After hours spend hide out from bend nurses , I ’m at last ready to escapeSilent Hill 2 ’s Brookhaven Hospital . I madly search for a front door key in the lobby , but I find oneself one final medico ’s greenback first . The journal entry ruminates on an unwellness that ’s taken over the modest Ithiel Town , one that ’s go away its victims lose beyond the border of reality . The medical humans is on the hunt for a remedy , but this doctor question if it ’s really a sickness at all . trusted , their patients are lost in a world within their caput , but they seem at peace there — felicitous , even .
“ So why , I ask myself , why in the name of healing him must we trail him distressingly into the earth of our own reality ? ” the writer wonders .
That ’s always been the key toSilent Hill 2 ’s horror , and it ’s carefully keep in Bloober Team ’s close remake . ThePlayStation 2 classicis fill with creepy freak that will haunt anyone inexpedient enough to enroll the townspeople of Silent Hill , but that ’s not the origin of its fear . The actual scary part is what lie outside of the city limits : a coarse earth where monster roam destitute on two leg instead of hide out in the shadow . possibly it ’s safer in the fog .
While it may be an unnecessary project , Silent Hill 2 ’s remakekeeps the original ’s haunting essence intact by staying true to its unsettling atmospheric state , off - kelter tone , and uncomfortable present moment . It ’s a reverential revisit that only trend off course when it try on a small too toilsome to add pounds onto a sleek horror game . Even with some excess weight , the tortured account enjoin here is every bit as torturesome as it was in 2001 .
New look, same feel
RemakingSilent Hill 2is no gentle job . Though many game over the retiring two decades have been inspired by the PS2 classic , very few have quite nailed its feel . It shares deoxyribonucleic acid with musical genre peers like Resident Evil , but it ’s a horror secret plan that feel as otherworldly as its own alternate universes . It ’s eery , antagonistic , and always just enough off - center to keep actor off balance at all time . I was skeptical that anyone could pull it off , let alone Bloober Team ; psychological projects likeThe Mediumhave always feel indebted to Silent Hill , but they ’ve never quite hit the mark . Perhaps sense its own shortcomings , Bloober dial in on the original game to truly translate what makes it particular and pitch a remaking worthy of its legacy .
Bloober finds a fresh eeriness in its eldritch feeler .
The core group is still the same . It ’s a selection horror biz about James Sunderland ’s trip to a brumous , freak - infested town in hunt of his “ lacking ” wife . All of the set piece , shake up bosses , haunting euphony , and iconic cinematics appear as I retrieve them , but with a modern sheen . That begins with a optic renovation that trades in PS2 insipidness for Unreal Engine 5 realism . Though the original waiver deduce its power from its dirty textures , Bloober finds a new eeriness in its uncanny approach path .
Characters are more painstakingly detailed , capturing more physical nuances from its top - snick cast . character like Angela benefit most from that change ; she ’s more frenzied when she ’s wildly swinging around a tongue , more uninvolved as she ascends a flaming staircase . Eddie is especially persistent , with a rougher face and dead eyes that contrast with his entire genial crash . Then there ’s James , brought to aliveness by a well - regorge Luke Roberts , whose unsettling nature is only underline by elevate vivification . He sleepwalks through some of the report ’s most disturbing moment , seemingly unphased by it all , but he rick into an belligerent killer the moment he start yawl on a monster with a lead tube . you may palpate that something ’s off about him well before the truth of his quest is revealed .
The town of Silent Hill is more realise here too , with more explorable space around townsfolk . A shabby American flag give ear from a porch gives me a good sense of who might inhabit its homes . When I function into a launderette , I ’m met with gloomy laundry machine that look like they have n’t been cleaned in a decade . Despite having a modern lustre , Bloober work more guts into every recess of the deteriorate town . It feels like a true shade town , but one that ’s still just left of reality .
More expert updates double over down on horror . While the original release is plenty scary , it ’s more on a psychological level . The remaking brings more horror to the fray through darker firing that hide monsters in shadow . The legal design especially stands out , creating a wall of unnatural auditory sensation that prevail throughout . When an enemy is nearby , radiocommunication static erupts from myDualSense speaker . At first , I think that it too clearly telegraphs approaching enemy . By the remainder , it becomes a source of madness . When it begins to crunch , it actuate a Pavlovian chemical reaction in me . I ’m all of a sudden activated , station into a blind rage as I assay to smash every enemy I can bump just to make it stop .
Of of course , the most crucial part ofSilent Hill 2is its fog . That ’s so important that its late remaster was heavily criticise mostly because of its changes to its density . Bloober opt for a ashen wisp fog over the ashen daze of the original . It may be contentious with nitpickers , but it work here . It ’s less apocalyptic , but it ’s still a deep paries that ’s hard to see through . When I get word an enemy creeping nearby , I ’m send into a panic as I struggle to find it through the noise . It ’s still an oppressive mystical force that lords over me , only showing me what it wants me to see and when it chooses to . I ’m powerless to its almost holy presence .
Gameplay overhaul
The changes here are n’t just proficient ones ; Bloober gives the original a major gameplay rework too that convey it more in line withCapcom ’s Resident malefic remakes . There are pros and cons to that approach that create a clean line into how the scope of vainglorious - budget game has shift between 2001 and 2024 . It feel like publisher Konami ’s directive here was to makeSilent Hill 2feel like a modern game . Beyond the makeover , it ’s a bigger plot with expand combat , more mystifier , and much larger explorable spaces . While there ’s nothing about those change that ’s actively forged , they do n’t always find linear .
For instance , locations like Toluca Prison are amplify into straggle mazes that take a few hours to make out . Bloober often justifies that growth with deeper puzzles that experience in line with the original press release , even when they ’re entirely novel additions . One has me find weights throughout the prison house and aright placing them on a scale to unlock different door . Another has me matching snippet of poems about execution victim to make sense of their crimes . Each one very much feels in the spirit ofSilent Hill 2 , reimagining it as a more robust series of puzzler box seat .
What ’s less efficacious is all the backtracking that adds to the experience . The remake take around 14 time of day to complete , which is a few hours more than the original , but most of that spare time is expend running back and forth between corridors to solve puzzles . Brookhaven Hospital is especially draining at times , as I spend a lot of time essay to remember how to get from point A to point type B again as I walk a far off token back to where it ’s needed .
armed combat has a similar dynamic . On newspaper , it ’s a great climb . It ’s a tense third - person shooter that effectively creates tension through resourcefulness scarceness . Enemies like Mannequins can be unpredictable , skirting away from my bullets . If I do n’t want to devastate my shots on a monster that skitters into the apparition the import my torch hits it , I have to take my opportunity with snug - range battle royal combat . That can be life-threatening , as a little evasive dodge is only so good against lot of limbs that unpredictably lash out .
That organization does wear thin eventually , as the remaking force players into battle a luck more because of its tighter spaces . In the original , I could largely pick out to leave monsters alone if I so trust . I could let a nurse keep ramble Brookhaven ’s Hall , exit a creepy obstacle in my path . It ’s more imperative to clear them out here , which reveals how few goliath types the original game actually has . I ’m for the most part fight back variations of the same three freak who become easy to trade with once I have sex their patterns .
What does killing 30 more nurse or backtracking Brookhaven for an extra time of day or two really add to the story ?
It ’s moments like that which bring the tomfoolery of remakes like this into Christ Within . The originalSilent Hill 2works as well as it does because of its dated design decision , not in spite of them . Its smaller spaces and concise runtime keep the story incite while offer just enough to do between cutscenes . The remaking , on the other hand , stuff padding into that sleek sequence . The solution to making the PS2 game find advanced often translates to add more “ content , ” but what does killing 30 more nursemaid or double back Brookhaven for an extra hour or two actually add to the story ? Some decisions feel more about justifying a price tag end to new today ’s audiences than supporting the tale .
There are plenty of mo , though , where the remake does tote up meaningful modification . The biggest object lesson come in its reimagined chief competitiveness , which make some of gaming ’s most uncomfortable moments even more nonrational . In the original handout ’s most disconcerting minute , James crusade a boss dubbed “ Abstract Daddy ” — a sentient seam that visualizes Angela ’s sexual trauma at the hands of her Father-God . That moment fall a flake flat in the original , as James simply guns it down in a bland square elbow room . The fight here is tremendous by comparison . The fauna furrow James through a labyrinthian apartment , smash through wall like a rampaging strapper . Angela ’s pain feels more tangible in that moment , her begetter getting considerably play as the dangerous , destructive force he is . Interpretive changes like that are where biz remakes can offer value , continuing a conversation with the source material rather of talking over it .
Through the fog
While Bloober Team ’s remaking takes a lot of indecorum with gameplay and upgrade visuals , it quell true to the original where it bet . Silent Hill 2 ’s story goes largely unaffected in the remaking apart from some extra duologue and collectible memoranda by nature waver into the PS2 plot ’s script . Only a few unexampled addition palpate out of place and a vista or two loses its sharpness with cleaner visuals ( the iconic prison chat with Maria does n’t quite feel as haunting here ) , but it otherwise let Konami ’s original vision play out in all its glory . That ’s a bolder determination than it sound like .
The remake just filter out the original ’s most grotesque moments .
On revisitingSilent Hill 2for the first time in years , I ’m struck by just how unflinching it is compared to today ’s prominent budget games . It ’s never out to please player , like theB - movie frolic of Capcom ’s Resident Evil games . It ’s an actively uncomfortable game that skirts the bounds of sensitivity , something that may shock modern thespian . But that ’s not done without determination : A story about the ugliness of humanity needs to be ugly .
Silent Hill 2deals with deep - rooted trauma by meet its character at their low item . James is a guilt - ridden antihero who practically begs to be penalize by the menacing Pyramid Head . We satisfy Angela in the midst of a breakdown as she struggles to process grief in tandem with grotesque abuse . Eddie , who is certain to maintain the title of the story ’s most controversial character , finds himself pushed onto a psychopathic path after years of bullying . Each character is call out in pain , even when it ’s through their divorce centre . And we ’re entrap in the fog with them .
The remaking barely filters the original ’s most monstrous moments . A dog ’s murder is described in barbarous detail . James stay a loathsome worm of a hero . One puzzle has him wrapping a noose around his cervix as it almost front like he ’s implore he ’s actually receiving his final judgment . Creepy Mannequins are outstanding for a jump panic attack , but these are the moments of lasting repugnance that will quell with me perpetually . The real reverence is that there ’s no Leslie Townes Hope for repurchase in a globe of out of the question pain , a horror that sense just as choke as the fog of Silent Hill . Who would need to survive in that place ?
“ There is no healing of thy bruise , ” one note scratched into a rampart endanger . “ Thy wound is grievous . ”
Silent Hill 2was tested on PS5 .
