I replayed Silent Hill 2 in early 2020, for the first time in over a decade. After all that time, I was struck by the fact that it's still the most interesting game I've ever played.
'Leave' (the ending where James leaves with Laura) is my favourite ending, but I was trying not to manipulate the ending I got. I ended up with 'In Water' (the ending where James ends up in the lake), then tried reloading my save from before room 312 and running through the ending sequence without listening to the headphones. That one change was enough to shift my ending to 'Leave'.
Playing through the two endings so close together meant I picked up on an interesting difference: how willing James is to admit to the selfishness of his actions.
In the 'In Water' ending, James and Mary have the following exchange:
Mary: I told you I wanted to die, James. I wanted the pain to end.
James: That's why I did it, honey. I just couldn't watch you suffer.
(pause)
James: No, that's not the whole truth. You also said that you didn't want to die. The truth is... part of me hated you. For taking away my life...
Mary: You killed me, and you're suffering for it. It’s enough, James.
I didn't like James's hedging here: 'that's not the whole truth', 'part of me hated you'. I didn't want him trying to soften his selfishness. I'm sure it's true that watching Mary suffer was very hard for him, but he wasn't acting for her sake; he couldn't handle her illness. He'd killed her; he wasn't in any position to make excuses for it.
So I was surprised - and pleased! - to find that the dialogue was subtly different in the 'Leave' ending:
Mary: I told you I wanted to die, James. I wanted the pain to end.
James: That's why I did it, honey. I just couldn't watch you suffer.
(pause)
James: No, that's not true. You also said that you didn't want to die. The truth is I hated you. I wanted you out of the way. I wanted my life back...
Mary: James... if that were true, then why do you look so sad?
He knows his actions were inexcusable, and he admits that without trying to mitigate them. It's a confession I prefer, and I take it that Mary prefers it too, as her response is gentler. And, having admitted the weight of what he did, this version of James is ultimately able to shoulder that weight and keep living, whereas in 'In Water' he takes Mary's body to his car and drives it into the lake.
Out of curiosity, I looked up whether James confronts his reasons in the 'leave with Maria' ending. In this ending, where James doesn't learn from his mistakes and it's implied he ends up repeating them in a horrific cycle, James doesn't admit he was acting for himself until Mary challenges him, and even then he's still trying to make excuses:
Mary: You killed me...
James: I couldn't watch you suffer.
Mary: Don't make excuses, James. I know I was a burden on you. You must have hated me. That’s why you got rid of me.
James: It's true... I may have had some of those feelings. It was a long three years... I was... tired.
In 'Maria', James doesn't accept that his actions were indefensible, and that leaves open the possibility that he'll make the same mistake again. It's a fascinating ending, but it's an ending I really didn't want to get; I'm deeply fond of James, and I really wanted him to have learnt something on his journey through Silent Hill.
I really like the subtleties of Silent Hill 2's ending system: both the subtle differences like this between the endings and the subtle ways the game determines which ending you should get.
Usually, if a game has multiple endings, it'll have clear decision points; you're actively choosing what sort of story you want. Silent Hill 2 will pick up on smaller details about the way you play - whether you keep James in good health, whether you examine certain things, how much interest you show in particular characters - and it uses those details to determine which ending would be the most fitting for the story you're telling. Without foreknowledge, you'd have no idea that these actions are influencing the route of the story.
It's been two decades since Silent Hill 2 came out, but I can't think of any other game I've played that has a similar system. Life Is Strange 2 comes close, in the subtle ways your actions change your in-game little brother's behaviour, but it's still very clear about when you're making story-relevant decisions in a way that Silent Hill 2 isn't. The way the player is shaping the story without even realising it is one of Silent Hill 2's most distinctive and unusual aspects.