History VideoGame / SilentHill2

* FanSequel: ''[[SilentHillPromise Silent Hill: Promise]]''.=

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: Angela's]] parents. [[spoiler: Daddy]] was sexually abusive, [[spoiler: Mommy]] said [[spoiler:she]] deserved it.

* AxCrazy:
** Eddie, definitely.
** Some people might say James is.

* BossCorridor: The final hallway to [[spoiler:Mary]]'s room. As with most things, the time you linger in this hall affects the ending. A similar hallway, this one lined with newspaper murder headlines, precedes the Doorman.
** Another takes you into the depths of the earth to find [[spoiler:a psychotic Eddy.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Angela's knife, which James obtains after the cutscene in the Blue Creek Apartments, is ''sort of'' a Chekhov's gun. [[spoiler:Frequently looking at this item in the inventory and allowing James's health to get low will result in the "In Water" ending, in which James commits suicide. ''Sort of'' because, though the knife isn't used in the actual act, it is implicated in suicidal ideation]].

* FanSequel: ''[[SilentHillPromise Silent Hill: Promise]]''.
* FemmeFatale: Maria.
* [[spoiler: FourIsDeath]]: [[spoiler: The fourth time that James meets Eddie and Angela, they die]].

** During a long ride in the Brookhaven Elevator, James' radio picks up a macabre game show, complete with wacky host.
* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler: The "Maria" ending implies that Maria will end up suffering the same fate as Mary.]]
* ImplacableMan: Pyramid Head. No amount of damage can harm him, and he often appears without a cutscene, providing an excellent source of ParanoiaFuel, especially in the basement of the hospital, when you realize ''oh god he's right behind me''. All you can do is run.

** When [[spoiler:Eddie snaps]] things quickly go south after he runs into James the [[spoiler:last]] time.

** [[spoiler:Eddie claims this]].

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:James claims that Mary's death was this; his overwhelming guilt after the fact is what sets the events of the game in motion. Whether or not he did it out of mercy is ambiguous - James's admission and reasoning, and whether Mary accepts and forgives or hates him is different in each ending.]]

* ParentalIncest: It's suggested that [[spoiler:Angela]] was sexually abused by her father.

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Maria]]. Deconstructed in that [[spoiler:she's a creation of the town manifested from James's desire to see his wife]] and subverted in that [[spoiler:the "Maria" ending implies that she will fall ill like Mary]].

* SinisterScrapingSound: Pyramid Head scrapes his giant shiv along the ground. This works to James's advantage later in the game: if he equips the Great Knife and moves around with the flashlight turned off, monsters will run away from the noise.

* UncomfortableElevatorMoment: Specifically when the Trick or Treat quiz show randomly plays on James's radio. Maria and James once again show what a comedy duo they would make by their reactions at the end.

* VomitDiscretionShot: The cutscene introducing Eddie Dombrowski features this trope, though the sound of Eddie's spewing works well enough on its own.
* VorpalPillow: [[spoiler:James puts Mary out of her misery this way]].

James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife Mary asking him to meet her in their "special place" in Silent Hill, a resort town they visited together once on vacation. James has no idea how he could have received such a letter, since ''Mary died three years prior.''

Even though James suspects something fishy, he travels to Silent Hill in order to discover who wrote the letter and the reason they sent it. When James arrives, he finds a seemingly-abandoned town shrouded in a perpetual fog, and while exploring the town, he meets several people: Angela, a disturbed runaway; Eddie, a psychopathic slob; Laura, a young girl who seems to know Mary and bears a grudge against James; and Maria, a stripper [[IdenticalStranger bearing a remarkable resemblance to Mary]] who begs James to protect her.

James' journey through Silent Hill forces him to confront his own fear, vices, and guilt, and as he searches for the truth, a number of increasingly symbolic monsters confront him at every turn; of these creatures, most players will remember [[BreakoutCharacter Pyramid Head]], a muscular butcher wearing a pyramid-shaped metal helmet who rapes and assaults his fellow monsters and murders Maria over and over.

''[=SH2=]'' features MultipleEndings; James' [[KarmaMeter general behavior]] throughout the story, rather than specific choices at certain junctions, determines which ending a player gets.

* WelcomeToHell: An incomplete "[=WELCOME!=]" sign hangs over Road 73.

** During a long ride in the Brookhaven Elevator, James' radio picks up a macabre game show, complete with wacky host.

* {{Hellevator}}: The lift that marks the end of Toluca Prison and the start of the Labirynth. The doors close by themselves, and it's a ride downwards at a reasonable speed that takes a full minute to be completed.

** [[spoiler:Angela]]. Throughout the game, it is hinted at that [[spoiler:she was abused by her father]]. A newspaper article that James finds later more or less confirms that [[spoiler:she killed him]], possibly in self-defense.

* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:Mary died only a few weeks ago -- from James smothering her with a pillow.]]
* TragicHero: James doesn't technically take embody this trope until the end of the game.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Maria]] reappears in the prison after being fatally impaled by Pyramid Head [[spoiler:in the hospital basement]] with no explanation, apart from insisting she and James were "separated in that long hallway".

** Possibly justified, as it's theorised that [[spoiler: she's]] not real.

* SympatheticMurderBackstory: James [[spoiler:smothered his wife to death]]. There are several different factors which drove him to do this, and some of them come across as less than savory, but the overall impression is that James is a flawed man doing what he feels is the right thing.

* SympatheticMurderBackstory: James [[spoiler:smothered his wife to death out of misogynistic sexual frustration]], and Silent Hill torments him for this reason. Depending on the ending, this could serve to make him either more sympathetic or more of a monster.

-->"The door that wakes in darkness, opening into nightmares."

'''''Silent Hill 2''''' is the second game in Konami's ''SilentHill'' franchise; it is considered by numerous fans and critics to be the franchise's apex and holds a place on a number of critics' "greatest games" lists.

A man named James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife Mary asking him to meet her in their "special place" in Silent Hill, a resort town they visited together once on vacation. However, there's one big problem with this letter: ''Mary is dead.''

Despite knowing it is impossible for his wife to be alive, James travels to Silent Hill in order to discover who is behind the letter and why they sent it. There, he finds a seemingly-abandoned town shrouded in an oppressive, perpetual fog, and meets several people: Angela, a disturbed runaway; Eddie, a psychopathic slob; Laura, a young girl who seems to know Mary and bears a grudge against James; and Maria, a stripper [[IdenticalStranger bearing a remarkable resemblance to Mary]] who begs James to protect her.

As James searches for the truth, he is confronted by a menagerie of increasingly symbolic monsters. Most notable amongst these hellish creatures is [[BreakoutCharacter Pyramid Head]], a muscular butcher who rapes and assaults his fellow monsters and murders Maria over and over. James soon discovers that his journey through Silent Hill is a very personal one, as he is forced to confront his own fear, vices and guilt.

''[=SH2=]'' features MultipleEndings, and determined by James' [[KarmaMeter general behaviour]] throughout the story rather than specific choices at certain junctions.

!!Tropes specific to this game:

* SinisterScrapingSound: Pyramid Head and his giant shiv. This can work to James's advantage - if he equips the Great Knife and moves (with the flashlight turned off, mind you), monsters run away from the noise.
* StairwayToHeaven: Inverted with [[spoiler:Angela]]'s staircase to Hell.
* SympatheticMurderer:
** Arguably, [[spoiler:James]], though it's more easily applied to [[spoiler:Angela]].
** [[spoiler:Eddie]] wants to be seen as one, but James thinks otherwise.
* SympatheticMurderBackstory: James eventually discovers that [[spoiler:he smothered his wife to death out of misogynistic sexual frustration]], this presumably being the reason the Town is tormenting him. Depending on the ending you get, this could serve to make him more sympathetic or to make him look like a monster though.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Heavily implied. [[spoiler:Beside the (supposed) letter, if you return to the spot where you kill your first monster later in the game, it's surrounded by police tape. Near the end, the motel keeps shifting between Bizarrchitecture and a perfectly normal (if musty and abandoned) hotel.]]
* TogetherInDeath: The "In Water" ending heavily implies that [[spoiler:James puts his dead wife's body into his car and then drives into Toluca Lake, drowning himself so that they can be together again]]. However, the graffiti in the DarkWorld version of Neely's Bar says "you might be heading to a different place than Mary", i.e. Hell, since not only did he [[spoiler:commit suicide, but murder as well.]]
* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:Mary died only a few weeks ago. From James smothering her with a pillow.]]
* TragicHero: The way the story plays out, James technically does not take on this trope until the end of the game.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Maria]] reappears in the prison after being fatally impaled by Pyramid Head [[spoiler:in the hospital basement]] with no explanation apart from insisting that they were "separated in that long hallway".
* [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable Character]]: [[spoiler:James's]] entire reason for coming to Silent Hill as he states it in the beginning is a complete lie. Near the end, when the player starts to realize this, [[spoiler:the letter he supposedly received becomes a blank sheet of paper]]. Later, [[spoiler:the paper it was written on disappears entirely]].
* [[{{ptitleba4e2b2g}} Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: Maria keeps the three keys to a triple-locked door tucked into her short skirt, in her boots, and in her cleavage, in that order. While she's opening the door, James attempts to sneak a peek to no avail.
* VomitDiscretionShot: The cutscene introducing Eddie Dombrowski features this, though the sound of Eddie's spewing quite suffices in place of visible puke.
* VorpalPillow: [[spoiler:How James put Mary out of her misery]].
* WelcomeToHell: An incomplete "[=WELCOME!=]" sign blithely hangs over Road 73.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: Laura only appears in one of the four main endings. In the other three, she is never seen nor mentioned again after running away from James in Room 312.]]

* WombLevel: The Abstract Daddy boss is fought in a room which features fleshy, pulsating walls, with [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything pistons thrusting in and out of them]]. Allegedly, the room is supposed to represent [[spoiler:Angela's uterus]].

* IGotBetter: [[spoiler:Maria]] reappears in the prison after being fatally impaled by Pyramid Head [[spoiler:in the hospital basement]] with no explanation apart from insisting that they were "separated in that long hallway".

''[=SH2=]'' features MultipleEndings, and which one a player sees is determined by James' [[KarmaMeter general behaviour]] throughout the story (rather than specific choices at certain junctions). Like other "classic" ''Silent Hill'' games, ''[=SH2=]'' has a theme to its story: guilt and a person's ability (or inability) to accept and overcome it.

'''''Silent Hill 2''''' is the second game in Konami's ''SilentHill'' franchise; it is considered by numerous fans and critics to be the franchise's apex and holds a place on a number of critics' "greatest games" lists.

''[=SH2's=]'' story and character are almost wholly unrelated to the previous game: James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife Mary asking him to meet her in their "special place" in Silent Hill, which they visited together once on vacation. There's one problem with this letter, though: ''Mary is dead.''

Despite knowing it's impossible for his wife to be alive, James travels to Silent Hill in order to discover who's behind the letter and why they sent it. Upon his arrival, he finds only a cold, oppressive, and seemingly-abandoned town shrouded in a perpetual fog. During his exploration of Silent Hill, James meets several people: Angela, a disturbed runaway; Eddie, a psychopathic slob; Laura, a young girl who seems to know Mary and bears a grudge against James; and Maria, a stripper bearing a remarkable resemblance to Mary who begs James to protect her.

As James searches for the truth, he is confronted by a menagerie of increasingly symbolic monsters; most notable amongst these Hellish creatures is [[BreakoutCharacter Pyramid Head]], who rapes and assaults his fellow monsters and murders Maria over and over. James discovers that his journey through Silent Hill is a very personal one, as he is forced to confront his fears, vices, and sins -- as well as his guilt over Mary's death.

''[=SH2=]'' features MultipleEndings, and which one a player sees is determined by James' [[KarmaMeter general behavior]] throughout the story (rather than specific choices at certain junctions). Like other "classic" ''Silent Hill'' games, ''[=SH2=]'' has a theme to its story: guilt and a person's ability (or inability) to accept and overcome it.

* AbusiveParents: Angela's father.

** During a long ride in the Brookhaven Elevator, [[ZeroPunctuation JAAAAAAAMES]]'s radio picks up a macabre game show, complete with wacky host.

* InescapableAmbush: The first battle with the Pyramid Head. The door inexplicably closes behind James. He tries to open it, obviously, but to no avail.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Angela, Eddie, and James have all caused severe bodily harm to somebody, and felt summoned to SilentHill as a result.]]
** The characters of the story (discounting Maria and Laura, [[spoiler:since one isn't real, and the other ''might'' not be real]]) have much more in common that seems apparent at first. Eddie, Angela, and James have all come to Silent Hill because [[spoiler:of a murder they committed - James, his wife; Angela, her father; and Eddie, who shot a man who pushed him too far]].
** In Eddie's case, [[spoiler:he didn't actually kill the man, he shot him in the knee and killed his dog]]. Also, while it is true they are not so different, it's not because of what they did, but because [[spoiler:of the guilt they felt. All of them felt that they should be punished for their actions]].
*** ...Actually, [[spoiler:Eddie has murdered at least one confirmed person]] throughout the course of the game. It's implied every corpse he appears by in the game [[spoiler:was a person murdered by him;]] first with his extreme denial of having anything to do with the corpse in the refrigerator in the apartment complex [[spoiler:("I didn't do it... I swear, I didn't kill anybody!")]] until it's finally confirmed in the prison cafeteria when he tells James [[spoiler:the corpse next to him "had it coming,"]] and [[spoiler:that the reason he murdered him was because "he was making fun of me with his eyes, like that other one!" (And oh, look - an implied murder in the same sentence!)]] Oh, and let's not forget how once he came to the conclusion in his mind that James was making fun of him, his immediate reaction was [[spoiler:to attempt to murder him, too.]]
*** As for [[spoiler:everyone's common tie being guilt, Eddie shows no signs of remorse]] - as a matter of fact, he announces that [[spoiler:"killing a person ain't no big deal," and admitted that he found it ''fun'' to kill a dog and shoot a man in the knee.]] The same goes for Angela [[spoiler:with the way she drops the TV on the Abstract Daddy, under the impression it's actually her father: no guilt, but a lot of murderous rage. It's never implied at any point in the game she feels remorse for killing her father ; rather, she's always concerned about her "''mama''".]] James is the only one of the three [[spoiler:who expresses any remorse for his actions]] by the end of the game. The true tie is that [[spoiler:they are all insane - driven so ''because'' they have murdered people, or vice versa.]]

** You can also make the enemies essentially have one, by equipping the Great Knife, and turning off the flashlight. The enemies will hear the knife dragging on the ground, and ''run''.
* OminousSavePrompt: How about NINE of them arranged in a bright red square on the Hotel's top floor?
* ParentalIncest: It's suggested that [[spoiler:Angela]] was sexually abused by her father and her mother was aware of it but didn't intervene, actually telling the girl she ''deserved'' it!

** "Soundless Mountain 2", a 2D SuperDeformed fan remake.

* SinisterScrapingSound: Pyramid Head and his giant shiv. This can work to James's advantage - if he equips the Great Knife and moves (with the flashlight turned off, mind you), monsters run away from the noise. Then again, [[MemeticMolester they have a good reason]].

* ApocalypticLog: ''Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!''

* WombLevel: The Abstract Daddy boss is fought in a room which features fleshy, pulsating walls, with [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything pistons thrusting in and out of them]]. Allegedly, the room is supposed to represent [[spoiler:Angela's uterus]].

* BossCorridor: The final hallway to [[spoiler:Mary]]'s room. As with most things, the time you linger in this hall affects the ending.

* HellHotel: The Lakeview Hotel.

* ReplacementGoldfish: Maria. Deconstructed in that [[spoiler:she's a creation of the town manifested from James's desire to see his wife]] and subverted in that [[spoiler:the "Maria" ending implies that she will fall ill like Mary]].