Beloved by fans, Silent Hill 3 is an incredible game, a direct sequel to the original Silent Hill. Players will step into the shoes of Heather, a seemingly ordinary teenage girl, who quickly descends into a blood-soaked, twisted hellscape. Get ready to play as Heather again in Silent Hill 3 on PC.
Released in 2003 for the PS2, it can be hard to play Silent Hill 3 these days (unless you happen to have a copy lying around somewhere). However, it’s an absolute must-play for fans of the survival horror genre, and we have some tips at the end of this article if you want to try to install it on your PC.
Table of Contents
About Silent Hill 3
Plot
Let’s talk about the plot (usual spoiler warnings apply: if you don’t want to know the plot, don’t read this section).
In a departure from the previous games in the series, Silent Hill 3’s protagonist is a teenage girl, Heather. The game opens in Heather’s nightmare. She’s trapped in an amusement park, dodging horrifying monsters and navigating a grim, rusted landscape that should feel familiar to fans of the series. Heather is hit by a rollercoaster and startles awake in a restaurant. Heather makes a quick phone call to her father, Harry Mason, only to be immediately set upon by a private detective (Douglas Cartland – we’ll be seeing more of him!) trying to give Heather information about her past.
Meeting Claudia
The protagonist, Heather, finding this to be quite creepy (and who can blame her?), escapes from the detective by climbing through the bathroom window, only to find the mall to be grimy and abandoned. Soon, she meets Claudia, who tells Heather some cryptic stuff about remembering her true self to bring about paradise on earth. After this interaction, Heather gets into an elevator, taking a trip down into a horrifying, monster-packed version of the mall.
She makes her way back to the regular mall, only to find Douglas again. Upon questioning, Douglas tells her that Claudia hired him to find Heather. Reeling, Heather goes home to her apartment (after enduring an eventful subway journey). She gets an immediate shock: her father was murdered, at Claudia’s request.
Birth of God
Despite the fact that it obviously isn’t a good idea, Heather takes Claudia’s bait and rushes to Silent Hill with Douglas to get her revenge. Through journal entries, Heather finds out the truth. She was the baby left to Harry at the end of the first game, a reincarnated version of Alessa. It is Claudia’s intention to use Heather to birth a god.
Upon arrival, Heather looks in the hospital for Leonard. He tells Heather that he is going to kill Claudia and promptly attacks Heather after identifying her as a non-cult member, triggering a pretty intense boss fight. Douglas asks Heather to find him at the amusement park, which she does; only he’s pretty severely wounded and considers killing Heather at that moment for the greater good.
Heather goes to the church to find Claudia. She learns that Claudia used to be friends with Alessa back when they were children. Heather suddenly comes to a realization and opens up the protective necklace given to her by her father. This is the capsule of Aglaophotis, which has the ability to dispel demonic spirits.
In a moment that can only be described as mind-bogglingly disgusting, Heather eats the substance inside her necklace and then vomits up the fetal god. Claudia swallows it in order to birth it herself, leaving Heather to defend herself against (and ultimately defeat) the new god.
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Silent Hill 3 Endings
There are three endings to Silent Hill 3.
Normal
The ‘Normal’ ending is the one most players get on the first playthrough. In this ending, Heather and Douglas survive. It’s not the happiest ending ever, but it’s undoubtedly less brutal than the next one.
Possessed
The ‘Possessed’ ending is triggered by accumulating a certain amount of points. You won’t get to see the points, so unless you’re taking notes, it’s easier to just aim for the following: killing over 100 enemies, acquiring 1000 points of damage, and choosing the ‘Forgive’ option in the confessional box near the end of the game. In this ending, Heather kills Douglas. It’s an extremely dark ending and well worth watching on YouTube if you don’t want to unlock it yourself.
Revenge
The weirdest ending is, of course, the ‘Revenge’ ending. Silent Hill games are famous for their bonkers hidden endings, and SH3 is no different. It cuts the game short, but it’s quite fun to watch. It takes a lot of effort though: you need to unlock the Heather Beam, which means killing at least 333 enemies. (It’s worth it, in my opinion, just to see the incredible little cutscene when you finally equip the Heather Beam.) Start a New Game Plus, and use the costume to kill at least 30 monsters. After all this effort, you can sit back and relax as Harry Mason orders aliens to blow up Silent Hill. Nice!
Gameplay
The gameplay feels different than the previous games. While Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 were all about hiding in the shadows, darting between buildings to avoid coming into contact with the unspeakable horrors lumbering around the town, Silent Hill 3 takes a more combat-heavy approach, which was met with some criticism on launch.
Our main character goes through a lot in this game: it’s a brutal fight for survival, and the terror is relentless. Familiar Silent Hill mechanics make a return for this game. You’ll flick between regular locations and the dark, blood-soaked Otherworld, using a flashlight to navigate dark areas, find maps, explore buildings, and solve puzzles.
The Silent Hill Radio
Heather obtains a radio early in the game: this is a Silent Hill staple and will alert players to nearby monsters. Heather is expected to fight more often than protagonists in the previous games and has a range of weapons to choose from as the game progresses. First aid kits and energy drinks are helpful, but they’re not always easy to find.
There are a few levels of difficulty to choose from. Easy, normal, and hard are pretty self-explanatory to anyone familiar with survival horror games. The higher the level of difficulty you choose, the tougher the enemies will be, and you can expect to find fewer health items dotted around.
Beating the game on Hard Mode will unlock Extreme Action Mode 1. Beating this mode will unlock Extreme Action Mode 2, and will continue like this until you reach Extreme Action Mode 10. This is for die-hard Silent Hill fans with a lot of patience.
You can also choose your Riddle Difficulty level, from Easy, Medium, or Hard. The Hard mode requires some real-world knowledge (or at the very least, will involve a bit of Googling).
There’s a hidden mode, Beginner Action mode, which unlocks if you die a few times in a row. This makes combat even easier, so if you find this difficult, you can still enjoy the story.
The Iconic Music
The sound design is a huge part of what makes the Silent Hill games shiveringly scary. Composer Akira Yamaoka created the soundtrack, and it’s notable for its prominent vocals in comparison to the first two games.
As well as the haunting music, there are other familiar sounds working to create a sense of complete terror: the sound of something smashing in the distance, the ominous crackling of the radio, and the relentless ‘grinding’ sound when certain enemies are near, creating an oppressive atmosphere that you genuinely want to escape from.
Reception
Silent Hill 3 is definitely beloved by fans, but the critical response was mixed. The focus on combat was jarring for some reviewers, and others felt that the game didn’t add anything new or exciting to the series.
However, it did get some incredible reviews, with critics praising the story, horrifying moments, and the dread-inducing atmosphere. IGN’s Douglass C.Perry summed it up in his review: ‘Silent Hill 3 still freaks me out, sucks me in and makes me awfully frightened to play this game in the dark by myself. And isn’t that what’s it’s all about?’
Original Silent Hill 3 Trailer
You can check out the original Silent Hill 3 trailer released for the E3 in 2002 here:
Silent Hill 3 Development
Team Silent
The development process for Silent Hill 3 was tumultuous at times. With Team Silent working on Silent Hill 2 and Room 302 (the game that would eventually become Silent Hill 4: The Room), the core team for SH3 was smaller. It was planned as a rail shooter, and the team lost a chunk of development time pursuing this before abandoning the idea.
A direct sequel to the first game, Silent Hill 3 picks up the story where the first game left off, appeasing fans that were frustrated by the change in direction offered by the second game. Notable influences include the work of Stephen King and the movie Jacob’s Ladder (1990). The latter is an influence across the whole series, and Valtiel’s head-twitching appearance in SH3 is an obvious nod.
Some fans feel that there is a hint of Brad Anderson’s incredible horror flick Session 9 (2001) in Silent Hill 3; I think the two share some symbolism, but that doesn’t mean Session 9 was a direct influence. (By the way, if you like Silent Hill, you’ll probably enjoy the twisted madness of Session 9, too.)
Imagery and Symbolism
Silent Hill 3’s setting and imagery reflect the fact that Heather is, ultimately, a normal teenage girl. (A teenage girl incubating a demonic being, admittedly, but you get what I’m saying.) While we eventually end up back in Silent Hill, we also get to explore twisted versions of classic teen hangout spots: the theme park and the mall.
But more importantly, the horror itself is visceral, bloody, and raw. It reflects Heather’s ironic fear of pregnancy: the strangely phallic Split Worm, the clumsy malformed Numb Body, the use of a wire clothes hanger to escape a room Heather is stuck in, and the repeated references to the idea of something growing inside her. Heather’s fears are realized at the end of the game, and it’s brutal to watch her relentless suffering.
Despite the obviously fantastical story, Heather’s fears aren’t that out of the ordinary, and the oppressive fear of puberty, sex, and pregnancy (and the impact of this upon a changing body) is relatable to many.
Silent Hill 3 for PC in 2022
Are you itching to play Silent Hill 3? I don’t blame you! Unless you’ve still got a PS2 kicking around somewhere, the easiest way to play is to install it on your PC by using the following steps:
Install Silent Hill 3 PC
Installation is pretty straightforward. We’d recommend installing the game in a custom directory in your C: drive to dodge annoying problems with Windows permissions. (Something like C:\Games\SilentHill3 would work).
Widescreen Support
There are a few problems to solve before you start. Common complaints include the lack of widescreen support, image deformation on higher resolutions, and some fluctuation between 30fps and 60fps.
You can download the ‘Silent Hill 3 Widescreen Fix’, which is simple to install and will solve these issues for you. Just download it, unzip it, and copy the folder ‘Scripts’ and the file ‘dinput8.dll’ into your SH3 installation folder.
Controller Setup
One more step to go! Download the latest version of XInput Plus, then visit your SH3 installation directory. Rename dinput.dll to d3d8.dll. Extract the files from XInputPlus Ver4.15.2.zip, then run it as an Administrator.
Set the Target Program to sh3.exe, then visit the DirectInput section and check Enable DirectInput Output. (I’m aware this sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty simple.) Then go to the ‘Basic’ section and assign the following keys:
Right Stick: Z Axis/Z Rot
LT/RT: Button 11/12
DPAD: Button 13-16
Guide: Button 17
Click OK to apply, and you’re ready to go!
You can read a full guide on how to play Silent Hill 3 on Windows 10 for more tips.
To Sum Up...
Silent Hill 3 is a must-play for any survival horror fans. Hopefully, you can see why so many people love it! With a bit of technical know-how, you can escape into the Otherworld yourself. Just keep an ear out for your radio …
Megan is a freelance writer based in Somerset, England. She writes about videogames, books, and pop culture.
