Few horror series have a reputation like Silent Hill. Since 1999, Konami's games have sent players into a fog-bound American town that seems to rebuild itself out of their characters' guilt, grief and trauma. There are monsters, but the real horror is psychological, and the best games in the series are remembered less for their scares than for the way they stay with you afterward.
After years of silence, the series is busy again: a celebrated remake of Silent Hill 2, an all-new game set in 1960s Japan, and more on the way. If you have never played one, or you last visited the town on a PlayStation 2, here is what you need to know and where to start.
Unknowndivide may earn a commission from purchases made through links in this guide.
What Silent Hill is
The first Silent Hill came out on the original PlayStation in 1999, made by a small internal Konami team that fans came to call Team Silent. Where other horror games of the era leaned on jump scares and action, it was quieter and stranger. Its fog and darkness made every street feel claustrophobic, a static-filled radio warned you when creatures were near, and a soundtrack by composer Akira Yamaoka mixed industrial noise with melancholy rock. Over the decades the franchise has grown into mainline games, spin-offs, films and more, and Konami says the series has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide.
The thing that ties it all together is the idea that the town of Silent Hill reflects whoever enters it. Each game's monsters and nightmare locations are shaped by the protagonist's own inner life, which is why the stories feel so personal and so unsettling.
The classics
Silent Hill (1999) follows Harry Mason as he searches for his missing daughter after a car crash on the edge of town. It set the template: fog, a radio, a flashlight and a slow slide into a darker "Otherworld."
Silent Hill 2 (2001) is the one most often called a masterpiece. James Sunderland comes to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife, Mary, who has been dead for three years. It is a story about grief and guilt, and it introduced Pyramid Head, one of the most famous monsters in games.
Silent Hill 3 (2003) and Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) rounded out Team Silent's run, the first a direct sequel to the original and the second a strange experiment about a man trapped in his own apartment. After that, the series passed to outside studios for a string of games of mixed reputation.
One more piece of history fans still talk about: P.T., a free "playable teaser" released in 2014 for a new game called Silent Hills, made by Hideo Kojima with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The project was cancelled and the teaser was pulled, but its looping, terrifying hallway influenced a whole generation of horror games.
The modern era
The revival began with Konami's remake of Silent Hill 2, developed by Bloober Team, a horror studio from Krakow, Poland, with original composer Akira Yamaoka and concept artist Masahiro Ito returning. Released on October 8, 2024 for PlayStation 5 and PC, it expands the areas you can explore, swaps the fixed camera angles for an over-the-shoulder view, rebuilds the combat and adds new cut-scenes, while keeping James's story intact. It has since come to Xbox Series X|S as well.
Then came Silent Hill f on September 25, 2025, the first entry set in Japan. Developed by NeoBards Entertainment, it follows high school student Shimizu Hinako through her hometown of Ebisugaoka in the 1960s as a fog rolls in and the town transforms. The story is by Ryukishi07, the writer behind the Higurashi and Umineko visual novels, with creature designs by the illustrator kera and music by Yamaoka and Kensuke Inage. Its imagery, all red spider lilies and rot, is some of the most striking the series has produced.
Next up is Silent Hill: Townfall, announced for 2026 on PlayStation 5 and PC. Made by Screen Burn Interactive and published with Annapurna Games, it moves to a fictional Scottish island called St. Amelia and is played entirely in first person, with a pocket television that picks up unstable signals as one of your only tools.
Silent Hill on screen
The games have also crossed over into film. French director Christophe Gans made a big-screen Silent Hill in 2006, built largely on the first game, with a look that borrowed heavily from the series' fog, ash and rusted Otherworld. Gans later returned to the town with Return to Silent Hill, an adaptation of the Silent Hill 2 story. Neither is a substitute for the games, where the slow pace and the feeling of being alone with the controller do most of the work, but both show how much of the series' identity lives in its images and sound.
Where to start
For most people, the answer is the Silent Hill 2 remake for PS5. It is the series' most famous story, rebuilt with modern controls and visuals, and it does not require you to know anything about the earlier games. Play it slowly, with headphones and the lights off, and read the notes you find along the way.
If you want something completely fresh, start with Silent Hill f Day One Edition for PS5. It is a standalone story with a new setting and a new cast, and its folk-horror atmosphere makes a great entry point for players who like Japanese horror films more than American ones. Either way, you will understand why people keep going back to the fog.
If you like Silent Hill
Silent Hill's DNA runs all through modern horror, on screen as well as in games. For films with the same slow-burn dread, our A24 horror movies starter guide is a good next step, while Spookies is the opposite: gleefully chaotic 1980s monster mayhem. And if you want to play scary games on the go, see our pick of the best handheld game consoles.
More in our Film & Games hub.
