“You promised you’d take me there again someday, but you never did.”
Those words were probably etched in the minds of everyone who played Silent Hill 2, the second entry into what has become known as one of the greatest horror franchises of all time. Despite this, there hasn’t been a brand new entry for 10 years. There are rumors that the series will be rebooted soon, but we thought it would be a good time to review what’s happened so far. And so here are the Silent Hill games, ranked from worst to best.
Below you’ll find all the great Silent Hill games ranked by how much we think they’ve offered gamers and gaming as a whole. In reality, 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 looking for the series, be sure to check it out. And let’s hope those Silent Hill reboot rumors are true, right? We’d love to add some new games to this list, preferably on the good end!
More trips to Silent Hill
9. Silent Hill: Book of Memories
We’re not exactly sure what Konami was thinking about this. You have a long-running horror series known for its thrilling combination of exploration and puzzles, so let’s make an entry that is an action RPG viewed from a top-down perspective? Okay.
At least developed by WayForward van Shantae fame, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is entertaining, even if it doesn’t fulfill our Silent Hill wishes. At the very least, it allows you to team up with friends while exploring dark dungeons full of grotesque enemies. When it comes to the ranking of Silent Hill games, there’s only one place you can go: the latter. It is certainly the worst of 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 is a bit out of the norm. It’s a reinvention of the first Silent Hill, even with the same premise. But there is quite a bit that is different.
For example, there is no fight. In his search for his daughter, Cheryl, Harry Mason must rely on running and hiding from the monsters he encounters. The third-person gameplay is interspersed with sections where Harry also interacts with a psychotherapist from a first-person perspective, answering questions that shape the story and even the monsters you’ll face. Needless to say, this is an interesting take on the Silent Hill formula designed by the Sam Barlow who created 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 quite old in the video game world.
Developed by Vatra Games, it is the first Silent Hill game without Akira Yamaoka’s music, although composer Daniel Licht still worked with singer Mary Elizabeth McGlynn on some songs. It was plagued with bugs and technical issues at launch, but those have since been ironed out. And while it’s not on the same level as the original Silent Hill games made by Team Silent, it’s competent enough. Perhaps most striking 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: Origin
Another Silent Hill game developed by Climax Studios, Silent Hill: Origins is… you guessed it, a prequel. Players take control of a truck driver named Travis, it’s up to them to explore the scary town of Silent Hill while trying to find information about a girl he rescued from a burning house. It has all the usual Silent Hill elements, such as an “other world”, combat and puzzles. In fact, when it comes to fighting, Silent Hill: Origins has plenty of features that make it unique. One is that Travis can fight with his bare fists, and two can break into those weapons.
When it comes to ranking the Silent Hill games, this is a tough one to place, but we’re glad it’s in 6th place.
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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, which we love Silent Hill: Homecoming. That’s why it was in the middle of our Silent Hill games list, ranked from worst to best. That’s right outside of all the original games developed by Team Silent.
Silent Hill: Homecoming has all the ingredients some would expect from a Silent Hill game. There’s a troubled protagonist, grotesque monsters, puzzles, and even a brilliant Akira Yamaoka soundtrack. But some think it’s a small derivative of Silent Hill 2. Hell, even the terrifying Pyramid Head appears. While it may not be completely original, in the end it’s a damn good game with a really intriguing story.
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4. Silent Hill 4: The Room
- Available on: PS2, Xbox & PC
If there’s one thing that shows Team Silent was eager to experiment with the Silent Hill formula, it’s: Silent Hill 4: The Room. Putting players in control of a man named Henry Townsend, who was desperately trying to escape from his apartment, forced them to enter dark and dangerous locations through holes that appear. While the action was viewed from the first-person perspective in the apartment, when traveling through a hole, the gameplay would switch to the usual third-person point of view.
As in Silent Hill Origins, some melee weapons here are breakable. But even trickier are ghostly enemies that just can’t be killed, requiring you to keep moving. A typically compelling story and the usual Team Silent flair means this is a commendable Silent Hill game, but when forced to rank among the others, 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 the original Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3 is arguably 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. Anyway, for the third entry in the Silent Hill series, Team Silent pulled out all the stops to create a game that felt familiar and pushed the PS2 hardware to its limits.
Silent Hill 3 still looks great to this day, and some of the effects used here to scare you away are absolutely stunning. A particular scene featuring a room with a giant mirror will be etched in our minds forever, as will the revelation that the creatures we see may not be as hideous as we think. This is a masterclass in horror, which is why it deserves more than 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 must not forget the roots of the series. That is, without the original Silent Hill, the video game horror scene can be very different indeed. Released on the original PlayStation in 1999, Silent Hill was the first game that really scared us. Frankly, sometimes we had to walk away from it because it made us feel so uncomfortable. From sound design to its dark and ominous visuals, Silent Hill is a lesson in horror, teasing you to explore the environments dripping with atmosphere.
We will never forget the first time the world around us turned into a mess of steel, rust and dried blood. And we’ll never recover from loud noises that suddenly come from behind us as we sneak around in the dark. It’s just a shame that EU players reduced the experience a bit by modifying some of their enemies 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 passed our Silent Hill games ranking and arrived at our number one. The game we think is the best. Are you surprised it is? Silent Hill 2? You shouldn’t be. Not only is this the best Silent Hill game, it is also one of the best horror games of all time. In fact it is simply one of the best spell of all time. Steeped in symbolism, Silent Hill 2 is a work of art. It follows protagonist James Sunderland, who has returned to the town of Silent Hill after apparently receiving a letter from his wife. But what’s disturbing is that she’s presumed dead. What follows is a journey full of horrors, hardships and revelations. And by the end of it, your world has probably been turned upside down.
If you are a horror fan you must experience Silent Hill 2. It’s that simple. This is a bona fide masterpiece and it’s a shame no one has managed to capture the magic of this release since then.
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