“You promised you’d take me there again someday, but you never did.”
Those words are likely etched into the mind of anyone who played Silent Hill 2, the second entry into what has become known as as one of the greatest horror franchises of all time. Despite that, however, there hasn’t been a brand new entry for 10 years now. With rumours abound that the series is about to get rebooted, however, we thought it would be a good time to assess what there has been so far. And so here are the Silent Hill games, ranked from worst to best.
Down below, you’ll find every major Silent Hill game ranked according to how much we think they’ve offered to gamers and gaming as a whole. In truth, there hasn’t been a truly terrible Silent Hill game. Everything here is playable and enjoyable to some degree, but some are undoubtedly better than others.
And so, if you’re a Silent Hill fan, or are looking to get into the series, be sure to take a perusal. And let’s hope those Silent Hill reboot rumours are true, eh? We’d love to add some new games to this list, preferably up at the good end!
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9. Silent Hill: Book of Memories
- Available on: PS Vita
We’re not quite sure what Konami was thinking with this one. You’ve got a long-running horror series known for its tense combination of exploration and puzzles, so let’s make an entry that’s an action RPG viewed from a top-down perspective? Okay.
In any case, developed by WayForward of Shantae fame, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is entertaining, even if it doesn’t fill our Silent Hill desires. At least it allows you to team up with friends as you explore dark dungeons filled with grotesque enemies. When it comes to the Silent Hill games ranked, there’s only one place is can go though: last. It’s for sure the worst of them all.
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8. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- Available on: PSP, PS2 and Wii
Developed by Climax Studios, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is yet another entry in the series that’s a little out of the norm. It’s a reimagination of the first Silent Hill, even keeping the same premise. But there’s quite a lot that’s different.
There’s no combat, for example. On his quest to find his daughter, Cheryl, Harry Mason has to rely on running and hiding from the monsters he encounters. The third-person gameplay is interspersed with sections where Harry interacts with a psychotherapist from a first-person viewpoint, too, answering questions that shape the story and even the monsters you face. Needless to say, this is an interesting take on the Silent Hill formula, designed by the Sam Barlow who has gone on to create titles such as Her Story and Immortality.
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7. Silent Hill: Downpour
- Available on: PS3 & Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S via backwards compatibility)
Released in 2012, Silent Hill: Downpour is the newest Silent Hill game on this list, but still pretty old in the world of video games.
Developed by Vatra Games, it’s the first Silent Hill game to not feature music by Akira Yamaoka, though composer Daniel Licht did still work with long-time series vocalist Mary Elizabeth McGlynn on some tracks. At launch it was plagued with bugs and technical issues, but they’ve since been ironed out. And while it’s not on the same level as the original Silent Hill games created by Team Silent, it’s competent enough. Perhaps what stands out about it the most is the freedom it offers, with the town of Silent Hill being more open to explore than ever before.
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6. Silent Hill: Origins
- Available on: PSP & PS2
Another Silent Hill game developed by Climax Studios, Silent Hill: Origins is… you guessed it, a prequel. Putting players in control of a trucker named Travis, it’s up to them to explore the creepy town of Silent Hill while trying to uncover information about a girl that he saved from a burning house. It has all the usual Silent Hill elements, such as an “otherworld”, combat and puzzles. In fact, when it comes to combat, Silent Hill: Origins has numerous features that make it unique. One being that Travis can fight with his bare fists, and two in that weapons can break.
Overall, when it comes to ranking the Silent Hill games, this one’s a tricky one to place, but we’re happy putting it in 6th.
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5. Silent Hill: Homecoming
- Available on: PS3, Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S via backwards compatibility) & PC
It has its distractors, be we’re quite fond of Silent Hill: Homecoming. That’s why it’s found itself slap-bang in the middle of our list of Silent Hill games, ranked from worst to best. That’s just outside all of the original games developed by Team Silent.
Silent Hill: Homecoming has all the ingredients some would expect of a Silent Hill game. There’s a troubled protagonist, grotesque monsters, puzzles, and even a brilliant soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka. But some find it a little derivative of Silent Hill 2. Hell, even the fearsome Pyramid Head makes an appearance. Ultimately though, while it may not be entirely original, it is a bloody good game with a truly intriguing story.
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4. Silent Hill 4: The Room
- Available on: PS2, Xbox & PC
If there’s anything that displays that Team Silent was keen to experiment with the Silent Hill formula, it’s Silent Hill 4: The Room. Putting players in control of a man called Henry Townsend, desperately trying to escape his apartment, they were forced to enter dark and dangerous locations via holes that appear. While the action was viewed from a first-person perspective in the apartment, upon travelling through a hole the gameplay would switch to the usual third-person viewpoint.
Like in Silent Hill Origins, some melee weapons here are breakable. But even more troublesome are ghost-like enemies that simply cannot be killed, forcing you to keep on the move. A typically engrossing story and the usual Team Silent flair means that this is a commendable Silent Hill game, but when forced to rank it amongst the others the fourth spot is the only place it can go.
3. Silent Hill 3
- Available on: PS2, PS3 (via HD Collection), Xbox 360 (via HD Collection, also playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S) & PC
With a story that follows on from the original Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3 might just possibly be the scariest game in the series. It’s certainly the weirdest, with a pre-final boss scene that has to be seen to be believed. In any case, for the third entry in the Silent Hill series, Team Silent pulled out all the stops to create a game that felt familiar while pushing the PS2 hardware to its limits.
Silent Hill 3 still looks great to this day, and some of the effects employed here to creep you out are absolutely mind-blowing. A certain scene involving a room with a giant mirror will forever be etched in our minds, as well as the revelation that the creatures we see may not actually be as hideous as we believe. This is a masterclass in horror, and so it more than deserves our third sport in our list of the Silent Hill games, ranked.
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2. Silent Hill
- Available on: PS One (digital release playable on PS Vita)
As good as Silent Hill 3 is, we can’t forget the series’ roots. That is to say that without the original Silent Hill, the video game horror scene might be very different indeed. Released on the original PlayStation way back in 1999, Silent Hill was the first game that well and truly scared us silly. Honestly, sometimes we had to walk away from it because it made us feel so uneasy. From sound design to its dark and foreboding visuals, Silent Hill is a lesson in horror, teasing you to explore its environments dripping in atmosphere.
We’ll never forget the first time the world around us changed into a mess of steel, rust and dried blood. And we’ll never recover from loud noises suddenly out behind us as we crept around in the dark. It’s just a shame that EU players had the experience lessened a little by some of its enemies being tweaked to make them less controversial.
1. Silent Hill 2
- Available on: PS2, PS3 (via HD Collection), Xbox, Xbox 360 (via HD Collection, also playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S) & PC
This is it. You’ve endured our ranked list of Silent Hill games, and have arrived at our number one. The game which we believe is the very best. Are you surprised that it’s Silent Hill 2? You shouldn’t be. Not only is this the best Silent Hill game, it’s one of the best horror games of all time. In fact, it’s simply one of the best games of all time. Steeped in symbolism, Silent Hill 2 is a work of art. It follows protagonist James Sunderland, who’s returned to the town of Silent Hill after apparently receiving a letter from his wife. But the troubling thing is that she’s supposed to be dead. What follows is a journey full of horrors, hardships and revelations. And by the end of it your world is likely to have been turned upside down.
If you’re a horror fan, you need to experience Silent Hill 2. It’s as simple as that. This is a bona fide masterpiece, and it’s a shame that no one has managed to capture the magic of this release since.
