Silent Hill 2 Remake Endings: How To Unlock All Endings, Including New Ones

In revisiting Silent Hill 2, developer Bloober Team has remained pretty faithful to the original game--most of the story and dialogue are unchanged, and while a lot of puzzles have been altered, they tend to remain true to the spirit of those in the original. Silent Hill 2 also maintains the multiple endings of the 2001 release, but in keeping with the rest of the remake's philosophy, it seems to have changed how you unlock them, while adding a few new ones, as well.

There are eight total endings to the Silent Hill 2 Remake, with two new ones added to the six that were previously available in various Silent Hill 2 releases. That includes the four original endings and two infamous joke endings. We've been scouring Silent Hill 2 for all the information we can get about the puzzles, story, and endings, in order to compile everything you need to unlock them all.

Here's how to unlock each of Silent Hill 2 Remake's endings.

Note: Obviously, this guide contains ending spoilers, although we're trying to minimize them.

This is the ending that players seem most likely to get, and is considered the "good" ending, so far as any ending of Silent Hill 2 is good. This one has James coming to terms with his situation and leaving Silent Hill with Laura.

As with the original release of Silent Hill 2, the three main endings to the game seem to be dictated by your behavior throughout a playthrough. The actual requirements for the Leave ending are potentially a little hazy, but as in the 2001 game, they generally seem to require James showing dedication to Mary over Maria. Spend as little time with Maria as you can, don't visit her repeatedly, and maybe don't show too much desire to save her when she's in trouble. You should also try to keep James at full health whenever possible, and it might help to inspect Mary's photo in your inventory a few times during your run as well.

If the "Leave" ending is about James' dedication to Mary, the "Maria" ending is the opposite. Here, James leaves Silent Hill with Maria at the end of the game.

The requirements here seem to be the opposite of those in the Leave ending. Try to spend more time with Maria, keeping her close to James when they're together--so don't sprint off and leave her. Prioritize helping Maria if she gets into trouble with monsters and help keep her from taking damage. Avoid looking at Mary's photo, and when Maria suggests something--like leading you toward Laura when she heads to Brookhaven Hospital--listen to her rather than heading off in a different direction to explore.

The worst of the three main endings, In Water sees James succumbing to his grief and trauma and choosing death over life.

The primary driver for this ending seems to be playing James as if he doesn't care about himself. You want to avoid "excessive" healing--that is, healing James immediately after he's hurt or up to and over full health; instead, heal him only when it's dire, and without overdoing it. You can tell when James is damaged by the blood spots on his jacket; if you heal with a health drink after two or three hits, James will likely still be a little hurt, allowing you to avoid over-healing, or using more healing than is necessary to get him to full health. By the same token, don't use syringes, which are enough to fully heal James, unless death is imminent. You can also try inspecting the knife in James's inventory from time to time during your playthrough, which suggests that James is contemplating hurting himself.

It seems like Silent Hill 2 Remake weights endings you haven't already unlocked over ones you have. So if you lean into the requirements for two endings, like In Water and Maria, on the same run, you can save near the end of the Lakeview Hotel section and rerun the last two boss fights, and you're likely to unlock both endings instead of needing an additional full run.

The Ritual ending only becomes available after you've beaten the game once and unlocked the New Game Plus mode, which makes several additional items available throughout the game. In this paranormal ending, James rows out to a sacred spot on an island in Toluca Lake and attempts to resurrect Mary with an occult ritual.

We're still working on finding the components for this ending, but it hews closely to what's in the original Silent Hill 2. You need four items to reach the ritual ending: the book of Crimson Ceremony, the White Chrism, the Obsidian Chalice, and the Book of Lost Memories.

As you head down the path from the Observation Point at the start of the game, you'll get your first clue about the Ritual ending on a picnic bench along the path. A note lying on it gives you some clues about where and when you can find each of the four items you need to complete it.

The first item, the Crimson Ceremony book, is available right at the start of the game, in the cemetery where you meet Angela for the first time.

After talking to Angela, make your way down to the edge of the water and look to the right. You should see a scraggly tree without any leaves on it, with a tombstone beneath it.

As you get closer to the tombstone, you'll spot the book lying against it.

You can find the White Chrism after you find Maria in Rosewater Park. After you go through Jack's Inn, look for Baldwin Mansion on the street just beyond. Go through the gate and grab the bottle off the table next to the front door.

The mansion is on Munson Street, just south of Rosewater Park, and is one of the first locations you'll find after you've passed through Jack's Inn.

The Obsidian Goblet is located in the Silent Hill Historical Society. If you checked out the paintings as you came through here on your first run, you would have seen one that looks exactly like the black goblet you're looking for.

In New Game Plus, that painting has been moved, revealing a space behind it where the goblet is located. It's to the left of the painting of Pyramid Head in the center of the room.

We're still tracking down the exact location of the last item, the Book of Lost Memories. However, all you need to do for this ending is find all four items and then complete the game. Of course, you should then avoid doing the things required for the UFO ending or the Dog ending, like opening the Observation Room or using the Blue Gem in Lakeview Hotel.

The last item, the Lost Memories book, is in the Lakeview Hotel. You can find it in the Lost and Found office on one of the shelves, but that room is locked.

To get into the Lost and Found, go through the lobby into Cafe Toluca and head to the back of the cafe to find a wall you can smash through. Once you have all four items in your inventory, the Ritual ending will trigger when you finish the final boss fight. You can still trigger the other endings that terminate earlier, like UFO, Dog, Stillness, and Bliss, but the Ritual items will override the Maria, In Water, and Leave endings automatically.

Silent Hill 2 also includes two joke endings that suppose some alternative culprits behind the events of the game and James's torment. We won't say more about the Dog ending than that.

To get this ending, you need to start a New Game Plus run and find a new item: the Dog key. Grabbing it requires scouring the town of Silent Hill when you have the ability to search its streets, before you complete Brookhaven Hotel. First, check Big Jay's pet shop on the corner Katz Street and Neely Street, before heading to Wood Side Apartments. In the back room of the store, inside a pet carrier, you'll find the Broken Key Part.

After visiting Rosewater Park and meeting Maria, you'll again get access to the streets of Silent Hill, albeit in a new area. Keep your eyes out in the neighborhood here for a gate marked with a bone.

Look behind the gate for a small yard where you'll find a dog house. You'll get the second item, another broken key piece, inside it.

Combine the two items to make a complete key. Save it until you reach the Lakeview Hotel at the end of the game, and after watching James's video tape, use it to open the nearby Observation Room.

This is another weird one that requires taking part in multiple steps, and also suggests some other intelligence working behind the scenes in Silent Hill.

In New Game Plus, you need to find a specific item and visit several key places in the game with it to unlock the UFO ending. You can get the clues to what you need in the Groovy Music store, where you find the Broken Record and Vinyl Glue items early in the game, before visiting Wood Side Apartments. Check the bench on the right side of the store from the entrance, near the display cases, to find a magazine. It contains several clues, telling you there's an alien device in a Silent Hill storefront, and that strange things have happened on a rooftop, near Toluca Lake, and at Lakeview Hotel.

First, you need the alien device: the Blue Gem. Smash the window of the storefront just north of Big Jay's on Neely Street and you'll find it in a jewelry box there.

This is a new key item that will stay in your inventory for the rest of the game.

Next, head to the rooftop mentioned on the magazine cover--the roof of Saul Apartments on Saul Street. You need to go to this location anyway to get the Jukebox Button to solve the puzzle at Neely's Bar.

As you make your way through the apartment building, the linear path will eventually take you to the roof, where you should hear some strange, vaguely sci-fi sound effects. When you hear it, look for a drawing of a UFO on a nearby vent, and then inspect the Blue Gem; it'll glow and you'll hear more strange sounds.

The second UFO location is at Rosewater Park after you leave Blue Creek Apartments. You should hear the UFO sound as you approach the telescopes positioned near the water's edge.

As before, look for a UFO drawing, which is on the back of a sign on the far left of the pier area from where you first enter. While you're standing near it, go to your inventory and investigate the Blue Gem again.

You'll find the third location when you get off the rowboat at Lakeview Hotel, right after rowing across the lake. Before heading up the stairs, listen for the UFO sound and make sure to Investigate the Blue Gem in your inventory.

The last time you need to inspect the gem is in Room 312 in Lakeview Hotel. Make sure to do this before playing the video tape you find in the basement. If you've inspected the gem at the right places, looking at it here should trigger the UFO ending immediately.

There are two new endings in the Silent Hill 2 remake, Bliss and Stillness, requiring you to find a few new key items that are hidden within the game. They're only available in the New Game Plus mode, and figuring out exactly how they work requires scouring Silent Hill 2 for new secrets.

The Bliss ending adds another path for James: total denial. Instead of escaping Silent Hill, he chooses to remain within it, trapping himself in what appears to be a fantasy, forever.

Fittingly, the Bliss ending takes you to Pete's Bowl-O-Rama, a location that was important in the original release of the game but which you don't actually need to go to in the remake, and which echoes with the past. You need to be in New Game Plus mode to access this ending, as it adds new items to the game.

You can visit Pete's Bowl-O-Rama either with Maria right after meeting her at Rosewater Park--you go down the street rather than through the motel--or after leaving Brookhaven Hospital, when you're on your way to the Silent Hill Historical Society. If you bring Maria, you'll trigger additional dialogue between her and James that adds a bit to the story. Before going to the bowling alley, though, head all the way down the street, past the Historical Society, to the end of road. You'll find a body there with a note you need.

With the note in-hand, return to the bowling alley. Inside, you can find a note in the back room talking about a cloth that's crammed in the ball return on Lane 3. This cloth was previously hanging down from the shoe shelf behind the counter; with it out of the way, you can now access a safe on that shelf.

The code to open that safe is on the note you just picked up on the body at the end of Nathan: 1887.

The safe doesn't contain what the person writing the first note wanted, but instead has a key and another note inside. The second note directs you to "a place of care" to find what you're looking for, to "an island of respite in a sea of suffering."

"A place of care" is Brookhaven Hospital, so the next item you need is there.

Exploring Brookhaven will eventually take you outside into the hospital's exterior garden. There's a gazebo there you can only enter by crawling through a hole in the back, and it's surrounded by enemies--an island in a sea of suffering, uh, kind of.

Inside the gazebo is a small wooden box that wasn't here in a normal run of the game. It's locked, but the key you got from Pete's Bowl-O-Rama will open it, revealing a bottle of a substance called White Claudia. This is a drug that has come up in multiple Silent Hill games, and it's a hallucinogenic.

To get the ending, carry the White Claudia with you until you reach Lakeview Hotel. Make your way to Room 312, where you can play James' video tape. Go into your inventory and drink the White Claudia before you play the video tape. Putting the tape in the VCR will trigger the ending.

The Stillness ending suggests James' falling into sorrow, expanding on the "In Water" ending. This is another one you can't reach unless you're on New Game Plus.

To find the ending, you need to first unlock the "In Water" ending; you won't be able to complete the rest of the steps unless you do. Next, you need the chainsaw early in a New Game Plus run. It serves as a melee weapon that lets you bust windows to get what's inside parked vehicles and in other places, allowing you to find stuff that's hidden before you have the piece of wood weapon.

Follow the road toward Silent Hill until you're at the Auto Shop, where you solve your first key puzzle by breaking the window and climbing inside. Through the gate, you'll follow the sidewalk through two fences as you pass under a bridge, and then find a green car immediately to your left.

Break the windows on this car and you should find a new key item, the Key of Sorrow, inside.

Now play the game all the way through to Lakeview Hotel. After playing the video tape in Room 312 and reaching the Otherworld, make your way down to the first floor. You're heading to the Manager's Office, one of the last places you can check

When you get there, continue through until you reach the Otherworld version of the hotel, then make your way to the Manager's Office, where you'll find a safe. You need the key and a code to open it--enter 314 to get a postcard from inside.

If you go into your inventory and inspect the Toluca Lake postcard you pulled from the safe, you'll trigger the ending.

There are many more puzzles and confusing sections in the Silent Hill 2 remake. For more help with Bloober Team's remake, use our Silent Hill 2 Remake guides hub.