepts exploring Pyramid Head, sexual frustration, and James’ voyeuristic nature was totally chopped. Many of SH most exciting and fascinating concepts felt muddled down to bite size pieces, when what makes SH so cool is the endless layers and “holes” that come from a town that is steeped in harrowing history and manifests differently for each person, each aspect of the town having its own poetic meaning.

My favorite SH2 character, Maria, I also felt was written in one stale note. Maria, a demon who doesn’t know she is a demon, only a part of James’ cognition, feels like just a annoying tagalong to the story. It was cool how the reader gets to see how she is somehow totally in tune with James’ emotional state, knowing what to say to coax him deeper into denial. She just was depicted as a total nag during MOST of it and it totally threw me off.

I’m actually scripting out a YouTube video on the novel since I had not seen any in all the SH deep dives- more about Yamashita, how the novel came to be, and what it does to expand on the game. Specifically on the deeply conceptual approach to the games and novels depiction of TRUTH. I could go on and on. Know this, I would only get THIS translation as a collector’s item. There are much better translations for free online. I love Silent Hill so much, it has changed my approach to storytelling as a writer and lover of art. I only feel grateful and more connected with the story in reading this novelization!

Λευτέρης Αναγνωστόπουλος

Author3 books75 followers

In my restless dreams,I see that town.

Silent Hill.

You promised me you’d take methere again someday.But because of me, you were never able to.

Well, I’m alone there now…

In our “special place”Waiting for you…

Two days ago I finished (for the first time) Silent Hill 2 and I was completely blown away by the game. During the end credits I was in awe of this storytelling masterpiece and thinking to myself, "this is why I play videogames". The story is so good that I immediately wanted to dive in again and analyze it, and this is where I found out there's a novelization of the game, unofficially translated by Emily “Lady Ducky” Fitch.

Although I think it's completely supplementary material, the novel is really good (an obvious thing since it's carried by the SH2 plot) and the translation pretty good. It shed light to some events and it helped me understand Silent Hill better, although (again) it's not a necessary reading. It has a few differences here and there from the game (nothing major) with the main exception being the ending. You see, the game has multiple endings, depending on your choices throughout the main story while the canon ending is ambiguous. The novel obviously must choose one, and that ending is the "In Water." I myself got the "Leave" ending.

Now here's the thing, Konami (the publisher of the game) is the EA of Japan and one of the stupidest companies ever. Silent Hill 2 is abandonware that means that there's no way to officially purchase the game. So if you are interested in playing it on PC (the game is so old it'll probably run even on your toaster) this is what I did:

Download the game from myabandonware.comhttps://www.myabandonware.com/game/si...

And then, when you've extracted the files on a new folder, download the Enhanced Edition from here:https://enhanced.townofsilenthill.com...

And install it on the extracted folder of SH2. When finished run sh2pc.exe to play.

(For better understanding of the installation procedure follow the instructions on both websites, it's super easy.)

Now if you don't care about the game and you want to just read the novel you can read it online from here https://mysilenthill.wordpress.com/si... or download a PDF version from here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SZNS...

Aaron Lindsey

678 reviews23 followers

I enjoyed this novel but had a hard time visualizing it. The story is strong, but the writing seems amateurish. I've never played the video game, so had no idea what any of the characters or scenery look like and was relying on the author's skills to show me.

Angel Navarro Torres

Author1 book12 followers

This book is exactly what you would expect from a videogame novelization except for the ending. The ending is done really well and I believe it's worth the effort.

If you like the Silent Hill games and lore, then give this book a go.

Chris Greensmith

864 reviews8 followers

"In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised me you'd take me there again someday. But because of me, you were never able to. Well, I'm alone there now…In our “special place.”Waiting for you."Poor, but then a video game book, translated from Japanese, was never going to be great. The game and the story is amazing, but these books rarely work out....

silent-hill

AugustUnderground46

95 reviews

Uno de los mejores libros basados en videojuegos. Está muy bien y gratis en Internet. 10/10

obra-maestra

Eric

32 reviews1 follower

Silent Hill 2 (2001 - PS2) is considered by many to be a classic and one of the best entries in the franchise. It is a great story set in a spooky atmosphere and with a great soundtrack. More so, it is more or less a standalone entry in the series, separate from the events of 1 & 3 and not part of their bridging narrative. The story centers around James Sunderland, a grieving man who has recently received a letter from his wife requesting he come to Silent Hill to find her, the issue being that she has been dead for three years, only to discover that nearly everything in the town is just bizarre. It is a simple yet interesting set up, and as such, I had high expectations for what a novelization might deliver.

Except it falls flat and falls hard, erring closer to just describing a playthrough of the game rather than giving the details that help set the scene, generate tension, and convey any real horror. Dialogue is equivalent to what you would have gotten with a script written for a Playstation game, edited down for brevity and limitations, which don't exist on a written page. There is just a ton of room left unused for exposition and dialogue that would've catapulted this book to higher levels, and it's unfortunate. Monsters appear but it is never actually frightening or set up very well.

If you've played the game before, there is really nothing of value to be gleamed out of this title. If you haven't...you might be better off going to YouTube and watching someone else do a playthrough, or just finding a way to play it through yourself. Can't recommend this, and won't be pursuing the other two titles either.

Wayne

2 reviews1 follower

This story is amazing. Why? Because it’s screws with the mind, questioning whether or not things are real or not. It’s the story of James Sunderland losing his wife from a horrible disease that could not be helped. After James loss three years ago, James received a letter from Mary three years later after her death. Mary wanting to meet James in there “special place”. James determined to find Mary, James goes out to Silent Hill to find Mary. James ventures forward, and realizes the town is not what it used to be. Stores boarded up, and seeing strange things from afar, but then realizing... Things aren’t what they seem, because of monsters! Is James really losing it? Or is this real? That’s up for you to find out in this crazy ride of a story.

Oscar Torrado

317 reviews20 followers

Excelente novelización de un excelente juego. A diferencia de las novelizaciones de Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2 no se siente como una guía del juego sino como una historia que ahonda más en los detalles de los personajes y en situaciones que realmente no comprendíamos o simplemente se dejaron a la imaginación.

La historia de un hombre que baja al mismísmo infierno por amor y en busca de redención y perdón es única, triste y maravillosa. El final que escogieron para esta versión es el más acertado y personalmente uno de mis favoritos.

"No puedo pedirte que me recuerdes, pero no puedo soportar que me olvides."

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Mohamed

36 reviews1 follower

The novelization of the best game I have ever played?! How could I possibly not read that? And what took me so long to do so???

Well, it was a quick, nostalgic read that I surprisingly enjoyed quite much, minus the poor Character Development (if any) that these kind of books usually offer as a main purpose, an added value to the original piece, be it a movie or a video game. Eventually, I ended up going through the game one more time, reading instead of playing. More or less.

Read this if you are a masochist son of a bitch. Oh, but you have to play the game first.

Jorge Soto

53 reviews5 followers

Bien, esto es una guía del juego Silent Hill 2 en forma del libro >.< creo que al autor debió de tomarse algunas libertades respecto a la trama y darle un poco de "sabor", en ocasiones resultó muy mecánico la manera en que se va desenvolviendo la historia, las batallas con los "monstros" (así aparece en el libro) son bastante simples; por otro lado la descripción de personajes y lugares es muy pobre, pero se cuenta a lo largo de la historia con ciertas imágenes, que son muy malas, parecen screenshots del juego.

Troy Palmer

104 reviews8 followers

Being a fan of the video games, it was good fun to read about the place I've spent so much time playing in.

James

17 reviews3 followers

"Actually, I guess I am dead, heart's as good as dead anyway."

Jeshika Paperdoll

59 reviews9 followers

Of course I gave this 5 stars. It’s Silent Hill 2. I can’t not. That game owns my heart and soul.

five-star horror translated-japanese

Ross

3 reviews5 followers

Silent Hill 2 is one of the greatest video games ever made and it stands as, in my opinion, the greatest thing the horror genre has given the world. In that regard, the novelization had a lot to live up to.

Our protagonist, James Sunderland, is drawn there when he receives a letter from his wife, Mary, asking him to meet her there, in Silent Hill, in their special place. Only, Mary has been dead for 3 years, after years of struggling with a terminal disease. A broken man arrives at the mist-filled town, facing off against grotesque monsters. It's clear that he's willing to risk his life, even for the slightest chance to reunite with his lover.

The town of Silent Hill serves as an outlet for the tormented; it becomes an extension of them. All the horrors of their psyche leak out of their heads, taking physical form and warping the landscape. Those that end up there are often forced to face their traumas in horrifying ways. It's the joy of the audience to slowly unravel the mystery of how the town presented reflects the tortured souls that are lured there.

Unfortunately, the book did a bit of a poor job in giving the audience vital hints to help them unravel the symbolism of the creatures James encounters, and instead directly tells the audience what they represented at some later date. Silent Hill 2 is responsible for some of the franchise's most iconic creatures. In the video game, the nurses are grotesque and unsettling to look at. Often, they are presented as faceless, with layers of ragged, blood-stained bandages cover their heads. Other times you get a glimpse at the horrifying flesh beneath, the skin carved away and shaped in unnatural ways. They stand and move at unnatural angles, as though existence is nothing but pain for them. But they're also dressed provocatively. Their breasts are pressed together. Their uniform just barely covers their butts. As we get to learn more about James, it becomes clear that these creatures are a manifestation of his pent-up sexual frustration during his wife's years of illness, and the consequent guilt of feeling such emotions have left him carrying. The nurses are sexualized because James wants to have sex. And they try to hurt him because, overall, James wants to be punished for his sins.

It never felt like the book gave us enough to get to that conclusion on our own. The game, sometimes, had a habit of spoon feeding information to the player, but I feel like it's done to a bigger extent in the book. There isn't really a reward for paying attention, because the book is simultaneously a novel and the cliffnotes version of that novel.

It did try some interesting things. In the game, James can be a bit unflinching about the happenings in the town. In the book, we get to experience his inner monologue a bit more and it often reinforces his obsession to find Mary. He proposes that the monsters could be the result of some chemical leak or military experiment. Yet despite the dangers and the promise of more, he ventures forward. He doesn't have anything to lose.

There were times where I did get emotional while reading it, though I don't know how successful it would be in getting those same reactions out of someone that wasn't aware of the original game it's based on. Maybe its emotional payoffs were informed by the game. I find that a bit likely. Regardless, it successfully resonated with me on occasion and at times it can be outright beautiful. Mary's final letter to James breaks my heart every time.

If you've played the original game, I guess I'd recommend it as something that can reward your experience by informing you of some details here and there and adding a bit more depth to James in his moment-to-moment decisions. Like, for example, jumping down a unfathomably deep hole for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.

David Pate

6 reviews

Where do i even begin with this? Whether it be a game, a novel, or a comic book, silent hill 2 just blows everything out of the water, nothing in the psychological horror genre can even compare. The atmosphere of the town of silent hill is unrivaled by anything in any media I’ve consumed and it was translated perfectly into novel form. The characters are written beautifully and i can yap on for hours about the depth and nuance of each. James and Angela are personal favorites of mine but even less complex characters like Eddie are incredibly compelling given the context of their stories.

James journey through silent hill will always be iconic and an inspiration to countless newcomers in the genre. The isolation of James accentuates the atmosphere greatly and brings something truly terrifying to the scares.

The raw depth and analytical value of silent hill 2 is so astronomically impressive given the time it feels almost accidental how just about EVERYTHING lines up perfectly. The symbolism in pyramid heads character alone can fill an entire academic studies worth of work.

If you are a fan of the genre or just curious to jump into the silent hill franchise, this is THE place to start. If you can’t play the game, read the book. If you’re too lazy to read so many words, read the comics. If that’s too much then wait for the new movie and watch that but for the love of god, experience this story.

Jack

11 reviews1 follower

I leave surprisingly impressed by this. At times the author did quite a smooth job outlining the highlights of this melancholic journey to the point where I'd say it's fairly effective for both newcomers to the story and fans alike. Parts of the underlying themes within the symbolism and characters are at best glossed over or even lost, but for the most part it's both well-written and intentioned as a novelization of a beautiful story that touches on the effects of human grief and loss of one's love and self.

The audio version on YouTube was a treat to listen to and visualize my own previous experiences and thoughts when going down its beloved path once again. After all these years I still can't believe just how much can be taken from only a few hours spent in Silent Hill 2.

"Casting a sidelong glance along the boardwalk, he could almost catch a flickering glimpse of what she had looked like that day. He remembered thinking that even the brilliant sunset reflecting off the lake's surface was impossible to compare to Mary's graceful figure and radiant smiling face. That cherished image of her was displayed in front of him as if from a projector, it was like some trace of her had been carved into this place."

pips

70 reviews14 followers

Read

I must say that I absolutely adore the lore of Silent Hill 2. I think it truly is one of the best games ever created and great part of the reasoning behind this opinion is its intriguing story.

However, I feel like the book cannot translate that story as well as the game. It is an easy read - which if you know silent hill 2's story isn't expected - and it fails to create the amazing atmosphere the game provides. You're supposed to feel terrified while unraveling the details to this tragic tale and you can't really feel that by reading the novelization.

It had some great quotes, but I feel like the climax read like a categoric display of events that falls flat in the great scheme of things. I particularly did not like that it leaves no room for interpretation, specifically telling you what each monster represents and every single thought behind James' head. It ends up ruining the beautiful discussions surrounding the world building and motivations behind the characters by telling you exactly what things are meant to be/represent. To be honest, it sometimes felt like I was reading a wikifandom page.

Moral of the story: sometimes a book is definitely not the best way to portray a story, especially when it unintentionally rips apart what makes it so great.