In your opinion, is this game really part of the 1/3 canon?

[Silent Chill]

I know there have been logical explanations to tie this game to 1 and 3, but do you think that's really the case? or at very least, do you think that was really the developers original intention?
It just doesn't really seem like the case to me... There's not a single mention of the events of SH1. No mention of a single character, location, anything. I mean, sure, there's some vague references to occultism, but nothing that seems like it's specifically referencing the cult of SH1. To me, it seems more like a subtle nod to the first game than anything. I really think this game was developed as a separate universe. Just an alternate take on the core ideas of SH1: Person searching for a lost loved one in a place where elements of the subconscious can come to life. A mysterious plot that the player must piece together without being the story outright.
What do you guys think?

[KageReneko]

Same location different characters, SH2 is connected to SH4 that is connected to SH3 that is connected to SH

[HeartlessBastard]

Why wouldn't it be?

It has the Seal of Metatron, meaning Alessa was definitely there.

[Jonipoon]

They are most definitely connected.

The very reason the events of SH2 are even possible are a direct consequence of the events in SH1.

[Tabris]

They are most definitely connected.

The very reason the events of SH2 are even possible are a direct consequence of the events in SH1.

This basically sums up it completely in the most simple way.

There's no doubt it's part of the canon as far as I'm concerned.

[alone in the town]

It is related to the first and third games, but only indirectly, and the connections are not really all that meaningful. You have Frank Sunderland and Walter Sullivan as the two visible ties to Silent Hill 4, which itself only has thin connections to the Alessa story, and those two characters are intentional references to the second game. And, as per the trend of later and inferior titles, neither of these characters are actually relevant to, or meaningfully build upon, anything in the game it references.

What makes the second game the best game is that it stands entirely on its own merits, it's a significant part of the canon, but does not rely on any of that canon to construct its scenario.

TBH, because of later sequels, we tend to forget that the vast majority of the mythology and religion of the Order didn't exist in the series until Silent Hill 3. As important as the cult is to the original Silent Hill, it actually does not explain much of anything related to it, and virtually all of that information comes at the very end. For 95 percent of the game, you really don't have any clue what's really going on.

[leftshoe18]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original intent was to have it be something separate kind of like how Twilight Zone or Final Fantasy do things. At this point though it's firmly connected to Silent Hill 4 which is firmly connected to 1 and 3 so there's no doubt it's part of the same continuity at this point.

[DinoNerd89]

I consider to be cannonical. For many series, including Silent Hill, I take the stance of just because it doesn't involve other characters, locations, storylines, ect in the franchise, doesn't mean it can't be its own thing while still being part of a bigger cannon.

[Utherworld]

The BoLM really spells out the connection in the Silent Hill 2 section

Quote
" due to the large-scale shift to the otherworld that occurred in the first game, the town has become a great catalyst for the manifestation of peoples' unconscious minds. It appears to have become a place that beckons to those who hold darkness in their hearts."

The creeper enemy is described below.

Quote
"Metaphor
"Creeper." Since it also appears in the preceding work, one can think that it is derived for the most part from the town's power."

[Disrupticon]

While SH3 doesn't exactly need SH2 in order to exist, SH1 absolutely sets the stage for the both of them. So yes, I count it.

[screwymoony]

'Course it is! I mean, look at the numerous sh2 easter eggs in the 3rd game. Douglas very clearly alludes to investigating James' disappearance as well. Maybe it wouldn't need to be there for 3 to happen, it still wouldn't make much sense to discard it because of that.

[The Adversary]

>Douglas very clearly alludes to investigating James' disappearance as well.<
We don't know if Douglas was tasked with locating James.

[alone in the town]

Thanks in large part to revisiting "A True Ending of Silent Hill 2, & Why", and being thusly inspired to consider it more carefully, I have come to understand how subtle and clever this game is, in how it integrates itself into the larger religious mythos it is constructing atop the first game. If Rebirth is the "true" ending, James' entire endless, repeating cycle of suffering, can only be broken if he performs the Ritual of the Holy Assumption, and the reason the power of the town persists, so that we had many more games to come, is because, ultimately, he does perform the ritual. If it is the "true" ending, that is because Silent Hill canon, as we know it, flows forth from this event. Of course, that doesn't mean the other endings can't, or don't lead in the same direction, just that, this scenario makes the connections a little more visible, and actively reminds you that this very human tale of heartache, regret, and violence, takes place against the backdrop of a haunted place, inhabited by many demons, gods, and things which may be both.

[Chris Sunderland]

Sorry for the double post my Internet conked out and posted twice.

[Chris Sunderland]

It's kinda wild to me that people wouldn't consider it canon of all things. It's clearly indirectly connected to the other games. It's just not dependent on them in its story. To use an easy metaphor it's like saying Guardian's of the Galaxy isn't canon because Spider-Man isn't there. Definitely at bare minimum SH1-4 are in the same continuity.

Now you could question the games after that as I could see a future where Konami sorta just ignores some, maybe even all the late Aughts early 2010 games. I rather like the Climax ones though, but Origins is already berated for its story and Shattered Memories is it's own continuity anyways.

[screwymoony]

>Douglas very clearly alludes to investigating James' disappearance as well.<
We don't know if Douglas was tasked with locating James.

Hello again, the adversary!

You could say that, very easily, but then you could also say that heather refusing to stick her arm in the toilet is just because it's gross, and not because James did it. Think about with all the other little easter eggs (as well as james being mentioned that he's a missing persons in 4) that it's quite likely they wrote it as a little nod to SH2. After all, why say that at all, if it doesn't relate to anything the audience or the main character knows?

[leftshoe18]

It could be as simple as showing the audience that Douglas has experience with the area.

[The Adversary]

>Think about with all the other little easter eggs<
Yes, exactly. Heather refusing to stick her arm in a toilet and speaking directly to the audience is an easter egg. As is her comment upon examining her mailbox that she has no mail, not from a dead wife or anything.

Douglas doesn't look at the camera. There is no little wink implied. He simply says he went to Silent Hill for a missing person's case.

[Jonipoon]

>Douglas doesn't look at the camera. There is no little wink implied.
Now I suddenly want to watch an edited version of that scene where Douglas does an extremely exaggerated wink right into the camera, complete with a stupid smirk.

Soooo meta.