Almost a full month later Silent Hill 2 The release of the remake, players solved one of its most complicated puzzles. And the solution to that puzzle, involving a series of collectible Polaroids called Strange Photos, gives the game a new layer of storytelling—that is, depending on how you interpret it.

Team Bloober Silent Hill 2 the remake includes 26 shots scattered throughout the game. They appear to be harmless and disconnected from the overall story of James Sunderland’s journey through Silent Hill. Each photo has a number scribbled on the back and a caption associated with photos of seemingly random objects and scenes. Reddit user Dale Robinson cracked the game’s code over the weekend, revealing that clues in Strange Photos spell out the phrase “You’ve been here for two decades.”

“If you count the things in each photo,” Robinson wrote, using the example of six open windows in photo no. 1, “Then count that number in the writing of each, you shall receive a letter.” In Robinson’s example, the caption on the first photo is “So many people here!” and the sixth letter in that phrase is Y. Robinson shows off their work in all 26 quirky photos.

Silent Hill 2 Remake creative director Mateusz Lenart later confirmed that Robinson’s solution was correct.

“I knew he wouldn’t stay hidden for long!” Lenart wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “(There was a theory in our company that the puzzle might be too hard ) I really wanted to do it subtly when painting those photos… I think the timing couldn’t be better to solve them . Congratulations!”

The intended meaning of the phrase “You’ve been here for two decades” is debated. Some players interpreted the line as a message to them from Konami and Bloober Team, an acknowledgment that they played some form of Silent Hill 2 from 2001. Another interpretation of the puzzle’s solution is that it points to James, who is trapped in some sort of time-loop purgatory and forced to relive the events of Silent Hill 2 but dying repeatedly – throughout the game, James encounters several corpses that look like him. In a game where James regularly refuses to own up to his actions, there may be a secret message trying to get through to him.

Lenart doesn’t seem to confirm whether this time loop theory is true or not. When a fan commented that “loop theory is canon”, Lenart answered cryptically“Is it?” If this theory is true, it could have big implications for his story Silent Hill 2 and if it really is a redo or simply another version of the events of James’ predicament.

Silent Hill 2 is available now on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC. In Polygon’s review of the game, we praised the game for its “range of changes, some subtle, some bold, that challenge that familiarity, resulting in an intriguing overhaul.”