Difficulty: 4/10
Time to 1,000: 16-24 hours, depending on whether you try two or three playthroughs
Offline: 41
Minimum Playthroughs: 2
Missable achievements: a few, but nothing terribly difficult
Video Guides:
Full Walkthrough - Each part includes time stamps in the description for easy skipping to parts you need
Part 1 ... Part 2 ... Part 3 ... Part 4 ... Part 5 ... Part 6 ... Part 7 ... Part 8
Side Quest Guides (to earn 170+ gamerscore) -
All Points Bulletin
Stolen Goods
Cinema Verite
Ribbons
The Bank
Homeless
The Art Collector
The Gramophone
Ashes to Ashes
Mirror, Mirror
Bird Cage
Dead Man's Hand
Digging Up the Past* - has to be done in a second playthrough
Silent Hill Historic Society - find all mysteries (there are 53)
All 53 in one video
All FIVE endings guide
ACHIEVEMENT GUIDE
Now You're Cooking… - 10 points
Survived the Diner Otherworld
Story related. Cannot be missed. Unlocks after the second chase sequence, when you return to the normal cafe.
Out of the Frying Pan - 10 points
Rode the Sky Tram to Devil's Pit
Story related. Cannot be missed. Once you have obtained the ticket from the game machine, you have to make your way back to the tram station then you just put the ticket in the machine and go through the tram cutscene.
Going off the Rails - 10 points
Escaped from Devil's Pit
Story related. Cannot be missed. After the crazy tram ride, there is a cut-scene and then you simply hit a button in a fuse box to open a door and you are out. Achievement unlocks right after the cutscene
Found a Friend! - 10 points
Met DJ Ricks in the Radio Station
Story related. Cannot be missed. This is unlocked after the long forensic flashlight sequence in the archives in the centennial building. Once you use the keycard and go to the 18th floor and have the cutscene with the DJ, this unlocks.
Whatever Doesn't Kill You… - 10 points
Escaped the Radio Station Otherworld
Story related. Cannot be missed. There are tons of crazy void chase sequences in the radio station other side. When you finish the last and make it back to "reality" this will unlock.
Ashes, Ashes - 10 points
Collected 3 pages of the rhyme book
This is story related and cannot be missed. To advance through the St. Maria's Monastery, you need to find three poem fragments to put a rhyme together. When you get the third, from fishing around inside a dead body in the morgue, ha, this unlocks.
Broken Cycle - 10 points
Defeated The Bogeyman
Story related. Cannot be missed. This is the boss battle at the end of the monastery. Use you gun if you have one, melee if needed, until he drops to a knee. Then, run up and hit A and you use his hammer to kill him.
No Turning Back - 10 points
Reached Overlook Penitentiary
Story related. Cannot be missed. At the end of the monastery mission you get the boat key. Then, in the port district, you use the key to go from silent hill to the prison. But, be sure you have done all side quests you wanted because you cannot come back and you lose all your weapons and items.
Calling All Cars - 5 points
Completed the "All Points Bulletin" side quest
This quest starts in the police station in the Hillside section of town. You must enter the building from the north, from McCammon street, but the building itself is located between Campbell and McCammon. This quest is to get all 4 cop cars off the streets of the city, which helps insanely, so I suggest this as your first side quest, and the first thing you do when getting out of Devil's Pit. Once in the police station, head toward the dispatcher's office, which contains a blackboard with call signs for the four vehicles, but they are incomplete. The harder puzzle difficulty you are playing on, the fewer digits are available. The easiest way to get them is to roam around the city and look at them on the cars, but beware, because that can be dangerous and get you into difficult battles. If you want to do the quest on your own with no help, feel free to do so, but I will post the solution, which is the same for every difficulty, below.
Also in the dispatcher's office, you have to use the devices on the table to call the cars back to the station, so enter these codes: A648, B557, C466, D375. After entering the letter and three numbers, hit the recall button on the machine. Once all four are entered, this achievement unlocks.
Birdman - 5 points
Completed the "Bird Cage" side quest
This quest tasks you with just finding and opening 5 bird cages, hidden throughout the city, one in each of the five districts. The five locations are:
- north of the police station is a fenced in yard and the cage is in it on the porch
- corner of Brite Street and Lansdale Avenue, where the bank is, but on the southern street side
- Brite Street has a northern curve upward, at the top of that stretch of road, the cage site just before the fence
- in the pleasant river section, rice street intersects with King Avenue - on the southern side of the street, on the right side of where those streets intersect, the cage is in a corner, half of which is a brick wall, the other half of which is a wooden double door
- in the port district, northernmost part of town, this one has no easy street references, but it is north of Ketchum, but south of Masterton - off to the left a part of the map/town sticks out, the cage is on the southern section in the middle of that area, set in another corner, between a wooden fence and chain link fence
Neighborhood Watch - 5 points
Completed the "Stolen Goods" side quest
This quest takes place in the apartment building which serves as the transition between the Hillside and Pearl Creek sections of the town. You get into it by climbing in a window. For more specific reference, the apartment building is on the left side of Lansdale avenue, south of cook street. The window you come in is on the second floor of the building. From there, go out to the hallway, down the hall to the left, and upstairs. You will find a room that seems to have belonged to a thief with a bed frame in the middle of the floor. Examine it to recover the stolen goods.
Now, you have to return the stolen goods to their proper places in other apartments. Two items stay on the third floor, so let's start where we still are. Across the hall from where you picked up the items, you place the locket in the case near the kitchen appliances. Then, go to the bedroom of the apartment and place the gold watch on the store-mannequin hand.
Now, head down to the second floor and enter the apartment across from where you originally came in the window. There is a child's area and you place the money box next to the coins on a dresser. Finally, head to the ground floor and place the war medal in a case on a small table. That will unlock the achievement, but you also have unlocked a set of clothes which now sit in the thief's apartment on the third floor if you'd like to check them out.
Long Walk, Short Pier - 5 points
Completed the "Ribbons" side quest
This is a little scavenger hunt, ha ha, and it begins when you read a missing person's poster which is located on the left side of Lansdale Ave just north of cook st. Directly north from there, after you cross over Brite Street, on the left side of lansdale is a yellow ribbon tied to a pole. Now you follow the instructions in your journal (yellow ribbon means left turn, red means right turn), but i'll give you my directions too. In addition to the yellow and red ribbons, there are blue ribbons along the route which just let you know you are going the right way. Now, I think you can just go to the end of the route and pick up the key, so I'll leave this description that simple. The route takes you to Pleasant River. Where Rice St intersects King Avenue, on the left side before going onto King, you can move between the houses to the docks on the north side of the street, above Rice. On the end of the smaller dock is a key.
Now, pick up the key and use it to unlock the girl's house. To keep the integrity of doing it yourself, there is an inscription on the bracelet attached to the key that gives you a clue to the house's location, but i'll just tell you, ha - it's on the left side of Lemon St, an unmarked apartment building just north of the movie theater. Once inside, upstairs is a locket apartment, use they key to unlock it. The quest ends when you pick up the Mother's Confession item in the master bedroom. While earning you the achievement, this also unlocks another door near the front door of the apartment, which contains some first aid kits and another ribbon.
Silent Alarm - 5 points
Completed "The Bank" side quest
As you probably guessed, this quest takes place in the bank marked on the map, ha, it's on the right side of Lansdale Ave just north of Brite Street. There will be several enemy encounters during this mission so before triggering anything, make sure you have a good weapon with you and try to find another one so you know where it is in case your one breaks. To start the quest, head to the basement vault and try to open one of the boxes inside. This triggers an alarm, but not from you, it's from someone(thing) upstairs. There are five groups of enemies that will attack you, one at a time, like waves in Horde moder of Gears.
The best strategy is to find a narrow hallway so you can fight one at a time. Each time you finish a wave, another box opens in the vault, and after each wave you can run down and get the supplies if you'd like or wait until the end and get all of them. The enemies and rewards found in the unlocked boxes are as follows.
Wave 1 - One screamer - first aid kit
Wave 2 - Two screamers - pistol bullets
Wave 3 - One screamer and one brawler - Colt pistol
Wave 4 - Two brawlers - pistol bullets
Wave 5 - One screamer, one brawler and stabber - three first aid kits
You can also disable the alarm in the director's office, using a switch under the desk, but it also locks the vault.
Will Work For Food - 5 points
Completed the "Homeless" side quest
This quest begins in an underground entrance on Laymond Avenue in the pearl creek district. There are actually two around there, but you'll know you are in the right one when you encounter a person by a fire in a barrel. Talk to him to start this quest. You have to collect 3 things for him, and he unlocks more and more of the underground tunnels for you along the way.
First, is a candy bar. The vending machine is in a different place for each puzzle difficulty. On easy, it is the lower left quadrant of the Brite St and Lansdale Ave intersection. On normal, it is on the south side of cook street where it ends in lansdale, in the alleyway. And on hard, the machine is on the opposite side of the building where it is for normal. If you did not pick up the money early on in the game, you can pick some up in the movie theater in the town.
When you bring the candy bar back to the man, he then asks for a coat. Right outside of the underground entrance in Chastain Heights is a thrift store you can go inside, do so. Now, the coat is always in this location, but in different parts of the store depending on puzzle level difficulty. For easy, it's hanging by the register. On normal, it is hanging in the storage room. And on hard, the coat is actually also in the storage room, ha. Then, return the coat to the man and he unlocks the tunnel to Chastain (wow, would have been helpful BEFORE we had to go there!)
Finally, you need to get him a fishing rod which is in the port district by the river. On easy puzzle difficulty, the rod is in the middle of the docks on the north side of rice street. On normal, it is located just outside of the pleasant river underground entrance, in a little spillway-type area. And on hard, the rod is on the narrow section of boardwalk at the edge of the docks, near where the ribbon was in that quest.
Art Appreciation - 5 points
Completed "The Art Collector" side quest
Kind of odd, but you will likely have found most of the paintings while doing other side quests, I know I did, ha. The quest is based on the art gallery in Pearl Creek, which you enter via the alley south and west of the Centennial building. Another way to describe it, the alley can be accessed on the lower left side where Brite Street intersects with Laymond. The gallery is the building on the corner, but you can only get in from behind it.
There are three mystery items spread around the floor you enter, but the quest is in the basement, so head there once done exploring. Examine the giant table and add any paintings you might have. In case you do not have any, here are the locations:
Despair - in the police station in hillside, across the board, through the door you have to axe through
Sunrise - In the ticket booth in the underground entrance near the police station in hillside, on the north side of Campbell St
Wonder - in the kitchen of the ground floor apartment in the building where the stolen goods quest takes place, which is also how you enter pearl creek
Certainty - in a locked storage unit on Laymond Ave, you need to get the code for it from a mystery item laying on the ground near the unit
Hope - in Chastain Heights, on the left side of the curve of Brite St is a hardware store you can enter - in the store you need to pick up a key for the storage room which can be found in the cash register - once in the storage room, you have to push a crate to the side to reveal the painting
Freedom - in pleasant river, on the left, northern side of Rice St is a van - simply open the back doors and pick up the painting
Once you have all six, return to the gallery in pearl creek and down to the basement. When you interact with the table, there is a grid of 9 paintings, three that were there and the six you found. The one in the top left is already in the right place, and you have to use the red markings to help you find the right three for around it. When you put a painting in the right place, you can no longer move it, so it's not too hard. When you are done, use the forensic flashlight to see a map of the town, indicating a spot in the cemetery near St. Maria's Monastery. Go there, and you will find a ladder leading to a crypt. There is a puzzle door to finish the quest and earn the reward (a tomahawk).
Cutting Room Floor - 5 points
Completed the "Cinéma Vérité" side quest
You need to find three film reels to finish this quest, but they are in different places depending on your puzzle difficulty level.
First film reel - on easy and normal, it is on one of the coat room countertops - on hard, you have to go behind the concession counter and into a back room and the reel is on a machine
Second film reel - on easy and normal, it is in a stall in the bathroom closest to the concessions - on hard, you have to enter the theater itself and the reel is on the floor behind some of the seats near the back
Third film reel - for all difficulties, it is in the film storage room at the back of the theater
Now, you should have also passed through the projector room at the back of the theater at this point, which adds the sub-objective to fix the projector. To do so, you need to find a replacement bulb - on easy difficulty, the bulb is on the ground of the poster storage room at the back of the theater. On normal and hard, you have to leave the theater and cross the street to the hardware store and pick up the bulb from the shelves behind the register. Now return to the projector room and put the bulb in. You play the films to get clues for the keypad code. You can try to solve it on your own, but I can tell you the code is 9241, regardless of difficulty.
Once you enter the code, the next room has a film splicer. You have to combine all three films. Then put the film in the projector to play it. You now have to run down to the theater and go inside of the film. You can enter the house in the film environment. Make sure to pick up the wooden crank on a windowsill inside the house. Through a couple doors, you will then find a jack-in-the-box that you use the wooden crank on. Using it earns you a key. Then, climb the ladder in the same room. Use the key to unlock a trunk which is near the window. In the trunk is the sweet golden gun and some bullets. Then, return the way you came and back into the theater itself to finish the quest.
Turn Back Time - 5 points
Completed "The Gramophone" side quest
This quest is in an apartment accessed by a ladder you pull down with a hook. The building in quest is the first one south of the movie theater in chastain heights, and the hook is across the street, against a red garage door. Once the ladder is pulled down and you climb in the window, the quest objective of fixing the gramophone is added.
You need to pick up two parts upstairs, a crank in one room and a record in a drawer in another. Then, place both in the gramophone and start turning the crank until it stops. Then, turn the crank again, the other way until it stops. Then run over to the portrait of the husband and use your lighter to burn it and the achievement unlocks.
Dust to Dust - 5 points
Completed the "Ashes to Ashes" side quest
Very simple. North side of rice street in the pleasant river section, the third house from the left on the north side. You pick up an urn of ashes in a room on the second floor. Then, you simply leave the house, stay left and cut through the path between houses and go to the larger of the docks which is on the left. On the left side of the right extension, you have a prompt to use the urn on a bench which ends the quest and gives you the achievement.
Spot the Difference - 5 points
Completed the "Mirror, Mirror" side quest
This takes place in a house in the port district. Once you lower the drawbridge and cross it, turn left, and it is the well-lit door on the left side of the street. You enter the room with the mirror and approach it to trigger the quest. You have to look for something that is different in the mirror than it is actually in the room with you. After each step, the mirror goes trippy for a few seconds as it changes.
Not sure is this is the order for every difficulty, but this is what it was for me. Regardless, it's always these same 5 objects i've heard.
- Turn the lamp on the side table on
- Open the desk drawer
- Turn on the TV
- Flip/adjust the painting by the drawer you opened
- Light the candle by the lamp with your lighter
Finishing the last step earns you the achievement and breaks the mirror, revealing some items.
What's Your Sign? - 5 points
Completed the "Shadow Play" side quest
This is by far the longest and most frustrating of the side quests. You get the quest in a house on the street behind the movie theater, the last building at the top of that street on the right (the curving section of Brite). You light the two candles to reveal symbols on the map on the table on the second floor. Then, pick up the item on the table in the back left corner of the room.
Take it over to the circular gold object across the room in front of the eye on the wall. Now, the annoying part begins. You have to move the object in the gold rings to match the missing parts of the symbols. You need to use the forensic flashlight to see what part is needed. Then, switch to the normal flashlight and move the object until shining the flashlight makes the shadow to finish the symbol, which then lets you pick up an item.
Once you have done it for the eye in the starting apartment, you have to get more around the city.
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When you have them all, return to the apartment and place them on the map to finish the quest.
Telltale Heart - 5 points
Completed the "Dead Man's Hand" side quest
Useless Trinkets - 5 points
Completed the "Digging up the Past" side quest
This has to be done in a second or later playthrough of the game. You likely found a few places in town where there is a red and blue candle and a patch of dirt. But, you could not, even if you were holding a shovel, dig there. On a later playthrough, you can.
The seven spots are as follows:
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Silence is Golden - 20 points
Killed or incapacitated 10 Screamers
Screamers are the most common enemies in the whole game, and the first type you run into. You can have 10 by the end of the second major area.
Shadow Boxer - 20 points
Killed or incapacitated 10 Dolls
Dolls are first encountered in the centennial building since you need the forensic flashlight to see them. The dolls do nothing on their own, but they spawn three glass forms that you need to knock down and then the doll itself falls to the ground. Then kill it or run away. There are about 5 in the centennial building and some others are found here and there for the rest of the game.
Piñata Party - 20 points
Killed or incapacitated 10 Weeping Bats
Weeping bats are the tall, skinny things that hand on ceilings, sometimes dropping, first found in devil's pit. You will likely kill about 6 in the pit, then there are a few in the centennial building, and some can be in the streets of Silent Hill.
Lockdown - 20 points
Killed or incapacitated 10 Prisoner Minions
These guys randomly appear in the streets of Silent Hill, especially when it rains. I had 10 even before making it to the prison, but if you do not have it by then, you will get it there.
The Bigger They Are… - 20 points
Killed or incapacitated 10 Prisoner Juggernauts
These guys are only found in the final prison level, but you can pick this up in the final sequence where you are the bogeyman. Cunningham releases 4 at a time, so you can kill likely 8 as you try to hit her. That is where I unlocked this.
Fight or Flight? - 20 points
Escaped from 20 monsters
Silent Hill Historic Society - 50 points
Completed Murphy's Journal with all Mysteries
See this post
Stay of Execution - 25 points
Incapacitated 20 monsters without killing them
Pretty easy. You incapacitate enemies when they are knocked to the ground. They stay down for like 30 seconds, so you have plenty of time to simply run away and they will not pursue you. You will likely get this by the time you reach the Pearl Creek section of the town.
Gun Control - 25 points
Killed 25 monsters with the Pistol or Shotgun
Now, firearms are somewhat rare in the game, and it's often easy to kill enemies since the weapons are powerful, so be wary to use them when going for the playthrough where you kill no enemies. That being said, anytime you have ammo to spare, if you're standing in the main town areas, the five districts, enemies will eventually just start appearing, especially when it is raining, but you will likely pick this up by playing normally, so no worries.
Hypochondriac - 10 points
Used 20 First Aid Kits
These are actually relatively plentiful in the game.
Puzzle Master - 100 points
Completed the game on the hard puzzle difficulty setting, any ending
There will be a video guide for hard difficulty puzzle solutions at the top of the first post, but i will also post the text solutions here. Also, please note, some puzzles are not needed to finish the game, some just unlock rare items.
Puzzle 1 - Safe in diner
- Dial 2, right twice
- Dial 3, left three times
- Dial 2, right twice
- Dial 4, right once
- Dial 5, right five times
- Dial 1, left three times
Puzzle 2 - Ticket Machine, Devil's Pitstop team station
You need to get three balls into the corresponding holes, sort of like a pinball machine mixed with that labyrinth tilt game as there are some traps. Hard difficulty is only harder because there are some more traps.
Puzzle 3 - Water Wheels in Devil's Pit
In the Devil's Pit, you will come to a display of water and valves. You have to change the flow of the water to get the wheel going by moving the trough/path of water. There are essentially four steps.
- At the top of the stairs near the board, drag the crate under the large door
- Now you have to use the center valve, turn it left two times to move the second water path
- Now you need to use the left-most valve, turn it three times
- And finally the right-most valve, turn it twice to the left (NOTE - if at this step you turn it once to the left and stop, you can pick up a first aid kit and pistol bullets from a cave that is flooded, but be sure to not turn the valve again or it is closed off)
Puzzle 4 -
Capital Punishment - 100 points
Completed the game on the hard game difficulty setting, any ending
Honestly, the game is never too hard, with lots of first aid kits and you can simply run past a lot of the enemies. There are only two bosses you need to defeat, and if you skip all side quests, the main game takes only about 4-6 hours once you know what you are doing. Just play on hard as a second playthrough so you can do the objectives only, having the knowledge of what to do.
Good Behavior - 50 points
Completed the game on any difficulty without killing any monsters
This can be done on Easy difficulty, which is what I suggest. You can beat the whole game in about 5 hours or so I suggest doing this once you know it from playing it once or twice. Then, on a quick easy playthrough, just do not kill any enemies, and really, you can run by basically every single enemy in the game. Some you can swing away at, because to kill them, you have to hit them while they are on the ground. But, try to not even hit any enemies as often as you can.
You can find about 50 health kits throughout the game, so even if you get hit, you can always heal. The hardest section to not kill enemies is the final boss because when you transition from the first two spotlights to the other two, all of the enemies in your way makes it almost needed to hit them, and some get back up and chase you, so try not to hit them again or they may die.
Silent Hill Tour Guide - 100 points
Completed all side quests
See individual video guides at the top of the first post, or for individual text guides, refer to the individual achievement descriptions, as each side quest earns you a 5 point achievement.
Ending A - 50 points
Achieved "Forgiveness" ending
See ending E
Ending C - 50 points
Achieved "Full Circle" ending
See ending E
Ending B - 50 points
Achieved "Truth & Justice" ending
See ending E
Ending D - 50 points
Achieved "Execution" ending
See ending E
Ending E - 70 points
Achieved "Surprise!" ending
The endings come down to a weird combination of factors. In essence, there is a moral score being kept behind the scenes. This score starts at 0, then goes up for good moral choices in cutscenes and down for the bad ones. But, that's not all. You get points every time you incapacitate but do not kill an enemy. Conversely, you lose points for every enemy you fully kill.
The last moral decision made at the very end of the game, whether or not to kill Cunningham when you are the Bogeyman, determines which cluster of two endings you could receive.
"Good" endings - A and B
A - Spare Cunningham with a total score above 0 (greatly helped if you tried to help her earlier, and consoled the tram car driver)
B - Spare Cunnigham with a total score LESS THAN 0 (greatly helped by letting her fall earlier and mocking the tram car drive)
"Bad" endings - C and D
C - Kill Cunningham with a total score above 0 (greatly helped if you tried to help her earlier, and consoled the tram car driver)
D - Kill Cunningham with a total score LESS THAN 0 (greatly helped by letting her fall earlier and mocking the tram car drive)
Other endings -
Ending E - To earn ending E, it doesn't matter at all what decisions you make or what you do with the monsters. You earn this by completing the side quest "digging up the past" wherein you get all the silent hill artifacts from dig spots around the town. You can only do this side quest in a second or later playthrough of the game, otherwise you are not allowed to use the dig spots. See "Digging up the Past" sidequest video or the individual achievement description for more on that quest.
"Reversal" ending - To get this, and it can happen no matter what you did in the game, you die during the period you have to attack Cunningham as the Bogeyman.
Time Consuming