Silent Hill 2 Remake
Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $69.99 USD – Available Here $119.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
Being handed a classic and beloved game that many see as the pinnacle of its genre is already a daunting task, but when that game also happens to be part of a franchise that has laid mostly dormant for over a decade and even then was only through maligned remasters given some life, it puts the challenge even further. Combine this with a shaky track record at Bloober Team and fan perception is going to be at its most critical and with a game like Silent Hill 2 being the one given the remake treatment, it is going to be impossible to please everyone. So, with fans at their most critical despite horror remakes being the recent trend and Silent Hill 2 being seen as the pinnacle of psychological horror, has this team managed to find success and at least please most with Silent Hill 2 Remake?
Story
It goes without saying but those coming into Silent Hill 2 need no knowledge of what happened in the first game as the original game that started it all is only loosely connected to the franchise as a whole though those that are familiar with it will catch new references that have been worked into Silent Hill 2. Players take on the role of James Sunderland who has received a letter from his wife Mary saying that she is waiting for him in their favorite place, a remote mining town by the name of Silent Hill. The only problem is, Mary has been dead for three years now and the letter is clearly written in her handwriting. In an effort to figure out what exactly is happening, James travels to Silent Hill to try and uncover the mystery behind this sudden letter from his wife only to find that the once quiet town of Silent Hill is now a decrepit fog-filled city on the brink of disaster where twisted monsters roam the streets and the few other people he encounters are just as confused and unsure about the state of the city as he is.
Silent Hill 2 has always been more about the psychological horror aspect of things, delving deep into the psyche of James and the people that he encounters, some of which may have made their way into Silent Hill on their own or through other means, and it is clear that Bloober Team knew that this was an aspect that they had to stick true to in this remake. The struggle with James’ guilt and his trauma of losing his wife is felt throughout the game as he constantly pushes past horrors with a drive to search for the next clue that leads to Mary. It also helps that this isn’t a soldier or even anyone with any type of training, James is an everyman placed in a nightmare and the story remains nearly untouched in this regard and only expanded upon as a result of his extra interactions with certain environments and parts of the world that have been greatly expanded.
Some character dialogue is a little less nuanced than before, making some points a bit clearer and more obvious than they were in the original game and many hints about certain elements are also revealed far earlier or just in general compared to before but these come in the form of both the game’s additional writing, the fact that players can actually see certain game elements with modern day graphics instead of the PlayStation 2’s limitations, and even the collectables that players can find that range from additional memos to brand new ones called strange photos. While we won’t go into details here to avoid spoilers, despite the original game’s age, these clues, if players can figure them out, give extra hints and context to the story of James and Mary especially in regards to the photos which are deliberately placed in out of the way locations and even out of order to confuse things further until players click it into place themselves.
The strange nature of Silent Hill 2 remains intact for the most part as well with there being just as many odd seeming locations as horrific ones and the surreal encounters remain the same as well, in fact longtime fans of the franchise will catch countless glimpses, references, and lore connected to even other aspects of Silent Hill that aren’t even addressed in the second game and while we can’t say our own theories here for the sake of spoilers, it is quite deep if players pay attention to a number of highly specific locations while roaming the streets. It is also nice to note that the game drops countless references to its origins through “glimpses of the past” that showcase previous puzzles, situations, or even warped structures where events previously transpired in the original version of the game that now happen elsewhere in Silent Hill 2 Remake. It is also worth noting that many elements that involve the game’s multiple endings remain the same as well, including how players obtain them from the original version. It is also worth noting that players need to unlock New Game+ before being able to access the title’s more infamous comedic endings as the mode unlocks a number of new puzzles and items in the world but also adds two brand new endings as well, both of which are wholly original to the Remake and will only feed even more fuel into the fan theories surrounding Silent Hill.
Gameplay
With Bloober Team behind the wheel for Silent Hill 2 players will still be spending most of their time exploring the same familiar areas that they originally did such as the twisting and often blocked off or crumbling streets of the foggy town or navigating locations such as the Apartments or Brookvale Hospital only with an over-the shoulder perspective instead and it is worth noting that nearly every location in the game has been expanded in various ways. Most of this expansion simply comes from adding additional rooms or locations to be explored for healing items or ammunition while others come into play in regards to solving the newly changed-up puzzles as nearly every puzzle has been reworked from the original version of the game. Now, it is worth noting that some of these expanded areas do feel a little too long at times and a bit padded as a result. In fact, one late game location felt so heavy on repeated traversal to complete the area that, even with the heavy use of firearms to simply cut a path through enemies, it felt excessive. These expanded areas don’t generally suffer from this level of fatigue but perhaps due to the level design, this one that we won’t spoil here, does.
Either way, as players explore they’ll need to make use of James’ flashlight and radio to help navigate the dangerous locations and keep an eye out for both puzzle pieces, items, and enemies. Now it is worth noting that Silent Hill 2 Remake is right and proper dark. Players on the proper visual settings will find that James has very little visual room to work with most of the time and that does wonders to bring up the tension of exploration. Of course, players can bump up the brightness to help a bit and even have indicators highlight interactables once players are nearby though these can be turned off entirely as well. Similarly, it is worth noting that just like the original game Silent Hill 2 Remake allows players to choose from three different levels of difficulty for combat and puzzle challenge with combat difficulty being changeable at any time but puzzle difficulty being locked in for that entire playthrough.
The puzzles themselves are, as mentioned before, almost entirely different with a few signature ones remaining and even these have been altered in various ways. Solving these puzzles is always a delightful challenge and rarely feels too frustrating to figure out, especially since many simply involve tracking down the necessary items or decoding a few hints. The real challenge often comes from combat since James is just a standard guy finding himself in a hellish town though things will be quite a bit easier this time around thanks to some more modernized controls and aiming schemes.
Whenever James finds himself having to face off against any form of enemy players can use melee attacks with either a wooden board or steel pipe to bash away at an opponent. Along these same lines James can also perform a couple of quick dodges to try and avoid incoming attacks, though he can only perform two in a row before finding himself vulnerable. This is a far cry from how vulnerable melee combat was in the original game, especially since James will automatically target enemies when swinging his weapon. There are a few frustrations occasionally with targeting sometimes locking onto an already prone enemy, stomping on them instead of swinging at a still standing foe but considering players should always be landing a few extra blows anyways to make sure foes stay down, it’s rarely an issue. It is also interesting to note that players can use the melee weapon to break glass windows and cases to obtain items inside.
When it comes to firearms James only ever gains access to a standard handgun, a shotgun, and a rifle with no upgrades of any kind. That being said, not only can players manually aim now to target enemies as they see fit, potentially firing a few rounds before laying into them with a melee attack to down them, they can also quickly swap between guns with the tap of the D-Pad. No longer is there any cumbersome menu screen to swap between melee or firearms and even healing can be done with the simple press of triangle with a tap using a health drink and a long press using a healing syringe. This all makes combat feel much more fluid and capable while still remaining challenging though most of this challenge tends to be due to the fact that there are far more enemies in Silent Hill 2 Remake than before. It is also worth noting that while players can still choose to try and sneak around enemies or skip fights altogether with some foes, they will try to persistently chase down James for quite some time and this can lead to larger encounters that place James at a disadvantage, especially since melee combat is balanced for one on one fights primarily. The few boss battles that appear throughout Silent Hill 2 Remake have also been touched up and changed here and there though the general gist of the fights remain the same. Instead these changes keep players more engaged in some of the latter boss battles while a mid-game boss fight sees some significant improvement over its original counterpart.
That being said, even playing on Normal combat and Normal puzzles saw my first end running with over ten of each healing item and a small armory’s worth of ammo for my firearms though whether this was due to constant searching is up in the air and will vary from player to player. Once players complete the game it is worth noting that New Game+ mode is automatically unlocked and allows players to start a slightly modified version of the game. Unlike the standard style of New Game+, nothing carries over including any and all collectables but, as mentioned before, new endings are made unlockable as well as a number of new items including a powerful new melee weapon that arrives far earlier than the standard one.
Audio & Visuals
It must really be said that Bloober Team has handled the remaking of Silent Hill 2’s creepy fog-filled streets and shadowy corridors excellently here. Thick fog blankets every street giving players only a few feet of sight to work with as they travel through the streets during the day and this minimal sight diminishes even further once night falls. Players will walk the decrepit streets with missing posters flapping in the wind, abandoned cars with breakable windows containing supplies, and hauntingly bleach white sheets draped over cut off corridors. Even inside the buildings James will find himself very little light to work with as the flashlight provides only the minimal amount of lighting from the dangers that lurk just out of sight. Even the enemies have all been given significant visual improvements and more noticeable elements. This includes adding variations to the Lying Figures and even the Bubble Head Nurses have been given more details, blood spatters depending on where they are hit. The Mannequins, as simple as their design is, have revamped enemy AI that makes them act like stealthy furniture just out of sight and ready to pounce once James either passes by or catches sight of them. Even the bosses have been given revamped appearances with Pyramid Head and other signature bosses now reworked to be more dangerous and frightful than ever.
When the original Silent Hill 2 was released Konami went with who they could find to provide the voice work for the cast with only Angela’s original voice actress given any connection to the company after the title’s release. These original recordings were seemingly lost to the point that all of the voice acting had to be redone in the HD Collection by a fresh more talented voice cast to fill in their roles. Now, Bloober Team has once again recast the various characters in Silent Hill 2 Remake with another set of voice actors that handle their roles quite well here with Luke Roberts taking the lead as James as opposed to Troy Baker. The sound effects in the game are outstandingly spooky and work wonders, especially when coupled with the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller as the radio will start crackling through the controller’s speakers when enemies are nearby as well as on screen. As for the background music the title features a solid collection of background music that fits the gloomy and depressing nature of Silent Hill and James’ journey throughout the dark and foggy world.
Overall
Bloober Team was given a nearly insurmountable task of taking a beloved and impactful psychological horror game and remake it for modern audiences and not only has the team managed to do so quite successfully, they have more than honored the original aspects of the game at the same time. With a revamped combat system that remains tense and challenging even if it does drown the player with resources a bit and a storyline that retains all of the psychological trauma and themes that made the original so beloved all wrapped up in dark and foggy package that is hauntingly beautiful it must be said that Silent Hill 2 Remake is quite the success for both Konami and Bloober Team.
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