I have never played any SH game - Should I play Homecoming first before this?

[RarelyActive]

I have recently got into story horror games and have been playing some gems for the first time like Outlast 1 and 2 and some of the Resident Evil games. - (Feel free to recommend masterpieces also. I have just bought Dead Space in the sale.)

I have always heard good things about Silent Hill. I am big into story though and on Steam, only Homecoming and Silent Hill 2 are available.

I don't really want to miss out on story or too much lore before playing number 2. However, I am a little bit dubious since Homecoming came out in 2009 and has mixed reviews.

Can you play SH2 right off the bat and still understand the story?

[Shae]

Yes you can play SH2 without having played any of the other SH games because it's a standalone story.

[RarelyActive]

Originally posted by Shaelent:

Yes you can play SH2 without having played any of the other SH games because it's a standalone story.

Yusss! Amazing news, thanks!

[troinliveshere]

Originally posted by ProbsInactive:

I have recently got into story horror games and have been playing some gems for the first time like Outlast 1 and 2 and some of the Resident Evil games. - (Feel free to recommend masterpieces also. I have just bought Dead Space in the sale.)

I have always heard good things about Silent Hill. I am big into story though and on Steam, only Homecoming and Silent Hill 2 are available.

I don't really want to miss out on story or too much lore before playing number 2. However, I am a little bit dubious since Homecoming came out in 2009 and has mixed reviews.

Can you play SH2 right off the bat and still understand the story?

Homecoming is awful and has nothing to do with this. It was one of the games made after the original dev team "Team Silent," separated after 3 and technically 4 and a lot of the games with the exception of Shattered Memories (which was a reimagining of the first game on the Wii), were either not good, mixed bags or just flat out terrible (and I mean pre-P.T.). Silent Hill 2 is its own standalone story. In fact, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game. I'm not sure what they added in the remake, but you don't get an explanation as to why the town is like that or where the monsters came from. One of the endings for New Game + gives subtle indication as to what's happening, but it doesn't mention anything that's established from the first game and instead presents entirely new information. The game isn't about why the town is the way it is but is instead about how it affects certain people. If you can accept not knowing the how and why for the town and the monsters, then you'll still love this game.

[klimat13]

This SH2 is a remake of the original SH2, which came out long before Homecoming, so really Homecoming could not possible be required to understand anything in SH2.

Regardless, SH2 is a stand alone story, so you don't even need SH1 to understand the absolute most of it.

[troinliveshere]

Originally posted by klimat13:

This SH2 is a remake of the original SH2, which came out long before Homecoming, so really Homecoming could not possible be required to understand anything in SH2.

Regardless, SH2 is a stand alone story, so you don't even need SH1 to understand the absolute most of it.

The only benefit (at least for new players), for playing the first game is understanding the how and why for the town and the monsters. Even the Rebirth ending which can only be achieved in a New Game + playthrough presents entirely new information about the town and doesn't mention anything about The Order, Alessa, etc. There was a Steam review from a guy who's never played the series before that gave it a bad review because they were more concerned with wanting an answer for the town rather than everything else even though that's not the point of the game, he was hilariously ratio'd in the replies. But yeah, if you can accept that the point of the game isn't about the how and why for the town and its monsters, then you can still enjoy it.

[RarelyActive]

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

Originally posted by ProbsInactive:

I have recently got into story horror games and have been playing some gems for the first time like Outlast 1 and 2 and some of the Resident Evil games. - (Feel free to recommend masterpieces also. I have just bought Dead Space in the sale.)

I have always heard good things about Silent Hill. I am big into story though and on Steam, only Homecoming and Silent Hill 2 are available.

I don't really want to miss out on story or too much lore before playing number 2. However, I am a little bit dubious since Homecoming came out in 2009 and has mixed reviews.

Can you play SH2 right off the bat and still understand the story?

Homecoming is awful and has nothing to do with this. It was one of the games made after the original dev team "Team Silent," separated after 3 and technically 4 and a lot of the games with the exception of Shattered Memories (which was a reimagining of the first game on the Wii), were either not good, mixed bags or just flat out terrible (and I mean pre-P.T.). Silent Hill 2 is its own standalone story. In fact, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game. I'm not sure what they added in the remake, but you don't get an explanation as to why the town is like that or where the monsters came from. One of the endings for New Game + gives subtle indication as to what's happening, but it doesn't mention anything that's established from the first game and instead presents entirely new information. The game isn't about why the town is the way it is but is instead about how it affects certain people. If you can accept not knowing the how and why for the town and the monsters, then you'll still love this game.

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

Originally posted by klimat13:

This SH2 is a remake of the original SH2, which came out long before Homecoming, so really Homecoming could not possible be required to understand anything in SH2.

Regardless, SH2 is a stand alone story, so you don't even need SH1 to understand the absolute most of it.

The only benefit (at least for new players), for playing the first game is understanding the how and why for the town and the monsters. Even the Rebirth ending which can only be achieved in a New Game + playthrough presents entirely new information about the town and doesn't mention anything about The Order, Alessa, etc. There was a Steam review from a guy who's never played the series before that gave it a bad review because they were more concerned with wanting an answer for the town rather than everything else even though that's not the point of the game, he was hilariously ratio'd in the replies. But yeah, if you can accept that the point of the game isn't about the how and why for the town and its monsters, then you can still enjoy it.

Is there a reason they haven't remade SH1 for PC and Steam?

I will play it still (SH2) because it's a stand alone game according to the comments, however it would be nice in knowing the 'why' also.

[troinliveshere]

Originally posted by ProbsInactive:

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

Homecoming is awful and has nothing to do with this. It was one of the games made after the original dev team "Team Silent," separated after 3 and technically 4 and a lot of the games with the exception of Shattered Memories (which was a reimagining of the first game on the Wii), were either not good, mixed bags or just flat out terrible (and I mean pre-P.T.). Silent Hill 2 is its own standalone story. In fact, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game. I'm not sure what they added in the remake, but you don't get an explanation as to why the town is like that or where the monsters came from. One of the endings for New Game + gives subtle indication as to what's happening, but it doesn't mention anything that's established from the first game and instead presents entirely new information. The game isn't about why the town is the way it is but is instead about how it affects certain people. If you can accept not knowing the how and why for the town and the monsters, then you'll still love this game.

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

The only benefit (at least for new players), for playing the first game is understanding the how and why for the town and the monsters. Even the Rebirth ending which can only be achieved in a New Game + playthrough presents entirely new information about the town and doesn't mention anything about The Order, Alessa, etc. There was a Steam review from a guy who's never played the series before that gave it a bad review because they were more concerned with wanting an answer for the town rather than everything else even though that's not the point of the game, he was hilariously ratio'd in the replies. But yeah, if you can accept that the point of the game isn't about the how and why for the town and its monsters, then you can still enjoy it.

Is there a reason they haven't remade SH1 for PC and Steam?

I will play it still (SH2) because it's a stand alone game according to the comments, however it would be nice in knowing the 'why' also.

Because Silent Hill 2 was not only the most popular game in the entire franchise, but also because it was standalone. If they were to remake the other games, they would have to do 1 first before 3 because 3 is a direct continuation of 1. Unlike Silent Hill 2, if you played Silent Hill 3 first before 1, you're gonna be completely lost and not understand what's going on. That's how standalone this game is.

[Bankai9212]

Only game with ties to 2 is silent hill 4. Funny you mention homecoming since the combat is used heavily in the remake. Guess it goes to show having a good story makes up for average combat.

[Bankai9212]

Originally posted by ProbsInactive:

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

Homecoming is awful and has nothing to do with this. It was one of the games made after the original dev team "Team Silent," separated after 3 and technically 4 and a lot of the games with the exception of Shattered Memories (which was a reimagining of the first game on the Wii), were either not good, mixed bags or just flat out terrible (and I mean pre-P.T.). Silent Hill 2 is its own standalone story. In fact, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game. I'm not sure what they added in the remake, but you don't get an explanation as to why the town is like that or where the monsters came from. One of the endings for New Game + gives subtle indication as to what's happening, but it doesn't mention anything that's established from the first game and instead presents entirely new information. The game isn't about why the town is the way it is but is instead about how it affects certain people. If you can accept not knowing the how and why for the town and the monsters, then you'll still love this game.

Originally posted by troinliveshere:

The only benefit (at least for new players), for playing the first game is understanding the how and why for the town and the monsters. Even the Rebirth ending which can only be achieved in a New Game + playthrough presents entirely new information about the town and doesn't mention anything about The Order, Alessa, etc. There was a Steam review from a guy who's never played the series before that gave it a bad review because they were more concerned with wanting an answer for the town rather than everything else even though that's not the point of the game, he was hilariously ratio'd in the replies. But yeah, if you can accept that the point of the game isn't about the how and why for the town and its monsters, then you can still enjoy it.

Is there a reason they haven't remade SH1 for PC and Steam?

I will play it still (SH2) because it's a stand alone game according to the comments, however it would be nice in knowing the 'why' also.

Because Konami at one point didn’t want to make games anymore and focus on panchinko machines.

[GoldInfinit7]

I have 60 hours in Homecoming. My answer is no don't play Homecoming first. Homecoming was made after Silent Hill 2 so it copies ideas from Silent Hill 2, especially those that don't even make sense. The other reason it's because it needs to be fixed but it seems they abandoned it. It has issues like the map not being scaled properly. And Homecoming has crashed on me multiple times, even many times, where I would lose progress and have to re-start at a previous save. However, it does have a good story if you're patient to deal with the technical issues and possible crashes. But I would play it after SH2 original or SH2 remake.

[Bankai9212]

Op if you can just play 1-3. If you enjoyed them enough you can even play 4 despite some issues. Everything after can be easily skipped.

[Necroth]

I advise you to play the original SH2 sincethere's a DLC (Born from a wish).

[Vagrant]

No-no-no, don't ever touch Homecoming on PC, EVER.

[nwad]

Homecoming contains minor spoilers for SH2, and the PC version is a buggy mess.

[klimat13]

Originally posted by ProbsInactive:

Is there a reason they haven't remade SH1 for PC and Steam?

I will play it still (SH2) because it's a stand alone game according to the comments, however it would be nice in knowing the 'why' also.

Konami abandoned Silent Hill for more than 10 years, but recently they changed their minds and decided to resurrect the francise.
They picked SH2 to remake first because it is the most popular game in the series and therefore their best chance at a comeback. Like how Square remade Final Fantasy 7 skipping 1-6, because 7 has the legendary status others don't quite reach.