Room 302

Lore & Background

Room 302 is the apartment of Henry Townshend, an 'average' introvert in his late 20s, who finds himself locked inside for five days with no means of communication and recurring nightmares. The room was previously inhabited by investigative journalist Joseph Schreiber, who was investigating Walter Sullivan's murder spree. Henry discovers diary scraps left by Joseph that reveal Walter is an orphan who believes his biological mother was in this apartment, where he had been found abandoned after birth. To 'purify' the area, Walter performs a ritual requiring twenty-one murders. The room contains the only save point and a chest for managing Henry's limited item inventory. In the second half of the game, supernatural hauntings possess the room, draining Henry's health instead of restoring it. The game's working title prior to its incorporation into the Silent Hill series was simply 'Room 302.'

In Their Own Story

Henry Townshend finds himself locked in his apartment for five days. Shortly afterwards, a hole appears in the wall of his bathroom, through which he enters alternate dimensions. He ends up in an abandoned subway station, where he meets Cynthia Velasquez, a woman convinced she is dreaming and who is soon killed by an unknown man. Awakening in his apartment, he hears confirmation on his radio that she is indeed dead in the real world. Similar events repeat with Jasper Gein, Andrew DeSalvo, and Richard Braintree. Henry finds diary scraps belonging to Joseph Schreiber, the former inhabitant of his apartment, who was investigating Walter's murder spree. He discovers that Walter is an orphan who has been led to believe his biological mother was in Henry's apartment. As Walter prepares to kill his twentieth victim, Eileen Galvin, a child manifestation of himself appears and stops him. The two eventually find Joseph's ghost, who tells them that the only way to escape is to kill Walter, and reveals that Henry is the intended twenty-first victim. There are four possible endings, determined by whether or not Eileen survives and the condition of Henry's apartment.

Reader's Guide

Room 302 is the central hub of Silent Hill 4: The Room. It is shown through a first-person perspective and contains the only save point. The other areas of the game are reached through holes formed in the apartment. For the first half of the game, the room restores Henry's health; in the second half, it becomes possessed by hauntings that drain his health. The player can manage a limited item inventory by leaving unneeded items in a chest in Henry's room. Items such as talismans protect the player from damage from the hauntings but will eventually break after a short period of use. Ghosts of Walter Sullivan's victims can be nullified by two items, which can also exorcise the hauntings in Henry's apartment. In the second half of the game, Henry is accompanied by his neighbor Eileen Galvin. The damage Eileen takes determines whether she dies during the final boss fight, directly affecting the ending achieved. The four possible endings are '21 Sacraments,' 'Eileen's Death,' 'Mother,' and 'Escape.' There is no joke/UFO ending in this game.

Did You Know?

• The game's working title prior to its incorporation into the Silent Hill series was simply 'Room 302.'
• The room is the only save point in the game and is viewed through a first-person perspective, while all other areas use third-person view.
• In the first half of the game, the room restores Henry's health; in the second half, hauntings drain his health.
• The room was previously inhabited by investigative journalist Joseph Schreiber, who was investigating Walter Sullivan's murder spree.
• There is no joke/UFO ending in Silent Hill 4, a first for the series.