There are five endings to see in Silent Hill: Townfall. Two of these are running gags that you’ll find across the Silent Hill series, while others are natural conclusions to Simon's journey through St. Amelia. If you've got through a playthrough and you're thinking "well, what does it all mean?" this page will explain everything you need to know about every available ending.
Spoiler Warning!
Of course, this page will contain huge spoilers and heavy discussion about the plot of Silent Hill: Townfall. If you're here by accident, then click away now!
What Endings Are Available?
There are five possible endings, with only two locked behind New Game+. Those are the 'Dog' and 'UFO' endings, which have come to be a staple of the Silent Hill franchise. The unique endings to Townfall are called ‘Abandoned’, ‘Forever’ and ‘Justice’.
None of these endings are canon, but each one is designed to reflect your playstyle and understanding of the events that have taken place in 1996. And while any one of the three is possible in that first playthrough, from what we’ve experienced, the likelihood is you’ll see the ‘Abandoned’ or ‘Forever’ conclusion first.
What's Going on in St. Amelia?
Before we dive into the endings, though, it’s important to understand what’s actually going on in St. Amelia. It’s a small traditional coastal town that you’d find in plenty of places in the UK. There’s a little community garden that sits in the centre of a quaint high street and a brutalist housing estate. It’s clear that everyone knows everyone, from handwritten notes found in houses to messages left between neighbours on answering machines, and the tiny family clinic and single medical centre that serves everyone.
The Chapman Energy Group tower looms over the rest of the town – a sleek, modern skyscraper looking down on everything around it. We see repeating surnames across Zoe’s list of patients and those mentioned in CEG records. CEG clearly doesn’t fit in with the rest of the town’s vibe, but with so few shops and opportunities, it’s also a beacon of hope and prosperity, offering jobs across its expanding projects.
If you’ve been paying close attention and tuning into all those CRTV signals, picking up every document you can find, and accessing private emails, you’ll learn that our protagonist, Simon Ordell was the person responsible for conducting the site assessment for the SWDP Facility, which is a CEG ran oil rig that sits just off the coast of St. Amelia.
Simon is also due to speak on behalf of Richard Shaw, the suspicious CEO of CEG at a tribunal. Richard has been suspended by the board of CEG for being complicit in safety failures that ended up killing 96 workers in an oil rig explosion just off the coast of St. Amelia, of which Simon is the only survivor. This is why we see the 96 marks etched on that door that begins Simon’s journey, and again on the whiteboard in the Shorefront Family Clinic. We’re repeatedly shown the 96 marks to drive home how big the disaster is that has rocked St. Amelia.
To be clear, Simon was not responsible for the explosion. From an email we find marked “RE: Ordell Site Visit”, we know that Engineering told Operations to “keep output low” and that things weren’t reported, because there was no faith in Shaw’s response. Shaw was already furious that the “usual guy” wasn’t conducting the site assessment, implying that he’d already been using some shady tactics to keep production flowing. The engineers thought they’d be able to deal with the situation without having Shaw breathing down their necks.
Disaster strikes when the Night Shift Officer realises that the Day Shift Officer hadn’t noticed a problem with the Reciprocal Compressor Unit (RCU) on Valve B. We can assume this is the same faulty RCU unit that Shaw refuses to replace. This led to the CEG’s union requesting that Ordell be flown in from the US, thanks to a whistleblower raising concerns about Shaw’s disregard for safety protocols.
The reason that Shaw wouldn’t replace the RCU? It would cost CEG millions to take the facility offline, and they had already begun aesthetic renovations to their big fancy tower. From the minutes documented on January 11, 1996, just a week before the disaster, the renovations were already having problems with electrics, plumbing, and power was failing, which collectively were delaying the renovation and costing CEG more money than anticipated.
Richard’s plan to clean his hands of the expensive and explosive consequences of his actions is to blame an engineer who lost his life in the tragedy. We learn through a file on Ordell that Richard attempts to keep as many people from St. Amelia in his pocket as he can, and believes he knows what’s best for the town. But Ordell poses a risk to Richard. Firstly, he has no direct connection to Richard and was specifically chosen because of this fact. He’s respected, has clout, and Shaw won’t know what Simon saw until he speaks at the tribunal.
To close the gap in their connection and have more control over the outcome, Richard helps Simon with a heart transplant. Simon was the only survivor of the SWDP disaster, and was taken to hospital suffering from a pulmonary oedema and a chest wound with a foreign object embedded.
The box that we see in Zoe’s house when Simon is searching for her has the same post-it note stuck to it as Richard’s Gift later on, which is the pistol. It is later confirmed that Richard provides the heart for Simon, so he feels that he owns it and therefore owns Simon. This is the bargaining chip that he uses to get Simon to “stick to the script” to clear Shaw’s name.
As for Zoe, she is the one who takes care of Simon. In fact, she’s the inexperienced nurse who is roped into taking care of patients during the crisis – at least that’s the narrative that Dr. Glenn feeds throughout the entire ordeal of her trying to keep Simon alive. All healthcare professionals are transferred to the Medical Centre in February to help with the relief efforts after the South Well Disaster.
We learn from the Hand Delivered Letter in Zoe’s house that she’s blamed for not being able to help enough, especially with Joe. As a result, Zoe attempts to resign. But she’s stuck in St. Amelia, behind the door in Room 204, waiting for a chance to leave. Zoe believes she can only give the town (and Simon) what they need by leaving.
Meanwhile, GHB Legal is attempting to get hold of her because her testimony is vital in the case due to her connection to Simon. It’s clear that she’s also a problem for Richard, which explains why he needs Simon to open the door so he can get to her.
At the top of the CEG Tower, everyone comes together. Simon understands that the town will listen to him, and Richard tells Simon he’s the only one who can open the door. Richard explains that he and Simon had an agreement, and it only works if Simon needs Richard. Simon opens the door for Richard, and Richard blasts a shotgun, seemingly taking out Zoe.
Richard explains that Simon isn’t just there for the agreement, but also for another reason, and realistically, it would’ve been easier for him if Simon had died. While Simon makes his final descent into the Otherworld, he gets a chance to witness the events that occurred on January 18, 1996.
The SWDP goes up in flames, and people begin to jump from the top deck. But rescue efforts aren’t able to get close enough due to the explosion. As Ordell understands exactly what happened that night, he rips the cannula from his hand and exits the Otherworld.
Back in the hospital, Shaw reminds him of their ‘agreement’, and that it’s a done deal thanks to the heart he’s given Simon. Simon is about to be Shaw’s star witness in the tribunal, but Simon is now having doubts and feels compelled to reveal the truth. And this is where your endings will diverge.
Abandoned Ending Explained
In the ‘Abandoned’ ending, after Simon raises the Flare Gun, he shoots Richard with it straight into the heart. This response is understandable; Simon keeps talking about returning to be punished, so killing Richard ‘punishes’ the person who caused all of this.
But it’s also driven by anger and revenge and what is, unfortunately, a misguided attempt to give the ‘heart’ back to St. Amelia. By hoping to disconnect from Richard and break their agreement, Simon believes he’ll be removing St. Amelia’s problem. But it only considers the heart that Richard gives to Simon, which is not the metaphorical heart that beats in St. Amelia. Suddenly, multiple corpses of Richard appear around the dock; the skies turn red, and Simon clutches his head in pain. He drops the CRTV, and a signal from Richard plays on it, saying “that wasn’t it” as Simon plunges into the water below.
We’re then shown the vigil, with close-ups of the victims of the disaster, as a voiceover from Zoe states: “You can’t fix it.” We then see Simon back in the hospital holding the scalpel, and the camera slowly pans over to Richard, who is bleeding out on the floor.
The implication is that Simon’s choices here have left the people of St. Amelia abandoned. Richard is right that he provides the island with jobs and stability, and with him gone, CEG will likely leave St. Amelia behind. But more importantly, they’re not able to get justice from the tribunal for what happened, and Richard doesn’t have to face what he’s done. Instead, it just seems to make things worse; Simon takes away St. Amelia’s chance for closure, and it keeps everyone trapped in the cycle.
Forever Ending Explained
The Forever ending starts with the same conversation, but when Simon raises the Flare Gun, he doesn’t shoot Richard. Instead, he aims it into the air and fires it skyward. This lights up the sky in red, and the enormous creature, known as The Collapse, which has been dropping the fallen from the sky shows itself. That creature, which represents the town, comes down to Richard, and we see Simon collapse, holding his chest.
Simon is then shown on a hospital bed, being whisked into surgery. This is the same scene from the mission we completed as Zoe earlier, called The Patient. Zoe says she’s “not going anywhere”, which implies that they’re still stuck in the loop, and it’s beginning with Zoe again. And as Richard mentions in the CEG Tower, it always begins with her. While Richard is still alive, it’s unclear what happens when the creature comes down, and it seems that Simon needs to do something differently to help St. Amelia out.
Justice Ending Explained
While no ending should be considered canon, there’s clearly one that breaks the cycle and feels like the “good” ending. If you want to achieve the ending, you’ll need to take cues from the story and really think about the people of St. Amelia. That means Simon cannot protect Richard, and Richard needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Once again, Simon raises the Flare Gun, and just like the ‘Forever’ ending, he shoots it into the sky rather than at Richard. This time, when Simon says, “I’m giving it to them,” he means it. As Richard falls to the floor, the creature comes down to him again, but this time, we see Simon stumble down the steps of the shorefront. Again, he clutches his chest and collapses.
Meanwhile, we see Zoe in Room 204, which has an empty bed. She appears to leave her lanyard as she departs. Zoe can finally leave. She doesn’t need to be there for Simon, and she can do what she promised the people of St. Amelia she’d do, and leave town. If the cycle always begins with Zoe, her leaving means it can’t begin again.
Then, we see Richard and Simon. This time, Richard is holding the scalpel, and Simon is the one bleeding out. By losing Ordell, Richard has to face the music. He loses his scapegoat and can’t clear his name. Everyone’s story ending this way means justice for St. Amelia, closure for the town’s people, and maybe even security and stability with CEG.
New Game Plus Endings
As we mentioned, there are, of course, the running joke endings in New Game Plus. If you manage to find all the important coins and strange books, you’ll be able to unlock them both (in a single run, too, with a well-considered save).
UFO Ending
After Simon rips the cannula from his hand, the scene fades into a comic-book style narrative. It depicts Simon coming out of a Cryo Sleep chamber after the process was interrupted. Despite there being numerous pods, it seems that the only other pod that's inhabited is by Shaw, and his pod is still active.
A confused Simon then hears Zoe speaking over a tannoy system and telling him that everyone from St. Amelia hasn't gone, despite what Richard has told him, and is in fact, still there. She asks him to come back to her, but it seems that Simon and Richard have already escaped and left the town of St. Amelia far behind them.
Dog Ending
As Simon holds the flare up to Richard, the guide dog statue that we've seen across St. Amelia interrupts the altercation by jumping in between them and stealing the flare gun. It chucks it into the sea, then tells Simon and Richard that they need to stop making everything about themselves, and forces them to put an end to everything by taking them to the pub to talk it out. Good boy!
