IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

James got a letter. From a dead person. Oh dear.

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jdnation
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IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

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"After 1.2 million Face-Off matchups, IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time, followed by Resident Evil 2 Remake at #2, Resident Evil 7 at #3, and Dead Space at #4."
https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1587218113224925187

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https://www.ign.com/articles/the-best-h ... r-revealed
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Droo »

Downpour was voted the worst SH entry, as it should be.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Jonipoon »

Konami executives be rubbing 'em hands right now.

I think that list is pretty fair and expected, I'm just a bit annoyed that both RE7 and RE: Village got so many votes since they don't feel like Resident Evil at all to me. Also not surprising to see that Dead Space is the only non-Japanese game to top the list.

The saddest part was to see Dino Crisis ending up at an abysmal 60th place, even lower than rubbish like Homecoming and RE5.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Droo »

I think that's just due to modern gamers just not being familiar with it. Ditto for Parasite EVE.

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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by KageReneko »

Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 scarier than any of the Project Zero/Fatal Frame games? Bullshit...

Also, I am still finding SH1 a lot scarier than SH2
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Droo »

Speaking purely of which is scariest, PT is one of only a handful of games to actually make me feel terror while playing.

The others?

Fatal Frame 2
Outlast 1 and 2
Visage
Alien Isolation
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by jdnation »

Guess we also know the order of other SH games Konami will have Bloober or someone else make next.

SH1 in 6th place, and SH3 in 9th.

But it would make sense to remake 1 before 3.

If SH2 remake is a hit financially, and it probably will be, 1, 3 and 4 will be remade.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Jonipoon »

Scariest game for me to this very day is The Evil Within - It reawakened a dread from within the deepest part of my body that I didn't know was possible in adulthood. Before that, the scariest games for me used to be SH1 and SH4, and they're actually the only Silent Hill games that still manages to give me goosebumps. I never found any of the other Silent Hills to be that scary, to be honest. I have not played P.T. though, if that one should count.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by NanayaShiki »

I agree that Silent Hill 2 is the best horror game of all time.
In that it's one of the best video games of all time and also happens to be a horror game.
But I don't think SH2 is the "scariest" game of all time, if we're talking about scares.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Droo »

I'd say it's one of the least scary in the series, actually.

Pyramid Head and the first time that Lying Figure darts out from under the car aside.

And the first appearance of the Bubble Head Nurse.

Okay, maybe scarier than I give it credit for, but 1, 3, and 4 freak me out more.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by leftshoe18 »

You know I always consider SH2 to be "not that scary" until I replay it.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by The Adversary »

SILENT HILL 2's greatest strength, as an entry in the series, is not that it's "scary." It's dreading. There's a constant fear of something happening, even if it never does. Even the very beginning, as James runs down the path to town, there's something following you that you can never see. It doesn't have the jump-scares like in SILENT HILL—the Air Screamer in Café 5-to-2, Schrödinger's cat in the locker, etc.—only things like the hotel sobbing or the scream-like-thing in the prison bathroom or the dead body pile-up in the prison that make you ask, What the fuck? and What the fuck is about to happen?

That, to me, is what makes SILENT HILL 2 terrifying.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Jonipoon »

I think the fear factor in Silent Hill 2's themes are considerably more "adult" than the rest of the series, which is probably why I found it less scary as a teen compared to 1, 3, and 4. Playing it for the first time as an adult would probably have been more dreadful because you can relate to James and the story in another way. As The Adversary said, the greatest strength of the game is the subtle fear, but also in how it tackles deeply human issues and taboo topics. Like, you ask yourself what could drive a person like James into doing what he did? Would you have done the same? Those questions are scary, and it goes for all the characters in the game.

Comparingly, it's a bit more difficult to relate to a cult wishing to bring forth the birth a demonic God.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by alone in the town »

I find myself wondering, if Silent Hill 2 had been made (not remade) in 2023, would there even be combat with monsters at all? Because, honestly, those have always felt, to me, like gameplay elements included, in large part, because you didn't not include them in a turn-of-the-century horror videogame if you wanted anyone to actually play it. Which is, of course, why those elements will remain in the remake. Honestly, the fact that James takes down dozens of eldritch horrors breaks immersion, and detracts from the horror. I would prefer fewer monsters, less combat, and make each encounter more of a serious event.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by Jonipoon »

^Silent Hill 2 would certainly work great as a pure non-combat survival horror experience with elements of stealth, hiding and bigger emphasis on puzzles. Honestly though, it probably already has the fewest enemy encounters in the entire series. Most areas are pretty desolate and empty which is also kind of the point. Comparingly, Silent Hill 3 is more packed with enemies in order to evoke the sense of panic.

If it was made today? I don't know. The non-combat horror genre had its heydays in the early to mid 2010's when games like Amnesia, Outlast and Five Nights at Freddy's were in the spotlight. You could make an exception with The Dark Pictures Anthology which is still ongoing and popular, but those games are kind of in a league of their own. However, I do think that the tides have turned back in favor of combat-based horror games. The survival horror genre in particular is witnessing some sort of renaissance as of lately.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by The Adversary »

>I find myself wondering, if Silent Hill 2 had been made (not remade) in 2023, would there even be combat with monsters at all?<
I certainly hope there's a no-combat option in SILENT HILL 2: REMAKE. The original release was going to have that option available, though it was inevitably scrapped for whatever reason—I forget why. I'd be more than happy to remove so-called random battles and have only forced fights, like with the first Lying Figure, Mannequin, Flesh Lips, Abstract Daddy, the Red Pyramid Things and Mary/ia. Maybe include a forced encounter with a nurse, and throw in the original concept of the RPTs stalking James through the town.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by KageReneko »

Combat in SH2 is almost optional anyway... I mean, monsters only are a threat when you are in narrow places but when you are in the streets you can dance around them without danger. Having a no combat game would be bad, remember what happened to Shattered memories where we couldn't check the environments because we were forced to run. They probably will include a trophy/achievement for a no killing playthough.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by The Adversary »

Well, that's kind of the same with the Void in SILENT HILL: DOWNPOUR. The audience never had a chance to really look at anything, which was frustrating. I don't mean a no-combat game in that sense, though. I straight up mean monsters don't exist outside of the mandatory encounters.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by KageReneko »

In that case they would need to make the environments really interesting, not just random obscure references or subtles hints of the lore like we had before so modern players won't get bored. Also, the time that we spend at the streets would need to be shorter, I still remember how everybody complained about sailing from one island to another in The Wind Waker because players said it was tedious. I guess you mean something like the beginning in SH2, from observation deck to the graveyard and then to the first Lying Figure; I love that sequence and how the game used those sounds in order to play with my paranoia, but this kind of stuff is good because it is not overused, if you have the same during all the game it can get old.
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Re: IGN readers voted Silent Hill 2 as the best horror game of all time

Post by The Adversary »

That's fair. I forget modern gaming is so action-driven that the norm is not exploratory, which is what I prefer. I haven't played a new game since, like, Resident Evil 4, outside of Wii games like Mario Speedwagon and Wii Sports. Anything else are reissues for the Switch like Final Fantasy VIII. New games, though? Nothing. I tried playing Titanfall and I was absolutely terrible. Had no idea what I was doing.

That's why I think including the Red Pyramid Things stalking you through the streets (as was originally intended) would be a nice addition. You can still explore but there's always the Oh shit I hear something factor.

Or maybe a no-combat option after the first playthrough. So, yeah, full monsters, full combat, full encounters, and then if you wanna go Extra Hard riddle/No Combat action mode, go for it. That would be my ideal, I guess.
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