Since beginning 25 years ago, the Silent Hill franchise has accrued a devout fanbase that both loves and hates it. Though it includes some of the greatest horror games ever, some fans think publisher Konami has mishandled the franchise. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, let’s rank each Silent Hill game!
A couple of minor points before we begin. We will only be ranking mainline Silent Hill games, so will not be including the Gameboy Advance-exclusive Silent Hill: Play Novel, a visual novel retelling of the first game, and Silent Hill: Book of Memories, a PSVita Diablo-clone. Not only that, but because Silent Hill: Ascension is considered an “interactive media experience” and not a game, I can thankfully leave that off.
All other installments, whether released physically or digitally, are fair game. So, here’s our ranking of every Silent Hill game!
10) Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008)
I wish I could say it was hard deciding the worst Silent Hill game, but it honestly wasn’t. Most fans regard the Western-developed Silent Hill games poorly and the worst, by a wide margin, is Homecoming. Silent Hill: Homecoming is a misguided entry that doesn’t seem to understand what made the franchise so interesting. The game commits so much to action and aping previous installments, including the polarizing film, that it feels more like a lazy rehash of earlier entries and other contemporary action-horror games than anything original. The original elements do have some meat to them, like making all of the bosses related to different methods of dying and the main character’s status as a veteran, but it all comes across as a surface-level reading at best. Add in some bugs and dated 7th-generation graphics, and you have a Silent Hill game that aged like milk.
9) Silent Hill: 0rigins (2007)
While Homecoming’s regurgitation of franchise tropes is more egregious, Silent Hill: 0rigins slightly squeaks by due to its status as a prequel of the original game. That being said, it’s a fairly unoriginal prequel that undermines a lot about what makes the original game so good, with a lot of the first game’s original cast returning in what I can only describe as glorified cameos. Given its status as a PSP game, the scope and size of 0rigins is limited. That’s not necessarily a fault of the system, however, as there are plenty of amazing PSP games that work well with the limited space they have. 0rigins feels very underdeveloped and only lasts a few hours. Plus, when you factor in that a lot of its content is recycled throughout the game, 0rigins only feels even smaller than it is.
8) Silent Hill: Downpour (2012)
I wanted to like Downpour more than I did. As far as concepts go, playing as a convicted felon was ripe with potential, yet, like Homecoming, a lot of it wasn’t realized. The story is pretty solid with a great introduction, but it meanders towards the middle and leads to a resolution that should be more powerful than it is. Fully exploring the town of Silent Hill and completing various side objectives is cool, but it lessens the scares, and most of the side content is fairly superfluous. Downpour boasts some nice monster designs, like the Bogeyman and the Wheelman, but there are just as many that are completely forgettable. Downpour has a great framework and there is a good game here, but it just needs some more time polishing and refining what’s there. Also, no Korn please.
7) Silent Hill: The Short Message (2024)
Despite leaking back in 2022, when The Short Message stealth launched on the 25th anniversary of the first game’s release in Japan, I, like many others, downloaded it immediately and gave it a whirl. As a modern interpretation of many of the franchise’s tropes, it works, creating a decent narrative with a decidedly cool-looking monster. There isn’t much going on here from a gameplay standpoint, as there’s only one real puzzle and numerous chase sequences with minimal interactivity, but the game at the very least tells a complete story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. That’s a low bar, but it makes Silent Hill: The Short Message a solid entry, especially given that it is available for free.
6) Silent Hill 3 (2003)
Silent Hill 3 has a lot of great ideas and some truly great scares. When I think of some of the scariest moments in the series, I think of the Mannequin Room, the Borley Light, and that godforsaken mirror. While these moments are great — and they are great — actually playing Silent Hill 3 leaves a lot to be desired. The difficulty and resource management are much stricter than previous games, and Silent Hill 3 really puts the survival in survival-horror. That would be fine, but the levels are huge and lifeless to the point where you have no idea where you’re going and filled with overly aggressive enemies, so the game quickly becomes a chore. The story doesn’t do much to incentivize you to continue either, as it continues the convoluted story from the first game, which can be a tough pill to swallow after the solid standalone plot of Silent Hill 2. It’s an unpopular opinion, but this is the weakest of the original Team Silent games.
5) Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004)
Silent Hill 4: The Room is, by far, the biggest departure for the series — to the point where it was rumored that it wasn’t even a Silent Hill game originally. You can tell where those rumors came from, as its level design philosophy, gameplay decisions, and even the story all feel like a bizarre reimagination of the franchise. At first, it’s jarring, but if you’re willing to engage with Silent Hill 4’s odd structure, it delivers an incredibly satisfying horror experience that only gets better as it goes on. The story surrounding Walter Sullivan and the 21 Sacraments is fascinating and once you reach the halfway point, the game shifts in such a way that you’ll have to rethink how you approached certain areas and enemies as you feel like you’re never safe no matter where you are, which is a mood that no other game in the franchise has been able to replicate. It’s not for everyone, but The Room is a memorable and compelling horror experience.
4) Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009)
Remaking the first Silent Hill is a big risk, but leave it to Sam Barlow to turn this remake into its own satisfying and captivating entity. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories still hits the main beats of the original game — you play as Harry Mason, he needs to find his daughter Cheryl, and you encounter the same people and travel to the same locations — but they’re all framed in a very different light. If you’re familiar with the original game, Shattered Memories intentionally subverts your expectations and crafts a story that, while not overtly horrifying, will probably emotionally affect you and lead you to shed a tear or two. The gameplay leaves a fair bit to be desired since most of the setpieces involve running away from enemies with minimal interaction, but when the story is as good as it is, you’re willing to overlook some of the gameplay’s flaws.
3) P.T. (2014)
As a teaser to a potential 8th generation installment, Silent Hills, P.T. is absolutely terrifying. Despite taking place in a single hallway and having minimal interactivity, the constantly looping environment instills a sense of dread and fear each time you make your way through. Sometimes it’s from the random wails of a sink fetus. Other times it’s from the droning radio broadcast. Most of the time it’s from Lisa, who stalks you and is always watching, whether you notice it or not. It’s legitimately one of the scariest games ever, and you can’t play it thanks to Konami delisting it back in 2015. Ironically, that only served to elevate its legacy, making it a literal urban legend of a game. Once you play though and realize the puzzles are absurdly obtuse, that may diminish your excitement ever so slightly, but then you’ll be too scared to care.
2) Silent Hill (1999)
It’s crazy to think that a PS1 horror game from 1999 can still manage to scare players effectively, but that’s the power of the original Silent Hill. Exploring this snow-covered town in search of your daughter is an isolating experience and you’re kept in the dark for most of the game. You wander around the eponymous town with minimal guidance. You just stumble your way through until you find a building to explore and face the horrors within. But the game is smart in how it scares you and fills you with dread at the prospect of opening each and every door. Yes, the plot is basically broken nonsense and the lack of guidance can be frustrating for a first-time player, but it all comes together to create one of the most unique PlayStation games that undeniably stands the test of time.
1) Silent Hill 2 (2001)
Silent Hill 2 is the best horror game ever made. While it isn’t the scariest, it is undeniably a singular experience that can’t be cleanly compared to any other game in the genre. The story of James Sunderland’s visit to Silent Hill in search of his dead wife is powerful, with plenty of small moments that will haunt players for years to come. The game conveys its themes brilliantly and alleviates some of the frustrations of the first game while also offering replayability in the form of adjustable difficulty for both action and puzzle segments. Playing Silent Hill 2 is an experience that sticks with you, and if you’ve ever played it once, you’ll immediately understand what the hype is all about. There’s a reason why people are cautious about the remake’s existence. How can you remake something that is borderline perfect?
