10 Hidden Details In Silent Hill 2 Remake

10 Silent Hill 2 Remake Easter Eggs

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are pulling back that extra layer of skin to see what’s under the surface. Geez I wish I’d used a different analogy. The Silent Hill 2 Remake is filled with fantastic Easter eggs that pay tribute to other games, and most importantly the original game, which new players would have definitely missed... Let’s educate them. SPOILERS AHEAD!

#10: Jack’s Inn Safe Code

After leaving Rosewater Park with Maria and arriving at Jack's Inn, players must unlock the safe in the main office to obtain a key for the chain-linked gate. The safe’s code is revealed to be the infamous 0451, a number that has appeared in numerous games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Bioshock Infinite, and Prey. This tradition dates back to System Shock, where the code was first used. It was also the security door code for Looking Glass Studios, the creators of System Shock. As the first door code puzzle in video game history, 0451 has since been reused in many games as both a nod to gaming history and a tribute to Looking Glass Studios. I’m hesitant to say this on the Mojo platform, but I actually use this pin for some very important things in my life, and now I’ve gotta go change the pin before one of you works it out.

#9: Achievements

Some hidden details in Silent Hill 2 come in the form of achievements, or trophies, depending on where you play the game. The easiest one to unlock is “No Turning Back Now.” If you try to leave Silent Hill by heading back up the road from the parking structure, an invisible wall stops you, and you’ll earn this achievement, which plays out much the same as the original. Another amusing Easter egg is the “It’s Bread” achievement, which you get by interacting with trays of moldy bread in the Lakeview Hotel kitchen. This is a playful nod to Silent Hill 3, where Heather Mason encounters a similarly famous caption at Helen's Bakery. We love a game that can poke fun at itself, and Silent Hill does it better than most.

#8: Original Map

In Silent Hill 2, your most useful tool is not your gun, it’s not your melee weapon, it’s your map, which the player will undoubtedly pull out more than any other item in their inventory. But players who never experienced the original wouldn’t know that the importance of the map is nothing new. When players enter the Wood Side Apartments, they can spot the iconic original Silent Hill 2 map in the courtyard, a nostalgic nod for veteran fans who likely memorized the layout during multiple playthroughs while waiting for the remake. A more sinister version of the classic map can be found in Neely's Bar, located in the Otherworld version of Western South Vale. This version is bloodstained and tattered, mirroring the darker, more twisted environment it belongs to.

#7: The Bodies

A particularly eerie detail from the original Silent Hill 2 makes a return in the remake, unfortunately with far better graphics. Whenever you encounter a dead body in SH2R, take a closer look. With the exception of the corpse found with Eddie in the Toluca Prison canteen, every dead person you come across either resembles James or could easily be him. While some bodies are too obscured by blood, mud, or acid-puke to make this immediately clear, many are wearing the same Army jacket as James, adding to the unsettling atmosphere. If I saw a dead ‘me’, I can’t tell you how quick I’d be back in the car.

#6: Douglas Cartland’s Hat

Who’d have thought we’d get so many Silent Hill 3 Easter eggs in the Silent Hill 2 remake? Jack's Inn in Silent Hill 2 is packed with hidden references, and one of the most clever can be found in Room 106. There, you'll see a hat hanging on a chair, with a color, design, and patterned band that unmistakably belongs to Douglas Cartland, the private investigator who accompanies Heather Mason in the third entry. The hat’s presence in Room 106 is no coincidence. This is the same room where Douglas and Heather stay during the events of Silent Hill 3, adding a thoughtful layer of detail for fans but also making the timeline even more confusing.

#5: Secret Chainsaw Animation

After unlocking the Chainsaw in New Game Plus mode, players can use it for the remainder of the game... Oh, yes there’s a chainsaw by the way. As the strongest melee weapon, it's incredibly useful for cutting through enemies with ease. However, if you equip the chainsaw and let James stand idle for a few minutes, he’ll perform a special animation, lifting it above his head and screaming like a madman. This is a callback to the original Silent Hill 2, where the same animation appeared. It was a nod to Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and his iconic screams while chasing his victims. So in the remake, it’s technically an Easter egg to an Easter egg… Easter eggception.

#4: Pizza Line

The Silent Hill 2 remake made several changes to gameplay that made the tone of the game feel less cheesy. This included a rework of the comical interaction between James and Eddie at Pete’s Bowl-O-Rama. In the original, James arrives at the bowling alley with Maria and finds Eddie eating pizza, prompting the now-iconic line, "This town is full of monsters. How can you sit there and eat pizza?" The game's community found the scene hilarious, and it became a popular meme. Although the remake alters this moment to maintain a more serious tone, it’s still referenced. If players visit Bowl-O-Rama before heading through Jack's Inn, James notices a pizza box on the table and delivers a re-phrased version of the line.

#3: Classic Outfits

The Silent Hill 2 remake gave its characters a major graphical overhaul, including Maria, who now sports a new outfit. However, if you visit Room 108 in Jack’s Inn, you can find Maria’s classic dress hanging in the closet. Unlocking the door and letting Maria in triggers a special interaction where she asks James if he thinks the outfit would look good on her. But don’t think that’s all the nods to classic outfits! If you explore the remake’s version of Heaven’s Night, you’ll find a nurse costume in one of the booths by the stage. This serves as a playful bit of foreshadowing for the hospital level and bears a resemblance to the nurse costume unlockable for Eileen in Silent Hill 4.

#2: Comic Sans Sign

In the Silent Hill HD Collection, there was controversy over many of the changes, the most egregious of which was when the Silent Hill Ranch sign was changed to Comic Sans, a choice that sparked outrage among fans and critics for making the sign look comical. ALSO, this was well after Comic Sans became somewhat of a meme. With the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, fans were eager to see the updated version of the sign. To their relief, the developers restored the original font, pleasing the community. However, some players using a free-camera mod discovered that the infamous Comic Sans version of the sign is still in the game, hidden out of sight in the Silent Hill Ranch’s barn, as a subtle nod to past mistakes.

#1: Mary’s Body

This one is a big spoiler for those who have never completed the original Silent Hill 2, so if you haven’t, stop watching now! One of the long-standing debates from Silent Hill 2 revolves around whether James' wife, Mary, is in the trunk of his car or lying in the back seat, since he did kill her. In 2012, Masahiro Ito, the former art director and creature designer for Team Silent, tweeted, "Mary's body is on the back seat of James's car, not in the trunk if I remember correctly." Bloober Team has officially settled the debate in the remake by confirming that Mary’s body is indeed in the back seat, covered by a blanket. If players use a free-camera mod to look through the car window, they can find this significant detail, which the developers deliberately included to add some clarity to this mystery.