Unlockables and Secrets

Normally restricted to Easy, Normal and Hard Action Levels, you will unlock Beginner if you die 3-4 times on Easy or Normal Action Level and will be asked if you'd like to switch on the spot. Additionally you can change to it at any time in the Extra Options menu, however you cannot switch from Hard to Beginner. You must turn it on while playing Easy or Normal to play on Beginner.

Upon completing the game once, you will unlock Extra New Game which serves as a New Game Plus equivalent. It works just like Next Fear and the yellow-highlighted New Game in Silent Hill 1 and 2, allowing you to continue your save file, collect any unlockables and achieve more endings. Unlike a standard New Game, an Extra New Game cuts out the Amusement Park nightmare and starts you off in the mall.

Once you beat the game on Hard Action Level, you'll unlock Extreme 1 Action Level, upping the ante in difficulty even further. Completing that will unlock Extreme 2, continuing all the way up to Extreme X (10) should you be able to manage the challenge. Key item locations will be the same as on Hard, but supplies will be found in lower frequency. Enemies will keep hitting harder while your health bar will remain half the size as Hard for all levels. Once you complete Extreme X, you'll unlock a code for a new costume. If you wish to play down to a previous Extreme level, use the left and right buttons to toggle between the levels you've unlocked.

After your first game completion you will unlock a function called Bullet Adjust in the Extra Options. What this does is multiply the amount of ammo found in each pickup in the game. One playthrough will unlock x2 while each successive playthrough after that will unlock the next level until x5 is reached after your fourth run. Be sure to change it manually, and note that you may have to set it after starting each new run, since it tends to reset to x1 in a New Game/Extra New Game.

Appearing for the first time in the series, the life bar is unlocked after completing the game on Hard Action Level. While displayed, the yellow bar shows your health while the green bar indicates your stamina. A thin purple line will appear on screen when you get knocked down or grabbed to indicate how long it'll take to get back up or escape. Mash the shoulder and directional buttons to speed up this process. Once unlocked, you can turn the life bar on or off in the Extra Options menu.

There are six unlockable extra weapons in Silent Hill 3, all only available in an Extra New Game. See the requirements to unlock each weapon below, upon which they can be found in your next playthrough. Note that using any extra weapon will reduce your ranking by one small star (or 0.1/10).

Unlimited Submachine Gun

Beam Saber

Flamethrower

Gold and Silver Pipes

Description (Gold Pipe): "It looks snazzy, but it's not strong at all. Well, maybe I can sell it."
Description (Silver Pipe): "How gorgeous! No stronger than the steel pipe, though. Good against vampires and werewolves."

Unlocked after completing the game just once, the Gold and Silver Pipes are found in the form of a secret. First you must obtain the standard Steel Pipe in the mall and make your way to the room with the monster in the water in the lower level of the Underpass (where the Dryer is used to kill it). Approach and examine the edge of the water at any single spot (before or after killing the monster, doesn't matter) to see a prompt asking if you'd like to drop your Steel Pipe in it (you must unequip it if using it). Select yes and a princess will appear and ask you three questions, whether the Gold, Silver and rusted pipes she's holding are yours.

Answer honestly with No, No and Yes and you'll receive the Gold and Silver Pipes along with your standard Steel Pipe back. If you lie even once, you won't get any back. Unfortunately these pipes are no stronger than the regular one and just look a lot more interesting. They also work the same way: ready with R2, press X for an overshoulder swing, hold X for an overhead downward swing or hold forward while holding X for a thrust attack.

Heather Beam and Sexy Beam

The Heather Beam is unlocked after killing 333 total enemies in your save file and will be available on your next Extra New Game playthrough. That includes kills spread over however many playthroughs it takes, as long as you're adding to your total by continuing your file with Extra New Games. The Heather Beam cannot be seen in your inventory and rather is a type of mind control weapon that shoots beams at enemies through Heather's eyes. You will know it is unlocked in the beginning washroom if you see two Halo of the Sun insignias over Heather's head, although they disappear for the rest of the game.

Although the Heather Beam is quite a powerful weapon, you should still keep your distance to enemies to stay out of harm's way and utilize the weapon's range. All other weapons must be unequipped to use it. Hold R2 to prepare it and press X to fire singular sphere-shaped projectiles (press, let go then hold to fire them continuously), although this attack is quite weak. Hold X to perform a much more powerful and practical heat-seeking beam attack. Note that it requires and depletes your stamina to fire beams and projectiles, and you can see how much stamina you have at all times with the Life Display turned on (unlocked by completing the game on Hard).

Once the Heather Beam is unlocked, it can be combined with the Transform Costume (see the Costumes section) to produce the even more powerful Sexy Beam. This version also has two attacks: press X to fire a double laser beam (holding it after the initial press and release to continuously fire) or instead hold X from the beginning to fire several heat-seeking missile beams and cell-type projectiles (both combined attacks from the standard Heather Beam) from Heather's eyes. Use the left analog stick to aim each attack with both the Heather and Sexy Beam, although the heat-seeking missiles should automatically land if shot in the vicinity of an enemy. Use whichever beam you find easier to use, since while the Sexy Beam is more powerful, it takes a bit longer to prepare with Heather first leaning to the side before attacking. Cause a girl's always gotta make sure she looks sexy first.

The Heather Beam or Sexy Beam are required to receive the Revenge ending. To receive it, you must kill at least 30 enemies with either weapon before reaching Heather's apartment where the game will abruptly end.

Unlocked after completing the game once, this secret code removes Douglas' shirt and pants, leaving him with just his boxers, trench coat, tie, hat and shoes. Once Extra New Game has been unlocked, move the cursor over it and then enter the following button inputs (known as the Konami Code) to unlock this hidden gem:

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle, X (PS2)

W, W, S, S, Q, E, Q, E, Esc, Enter (PC default controls)

Now select your Action and Riddle Levels and you'll hear Heather moan to signify you've entered the code properly, because clearly she loves the idea of Douglas in his boxers. Get ready to have a laugh here, especially in the first scene.

In an Extra New Game, certain parts of the Underpass will be appear bloody and morphing, similar to the Church near the very end of the game. Unfortunately this effect will also drain your health on Hard or Extreme Action Levels, although it will not kill you. Only certain areas will normally appear like this, although you may notice others turn this way if you return and go the wrong way.

If you have a completed save of Silent Hill 2 on your memory card you can experience up to four extra scenes or comments referencing the game. They can be found in the following locations:

Scene:
Examine the women's washroom toilet with the "blockage" and choose to reach into it, Nightmare Mall 1F. Heather will prepare to reach into the toilet before wimping out and making light of someone who would even think of doing such a thing. Poor James.

Comment:
Examine the mailboxes in Daisy Villa Apartments by the front door. Heather will comment that there's no letter from a dead wife waiting for her.

Poster:
A poster of a dancer named Lady Maria will be found on the Heaven's Night stage in Silent Hill, with a headline Heather can read.

Comment:
Examine the fence by the Elevator Control Room on the Brookhaven Hospital rooftop. Heather will comment that it doesn't look like it's about to break and fall through, as it did for James.

This item is not exactly an extra item as it can always be found, but it is hidden in somewhat of a secret location. On the 5th floor of the Construction Site, a portion of the wall across from the hole and bed won't match the rest, as if recently plastered. Once found, equip a melee weapon and smash it to reveal the Silencer, along with the visible legs from a body hidden in the wall. The body in the wall is actually a reference to the 1981 Italian horror film based loosely on the 1843 story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe (Heather mentions the film in her commentary of this scene).

The Silencer can be attached to the Handgun or Submachine Gun to reduce its volume and cover the muzzle flash when fired. It allows you to be a bit more discreet when fighting multiple enemies in a room or hallway such as Slurpers, and hiding the flash prevents the Missionary and Scrapers from deflecting your bullets from the front. To use the Silencer, equip it from your inventory and it'll automatically attach to the Handgun or Submachine Gun when they are equipped, allowing you to seamlessly switch between them. Unequip the Silencer to remove it. Note that the power of each bullet will be slightly weakened with the Silencer equipped.

In an Extra New Game, you'll be able to find an extra costume code in a magazine inside the 2F Women's Locker Room of Brookhaven Hospital, as well as a small puzzle in the Church's library while playing on Hard Riddle Level. On eight different shelves you'll find different written clues that piece together an extremely vague and challenging puzzle. Give it a read below and see if you can make sense of it, or just find the solution below, which is the code to the "Royal Flush" Shirt.

Church Library Riddle: The "Royal Flush" Shirt Code

After completing the game at least once and then starting an Extra New Game on Hard Riddle Level, you'll come across eight hidden notes on the Church's library shelves (no visual clue, you just have to find the right spots blindly) that piece together a very difficult riddle. Read it below in whole:

A secret told before you awake:
the start of a new transformation.

The first number is
'the traveller to St. Ives.'

The second number is
'the hare wear a crown of straw.'

The third number is 'king of beasts
and goddess of harvests.'

The fourth number is 'representative
of both knight and page.'

The fifth number is
'lapis lazuli or turquoise.'

There's no separating numbers from
beginning to end.

14 buttons all told; therefore, one
is always two.

Where to even begin here... With the first line perhaps referring to this riddle being found only in an Extra New Game (new transformation), five number clues are listed along with two additional hints. Let's start with the clue for the first number, which is "the traveller to St. Ives." This refers to a famous nursery rhyme riddle called "As I was Going to St. Ives". It reads as follows:

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

The trick to this riddle is all in the language. Rather than pulling out a calculator, simple reading comprehension reveals only the author to be going to St. Ives, while the man and his wives, sacks, cats and kits are completely inconsequential and not accompanying him to St. Ives. Note that even our riddle spells it out with "the traveller", indicating it's one person from the start. With just one person going, the first number of our riddle is 1.

Onto the second, "the hare wear a crown of straw." This is a tricky one, but if you're familiar with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland you may remember the March Hare from the tea party scene with the Mad Hatter. In the original illustrations by John Tenniel inside Carroll's book, the March Hare wears strands of straw on his head like a crown. Okay, so how do we deduce a number from this character? Well, March is the third month of the year. Therefore the second number is 3.

"King of beasts and goddess of harvests." Who's that? Well, the king of beasts is certainly the lion, also known as the king of the jungle as well as the zodiac symbol for Leo, from July 23 to August 22. Continuing the zodiac theme, what comes next? That would be Virgo from August 23 to September 23. The symbol for Virgo is a (female) virgin or maiden, with heavy association with wheat as this period from August to September is known as harvest time when the crops are cut. Further, Greek and Roman mythology associate Virgo with Proserpina, the Roman goddess of harvest. And the common theme between Leo (king of beasts) and Virgo (goddess of harvests)? They both share the month of August, the eighth month of the year. Therefore the third number is 8.

Now the fourth number, "representative of both knight and page." This calls back to the history of playing cards which descended from tarot cards. Tarot cards ascended from ace to 10 just as do modern playing cards, however the face cards were Page, Knight, Queen and King. Modern playing cards retained Queen and King, but effectively merged the Page and Knight under the new name of Jack. As the first face card and thus the 11th numbered card, and representing both knight and page, the fourth number of the riddle is 11.

And now our last number, "lapis lazuli or turquoise." Simple enough to figure out, lapis lazuli and turquoise are both birthstones for the month of December, the 12th month of the year. Therefore the fifth number is 12.

And so we're left with 1 3 8 11 12, but it's not the final form of our code. We read on for two more clues:

There's no separating numbers from
beginning to end.

14 buttons all told; therefore, one
is always two.

So we won't have any spaces in our code and the final form must have 14 button presses. "One is always two" refers to standardizing each number as two digits, which means 1 becomes 01 while 11 remains as is, and so on. But if we go with 0103081112 we only have 10 buttons all told.

How do we get the final four if we can't use spaces? Well, what do we often use on the internet to solve this problem? Underscores, specifically four of them – one between each two-digit number. 10 numbers plus 4 underscores is 14 buttons all told. That leaves us with the following code:

01_03_08_11_12

This is the password for the "Royal Flush" Shirt. Enter it into the Extra Costume menu to add it to your inventory on your next Extra New Game playthrough.

Perhaps you noticed or perhaps you didn't that Silent Hill 3 throws back a hell of a lot to its direct prequel, the very first Silent Hill. Not only do the games share heavy themes such as wheelchairs, giant fans and metallic grating everywhere, but when you really take a look at certain aspects you'll find a lot of striking similarities between the two. While some may be more coincidental in nature, others are clearly a throwback to the original 1999 game. These similarities include:

• Both games begin with a nightmare section where the main character dies and wakes up in a restaurant. In subsequent playthroughs, this section is skipped in both.
• Both games feature annoying airborne enemies (Air Screamers and Pendulums) and dogs (Groaners and Double Heads).
• Both Dahlia and Claudia serve similar roles in each game and both are barefoot. Perhaps Claudia got the idea from Dahlia.
• Both games feature red Radios.
• Both characters start with a Knife and are both able to use a Katana, although Harry's is a secret unlockable weapon. Furthermore, Heather swings and thrusts the Knife in the exact same way while performing two of the same Katana swings, while adding her own thrust.
• Harry sees Cheryl on the static-filled TV screens by the escalators in the Silent Hill Town Center. Heather sees a flash of the exact same image of Cheryl on a staticky TV by the escalators of Central Square Shopping Center.
• Harry kills the Split Head and Floatstinger to return both Nightmare areas to their normal counterparts, while Heather defeats the Split Worm and Leonard to do the same.
• Harry moves through underground sewer tunnels while Heather traverses an Underpass with its own sewers.
• Harry uses the Ring of Contract to prevent the monster in the fridge in Nowhere from killing him, while Heather uses the Dryer to do the same with the sewer monster in the Underpass.
• The "Flame Purifies All" mini-puzzle with the Pork Liver, Oxydol and Matches to burn the painting in SH3's Nightmare Hilltop Center is quite similar to the Disinfecting Alcohol and Lighter to burn the vines in SH1's Nightmare Hospital. Both result in a secret passage for the player to proceed through. Perhaps making Heather perform some chemistry, along with a junior high school chemistry book to help her, is also a draw from Harry being guided by the Reception memo to pour the Chemical on the old man's hand statue to free the Gold Medallion in Midwich Elementary's Chemistry Lab.
• Harry reads a fairy tale which helps him defeat the Split Head lizard in the Nightmare School while Heather finds a 3-part fairy tale which helps her eliminate the Glutton monster in Nightmare Hilltop Center.
• Cheryl sits in the passenger seat while holding her sketchbook as Harry drives to Silent Hill in the nighttime. Heather (who is technically the same person) sits in the passenger seat while holding her dad's notebook (describing the events of SH1) as Douglas drives to Silent Hill in the nighttime.
• A mysterious 4th floor button appears in the Alchemilla Hospital elevator, leading to the Nightmare Hospital, just as the secret M door appears in the 2F patient wing of Brookhaven Hospital that leads to the Nightmare Hospital.
• Both games feature key puzzles involving birds – the Piano Puzzle in SH1 and the Crematorium Oven Door on Hard in SH3.
• Harry finds and uses a Blood Pack to distract the tentacle monster in the Nightmare Hospital, while Heather collects the Plastic Bag (With Blood) in her Nightmare Hospital. Perhaps one could also call to Harry collecting the Unknown Liquid in a Plastic Bottle while Heather collects Oil in a Wine Bottle.
• Heather comes across two of Harry's clipboard note save points exactly where they appeared in SH1 – one on the ice cream stand counter in the Amusement Park and one in Alessa's bedroom before the final boss of both games.
• Harry fights Cybil on a carousel in the Amusement Park, while Heather fights the Memory of Alessa on potentially the exact same carousel. In correlation to the nearby ice cream stand that appears in both games, both carousels sit at about the exact same location, despite other differences like the floor being out at different places in both games.
• Harry traverses "Nowhere" which is a jumble of several halls and rooms from the game while Heather comes across her father's bedroom in the Church, along with the very same bedroom and hospital room of Alessa and a Classroom from SH1, three rooms that all reappear in SH1's Nowhere as well.
• Harry can view/listen to the optional Video Tape. Heather can listen to the optional Cassette Tape.
• Both Harry and Heather come across Cheryl's Drawing Block sketchbook, which helps both of them advance to the next part of the game. In Harry's case it is a nearby page ripped out which says "To school" and for Heather it contains clues to solving the tarot card door puzzle.
• Both Harry and Heather must place five objects in Alessa's bedroom door to proceed to the final boss.
• The giant rotating fan before the final room with Vincent and Claudia bears a very strong resemblance to the fan in the empty room beside the Storage in the Nightmare School in SH1. In both games there are actually two fans layered together, although they're a bit farther apart in SH1.
• Both games end by defeating a similar god-type monster. Harry is handed a baby while Heather is suddenly surprised by something as she turns around but the camera cuts. This has since been revealed to be Heather hearing a baby crying which she sees as she turns around, perhaps a similar sight to what Harry saw. We can assume she declined the option to keep the loop going however, unlike Harry who wanted his daughter back and accepted the baby girl.

You could take it even further with a lot of smaller little details, such as things like both characters saying "Where am I?", both of them suffering from headaches throughout the game, and both using Screwdrivers, but you could be here all day by examining all those small similarities. Either way, there's a ton of details in Silent Hill 3 that are either direct nods to its prequel or coincidental but interesting similarities.

Jacob's Ladder is a psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne in 1990, revealed by Team Silent to have been a major inspiration to the Silent Hill series and already strongly referenced in Silent Hill 2. Team Silent pay further homage by additionally referencing the film in Silent Hill 3 as explained below. This film is absolutely a must-see for any fan of this game or series.

Bergen Street
This is the name of the subway platform that is supposed to lead Heather home, and the very same as Jacob's station in Jacob's Ladder. He asks a woman ahead of him in the subway car if they've passed Bergen Street yet, since he was sleeping.

Platform 2 Lock
The south gate to platform 2 in the subway is locked with a chain and a bolt, exactly like in Jacob's Ladder. Jacob tries to open the gate but has no success, since unlike Heather he does not find a convenient nutcracker.

Hospital Basement Wheelchair
In the basement of Brookhaven Hospital, Heather finds a tipped over wheelchair with one wheel still turning. Perhaps this is a reference to Jacob's Ladder when Jacob is wheeled on a stretcher leading to an insane asylum. Rather than a wheelchair, Jacob witnesses his son Gabe's smashed bicycle from an accident, with one wheel still turning.

Head Twitching
Also featured heavily in Silent Hill 2, enemy heads frequently twitch, very similar to multiple instances in Jacob's Ladder. Closers and Valtiel in particular make use of this head twitch, along with the horse dummy in the game's opening, perhaps all homage to Jacob's Ladder.

Session 9 is a horror thriller film directed by Brad Anderson in 2001, just one month before Silent Hill 2's release. Like Jacob's Ladder, the film had quite an impact on Team Silent and as a result they've paid homage to it in Silent Hill 3 as explained below. While it's interesting just to see the sources of the references, it's also a fantastic and eerie horror film that is a must-watch for any fan of Silent Hill. I would recommend watching the film before reading these references as some contain spoilers.

Wheelchair Behind Glass
In the Nightmare Hilltop Center you'll come across a sheet of glass with a wheelchair behind it, with yellow light shining over it from a nearby doorway. This visual is a direct reference to a near identical visual from Session 9. Further, Heather says that the world behind the glass is calling her, just as the similar sight calls to Gordon in Session 9.

Note: In his 2020 tweet Masahiro Ito denied that the wheelchair in this scene was a reference to Session 9. In fact, he never watched the film. According to him, the wheelchairs in Silent Hill 3 were rather a metaphor for Heather's birth and a reference to Silent Hill 1 ending with Dahlia, Alessa and a mysterious figure sitting in the wheelchair.

"Thus one's life turns to riches"
In the Nightmare Hilltop Center there are a bunch of silver coins on a desk and a note on the wall by a vending machine in the northwest room of Onestop Imports on 4F. It reads as follows:

Thus one's life turns to riches:

What was a bag of silver coins is
now the number in a book.

Yet fate hath no price...
Ah, but do people know this?

This appears to stand as a reference to Session 9, particularly when Hank finds a bunch of old coins behind a wall in the asylum, much to his surprise. He takes the coins and tries to escape the asylum, but things don't go well for him. Perhaps the note alludes to this with, "Yet fate hath no price..." Fortunately Heather chooses to take just one coin for the machine and doesn't suffer a similar fate.

Hospital Basement Wheelchair
In the basement of Brookhaven Hospital you'll come across a tipped over wheelchair with one wheel still turning. While this can be interpreted as a reference to Gabe's bicycle in Jacob's Ladder, perhaps it is more directly a reference to Session 9. Before the power goes out in the asylum, Gordon is seen running past a tipped over wheelchair with one wheel still turning.

Red Glow Hallways
In the Amusement Park's Haunted Mansion, Heather comes across two hallways in which she has to outrun deadly red glow that chases after her. Perhaps this is a reference to Session 9 when Jeff aka "mullet-head" experiences a power outage in a long underground hallway. With his fear of the dark already established, the lights turn off one by one behind him as he runs to escape the incoming darkness, very similar to the red glow in Silent Hill 3, with both scenes accompanied by similar eerie sounds.