Where to Find the Flashlight - Silent Hill 2 Remake Guide - IGN

This Silent Hill 2 Remake guide is meant to inform new players about when and where they can find the most important tool in the game: the Flashlight.

Silent Hill has been defined since the beginning by the interaction between light and darkness. If you asked somebody about their mental image of the series, it'd probably involve picking your way through some abandoned building in the middle of the night with only your flashlight to break through the gloom.

As such, it can be a bit of a shock for new players of the Silent Hill 2 remake (SH2R) when they've been playing the game for about an hour and don't have the flashlight yet. In fact, you won't find one at all until you escape from the first area.

Fortunately, it's daytime when James enters Eastern South Vale, so you don't really need the flashlight at first. There are a couple of darkened rooms in the neighborhood, such as the kitchens in Big Jay's and Happy Burger, but all the story-critical locations are reasonably well-lit.

That changes at once when you reach Wood Side Apartments, especially as you start moving into its second floor. Even when there is a window nearby, it's frequently covered up or painted over. Fortunately, you'll find a Flashlight almost immediately upon entering Wood Side.

From the lobby in Wood Side, go up the stairs and through the door to the second floor. If you turn right, you'll see light spilling out from the open door of Apt. 202 (above). It's currently the only unlocked door on 2F, so go ahead and check it out.

Inside, you'll find the Flashlight hanging on a dressmaker's dummy. Go ahead and take it, but watch out; as soon as you have it, the first Mannequin in the game will spring at you.

If you know the Mannequin is there, you can sort of see it huddled underneath the nearby makeup mirror, but it's invincible until it attacks. This will not be the case with subsequent Mannequins.

The Flashlight cannot be missed. Even if you wanted to challenge yourself by trying to run the rest of SH2R in the dark, you can't pick up the critical Chute Courtyard Key until you've taken the Flashlight.

The Flashlight is your constant companion for most of the rest of SH2R. If you want to try to sneak by an enemy without alerting it, you can turn the Flashlight off by pressing R3. It may occasionally flicker at dramatic moments, but its battery will last for the rest of the game.