How to Play the Silent Hill Games in Order

There aren’t many horror games that use an eerie atmosphere and mental dread to capture the player the way Silent Hill does. It is a quintessential series with many entries, some of which are connected.

As such, the question of how to play the Silent Hill games in order has come up many times. So here’s our take on how you can navigate through the series.

The Release Order

The preferred way to play Silent Hill is with the release order, as that’s how many fans get into it. You cannot go wrong with it. The early games are great, and right off the bat, the second game you play, Silent Hill 2, is unarguably the greatest in the entire franchise.

Here is a list of Silent Hill games in order of release, with their platforms. We have also added a side note indicating which games are connected and which are standalone.

Silent Hill (1999 – PS1) > Origins is a prequel to Silent Hill, but you don’t have to play it before this.
Silent Hill 2 (2001 – PS2) > Standalone.
Silent Hill 3 (2003 – PS2, Windows PC) > Set 17 years after the events of the first Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004 – PS2) > Standalone.
Silent Hill: Arcade (2007 – Arcade hardware) > Arcade game that you can skip.
Silent Hill: Origins (2007 – PS2, PSP) > Prequel to the first Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: Orphan (2007 – iOS, FOMA) > First game of the Orphan trilogy.
Silent Hill: The Escape (2007 – iOS, FOMA) > Standalone.
Silent Hill: Orphan 2 (2008 – iOS, FOMA) > Second game of the Orphan trilogy
Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008 – PS3, Xbox 360) > Standalone.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009 – Wii, PS2, PSP) > Reimagining of the first Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: Orphan 3 (2010 – iOS, FOMA) > Third game of the Orphan trilogy
Silent Hill: Downpour (2012 – Xbox 360, PS3) > Standalone.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (2012 – PS Vita) > Standalone.
PT (2014 – PS4) > Standalone, but it has been removed from PS4.
Silent Hill: The Short Message (2024 – PS5) > Standalone.
Silent Hill 2 Remake (2024 – PS5, PC) > While it is a remake of Silent Hill 2, you should play both, as they are masterpieces.
Silent Hill f (2025 – PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) > Standalone.

The Story Order

The other way you can play the Silent Hill series is to start with the story and then pick whichever standalone game you want. Luckily, only four games should be played in a certain order.

Silent Hill (1999 – PS1) > The first game of the saga.
Silent Hill 3 (2003 – PS2, Windows PC) > Set 17 years after the events of the first Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: Origins (2007 – PS2, PSP) > Even though it is set before Silent Hill 1, it’s best to play it after Silent Hill 3 for the best possible experience.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009 – Wii, PS2, PSP) > Reimagining of the first Silent Hill, so it is advised to play it after finishing the above three games.

After that, you can play in whatever order you want, but we would recommend jumping into Silent Hill 2 as it is the best game in the entire franchise. After that, the natural step would be Silent Hill 4 and the rest.

But if your hype for the franchise stems from the recent games, and you want to know if there are prerequisite titles, there are none. Silent Hill: The Short Message and Silent Hill f are both standalone games that you can play right away.

One of the great things about the Silent Hill is that it is very easy to get into. Only a scant few titles are connected in a meaningful way, and they are some of the best the series has to offer.

The upcoming Silent Hill: Townfall will also be a standalone game, so you won’t necessarily need to play anything to understand it.

Every Silent Hill Game, Ranked