493 Words About: Locked Doors in Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill is rusted metal, dried blood, and is often a series of locked doors.
Just about every third door in Woodside Apartments, Lakeview Hotel, or Brookhaven hospital is locked. And while Legend of Zelda videogames assured players they would find keys to these rooms, players would be given a sentence declaring the lock to be broken. There was no way to ever see the inside of these rooms.
There’s nothing more frustrating, and intriguing, about a locked door I will never be able to open. That’s probably one of the reasons why I’ve used doors so much in my visual art. The other reason is Silent Hill 2.
In 2020 a plague known as the Virus of Corona forced most of the western hemisphere indoors, and by sheer coincidence I happened to have been visiting that hemisphere for 30 of my 31 years of life. Apart from a recent divorce, I didn’t notice much of a change (vampires beg me to go outdoors), however I did begin watching more horror videogame playthroughs on YouTube while I drew, specifically Survival Horror Network.
That dude, rules.
I wound up watching his playthroughs of Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill: The Room, and finally rewatching his playthrough of Silent Hill 2 (three times). These playthroughs were like watching beautiful horror films, while also providing endless reference imagery for my own visual art. Silent Hill 2, apart from being an incredible work of interactive media, is visually breath-taking. The game was released two decades ago and I’m still seeing its influence in the visual aesthetics of videogames being released today. Long hallways of dilapidated buildings punctuated by otherworldly monsters vomiting bile all while industrial noise pounds mercilessly away at my eardrums is a straight vibe, and I’ve often found myself returning to the space of Silent Hill for inspiration.
And usually, I’ve gone back to the doors.
James Sunderland is in Silent Hill looking for his wife Mary, and he’s searching desperately for an answer to the question: how could she be here when she’s dead. All of these doors with broken locks are a well executed rhetorical structure; they further confuse James about what’s real. Apart from Eddy, Laura, Angela, and Maria, Silent Hill is seemingly empty despite the fact that there’s apartment complexes and a hospital with notes and writing from residents of the town. This establishes a subtle narrative conflict that James is looking for life where there seemingly isn’t any.
And from a design perspective all of these doors only further the aesthetic goal of the game. Players have no idea whether or not a door will work as they try to open it, and sometimes when they do a cutscene will play, or enemies will greet them. This creates an incredible tension as players wonder what could possibly be behind this next door.
There’s a horror in never knowing.
And it lingers after me as James approaches the next room.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
12.1.2025
Like what you’re reading? Buy me a coffee & support my Patreon. Please and thank you.