10 Mysteries Video Games SHOULDN'T Have Answered

7. What Happened To Josh? - Silent Hill: Homecoming

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Konami

Silent Hill: Homecoming follows soldier Alex Shepherd as he ends up in Silent Hill while searching for his missing younger brother, Josh. 

It's a pretty typical setup for the series, and rather than do anything fresh or interesting with it, Konami simply ended up rehashing the big reveal from the series' most acclaimed entry.

A flashback eventually reveals that Josh has actually been dead all along, having drowned in an accident caused by Alex himself years earlier, and through his trauma Alex has repressed all knowledge of it.

Gee, doesn't that sound incredibly similar to Silent Hill 2, where protagonist James heads to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife Mary, only for the game to reveal that he smothered her to death and subsequently repressed the whole incident.

In theory there are worse ideas than borrowing liberally from the best, but perhaps not when it's in the very same franchise. 

As a result, most Silent Hill fans saw Homecoming's big reveal coming a mile off, compounding the overall disappointment of the game being just fine.

Really, if ripping off Silent Hill 2 was the most inspired creative the game had going for it, did we really need to know what happened to Josh that badly?

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.