| Silent Hill 2 | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Team Silent[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Director(s) | Masashi Tsuboyama |
| Producer(s) | Akihiro Imamura |
| Artist(s) | Masahiro Ito |
| Writer(s) | Hiroyuki Owaku |
| Composer(s) | Akira Yamaoka |
| Series | Silent Hill |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Silent Hill 2[b] is a 2001 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami. The game was released from September to November, originally for the PlayStation 2. The second installment in the Silent Hill series, Silent Hill 2 centers on James Sunderland, a widower who journeys to the town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife. An extended version containing a bonus scenario, Born from a Wish, and other additions was published for Xbox in December of the same year. In 2002, it was ported to Windows and re-released for the PlayStation 2 as a Greatest Hits version, which includes all bonus content from the Xbox port. A remastered high-definition version was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012 as part of the Silent Hill HD Collection. A remake developed by Bloober Team was released on October 8, 2024.
Development of Silent Hill 2 began in June 1999, soon after Silent Hill had been completed. Its narrative was inspired by the Russian novel Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and some of the influences on the game's artistic style include the work of film director David Lynch and paintings by Francis Bacon and Andrew Wyeth; cultural references to history, films and literature can be found in the game. In contrast with the previous title, whose narrative concerned cult activity, Silent Hill 2 focuses directly on the psychology of its characters.
In North America, Japan, and Europe, over one million copies of Silent Hill 2 were sold, with the greatest number of sales in North America. Critics praised its psychological horror story, use of symbolism and taboo topics, atmosphere, graphics, monster designs, soundtrack, sound design, and emotional depth. It is considered to be one of the best video games of all time. The game was followed by Silent Hill 3 in 2003.
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