I agree (although SH3 is my fav with SH1 following closely behind!) I love SH2, but it's not the final word in the series, there's just TONS more in the lore worth exploring and re-exploring that it feels like a disservice to only go back to the Silent Hill 2 well when it feels quite dry by now.
I get it though, most people only ever played SH2, the same way many Resident Evil fans started with RE4 and thus they totally ignore the other games which all have their merits.
Going to go off here on Silent Hill, because it's just such an important franchise to me. I played Silent Hill songs during a senior piano recital. I was active in countless Silent Hill forums. I will vouch for the fan-edit "Restless Dreams" of the Silent Hill movie as a masterpiece. And I remember being a huge fan of horror games on the PS1 - from Parasite Eve to Dino Crisis to Resident Evil.
But Silent Hill 1 was transformative for me.
This wasn't some monster closet game with cheap jump scares that relied on its gore to shock and horrify, but a psychological nightmare of sound, warping reality, and very adult fears that are much greater than any monster. It was "mature" in ways other "Mature"-rated games weren't. From the camera angles to the pacing to the killer opening to the gradual descent into hellish darkness, it was something I'd never seen before, and it left such a strong impression, to this very day.
I acknowledge Silent Hill 2 is also a legit masterpiece. A saying I heard and often repeat is that if video games were an art museum, Silent Hill 2 is its Mona Lisa. I can't disagree.
But Silent Hill to me is more than just Silent Hill 2. Silent Hill 1 resonated with my wild imagination and fascination with horror back in the late 90s, but over 20 years later it resonates with me more. I became a father. She's only three right now, but analyzing the game from the viewpoint of a father looking for his lost child in this town horrifies me more now than ever, but also connects me with the hero in ways I never could before. When you have something - someone - worth going into the absolute pits of hell for, no matter how dangerous or frightening, it makes these games resonate on a level far greater than a super-soldier with a grenade launcher just trying to get out of a creepy mansion. To know what I would do to bring a loved one back safely is something primal, and the game developers nailed that awful sense of resignation to bleakly put soul and security on the line for a very faint hope of salvation.
Welcome back, Silent Hill, you horrifying nightmare.
