Ranking the mainline Silent Hill games by Metacritic score

Although Silent Hill is finally back after a lengthy hiatus, the offerings we’ve had so far have not been wholly well received. The Short Message didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and the interactive experience Ascension was a massive disappointment. As such, we’re all waiting to see whether Bloober Team’s remake of the legendary second game can save the franchise’s renewal.

Given that Silent Hill 2 previews suggest the full game is going to be worth the wait, it’s tempting to, once again, get excited about the future of this iconic horror series. In anticipation of the upcoming remake – scheduled to release October 8 – I’ve put together a list of the best Silent Hill games as noted by their Metacritic scores. You can also check out similar articles I’ve done for Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, and Quake.

As always, this one will list the mainline Silent Hill entries only. When doing a bit of research, it seemed there was some debate about which games in the series would count as “main” ones. With that in-mind, I’ll be using this Wiki page for help, so anything that’s classed as a port or spin-off according to the site won’t be included. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s crack on.

Silent Hill: Downpour (2012) – 64%

Downpour forms the latter part of Silent Hill‘s original run. At this point, Konami’s IP had been scaring the pants off us for about 13 years, give or take. The survival horror genre had been through peaks and troughs over the years, with the likes of Resident Evil gearing more towards action rather than scares in the later games. However, there was still plenty to enjoy, and the indie scene was making strides thanks in part to Frictional Games’ terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which came out in 2010.

With horror offering so much, it sort of felt like Silent Hill: Downpour would always struggle to make an impact, despite it coming from such highly regarded stock. As a result, it ended with a 64% Metacritic score on PS3 (68% on Xbox 360), which is not exactly terrible, but it perhaps showed that the series wasn’t able to keep up with what was happening in modern horror.

Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008) – 70%

I have a pretty vivid memory of buying Homecoming when it first came out. Aside from it being a new Silent Hill installment, one of the big draws for me was the bundle pack, which came with the game itself and an Xbox 360 controller. A red one, as well. I absolutely loved that controller. I kept it for years to come, long after I finally gave up on Homecoming.

I don’t know what it was about it, but it just didn’t resonate with me the way the classics had previously. I couldn’t tell you much about it. I think there was a Pyramid Head-esque monster in there. Although, according to Wikipedia, this version was known as the “Bogeyman.” If memory serves me well, the game also didn’t allow for an inverted control scheme. That’s a big no-no for me, but it is probably not the main reason it got just an okay Metacritic score of 70% on the system. Some people probably liked it, but again, it felt like Silent Hill was on a downward trajectory at this point.

Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) – 76%

Developing a fourth game in a beloved horror franchise is never an easy feat. The three games that had come before it have gone down as classics in the genre, inspiring others since. But The Room is still a solid entry, one that’s able to dole out the scares with its twisted and psychologically creepy mood. A score of 76% on Xbox and PS2 means Silent Hill 4 stands firm with its predecessors.

Although I never completed the game, I have fond memories of it. While still capturing some of the elements that made the previous games instant hits, The Room‘s main bargaining chip was those moments in the apartment itself. The fact that these sections were entirely in first-person was quite the appeal for me back then, especially as it just wasn’t something horror was doing at the time. I remember looking through the spyhole, peeping through the hole at the neighbor’s place, and seeing the disembodied, ghostly head floating past my window. It definitely had an eeriness to it that was evidently missing from my gaming life.

Silent Hill: Origins (2007) – 78%

Beginning life on the long-defunct PlayStation Portable, Silent Hill: Origins is the first mainline entry in the series that wasn’t developed by Team Silent. Instead, the project was helmed by Climax Studios, which would go on to do ports for the likes of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles, as well as assist in the development of Returnal. So, not a bad career, overall.

However, because Origins only came to the PSP and eventually the PS2, it would have been easy to miss this one. As the name suggests, it’s very much a prequel, beginning before the events of the first game. Everyone loves an origin story and this game is no different, putting us in the shoes of trucker Travis Grady as he comes face-to-face with some familiar characters. Earning a Metacritic score of 78% on PSP – just beating The Room – suggests this entry had a lot going for it. I’m sad that I missed out, truth be known.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009) – 79%

Another one from Climax Studios, the developer obviously had something about it that meant it was more than capable of creating a high-quality Silent Hill game. I think I’m also right in saying that this is the first and only installment in the series that was released on the Wii. The hugely successful Nintendo system wasn’t really known for boasting a lot of horror games, though it did get a port of Resident Evil 4, which may be what prompted Konami to release Shattered Memories on the console.

This is one of those entries I wasn’t sure about, in terms of adding it to the list. You see, Shattered Memories is considered more of a reimagining. It retells the premise of the first Silent Hill entry, but with a twist in the narrative, as well as changing some of the characters. Having said that, the fact that it does change the story somewhat means you could also consider it a new game. So, here it shall stay.

Silent Hill 3 (2003) – 85%

Now we’re into what I would label the classic Silent Hill era, which means we’ll be seeing some big scores. The third game is one that I was very much late to. I only managed to get around to playing it a few years ago, not for any reason other than I didn’t have the system to play it at the time of its release. I bought it as part of the much-maligned Silent Hill HD Collection, but that didn’t detract from my experience.

With its themes of birth and pregnancy, not to mention the fact that you literally get to fight a god (spoilers!), Silent Hill 3 hit almost as hard as the previous two games. The fact that it came out just two years after what many regard as one of the greatest survival horror releases of all time (more on that soon) means the studio was able to keep that momentum going. Although perhaps overshadowed by the previous installment, the third game was still a remarkable achievement for Team Silent, with a Metacritic score of 85%. Just don’t compare it to the PC version.

Silent Hill (1999) – 86%

During the mid-to-late 1990s, there was only really one word when it came to survival horror: Resident Evil. Okay, that’s technically two words, but you know what I mean. Capcom’s iconic franchise has been a huge part of the gaming world for almost 30 years. Just before the new millennium – with a third entry about to hit shelves – it seemed nothing could stack up alongside it.

Then Silent Hill arrived, and we haven’t felt the same since. Although to an outsider it looks like a Resident Evil clone, it offered so much more. Instead of zombies and biotech conspiracies, we had grotesque monstrosities, a creepy cult, and a foggy locale that, in itself, was part of the antagonism. The first game had its limits, sure, but it used those limits to full effect, such as the aforementioned fog which initially was a cover to make the game run smoother, but eventually became a staple of the series. It just wouldn’t be a Silent Hill game without it.

Silent Hill 2 (2001) – 89%

I’m hoping many of you are familiar with Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw, the acerbic critic who brought us humorous (though serious) reviews via The Escapist on a weekly basis. I distinctly recall one of his videos in which he envisioned a world without video game sequels, forcing studios to be original every time they started a new project. A nice idea, for sure, but in this utopia of Croshaw’s, we would have missed out on such important hits like Thief 2, Half-Life 2, and, of course, Silent Hill 2.

The second entry in the newly arrived Silent Hill series didn’t just bring us more horror for the sake of it. Of course, it had plenty of scary moments, but its story was deep with symbolism; enemies that were representations of protagonist James Sunderland’s anxieties and fears. It was mature enough to be taken seriously by critics and gamers alike. It’s obviously aged at this point, but there’s a very good reason it has an 89% score on Metacritic, typically sitting high on lists of the best horror games of all time. Team Silent wasn’t just banging rocks together when it made this one.