Silent Hill 2 Remake Review – Into the Fog

While we haven’t seen a major entry in the Silent Hill franchise since 2012’s Silent Hill: Downpour, Konami has to skip the first game in the franchise, and instead decided to remake Silent Hill 2. Released way back in 2001, the original version of the horror classic manages to bring the fear, though is hampered by the technical limitations at the time. This time around, that doesn’t factor in, and what we get is an amazing introduction to the franchise for anyone brave enough to enter the town of Silent Hill.

• Related Reading: Silent Hill 2 Best Console Settings

Just a disclaimer that while I did play the original Silent Hill 2 way back then, I didn’t finish it and my memory doesn’t recall anything about it, which means I’m playing the game for the first time.

One Foggy Place

The story of Silent Hill 2 is a curious one: you play as James Sunderland who goes to Silent Hill because of a letter he got from his wife, Mary . Here’s the thing though, Mary been dead for three years! We won’t spoil anything in the story for the player, as that’s one of the game’s strongest suits, but needless to say, your curiosity will be piqued the moment you enter the town.

First thing you’ll notice is the fog. Silent Hill has a fog problem, though it seems it’s not a problem for anyone but you (the player). Back then, the fog was implemented as a way to mask the technical limitations of the original PlayStation which can’t render draw distances that much. It worked in the game’s favor, as it gives the entire game an eerie setting and that “fear of the unknown” vibe. In the Silent Hill 2 remake, it’s used to great effect, as the outdoor segments are made spookier since you can’t really see that far ahead of you, and you’re left wandering into the unknown. While Silent Hill 2 is a linear game, there are off the beaten paths to check out which usually rewards the player with extra ammo, health and the occasional odd photo that James collects.

Adding to the fog’s tension are the enemies themselves. While James will find a radio that will emit static whenever an enemy is nearby, it can also give you a sense of paranoia. Say for example you’re in an enclosed area, and your radio starts buzzing, and then you get ready to face an enemy, right? Until you realize that said enemy is in an area that’s close to you but inaccessible at that time. There are also instances in the game where your radio won’t emit static even if there are enemies nearby. It’s not a bug, but obviously a gameplay design decision which adds to the tension.

If you haven’t seen the enemy designs, you’re in for a treat. There are no stock zombie enemies here, and each one is well designed as nightmare fuel. What’s even more impressive is, these character designs are from 20 years ago, which shows how well  Team Silent nailed it out of the park the first time.

There’s Something About Mary…

Sunderland’s quest to find Mary will take him through shops, hospitals, parks and more. The locales are varied enough that you won’t feel like you’re revisiting the same place over and over, and each one has their own little story that players can choose to read up on via the game’s in-game lore building with various letters, paintings, notes, books and more. It’s not mandatory, but reading some of the these will help you understand more about the town you’re lost in.

Our protagonist will have a small range of weapons to use along his trek to find his wife, and while it’s not that big of a weapon pool, it’s more than enough. During my playthrough, I once never though that I needed more weapons than what I have, since the game’s not really about making you look like an action hero, but rather, just an ordinary guy using the stuff he finds along the way to fend for himself.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the game is realistic or anything, as unlike Resident Evil, you won’t need to deal with any inventory management stuff, and whatever you pick up, you can carry with you. This applies to weapons, health items, mission items and more. It might not be realistic, but I’m perfectly OK with it.

Combat stayed mostly the same with the original, and even after all these years, it still holds up. Sure, there are no abilities to earn, weapons don’t get stronger throughout the game, but this simplistic approach works for the game’s atmosphere, as well as the character being an everyman. For those used to third-person action games, I’d suggest cranking up the difficulty a notch when starting the game, as playing on normal (which is what I played through), makes the game a tad too easy since you’ll have a stockpile of bullets and health items at your disposal which lessens the combat tension somewhat. The enemy patterns are easy to memorize as well, so you can resort to sticking to your melee attack for most of the fights to save on bullets. Just remember that the puzzles in the game do change depending on difficulty.

Remaking a Classic

Bloober Team has done an excellent job remaking not only Silent Hill 2’s visuals, but also its color palette, and upgrading the game visually while staying true to its source material. It might sound easy, but making a game feel fresh and modern while making sure you don’t piss off franchise fans is no easy feat.

I’d say arguably the biggest improvement about the remake isn’t in the visuals, but the sound design. While the game manages to perfectly capture the feeling of dread with it’s dark and grueling visualized set pieces, the sound, in my opinion, is what brings it all together to add that layer of fear that we all remembered about the first game. The town of Silent Hill is as creepy as it gets, and the fog and deserted streets obviously play a major role in that. But the audio makes it feel lively, even when it’s not. You’ll hear moans, things slushing, squirming, rattling, yet not see a single thing in view to tell you exactly what it was.

It plays with you psychologically that you can’t help but get all tensed up whenever you hear something clearly not human. Sure, I may have already bashed a monster’s head in with a steel pipe for the hundredth time and know what’s coming, but hearing those audio cues each time doesn’t make it any easier to face. It makes the stomach twist and ache in such an unnerving way. You get so absorbed by the sound, coupled with the visuals, that you yourself feel trapped in the town of Silent Hill. Bloober Team has absolutely nailed the sound design with the remake, and it’s particularly satisfying hearing the thud of a melee hit, and the smacking sound your weapon makes when you hit an enemy on the ground.

It isn’t perfect, as we’ve noticed a fair bit of frame rate stutter when playing the game on Performance Mode on PS5, but it doesn’t happen often, and it’s nowhere near a technical disaster that could affect gameplay. If there’s one thing I didn’t like with Silent Hill 2 is how friggin’ dark everything is. I mean, sure I get, it’s part of the game, but sometimes, it just gets on my nerves when I can’t see a damn thing. I didn’t feel scared enveloped in the dark, but rather, more annoyed than anything since I just wanted to see where I was going and what’s in the distance to save me from trekking all the way there.

Tourist Destination: Silent Hill

At this point, it’s pretty evident that I am digging my time with the remake, and there’s not a lot of “buts” to go along with it, which is a testament to how Bloober Team revived this classic. Clocking in at around 14-18 hours long in your first playthrough, the game features eight endings which means repeated playthroughts are almost a necessity and further adds to its replay value.

The outstanding horror remakes started by Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes, EA’s Dead Space remake continues with Konami’s Silent Hill 2, and horror gaming fans should be delighted, as Bloober Team manages to make this horror classic better in every way, and in turn become a classic of its own. Hopefully, this very promising start means we’ll see Bloober Team continue to remake the rest of the series’ games in the coming years.

Regardless if you’re a horror fan or not, you owe it to yourself to brave the fog, paint the town bloody red in Silent Hill 2.

Final Score: 9/10

Pros:

• Feels modern while staying true to the original
• Sound design will keep you on your toes
• Good length, multiple endings add to replayability
• Graphical remake is excellent
• Voice acting is superb

Cons:

• Combat stays true to the original, but some might find it too simplistic
• Minor performance issues on PS5
• Too dark!

Silent Hill 2 review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

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