The 10 best Silent Hill games ranked in 2024

As gamers and horror enthusiasts, we’re lucky enough to explore countless haunted and cursed places that send shivers down our spines. Yet, most pale in comparison to the creation of Team Silent: the infamous, perpetually foggy town that drags you in and forces you to confront your deepest fears and nightmares, offering in return a sliver of hope for redemption. You know the one we mean, right?

Lately, there’s been a surge of people online wondering what the best Silent Hill game in 2024 is and trying to find out how to experience this iconic horror franchise best. And who can blame them? After all, the gaming world is eagerly awaiting the release of the Silent Hill 2 Remake. So, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit this cult classic horror series and share our thoughts on how to best immerse yourself in the terrifying story of the cursed, eternally mist-shrouded town.

What is the best Silent Hill game?

Obviously, the answer to this question might vary based on your personal preferences. We’re also the first to admit that nostalgia played a significant role in our picks. Still, it won’t surprise anyone that the original four installments, made by the original creators, rank much higher than the newer, slightly less twisted titles from other studios. We believe the Silent Hill series is a spectacular, genre-defining franchise that deserves renewed attention. And while it has had its highs and lows, there really isn’t a bad place to dive into its grotesque and twisted world.

10. Silent Hill: The Short Message

Kicking off our list of Silent Hill games ranked from worst to best is the ironically titled Silent Hill: The Short Message, the newest addition to the franchise. We had high hopes, but sadly, the game doesn’t quite hit the mark. You play as Anita, a young woman who heads to the German town of Kettenstadt (yes, this titular fog-covered town is notably absent here) to meet her famous artist friend Maya. Oddly enough, Maya chooses an abandoned housing complex, infamous for a spate of tragic suicides, as your meeting spot. We don’t want to spoil too much, but when Anita arrives, Maya is missing, and we find ourselves lost in a nightmarish, constantly shifting building, dodging a grotesque, malevolent creature.

Now, don’t get us wrong, Silent Hill: The Short Message isn’t absolutely terrible. The graphics are stunning, showcasing both the dilapidated housing complex and its eerie, otherworldly counterpart. Plus, the monster design stays true to the franchise’s creepy and symbolic roots. However, the game’s narrative is quite basic; there’s no combat, and it all wraps up in about 2.5 hours. We do recommend giving Short Message a try, especially since it’s free, but if you’re after that depressing, gut-wrenching SH experience, your cravings will go unsatisfied. For those who enjoy running and hiding, you might want to check other titles, like the phenomenal Outlast and Amnesia series.

9. Silent Hill: Homecoming

It might surprise some readers, but Silent Hill’s iconic psychedelic, psychological horror owes much to Jacob’s Ladder, the classic horror film. This influence is particularly strong in Silent Hill: Homecoming, which lands at number nine on our list.

Just like Jacob’s Ladder features an ex-soldier tormented by PTSD-fueled nightmares, Silent Hill: Homecoming puts us in the shoes of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran with his own haunting past. The game kicks off with Alex enduring a nightmarish, gurney-bound trip through a surreal hospital — again, a direct nod to the movie. The man soon finds himself in his hometown of Shepherd’s Glen, searching for his missing brother. As is customary in the SH series, things quickly take a dark and twisted turn, delving into the protagonist’s troubled history and leading him on a journey toward either redemption or damnation. Sadly, despite technical improvements and enhanced graphics, Homecoming never quite achieves the same harrowing, fear-inducing atmosphere that the original series is known for.

8. Silent Hill: Downpour

Horror fans will concur that a dark, rainy night provides the perfect backdrop for a spine-tingling tale. Silent Hill: Downpour, the eighth entry in our ranking of Silent Hill games from worst to best, exemplifies this setting. The game follows Murphy Pendleton, a prison inmate who finds himself trapped in the eponymous, nightmarish town after a prison transport bus crashes.

If we had to distill Silent Hill: Downpour into a single word, it would be ‘uneven’. On one hand, it presents an unexpectedly gripping and twisted narrative, complete with moral dilemmas that influence Murphy’s fate. The game also features intriguing side stories and a unique, though a bit underdeveloped, rain mechanic that summons more aggressive creatures. However, the monsters themselves feel disappointingly generic to us, lacking that surreal, twisted design the franchise is renowned for. Combine it with weak combat, mediocre chase sequences, and merely passable graphics, and it’s clear why this installment didn’t rank higher. On a humorous note, we couldn’t help but notice Murphy’s striking resemblance to a certain Snake from Konami, which makes his lack of combat proficiency all the more perplexing.

7. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

(Source: Evan Tysinger)

If you’re anything like us, eagerly awaiting the upcoming Silent Hill 2 Remake, you might have wondered, “Why didn’t they start with the first installment?” In fact, they did! Back in 2009, Konami, in collaboration with Climax Studios, released Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a reimagining of their groundbreaking original SH1. If this flew under your radar, it’s likely due to the game receiving a lukewarm reception at best.

The premise mirrors that of the original: Harry Mason’s desperate search for his missing daughter, Cheryl, following a car accident in the enigmatic town of Silent Hill. To its credit, the game introduced several innovative concepts, such as alternating between exploration and narrative-driven sessions with a psychiatrist. Our responses to his questions shape the game’s world and the design of its monstrosities, making each playthrough somewhat unique. However, our biggest gripe lies with the dull, monotonous chase sequences that provoke more irritation than genuine fear. Additionally, the game’s initial releases on Wii, PS2, and PSP have made Silent Hill: Shattered Memories hard to come by. But if you have any last-gen consoles collecting dust, you might want to give this horror a try. A free psychiatrist session is included!

6. Silent Hill: Origins

(Source: Joe B.)

We conclude the first half of our list of Silent Hill games ranked in 2024 with Origins, known as SH: Zero in Japan. After experimenting with the series, Konami returned to its roots, delivering a somewhat underappreciated yet respectable prelude to the entire saga.

The game kicks off with Travis Grady, a truck driver, navigating a foggy, desolate road at night. Suddenly, he spots a ghostly figure of a young girl standing in the middle of the road. To avoid hitting her, he swerves his truck violently and comes to a halt. Concerned, Travis exits and follows the girl into the foggy surroundings, which inevitably lead him to the infamous, cursed town, where he must confront the horrors that await.

A word of caution: due to its age and the fact that it was released only on PSP and PS2, playing Silent Hill Origins today may be challenging. However, if the remake of SH2 successfully reignites the interest in the franchise, who knows what the future might hold for Origins?

5. Silent Hill 4: The Room

Imagine waking up in your apartment one day, unable to leave. Not because you don’t want to, but because heavy, rusted chains seal your door from the inside! Breaking windows is impossible, shouting and punching the walls to alert the neighbors yields no result. You desperately try to find a way out, feeling deep in your bones that with every passing minute, a malevolent presence seems to seep into your apartment. With that being said, will you truly be safer outside?

Sounds like a terrifying prospect? Welcome to Silent Hill 4: The Room. There is an entire genre of claustrophobic horrors where people end up trapped, so Konami and the original Team Silent decided to explore this niche and redefine the series. Henry, the main protagonist, finally makes his way out of his flat, only to be transported to several nightmarish locations. There, he will need all his cunning and combat prowess to face monstrosities so abominable and twisted that they could easily feature in most of the titles on our list of terrifying survival horror games. Adding to the terror, Henry’s apartment – a supposed safe haven – becomes increasingly unsettling as the story progresses. The first-person perspective intensifies the choking claustrophobia, and the strange, terrifying events only add to the paranoia. By the end of the game, you’ll feel genuinely creeped out in the apartment, desperate to quickly save the game and get the heck out.

4. Silent Hill 3

A bustling shopping mall is not the first place you’d expect a story-driven survival horror game to kick off. Yet, it’s exactly where the terrifying journey of Heather Mason, the teenage protagonist of Silent Hill 3, begins. Despite being plagued by nightmarish visions, Heather leads a seemingly normal life filled with typical teenage activities. However, on the day the story begins, she is confronted by a detective claiming to have crucial information about her past.

Shaken by the encounter, Heather retreats into the mall’s labyrinthine backrooms, only to find the familiar environment morphing into a twisted, otherworldly version of itself. Attacked by grotesque monsters, Heather barely makes it back home, only to witness a disaster that propels her into the fog-shrouded town of Silent Hill in search of the truth about her past.

3. P.T.

Source: sabukaru

– Hold on, wait a second, – you might say, scratching your head and glancing back at the previous entries. – What’s this? I thought we were discussing the best Silent Hill game in 2024.” Dear horror enthusiasts, we are not mistaken. P.T., or Playable Teaser, indeed belongs to the SH series. What’s more, it was secretly created by the legendary duo Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro as a free prelude to the much-anticipated Silent Hills game. But before you eagerly jump to our search section, we must bring you some unfortunate news. The fate of both the teaser and the project it set the stage for is as unbearable as being stabbed by Pyramid Head himself.

In P.T., you play as an unnamed man trapped in his house in a seemingly never-ending loop of corridors. Soon, strange events begin to unfold. A radio broadcast details a gruesome family murder, a baby’s cries emanate from behind a locked door, and the sound of tortured, pain-filled breathing echoes from dark corners. And sometimes, you catch a glimpse of a menacing, twitching apparition that seems to be stalking you.

So why did we advise you against enjoying this horrific masterpiece? You may have heard about the fallout between Kojima and Konami, which led to significant changes in the newer installments of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. This dispute also resulted in Konami removing P.T. from digital stores, making it virtually inaccessible. With the astounding quality of the Teaser, many of us wonder if Kojima’s Silent Hills could become a breakthrough in the SH franchise. Sadly, we will never know.

2. Silent Hill

(Source: Ash E. Bailey)

What is the best Silent Hill game ever made? Ask some of the staunchest and oldest fans of the series, and they might point to the very first entry in the series. Incidentally, it’s the runner-up in our ranking. Yes, we know the game is two and a half decades old, was released four consoles generations ago, and nowadays looks as if it were carved out of wood by an unskilled carpenter. We also admit that nostalgia plays a role in our judgment.

However, it’s not the whole story. Harry’s desperate attempt to find his daughter remains genuinely terrifying. The graphics, though outdated, create an incredible atmosphere of terror, enhanced by the cinematic, fixed-point camera angles that intensify the feeling of claustrophobia. And don’t forget the sound—it’s as dread-inducing as it gets. The first time Harry enters the other world, and the sound of alarm sirens blares in the background, it still sends chills down our spines.

1. Silent Hill 2

Let’s face it – no one is surprised here. The crown goes to Silent Hill 2, the classic that defined the genre of horror games. SH2 set a golden standard that many other franchises aspired to but rarely matched – though we do have a nice list of scary psychological horrors if you are interested. The leap in quality from the first installment is staggering, with graphics that still hold up today and environments so twisted and grotesque they seem conjured by a deeply disturbed mind. And the monsters — oh, the monsters. There’s a good reason why even those who have never played the series recognize Pyramid Head, the iconic executor-like creature that roams SH2. And to think that all of this serves as a backdrop to an unforgettable story…

Speaking of the story, the best way to play Silent Hill 2 is to uncover its secrets without any prior spoilers, so we will be brief. The plot follows James Sunderland, who arrives in the fog-shrouded town after receiving a letter from his wife, Mary. The eerie problem? Mary had died over three years earlier, yet the letter is unmistakably hers. Driven by sadness, guilt, and a glimmer of hope, James decides to follow the call, embarking on a perilous journey that may kill him – or redeem him. It’s a hell of a ride — sometimes quite literally — that will leave you with early signs of mild depression and an inevitable thirst for more. Who knows, you might even join our group of franchise enthusiasts eagerly anticipating the upcoming remake.

There we go, horror aficionados! Our ranking of the Silent Hill series. What do you think? Will you be checking out any of the old installments, or are you just waiting to see how Bloober Team and Konami fare with restarting the series? And perhaps you have some other horror games that we should try? Whatever you feel like adding, the comment section is yours.