Dream wrote:I would nominate
Silent Hill 2 for the title of "most Evangelion game".
Seconded to hell and back. Evangelion and
Silent Hill 2 have many similarities, such as an unconventional and insecure protagonist; frequent metaphorical representations of the characters' emotional insecurities, sexuality and troubled pasts and similar themes such as miscommunication, flawed relationships, religious imagery and sexual anxiety.
The other
Silent Hill games have similar themes, but none delve as deeply into the psyche of the main protagonist as
Silent Hill 2. The original, third and fourth games all focus more on the antagonists than on the insecurities of the main protagonist, whereas SH2 delves deep into James's own dark past in a similar manner to Evangelion's psychoanalysis of Shinji throughout the series. Like Evangelion, SH2 also becomes darker as you go on. I would also consider SH2 the most Evangelion game because its endings can be considered more ambiguous and not necessarily good or bad (much like how EoE and EoTV are not necessarily good or evil, and can be debated upon). Most of the other SH games have a much clearer distinction between whether an ending is good or bad.
Silent Hill 3 does have similar themes to Evangelion such as motherhood, teenage sexual anxiety and child/parent relationships, but I consider it to be more dissimilar to Evangelion than SH2 simply because it's pointed in a different direction in terms of character development and overall tone. The idea of religion and creating a God is prevalent in both SH3 and Evangelion, though, as is the metaphorical symbolism of the monsters (this is prevalent in SH1, SH2 and SH4 as well). Some sequences such as Heather confronting Dark Alessa (a more violent interpretation of Rei talking to Armisael!Rei?) and the contrast between Claudia's dogmatic ideals compared to Vincent's mysterious-yet-realistic knowledge also did remind me of Evangelion somewhat. Much like Evangelion, the
Silent Hill protagonists are generally thrown into danger without any explanation, and have to rely on more knowledgeable characters for guidance. They often are forced to explore their own psyche and the minds of others through trippy phenomenae, similar to the Evangelion characters (although while Evangelion does this through introspective metaphysical sequences Silent Hill makes its metaphors part of the environment as physical enemies or items).