All Silent Hill 2 Remake weapons and where to get them

Silent Hill 2 weapons and guns are found all around the game as you explore. However, you won't even get the first basic pistol until a few hours in and other options can either be teased long before you can reach them, or take so long to appear you'll think you missed it.

Like the original game the remake doesn't have a huge amount of guns and weapons either - only six in total, including the non-optional board and metal pipe that players find along the way. But if you want to find a handgun, shotgun, hunting rifle and even a chainsaw, we'll lay out where to get all the best Silent Hill 2 Remake weapons below. Lock and load, James!

Where to find all weapons in Silent Hill 2 Remake

There are six main weapons you can find in the Silent Hill 2 Remake, two of which are mandatory, with SH2 automatically pressing them into James' hand in cutscenes. Below we've listed all of them and their locations:

• Wooden Board - (Mandatory pickup)
• Metal Pipe - (Mandatory pickup, replaces the Wooden Board)
• Handgun - Wood Side Apartments 2F, Room 217
• Shotgun - Brookhaven Hospital 2F, Women's Locker Room
• Rifle - Toluca Prison 1F, Armory
• Chainsaw - Silent Hill Ranch on NG+

All of the non-optional weapons can be missed if you don't pick them up before moving to the next area, and generally become harder to get as you move down the list. The handgun is highly telegraphed and placed along the way, the shotgun is a little more subtle, and the rifle - the best weapon in Silent Hill 2 - is quite literally locked off behind an implied side quest, forcing you to find a key to extract it from an armory gun cabinet. Below I'll explain how to get each of the weapons in more detail in Silent Hill 2 Remake.

How to get the handgun in Silent Hill 2 Remake

The handgun is the first weapon you can find in the Wood Side Apartments and needs to be obtained before you move onto Blue Creek by completing the Silent Hill 2 Remake coin cabinet. Specifically, the pistol is in a red shopping cart in Room 217.

To get it, you need to get the 2F Hallway Key from the Eastern corridor of 1F, on the South side of the metal bars that split the corridor in half (there'll be a cutscene when you first approach these bars from the North, where you see a character move them away)

After you have the key, you'll be able to unlock the upstairs hallway from the stairwell, and check room 217 for the pistol. This is a weapon you'll find a lot of ammo for across the game, so probably one you'll use a lot.

How to get the Shotgun in Silent Hill 2 Remake

The Silent Hill 2 shotgun is found in Brookhaven Hospital 2F, in the Women's Locker Room. Like the Pistol, this is technically optional, but very hard to miss. We have a more detailed guide on how to get the Silent Hill 2 Remake shotgun here but, short version: an empty gun case teases its existence the moment you enter the hospital, but you won't get it until you progress through the main path and reach the Director's Office hand puzzle in Silent Hill 2 Remake on 2F.

From there, follow the corridor West to the women's locker room. In that room you'll find the Silent Hill 2 Remake Bent Needle stuck into the back of a teddy bear's head for a different puzzle you'll need to do, and, to the right of that, in one of the lockers, is the Shotgun itself.

It's a more deadly close-range option compared to the pistol, and there's also less ammo for the shotgun as a rule. So you'll definitely want to be a little more conservative with how it's used and save it for special occasions.

How to get the rifle in Silent Hill 2 Remake

The Silent Hill 2 Remake rifle can be found in the Toluca Prison Armory 1F and is arguably the best weapon in the game. It's in a locked cabinet so you'll need to find the key for that. Unlike the other two weapons it's much easier to miss this one.

The armory is just ahead of you the moment you reach the prison, but the rifle key is in the 1F Serpent Section of the Prison, in the unnamed room south of the Witness Checkpoint. You'll have to open the Headless Serpent Door to reach this section by solving the Silent Hill 2 Remake Prison weights and scales puzzle, but that's something you have to do anyway, so it shouldn't be far off your path. Once you have the key, head back to the armory and claim the hunting rifle.

The rifle is a long-range precision weapon, slow to fire and difficult to use at close range, but massively damaging - it can kill a nurses in a single shot to the head. However, ammo is even more scarce than it is for the shotgun, so you'll really need to save it for special occasions, such as boss fights or moments of extreme danger where nothing else will do.

How to get the Chainsaw in Silent Hill 2 Remake

The chainsaw in Silent Hill 2 can only be obtained in New Game Plus after having completed the main story at least once. When you restart the game and walk down past the sign for Silent Hill Ranch after meeting Angela in the Graveyard, you'll hear it whirring. It's resting on a pile of logs for you to take, and use on any hapless body-bag monsters that get in your way.

The chainsaw is easily the most powerful melee weapon - doing far more damage to enemies than either the board or the pipe will - and will kill basic enemies in a single hit. Expect subsequent playthroughs to be easier if you do pick it up.

Is the Great Knife in Silent Hill 2 Remake?

Pyramid Head's sword, the "Great Knife", was in the original game as an unlockable weapon - but unfortunately, the Great Knife is not in Silent Hill 2 Remake. There is a moment in the game where James drags the knife behind him, but it's only for about thirty seconds to solve a puzzle, and it's abandoned afterwards. Likewise, the Hyper Spray, another powerful unlockable weapon from the original game, does not appear to be in the 2024 Remake.

Want to hear our thoughts on Bloober Team's recreation of one of gaming's most iconic horror games? Our Silent Hill 2 Remake review is waiting here…

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