A Silent Hill Virgin’s Overly Personal Thoughts on SH2 Remake

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Music: Kevin MacLeod
CO.AG (YouTube)

[ReignBot]

Guys, sorry if my voice sounds weird as hell in this one. Lost my voice earlier this week due to a cold of some sorts. Trying not to show it lol

[김윤서-ex]

The thing that always gets me about the long hallway is that the hallway itself is just long enough to hear Mary screaming at you to leave.... but if you stick around and don't go through the door immediately, she retracts her words and begs for James to stay. 

He likely never saw this side of Mary, only remembering her lashing out as her final moments. It's after he killed her that he finally realized how scared she actually was.

[jacobjohnston]

37:30 actually this is NOT the otherworld version of the hotel! It’s the real world. The hotel actually burned down before we arrive in silent hill. The other world is the clean and pristine version of the hotel that we had been in up till this point.

[pandasaranghae]

I played SH2 when it released at a friend's house. I remember completely seeing James as the villain. I played the remake last week and... I was diagnosed with a chronic illness this year and I'm not proud to admit that I've been lashing out at my husband. I can completely understand now how resentment can form from that. Grief is such a complex thing. In a way I am processing grief in the form of my body destroying itself and the grief my husband feels watching his wife deteriorating to a point where she can't even walk on some days. You're right, Silent Hill 2 hits so much harder when you're grown. Being alive for 30 years versus 9 really does make a difference

[jealous]

Did not expect to open up with reign bot feet

[T-TR]

The thing about the Maria ending is that, imo, James denies his punishment and rather embraces his sins, like an abuser justifying their fucked up actions. It's why his "You better do something about that cough" sounds so harsh. It's a warning, like if she doesn't get her impending illness under control, she'll end up the same way Mary did, this time without the moral ambiguity and hesitation of James at the start of his journey. It's almost definitely the definitive "bad" ending.

[CHRISMED]

I really thought this remake would be taking liberties like the Resident Evil 2 & 3 reimaginings. Instead Bloober basically recreated the game to incorporate the same music, story, characters, backgrounds and horrific dread of the original. Adding in some extra environments, new character moments improving boss fights were all added to update in the most respectful way. Plus I love how they kept the twisted angled camera shots throughout

[keffertv]

This is my new favorite Silent Hill 2 video essay. Thank you for your courage in opening up about some of your own personal issues in order to further convey why this story was so moving and for subsequently sharing that praise through this amazing video. I feel lucky that the YouTube algorithm brought me here.

I’ve been grappling with the idea of making a video similar to this one, because like you said you needed, I needed time to process it all as well due to how deeply introspective it left me. I think you’ve inspired me to indeed make that video.

[MrCaptainStuff]

Excellent video. Just want to point out though that after James watches the video, he isn't in the otherworld. He was actually in the otherworld the entire time, hence all the monsters. After seeing the tape, he's back in the real world. There's a note you can find in one of the areas that talks about how a year or two prior to James returning the hotel was the scene of a massive fire. The original plan was to fix it up, but after seeing the damage it was just condemned.

[unaxthorized]

silent hill brought reignbot outta retirement

[Keioseth]

Gosh that bit with Angela with the apologizing and your anecdote is too real, way too relatable. It is something that I work on a lot with my therapist.

[Dante-fbej]

I was so certain I was gonna be replaying the Remake right after completing it, but it actually seemed to take a toll on me. I seriously gotta take a break cause IT REALLY wakes up trauma if you have any

[GreenRandom]

I knew nothing about your personal life, so all of your deep insight on the characters really did surprise me.

[minioncat]

nobody in the comments are seeming to pick up that this is a super super personal video. i can’t imagine how hard it was to actually put this out. this is a deeply human issue in real life and i look up to you for your analyzation of this game. thank you <3

[Cosmoflips]

meanwhile me playing SH2: "WHY ARE THERE SO MANY AMMOS IN THE LIBRARY BUT NOT IN THE PRISON?"

[Herofromthesky]

37:37 actually if I remember correct, that’s how the hotel looked the entire time, the perfect little hotel you originally showed up is the otherworld hotel

[PatrickBick]

Fantastic video.

Glad you're still with us.

I've seen this stuff, so much, in people around me, that I've kind of run out of things to say.

[hypercynic]

I've beat the original over 100 times and it is probably my favourite game of all time if I had to pick one (though I hate doing that). This game gave me the EXACT same feeling I had playing the original, yet I was only 10 when the original came out and I played it. Somehow they managed to take a game I was far too familiar with and made me fucking TERRIFIED by the exact same story, locations and monsters as before.

I never thought that this would even be passable, let alone a masterpiece. And this is probably my favourite Silent Hill game now.

I relate though, my mom died when I was five so Silent Hill 2 took on a very different meaning for me. It'll sound weird but I always felt like I was playing as my dad trying to find my mom, and it of course leads to feeling a form of dread that doesn't exist outside of Silent Hill, but even more specifically this game's characters and story. It took me over a week of playing 2 or 3 hours at a time to finally beat this the first time because it was so terrifying and was genuinely fucking with me mentally in a way that I haven't experienced in a very long time. It resurfaced a lot of things that I still never overcame or dealt with, and I have struggled with PTSD because of all the untreated traumas from my life, and this game always causes it all to resurface.

No piece of media has affected me in the way both the original and remake managed to. I don't think anything has even come close honestly. The ending makes me cry every single time I play these games because I just hear my mom when I hear Mary's voice. The terror, anger and sadness she must've felt to die at such a young age, I'm 33 and still haven't gotten over it. That pain exists so deep within me that I am tormented by it every single day. She was born June 22, 1971 and died June 19, 1996. She was 3 days shy of what would've been her 24th birthday, and I've managed to outlive her by 10 whole years as of this upcoming February. It's such a strange, surreal feeling to out live someone who barely even got to begin their life at all. She was then replaced by a horrible woman who mentally abused me for my entire childhood. My father also was an verbally abusive alcoholic, and the dad I grew up with who replaced my mom with the psycho woman... he worked six or seven days a week and was never there for me at all. To him, he was providing money and that was enough. Obviously he deals with his own trauma over the event because my mom married him only two years before she died. But I had nobody there for me, much like Angela and Eddie. I empathized with both of them in an all too real way. I also empathize with James. I understand how easy it could be to feel like you're euthanizing someone rather than killing them. I would never do such a thing myself, but knowing how my mom struggled with depression and anxiety herself, I could imagine her begging for the suffering to end (if she were in a similar situation, she actually died very quickly after a doctor prescribed her the wrong medication).

I feel like too many people want this game to have an answer, but there are so many elements of Taoism and Judaism throughout the franchise. I heavily believe they are telling a story through religious philosophy and are asking us a question to consider for ourselves. I don't believe there IS an answer. I believe there is a question and Team Silent wants us to question our own realities and consider things from the different perspectives of all the people in your life (as well as the people of the world). We all have our own individual story and if you're willing to truly look at yourself realistically, you will see the evil within yourself and be able to come to terms with it and try to acknowledge it, while working towards fighting against those awful tendencies. We all contain the potential for "good" and "evil" actions. What we need to come to terms with is who we WANT to be and working towards that goal. Taoism and Judaism are about improving oneself to be the best person you can be. They both also contain Purgatory-like concepts to learn from your mistakes before being allowed to attain salvation in death. It's the only Silent Hill that does this, but for James this truly is purgatory and it is forcing him to look at the situation from all angles until finally accepting his guilt and being able to move on. Nothing in Silent Hill 1, 3 or 4 says that this can't be possible. Silent Hill is a mysterious place and it contains an immense, spiritual power. Alessa was an instrument for that power to emerge, but the town itself is what contains the power, hence why the 3 sequels are possible. The idea from the movie that it's Alessa who contains that power, it completely ignores the fact that Alessa didn't WANT to use her powers in the first game.

I 100% the game after about 50 hours of playtime and I've wanted to go back to play it again as I really love this game in all aspects. But I also struggle to even open it and begin another playthrough, because it feels like I'm opening Pandora's box once again, forcing myself to deal with a past that still lingers in the present.


Eeesh I needed to vent sorry.

*Oh also, the remake just reinforces this concept of salvation and rebirth even more. The Stillness ending is basically the good version of the In Water ending, this ending would likely still be allowing James to "break the cycle" while going out on his own terms. He has accepted what he has done, but he doesn't believe he deserves to continue living, and does the world a favour, or maybe that is me placing myself in that position because that's how I would feel if I ever had to come to the revelation that I did something of this level of morally ambiguous, but ultimately still taking the life of someone. And again, Taoism and Judaism don't believe in absolutes of good or evil, so in moral greyness this could absolutely still achieve salvation for James (at least I feel that way with my limited knowledge of the two religions, maybe someone far more knowledgeable could educate me). The Bliss ending is another bad ending to imply that the tape is going to get rewound, and James is going to need to repeat this adventure to attain true salvation. The Dog and UFO endings obviously aren't canonical so they don't matter, especially since they both came from a suggestion box that was left in the office to suggest a joke ending for the original Silent Hill.

I also hope the Maria scenario gets added eventually. It's quite interesting to learn more about Maria's story.

[RDSXPRKINS]

At around 42:00 - 44:00 you talk anyhow hard it is to watch someone wither away. I live that every day. I've lived it every day for years now. At first, it was my mother. She became a full-blown Diabetic and I watched as she slowly, slowly died. She eventually drowned from whatever fluids came into her lungs. Now, I watch as my father dies the same way. And there's not a single thing I can do to stop it. I'm so scared because I know I'll be the one to find my father's corpse one morning because I'm his caregiver. Sorry, don't know why I even said anything but that bit there hit home for me.

[LeeirahBrashka]

I love hearing your perspective on this. I’ve been a fan of Silent Hill since its release so having a fresh mind to hear interpret what I’ve already made my mind on is so fascinating. Thanks!