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The original Silent Hill 2 is widely considered one of the greatest horror games of all time. It has garnered a notorious reputation and a massive following that includes a radicalized, cult-like fanbase. When it was announced in 2022 that the game would be getting the remake treatment similar to its contemporaries like Resident Evil, Dead Space, and Alone in the Dark, the gaming community went wild with anticipation. However, this excitement unfortunately led to internet bullying.
Since the reimagining of the game was being developed by the horror veterans at Poland’s Bloober Team, whose previous work was already divisive among horror curmudgeons, lots of racism and hate was thrown at the developers, despite them working hand-in-hand with Konami and even some of the Team Silent staff who worked on the original game. Despite all the ignorance, the development pressed forward and now we’ve had a chance to sink into the reimagined Silent Hill 2 for quite some time, so we’ll take a look at how it fares against its peers and as the first full-length game in the series for nearly 15 years.
Story
In terms of the narrative or story, this is easily where the game sticks most closely to its original version since there’s rarely a single line of dialogue changed throughout any of the character interactions. This is a good thing since the original narrative is one of the most beloved and harrowing psychological horror stories of all time. As such, too many alterations would surely incite an angry, pitchfork-wielding mob.
However, the microscopic changes that were made as far as the script is concerned were all for the better and just edged it towards being just a hair more relevant without losing a lot of the more esoteric elements of the story’s presentation. There’s been a number of added documents and puzzles, which do contribute to a little bit of what might be called “lore,” but don’t change anything involving any of the major characters or their stories.
One of the biggest changes in the story’s presentation is the new voice acting and motion capture for all of the characters, which are some of the best I’ve seen in a long time and are handled with such precise care and diligence so as to not step over the original. The characters all feel more emotional and alive, and the cinematic framing of cutscenes is improved in drastic ways, letting the story seep out and be even slightly more impactful than before, which is a hell of a feat.
Overall, I’d have to say that this reimagining fully harnesses the cinematic knowledge and skill that Bloober Team has and the technological improvements of video games over the years, and uses them to improve and deepen the experience just a little more than the original. This new version will surely resonate more with a modern audience, not because it dumbed things down or changed things egregiously, but merely updated it with the visual and storytelling techniques that have been honed in video games over the last 23 years since Silent Hill 2‘s release.
Gameplay
Now we can really dig into some of the bigger changes, as the gameplay experience is vastly changed compared to the original, and I’d have to say, it’s generally all in positive ways. To begin with the most obvious, this reimagining does away with the cinematic fixed camera angles that so defined the early 3D generation of horror games that the original Silent Hill 2 was a part of. This was hard to get used to at first and it felt a little underwhelming in the beginning, but it soon started to sink in and be a wholly immersive experience.
In general, the whole beginning section of the game before arriving at the apartment building was a pretty big adjustment period of learning to view the world of SH2 through a new lens and not just expecting it to be exactly as it was before. This can be a hard thing for fans to do, but something clicked after arriving to the first major “labyrinth” of the game that made all of those fears and expectations leave my mind, where I could just be immersed and begin to truly enjoy the game as it is.
Once I got past the initial change and shock of the presentation, this new SH2 gradually just kept getting better and better, and soon the care and absolute devotion to the craft of making a terrifying and enjoyable video game became very palpable. The amount that’s changed here as far as the presentation and progression of the game is staggering, but I was hard-pressed to find any of those elements that felt like it made the experience worse.
If you think you’ll be able to hop into the experience with all your speed-running skills from the 2001 Silent Hill 2, you’ll be in for a rude awakening, as there are frequent new areas, objectives, and buildings to explore, new notes and puzzles to find, and a general expansion of the gameplay experience. This new version even likes to throw in occasional little nods to the original, where you’ll find an old puzzle object or item lying around that looks exactly the way it did in the 2001 version, though the game presents them as a non-interactable, nostalgic reminder of the past, a stark reminder that you are not playing the 2001 game anymore.
Combat
Aside from the changed camera angles and general game progression, this comes along with several other changes, including a very different approach to the lighting and an entirely new combat system. The new lighting system essentially makes the game even darker than the original, with the flashlight being even more dim than in the original game. Combined with the over-the-shoulder camera, this makes for some absolutely terrifying exploration of the world, and the game exploits the low visibility in very clever and nasty ways.
For instance, the low visibility is used in tandem with the new combat system to make it so enemies are much more hidden from view and can launch sneak attacks (and scares) on you anytime and from anywhere. Even after fighting with an enemy, they may scurry away in the middle of combat just to find a new hiding spot to jump out and surprise you from, making it never feel safe.
The game uses every tight corner of a room to give heavy potential for sneak attacks and scares, whether it’s behind a shelf in a tight hallway, under a desk or table, or blending in with the scenery, and it never fails to startle me. This system of enemies being able to consistently and dynamically hide creates more natural tension and scares than the typical scripted ones we’ve come to expect from modern over-the-shoulder horror games.
The new combat system is streamlined similarly to the recent Resident Evil remakes, allowing you to instantly switch between melee and ranged weapons without using a menu, making for much more dynamic combat overall. This also means that enemies are much more of a threat in their behaviors and that encounters with them will be much more plentiful, making for a very different experience when it comes to combat.
In general, the combat feels just clunky enough that you don’t feel like a superhero, and leaves just a tinge of vulnerability that constantly reminds you that James is just a regular, human guy, not a trained soldier or a person who’s particularly skilled at combat. It is still particularly visceral and cathartic, as it was in the original, and it’s good that this element stuck around, as it also plays a subversive role in the game’s story as well, on a deeper level.
The relatively scarce amount of resources available compared to the combat difficulty strikes a nice balance, and requires you to think more closely before rushing into an encounter. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by more than one enemy at a time, and you’ll need to have your dodging skills about you, since many fights that seem like they’ll be one-on-one at first quickly become a crowd when previously hidden enemies jump out to attack from behind you or from the dark corner of a room.
The new dodge button can be a great help if you look for the audio and visual cues of when and where to dodge, but it’s not just a simple way to avoid damage by spamming the dodge button, since it has relatively short range and stops you from doing any other actions while in the dodge animation, including running.
The revamped puzzles and exploration feel great across the board, with James having to actively pull out the map in real-time to check directions and mark down any important clues or updates, which is a nice touch that adds a little bit of immersion and keeps you on your toes. The new puzzles will keep you moving along relatively swiftly most of the time if you’re familiar with classic survival horror puzzles, but they’re just tough enough on the standard puzzle difficulty to keep you scratching your head every once in a while or getting stuck from time to time and having to retrace your steps to find what you missed.
The expanded areas also cause the game to be around double the length of the original SH2, clocking in around at least 15 hours for a first playthrough, and every minute of it feels compelling and exciting. This is a testament to the work that went into the game, that it can still stay as alluring even with around twice as much of a run-time.
Overall, the new gameplay is greatly improved from not only the original SH2, but it even feels a step above its recent contemporaries like the remakes of Resident Evil and others, most likely having learned from all those other recent similar games to fine-tune the experience.
Audio/Visual
As expected, the audio and visual presentation here is at the top of its class, with the teams at Bloober and Team Silent alumni working together, it feels as perfect as a remake could be, from an artistic standpoint. The sound design is tense and oppressive throughout every second of the game where sound is present, and the remixed/rearranged soundscape from Akira Yamaoka is some of the best in recent memory.
The visuals, despite being so dark for 75% of the game, are stunning and done in a way that lets you sink into the world and take in its visual splendor while also never feeling comfortable, safe, or too familiar. This is generally the best-case scenario that no other similar remake has nailed quite so well, especially while adhering so closely to the general aesthetics of the original game.
Across the board, the teams have created something that feels wholly faithful to its source material from an aesthetic standpoint, while also improving and embellishing things enough to where it feels like a new experience.
Controls/Performance
The game controls are generally well-executed, with combat, exploration, and most other actions feeling quick and responsive. The only minor issue is that sometimes it’s necessary to adjust the camera to a very specific angle to pick up or interact with certain items. This can be a bit frustrating, especially during intense moments, and it seems like it could be easily fixed with a little effort.
When it comes to performance, this is the only category where SH2 2024 gets any kind of negative mark, at least when it comes to the PS5 version. Whether you’re running the game on Quality or Performance modes, it’s never able to keep a consistent framerate for very long. Random choppiness and stuttering occur frequently, with it being worse in some areas than others.
There are also frequent issues with the camera getting stuck on walls or objects and causing strange image jumping and stuttering, which can be off-putting and cause moments of lost immersion. Although these issues won’t ruin the overall experience, they are quite noticeable throughout the game, and I hope they are all patched and improved soon.
Conclusion
The reimagined Silent Hill 2 is an experience that truly understands and honors the original game. It deconstructs and rebuilds the experience from the ground up, creating something that feels familiar yet also like a whole new game.
It takes inspiration from the classic 2001 original and incorporates the many advancements made since its release. Influences from games like Condemned, RE, Dead Space, The Evil Within, Alan Wake 2, and even later Silent Hill games are collected and honed to make something very fresh and extremely polished.
It may not be pushing the genre forward, but Silent Hill 2 (2024) feels like the peak of what the current horror remake movement of the last five years can accomplish. It’s an experience I confidently recommend to anyone looking for a shining example of what the horror genre has to offer.
(9.5 / 10)
Amazing
(9.5 / 10)
