Just finished silent hill 2, coming in hit after finishing silent hill 1.
Silent hill 1 was great, but 2 surpasses it. The story of silent hill 1 is pretty cool and mysterious until it turns into muh occult ritual stuff, which doesn't do it for me and makes me feel cringey on the inside. Especially since I've spent a good portion of my life as an occultist, lol. That being said, I absolutely adore the vibes and scenery. The setting is the best part of it all. I wish the extra good ending was canon because I like the character you save in the extra good ending. The snowy fog in particularly is comfy as hell. I liked silent hill 1 a lot and found it to be comfy, which I dont think was the intention but, oh well. I played it twice in a row, in order to get the best ending. I'll probably go back and play it again in a year or so.
2, however, and it's more "internal" take on things is a masterpiece. I can't think of anything across any medium that has replicated what 2 did. I came into sh2 knowing the big reveal, but had an absolutely wonderful time regardless. I don't want to go back and play through it again as much as 1, but it is surely going to stick with me for a long, long time. As I've gotten older, I've stopped.caring as much about stories in Vidya because, well, most vidya writers are shit and there are more than enough good books to satisfy all story needs. SH2 is something super special though and stands as a testament to the mediums storytelling potential.
The combat in both games is meh and tbh I felt like a demigod after the first dungeon in each - I was so loaded on ammo I could blast my way through everything, so long as I just ran past enemies in the overworld. Neither of the games were scary in that regard. The enemies in sh1 were particularly funny, since for the most part they all only come up to Harry's knees or thighs.
Sh2 has much more unnerving enemies but, still, I was able to blast my way through the game on normal without worrying about supplies or ammo. I think the mannequins were my favorite, thoguh they were by far the least threatening enemy in the game mechanically
Sh3 definitely is doing ammo and enemies a bit better, if we are looking at it from an anxiety standpoint. The supplies are much more limited and enemies are much harder to dodge. Coming from sh1 and 2, it makes me kind of nervous but mostly annoyed to be honest, because I kind of liked the chill pace of gameplay in 1 and 2. The monsters are more threatening mechanically but the designs of them are - so far - much less intimidating than in 2. I'm not super huge on the lack of overworld in 3 but I'll get over that. Ill write more about 3 when I finish it.
All in all, 1 is a pretty good and comfy PS1 game, 2 is masterpiece that hasn't been surpasses IMHO, and I'm still playing 3