The Silent Hill 2 remake’s timeloop twist is its own gruesome rabbit hole: GameSpew

A player recently solved the mystery behind the Silent Hill 2 remake’s Polaroidswhich all but confirms that main character James is stuck in a time loop, from which he may never escape. It’s a twist previously mentioned by fans, but now that he has Bloober’s support, it’s all upsetting.

When interpreted correctly, the Polaroids from Silent Hill 2 reveal the message “You’ve been here for twenty years.” It seems that James has been searching for his wife for twenty years and there is no indication that he will break that pattern anytime soon. But be warned, we’re getting into spoiler territory here, James’ continued torment is just one aspect of all this.

We also can’t stop thinking about the others James encounters as he wanders Silent Hill. We know that Mary is a product of Silent Hill, and the remake underlines that with her actions. For example, she leads James to the statue and tells a story that reminds him of Mary. Although Born from a Wish doesn’t appear in the remake, she’s clearly not real.

But what about Eddy? He certainly has his own problems, but he’s more of a victim than James and so being trapped with him isn’t exactly a proportionate punishment. The same goes for Angela. Driven to murder as a victim of abuse, she has been climbing those burning stairs every day for twenty years?

Related: Silent Hill 2 review

And then there is Laura. Laura is the only character who, she says, does not see the monsters. But she definitely sees James as guilty, and that might be reason enough for her to stay. She may look eight, but what if she’s so full of hate that her days consist of following her James-tormenting timetable, only pausing for a beer or two?

The less disturbing option is to assume that James is alone, that he is talking to ghosts or creating constructs. But if you do the math, it still means he’s been through this nightmare thousands of times. That is an image we will think about for a long time.