Silent Hill 2 Review

The Bloober Team’s ambitious remake of Silent Hill 2 is finally coming to PS5 and PC. Driven by a passion to recreate one of the most iconic horror games of its generation, this remake promises a thrilling experience set in the rusted, blood-stained streets of Silent Hill. Can you hear little Mary calling out in the darkness?”

Lost in the Fog

I keep seeing this city in my restless dreams. I remember that foggy day in November 2001, eagerly opening the double DVD package containing Silent Hill 2 along with its “making-of”. Despite my anticipation for the launch of this long-awaited title, which was fueled by magazine articles that nourished my enthusiasm like stuffing a duck, it was the “making-of” footage that I first inserted into the PlayStation 2’s player.

There was something exceptional about doing this, with videos revealing what happens in our favorite studios – provided in a bundle at launch – being a rarity in the early 2000s. After listening to a TV journalist for a few minutes, I had to stop watching the video immediately. The fear of leaking was stronger than the disgust caused by the filthy pictures used as references. With the shutters closed and the lights off, I discovered Silent Hill 2 in the silence of my bedroom. Controller in hand this time.

As everyone knows, Silent Hill 2 is a game about love, and there is no love without passion. On that day in November 2001, and in the weeks, months, and years that followed, I became obsessed with James Sunderland’s misadventures.

Shadows of the Past

The first few seconds of Konami’s dark tale are not exactly attractive. James tries to come to his senses inside a disgusting toilet. In a state of confusion, he finds himself lost in Silent Hill trying to find his wife, Mary, who has invited him to return to the little town that was once a place full of happy memories, through a letter. But his beloved died three years ago. No matter how ridiculous he thinks it sounds, he sets off blindly to track her down.

The deeper he plunges into the smoky bowels of the town, the more demons he encounters. Covered by a dense fog, the town is crawling with nightmare creatures. The initial plot of this survival horror is definitely disrupted when James meets Maria, a look-alike of his dead wife. A series of horrific adventures begin, from the Wood Side apartment building to Toluca prison, through Brookhaven hospital, leaving players in charge of our hero’s life.

23 years after its first release, Silent Hill 2 is still a leading example of a psychological horror game. Cleverly written, with an incredible atmosphere that plays on our primal fears, it has won the loyalty of a legion of curious players. Within the series itself, this second episode holds a special place in the hearts of its fans. Addressing heavy themes treated with remarkable finesse, such as illness, guilt, and abuse, the offspring originally conceived by Team Silent has established itself as an icon.

The idea of seeing it return from the shadows with a remake produced by the Bloober Team, a studio known for having attempted to create its own Silent Hill with The Medium, was cause for concern. How can these fans of the original title, no matter how talented, reimagine the legend? Is it even possible to make a new version of a cult production without betraying the die-hard fans and neglecting the newcomers? Will players, like the Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 remakes, shout genius rather than heresy?

Reimagining a Nightmare

It’s time for answers, not questions. James Sunderland knows that love stories usually end badly. So when they involve reconnecting with a dead woman, the twists and turns can lead him straight to Hell. Once you’ve set the difficulty level (combat and puzzle levels are managed separately), you’ll be in for a real shock. In “Quality” mode, it’s very beautiful, even if the reflections reveal a few artifacts. Textures are well chosen, lighting effects are realistic and there are plenty of details. Take a look at the screenshots, which may give you the impression that you’re looking at artwork, but everything is in real time.

The panoramic view of Toluca Lake quickly transitions to the dense conifers of the forest. The graphic overhaul may be impressive, but we immediately recognize Silent Hill. Brilliantly modeled and layered with weeds, dirty tools, insects, and other more or less suspicious signs, the environments breathe the dark sense of despair deeply rooted in our memories. Meanwhile, the fog creates wonderful gradients exposing every possible shade of gray, whether on distant buildings or on creatures… much closer. The art direction, clearly influenced by Christophe Gans’ film adaptation, strives to make this twisted world more threatening than ever.

Our assumptions about remakes could have plunged us into denial with a false air of defense mechanisms. Yes, the game is much prettier than before, so what? Graphics aren’t everything, are they? Besides, was it necessary to change the faces of James, Angela, Maria, Eddie, and Laura so much? More than their appearance, it’s their animation that stands out from the rest. The uncanny valley aspect is sometimes present, reminding us that Team Silent had achieved the impossible in 2001.

Fortunately, the actors take advantage of cutscenes that are much longer and more numerous than before to deliver excellent performances. The absence of dubbing is not a problem, given that dialogue during gameplay phases can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Some cultists will express their anger, criticizing Maria’s clothing for being shorter than they remember, the textures for being too detailed to instill a sense of discomfort, and also the replacement of the original hybrid camera (controllable while following a path) with a more classic 2024 shoulder view.

Haunting Return

In their quest to resurrect Team Silent’s cult title, Konami’s wizards were willing to take some serious risks. Anyone looking to relive a similar adventure as before, with only new graphics, a modern camera, and a new look for the characters/monsters, will be disappointed. Silent Hill 2 vintage 2024 is as versatile as the horrors it asks you to confront. It’s a combination of a generous extended version, a polished remake, and a solid adaptation, and it’s closer to Final Fantasy VII Remake than Resident Evil 4.

Die-hard fans will have to accept that this installment is a kind of new interpretation of the original game rather than a pure copy, even though the key passages from 2001 are still present and follow on from each other in the same order. The difference here is the way these moments are separated, as well as the level design itself, which changes more or less drastically. New cinematics and unique gameplay situations, which we won’t reveal here, are numerous. In addition, all boss battles have been redesigned for a solid result, matching current productions. The crumbling walls have been more than repainted, they’ve been rebuilt. But beneath the plaster, the black heart of Silent Hill is still beating with all its force.

We might have feared that the rewrite would be amped up, splashed by developers trembling in the face of an allegedly impossible task of reviving one of the psychological survival-horror masterpieces. The pen has turned into a knife, held by a hand determined to hit its target: fans. While the scenario doesn’t stray too far from what we already know, the studio has made some wise choices. Additional supporting documents help to clarify the storyline, without delivering the keys to understanding it on a plate, while multiplying the number of intriguing leads.

The original dialogues have been edited for extra depth and mystery. It’s not all perfect, of course, and we’d have loved to see even more development at certain key moments, but it’s nice to see something beyond a basic copy/paste. In any case, this revival of Silent Hill 2 is well aware that it is a revisit, with so many nods to the series’ multiple episodes, and so much fun with the memories of die-hard fans (hello labyrinth).

Motivated to make even seasoned survivors who know Maria’s lines like the back of their hands endure hell, the Bloober Team has applied one of Team Silent’s principles to the letter: put others through anguish that never ends. In other words, extinguish hope by letting time do its work. The long journey through Silent Hill’s forest is complemented by James’s wanderings to solve the puzzles. The Wood Side clock puzzle, which used to take just a minute to solve, now takes a full hour because of the three needles to find. The Brookhaven hospital passage, which used to take between one or two hours to complete, now takes more than twice as long. Still shorter than the average emergency room wait in real life, but still! It took us less than ten hours to reach one of the multiple endings of Silent Hill 2 in 2001, but this remake took us around twenty, even though the “Born from a Wish” scenario is not included.

Are all the extra hours necessary? Not exactly. Some sequences are perhaps too long and repetitive to satisfy the craving of today’s adventurers for a fast pace. But this extreme approach – living a nightmare from which you never wake up – is sure to divide opinions. Who in 2024 is prepared to walk around in circles for hours on end in a blind universe, just to be psychologically abused? Silent Hill 2 Remake is bound to clash with other titles in this genre, most notably Resident Evil 4 Remake and Alan Wake II. Games with a better-mastered rhythm, more varied monsters/weapons/situations/places, and more and better-refined mechanics.

Rising from the Ashes

Silent Hill 2 remake is twice as long as its original predecessor. Twice as challenging, too. The town is approached as a more open world, meaning that the buildings and various locations are truly integrated into the town and no longer considered as separate instances to be revealed after loading. The player explores without loadings, which brings us to one of the most notable points of this version: despite being full of the dead, Silent Hill is alive. In concrete terms, doors are pushed open on the fly, and indoor/outdoor transitions are seamless, just like in Alan Wake or the latest Resident Evil installments.

This new approach makes the damned city a coherent entity, and brings much more than just a modern sense of navigation. It adds an extra dose of tension, with enemies capable of chasing James everywhere, even entering buildings, climbing through broken windows, or slipping through gaps. Meanwhile, interactions with the scenery are more common. Regularly, there’s a cart to move, a wall to break, a hole to crawl through, or a ledge to step over. Be warned: checking the map does not pause the game. Scary!

Survival-horror combat is designed to make you feel uncomfortable. Creatures are dangerous, unpredictable, with new attacks and can’t be eliminated with a spin kick after a headshot. Sunderland isn’t Kennedy, and the monsters haunting the area aren’t common infected. Getting too close is bound to leave scars that can only be healed with medical supplies. Some of them even can climb walls to launch themselves at James, which wasn’t the case in 2001!

Although shooting them in the legs slows them down and striking them in the back with stealth kills them, demons are not easy to defeat. Just because James has gained dodging skills and a shoulder camera doesn’t mean that he has the upper hand. Every confrontation is a challenge, far more challenging than the one we had 23 years ago. Even if you turn off the flashlight and walk, battles are hard to avoid in tight spaces.

By making its bestiary more dangerous, the remake makes escaping even more difficult, especially since turning off the flashlight is almost impossible in such a dark game. During certain sequences, we were forced to plunge into complete darkness, and adjust the screen settings to detect what was being displayed. Only the moments in the middle of the city, when everything goes haywire sometimes during storms (hello Downpour!), encouraged us to slide between the humanoids. The developers are well aware of the challenge of surviving in labyrinths carved in darkness, so they’ve been quite generous with ammunition and healing (on Standard difficulty). Adventurers who smash windows with iron bars and explore the city’s deepest corners will never run out of bullets or medical supplies.

Having said that, the game’s mechanics are fairly limited to the basics. There are no combos to perform or arsenals to upgrade. Firearms are limited (only three) compared to what we’ve seen elsewhere, enemies can’t be disarmed or disabled, and there aren’t many different creatures to choose from. On these few points, the remake may disappoint players who would have appreciated gameplay and mechanics even closer to current standards.

Another difference from the original is the increased number of jumpscares. Konami must have thought that by 2024, thrill-seeking gamers had already endured everything, and that it was time to strike hard, without altering the deadly poetry of the basic experience. The radio, which crackles as soon as a creature approaches, plays a key role in building suspense. However, the radio emits only discreet chatter when a dummy with two pairs of legs stands still. If you don’t listen carefully, you may get a nasty surprise. The jolts are intensified by an intentionally low-key audio mix that suddenly explodes when something pops up on the screen. A familiar touch from the world of cinema is used perfectly here. While we’re talking about sound, Akira Yamaoka’s superb music – also updated – still provides the perfect complement to the journey. New tracks have been added, some of them reminiscent of the madness heard in Italian horror films.

Conclusion

Konami’s reimagining of Silent Hill 2 is a captivating return to the iconic horror series. The game balances nostalgia with innovation perfectly, offering a fresh perspective on a familiar territory. James Sunderland’s journey into the heart of darkness is as haunting as ever, and while staying true to the original’s haunting atmosphere and psychological themes, the Bloober Team has introduced new gameplay elements and narrative twists that keep the experience engaging and unpredictable. Fans of the series will undoubtedly appreciate this faithful remake.