Ever since I was a kid, I used to be terrified of the Silent Hill franchise of games. Just looking at gameplay would give me nightmares and make me stay awake at night paranoid that the monsters could be real. As I got older though, I started to grow to love horror games and would play them all in an attempt to raise my courage to one day play a Silent Hill game.
Eventually, I managed to play the first three games in the series and beat all of them. Despite the games still scaring me to some degree, they would become one of my driving factors for my love for horror games. I love the Silent Hill franchise with all my heart. From the eerie soundtrack, to the distorted monsters and to the decaying environment, I loved all of it. So when I heard that a remake of Silent Hill 2 was in the work I was ecstatic.
As the release drew closer, though, I started to worry about how good it would be somewhat as the team put in charge of making wasn’t necessarily known for making the best horror games. Suddenly, I started seeing reviews that it was actually really good, somewhat to my surprise.
Now, after finally beating the game, I can confirm that it is as good as people claimed it to be. I can not begin to put into words how much I truly enjoyed this remake. It does so many things right towards making a modern version of the original game.
One thing very iconic about the original game series was its fog that spread throughout the town, making the player feel frightened about what might be lying right in front of them as they push through the fog. In the remake, the fog feels even more opressing, increasing that sense of dread the player feels.
The way the fog looks in the game is so amazing too. As you walk through the fog you can see the wind move past you due to the thickness of the fog. It behaves very similarly to real fog, further implementing the dreadful feeling of walking through it.
Another thing iconic about Silent Hill is its environments, more specifically the Otherworld. The Otherworld is a separate version of the real world that mimics your character’s mind. For instance, in Silent Hill 2 you play as James Sunderland, a man looking for his dead wife whom he received a letter from telling him to meet her there, and as James you encounter the Otherworld, which for him takes the form of a decaying and rotting version of our own world.
In the original Silent Hill 2 they managed to show this through the use of more rusted and darker, fading colors across the walls.
For the remake though they take it a step further. Due to the use of modern day graphics they were able to make the Otherworld look so much more broken down. Everything constantly looked like it was on the brink of collapse with wallpaper tearing down, giant holes in walls and mold collecting along walls. It looked so much more creepy and distorted, and I enjoyed it so much.
The improvement of graphics isn’t the only reason I enjoy this remake however. One of the major things I enjoyed about this remake was that it included so many new things that I feel just overall made the game a way better experience.
One of these things was the inclusion of new puzzles as well as the improvement of old ones. The puzzles in the original Silent Hill 2 were already good, but even so they managed to improve them by either making them more complicated or just adding completely new things onto them.
Then, there is also the inclusion of new cutscenes and new dialogue for characters. Through these new moments it helps to better establish many of the characters’ stories far past what the original game established. This allowed the player to be more connected with the characters which I felt was a really nice touch.
Lastly, there is the new combat style in the game. When the combat was first revealed, I know many people were very worried about it as it seemed more akin to that of the Resident Evil franchise, allowing James the ability to dodge as well as making combat overall more enjoyable. To someone who hasn’t played any of the games, this may sound like a good thing, but in actuality it would have removed some of the charm and fear behind the original game.
After playing through the game though and experiencing the combat myself though, I can say that they worked it into the game well. The dodges aren’t very crazy so it still manages to work character wise for James, and the combat more joyful experience of the combat, the enemies were made more frequent. I can not even begin to count the amount of times I was terrified and trying to run away from enemies because I was low on ammo and health.
Overall, the Silent Hill 2 remake was really well made and I am so glad of the great job the team in charge of it did in managing to capture the feel of the original game. I am very much looking forward to what lies in the future for the rest of the Silent Hill franchise.