Silent Hill 2 Remake Review

Introduction:

Over the past 23 years, Silent Hill 2 has grown an….interesting reputation. On one hand, it has cultivated one of the most pretentious, bitter, and foolish fanbases in all of gaming. But on the other hand, Silent Hill 2 tells one of the most mature and impactful stories within the medium. It deals with themes such as sexual assault and mental illness better than most games on the market. That was true in 2001, and it’s still true today in 2024. Before I move on, I want to note that I’m aware that most Silent Hill fans are pleasant and insightful. I follow many of them through YouTube and other social medias. They are just normal people who enjoy the first few games, and are thrilled about this remake. In fact, many people are thrilled about this retelling of Silent Hill 2. Sadly, there is a very vocal minority of people who have let the myriad of YouTube video essays praising Silent Hill 2 endlessly poison their thoughts. Most of them haven’t even played through the original game, because frankly, the gameplay is hard to get into. There was even one YouTuber who did a fantastic trailer analysis for this remake a few months ago. Last week he said that he refuses to buy and play the remake, but still plans to do a review on it. What? So now they’re mad that the game ended up being good? Ok, enough of that childishness.

I still own a copy of Silent Hill 2 on the PS2, and I’ve tried playing through it many times. The furthest I could get is Brookhaven Hospital. It wasn’t even out of sheer fear that I stopped playing (although I will admit that the game does make me quite anxious). Instead, I’m just not crazy about how the game plays anymore. The constant opening of menus, the sluggish controls, and obtuse puzzles make for an uninviting game. Many people defend the sluggish controls of the remake because “James Sunderland is a normal guy, and not a professional like Leon Kennedy”. To me, that is one of the dumbest excuses I’ve ever heard. It’s a video game. Controls matter.

Asides from the stale game feel of the original, I can’t deny the allure of Silent Hill. The fog ridden town that tortures its visitors. The Masahiro Ito creature designs. Akira Yamaoaka’s legendary soundtrack. Tortured characters and themes rarely explored in gaming with high taste.

For the past decade I’ve been well aware that one of the greatest games ever made was trapped in a clunky 2001 control scheme.

I’ve been excited for this remake ever since it was announced. All I needed was a little modernity in its gameplay. I won’t get into the internet debate on if Bloober Team was up to the task of remaking this classic. To be fair, the combat trailer was pretty bad. But the rest is history. The reviews are great! So do I finally feel comfortable saying I love Silent Hill 2?

Gameplay:

Now this is what I’m talking about! Being able to control the camera feels amazing in such an atmospheric series. Truthfully, full camera control does takes away the fear of fixed camera angles. This can be a major dealbreaker for some. For example, in the apartments of the original game, oftentimes the camera would be closed in on James’ face. This would be the case after you opened a door. Sometimes you’ll hear an enemy approaching too. You could view this in two different ways. The first would be that it’s a genius approach for a horror game; forcing the player to confront the fear of the unknown. But the second way (and my opinion) is that the player should feel like they are on somewhat even grounds to the game they’re playing. To me, it’s cheap to illicit fear by having the camera directed in the most illogical place ever, the protagonists face. A truly scary game like Silent Hill 2 never needed such simple tricks.

There are plenty of other beneficial changes too. Not having to open a menu just to change weapons or heal keeps the gaming flowing excellently. Combat feels more fluid and not like an afterthought. In most games you shoot for the head for quick kills. But in Silent Hill 2, I would often aim for the feet or knees, just to smash their heads in with my steel pipe. It’s visceral and ugly. You aren’t “winning” like in most games. You are surviving. And just barely at that! I have to commend Bloober Team for their resource management. I heard pre-release rumors that the game gave the player way too much ammunition and healing supplies on normal difficulty. Thankfully, I never felt that. I never had more than five or six shotgun bullets and four or five rifle bullets. My handgun ammo never exceeded 20 (which was rare in the first place). And my guns would usually be near empty after a boss fight. The healing supplies become more plentiful in the second half. I had 18 syringes at one point, but two hard boss battles in the end brought that number closer to zero.

Puzzles will make you pause, but never completely baffle you like in the original games (I’m looking at you piano puzzle in SH1!) I once saw somebody say that “Silent Hill games aren’t about their mechanics”. It sounds like a cheap way to excuse a poorly designed game, but it’s actually somewhat true. Silent Hill was always about a horrifying atmosphere, fascinating story, genius monster designs and godlike music. But thankfully, with this remake, it feels like the gameplay mechanics are of an almost equal level of quality. It’s fun to bash monsters heads in. It’s fun to solve puzzles and search for supplies. It’s fun to see a Mannequin run at the end of a hallway, only to find them hiding behind a bookshelf!

I do have one criticism with the gameplay though- the pacing. The first half of the game establishes a comfortable rhythm of fog covered outdoor spaces, and tight dark dungeons. But by the time you get to Toluca Prison, the game is nonstop dark dungeons for six to seven hours (given your speed). And by dark I mean dark. Even the flashlight barely felt like enough help. I really wish the game gave me even a thirty minute break between the constant oppressive darkness. I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t feel like the first half had those moments. There’s a sweet spot between Blue Creek Apartments and Brookhaven Hospital where you get an hour just to chill with Maria. There aren’t many monsters during this hour, and it feels like you can just soak in that legendary atmosphere and learn about a mysterious character. Sadly, this hour stretch is the only time I felt like this. Every time I got a new dungeon map in this game, I thought to myself “Well, this is going to take three hours”. And I don’t mean that in an “Ugh, I have to play the game?” type of way. I just think you could’ve shaved off a little time in the dungeons and given the player more time to enjoy the titular town. The original game is about half the length of this remake; so there was clearly some creative liberty taken with the pacing and dungeon length.

Now let’s get into all the other things that make Silent Hill 2 so legendary.

Presentation:

This is where the original game never really had an issue. It’s hard to believe that the PlayStation 2 classic came out only a year into the consoles lifespan. Its environments are drenched in minute detail. The limited monster designs mean that each creature has two or three layers of symbolism embedded within. For example, the first creature you encounter is the “Lying Figure”. This monster clearly looks like a person writhing in pain within a bodybag of sorts. This adds to the theme of death within the game.

The early 2000s voice acting feels spacey and strange. Sometimes it comes off like bad voice acting, which was commonplace for the era. Other times it only boosts the games surreal quality.

And Akira Yamaoka’s music in the original wasn’t just good video game music- it’s good music overall. It was terrifying. It was sometimes peppy. But mostly, it was dreary and slow. It felt like those rough nights when you can’t seem to stay asleep, and you’re caught in this weird middle-place between consciousness and unconsciousness.

I’m happy to report that everything I’ve just mentioned is wonderfully translated in this modern retelling. Not only is the foggy titular town excellently presented, it’s even expanded! As mentioned before, you can go inside many optional stores to find supplies. I had this weird feeling when I shut off the game; I took a look around my house and thought to myself “Yeah, this could be in Silent Hill 2”. The game does a great job at presenting living spaces like apartments and hospital rooms. And the businesses you enter like a music store or strip club feel like its customers only left mere minutes ago. And giving the player full control over the camera means you can examine these environments without compromise.

Masahiro Ito’s monster designs haven’t aged a bit. The modern graphics allow them to shine like we always wanted them to. Some monsters, like the Abstract Daddy, disturb me more than ever thanks to this new level of detail. I just want to emphasize that most games have monster designs that don’t really matter or elevate anything in the game. It doesn’t really matter that Goombas look like brown mushrooms, or that Octoroks are squids. They just are. But in Silent Hill 2, every monster looks a certain way for an important reason.

Akira Yamaoka has returned as composer. He’s not only remade the classic tracks beloved for over two decades, but he’s thrown in some new ones as well. I guess my only nitpick here is the first two Silent Hill games had a few songs very reminiscent of 90’s trip-hop. As a fan of Portishead and Massive Attack, I love those tracks in Silent Hill. Maybe I just blanked out for a second, but I didn’t really hear those at all during my playthrough of the remake. I’m sure they must be somewhere, but only for a few seconds if so.

The character redesigns are fantastic except for one. Laura looks likes an adorable ray of sunshine much needed in such a nightmarish world. Eddie is so overweight and strange looking that you can just tell that something isn’t right with him immediately. Angela has a baby face in this remake, unlike the original. But this version of Angela is way more accurate to her age. It also adds to her calling her mother “mama” and getting frequent flashbacks of her abusive childhood.

I’m comfortable saying that the Eddie and Angela redesigns are better than their original counterparts. But I can’t say the same about Maria.

Maria is arguably the best character in the whole game. Her tragic story is shrouded in shadows. While you could criticize her outfit for being almost a straight copy of a famous Christina Aguilera outfit, little touches like her tall boots, butterfly tattoo and dyed hair tips add a lot. I love the little detail of her exposed stomach having just a tiny bit of belly fat to it. She was meant to be attractive to James. An alternate version of his wife Mary he always wanted; less passive, more sexy and confident.

But Maria’s defining characteristic to me is her face. Her jagged lips and eyes could either come off as welcoming or devilish. It accentuates her bipolar nature.

This new Maria does not give off the same feeling as the original. Her face and voice performance come off naturally warmer to me. A bit sweeter. Her creepiness is stripped away. The red jacket and black dress don’t come off to me as early 2000’s.

The last thing I want to do here is sound like the terminally online people who want all female characters in games to look like camgirls; but I do think taking away the exposed stomach for Maria loses a lot. It loses the confidence of the character. It loses the touch of realism with the slight belly flab. It loses the sexuality found within much of the game. I’m sorry, but the jacket sucks! What is she, a detective?

Allow me to move on. The voice performances are outstandingly done. At first I was afraid they were going to be a little too professional. Part of what made the original games voice work so memorable was the early 2000’s jank; it allowed for an awkward spaceyness that benefitted the games dreamlike atmosphere. The first few cutscenes had me worried. They were extremely solid and void of much bizarreness. Luckily, I still did find a good amount of cutscenes where the delivery came off properly strange. We have to remember that two of the main characters (Eddie and Angela) are extremely damaged people who might be hard to talk to, especially in the insane town of Silent Hill. So having the proper amount of awkward pauses and weird body language just fits this games cast so well.

I also want to give one last shoutout to Luke Roberts, the voice of James. His voice acting was noticeable from the start. He comes off a little more concerned than the original James on the PS2, but still has moments of just being a plain weirdo. I especially loved the way his screams would crack when you stomp enemies on the ground. Again, no such thing as a glamorous victory here- just ugly survivals.

Story:

I refuse to say much here. Chances are you’ve already watched some video essays about this game. Or maybe you’ve seen endless posts about it on your social media feeds. All I can say is:

If by some chance you don’t know what this story is about, or only know the big spoilers , Silent Hill 2 is still very much worth your time. The big spoilers don’t take away from the smaller moments or interpretations. It would be like if somebody told me they don’t want to play Final Fantasy 7 because they know about that moment. It’s still worth playing.

The story and cast stick with me as one of the most beautiful in gaming history. It’s a story of grief, anger, self-hatred, abuse and most of all- healing. Can you even heal after something like what these characters have?

Overall:

I finished Silent Hill 1 back in 2021 and quite loved it. After finishing this remake of Silent Hill 2, I not only feel comfortable calling myself a Silent Hill fan, I will be going back to the original game! As I’m typing this review out, I’m an hour into Silent Hill 3. That’s right, I’m going to adapt to the old controls.

I love this series too much to let some rigid controls stop me. And it was this remake that brought that love out of me.

Thank you Bloober Team for respecting the classic game. Thank you Konami for not fucking this one up, I know that’s hard for you.

I can’t stop thinking about Silent Hill 2 Remake.

(In an effort to move away from traditional numerical scores, I will use the following metric: Hated, Felt Neutral, Liked, Loved, Can’t Stop Thinking About)