Videogames, much like movies, have gone down the trend of remaking some of its biggest releases. Some are met with critical praise, like Capcom’s Resident Evil 2, and Dead Space from Electronic Arts, while others not so much. With Konami not being at its finest moment, when it was announced that Silent Hill 2 would be taking a similar route, it was cause for concern. On the other hand, knowing that Bloober Team, the talented Polish developer behind the excellent Layers of Fear games and a host of other horror titles, my worries drew silent, much like its titular town.
Now, having finally played the final product after months of drooling over preview screenshots, I’m happy to announce that the Silent Hill 2 remake is just plain perfect. As a fan of the original who considers it to be the absolute high mark of the series, I’m overjoyed to see how well my favorite horror game on PlayStation 2 was treated, with the respect that it deserves and the care that only a team who knows their shit would have at bringing back such a memorable story to modern game form.
Silent Hill 2 is a classic and its story has probably been spoiled to you at some point, but in case it hasn’t, a brief summary: as James Sunderland, a recently widowed man, you arrive at Silent Hill after receiving a mysterious letter that has been apparently sent by your deceased wife. The town is a special place for you as the couple has spent some time there, and as the haunting and memorable quote is sure to point out “you promised to take me there again, but you never did”. Well, James is indeed back and his visit is one hell of a ride. Focus on the ‘hell’ part.
The original blew the competition out of the water thanks to its sheer ambiance and terrifying moment-to-moment gameplay, and as someone who played it to completion a few times when it was first out and hasn’t touched it since, it was chilling to see how vivid my memories were of it when starting out the remake. Regardless of what you remember, you will be surprised by how scary simply walking around Bloober’s re-imagining of Silent Hill can be, thanks to the masterful atmosphere that the studio has managed to set in with their version of one of gaming’s most iconic horror settings ever.
What makes Silent Hill 2 Remake so great is that it doesn’t try to reinvent the base game in any way while making it feel like a modern experience everywhere else. James moves much more nimbly this time around, can dodge out of the way of attacks, and is also able to quickly turn around, a far cry from how he controlled back in the early 2000s. There are also a host of new interactions with the town that he can engage in, like breaking windows in search of supplies and jumping and crawling through tight spaces in real time.
As a protagonist, now James feels much more capable at the same time remaining positively helpless as all the terrible things Silent Hill has in store for him unfold one step at a time. There’s never a moment in the game where you can think you are safe, and for all the tools that you might have with you then, they can just as easily go away in one of its chaotic encounters with the monsters that dwell at its haunted locations.
Another aspect of the game that is updated while still remaining familiar and chillingly so is its sound. Effects are expectedly terrifying, from the simple frills and unnatural creeks and cracks as James makes his way through the empty, fog-filled streets of the Maine town to the absolute atrocity of the cries from the creatures he faces, everything aurally works to fantastic effect all throughout the game.
Then there are the updated performances by the cast who are now first rate, unlike some of the cheesier deliveries from the original, one of its few blemishes. But perhaps the best comes from the soundtrack, with excellent callbacks to the first game’s trademark tunes, at the same time coming up with its own and instantly classical music.
As touched upon previously, this remake looks absolutely amazing. Bloober Team has an eye for aesthetics that was made known to the world through their previous releases. They know how to craft creepy, disgusting, horrific places, and what they’ve done here is hands down some of their best work. Silent Hill is a place that is etched in horror game fans’ minds around the world, so if anything was off in this remake, it would stick out like a sore thumb. Not only did that mercifully not happen, but the developers have elevated it: they have set a new standard for whatever comes next in the franchise, whether it’s another remake or a whole new game altogether.
Simply put, I couldn’t be happier with this remake. As someone who at first is hesitant on the idea of seeing rethreads of games instead of having entirely original ones, when there they are to be made, especially based on releases as significant as this, they should be obligatorily a step above your usual product. And in this game’s case, not only is it that, but it’s become the ultimate way to experience Silent Hill 2, much like Motive’s Dead Space.
Knowing that this has done tremendously well both critically and in sales, my hope is that the same could be done for the first entry in the series and its eventual story sequel, Silent Hill 3, with Bloober of course at the wheel.
No game is perfect
There’s no way around it, it’s censored
The game runs horribly