Silent Hill 2 Remake – Review

The fog settles over the town of Silent Hill...

James stares at his trembling hands, as if the truth had slipped through his fingers along with the sweat streaking his face. The heavy air, thick with damp that seeps into his lungs, weighs on his chest. He swallows hard, but the lump in his throat won't go away. His left hand seems to have a will of its own, a tremor he can't control, as though trying to remind him of something. He edges towards the mirror, and his reflection looks warped in the room's weak light. The sharp smell of mould wraps around him, an invisible presence that feeds his anxiety. A burden shows in his eyes, the echo of a past that refuses to be forgotten. His breathing grows heavier. He draws in a deep breath, trying to find the thread of courage he needs to step through the peeling door. But something holds him back. Deep guilt is etched into his features. He knows he has to go on, but he can't shake the feeling that this dark place reflects his own conscience.

He slips his hand into the pocket of his khaki jacket and slowly pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper. The letter. In a shaky voice he starts to read the lines, whispering them like an incantation, trying to make sense of the confusion gnawing at him… “In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised you'd take me there again someday. But you never did…” The signature at the bottom is Mary's, his wife's, but how can that be!? Mary died three years ago of an incurable illness… Could Mary be in Silent Hill, their “special” place? Is Mary still alive, waiting for James?

A true masterclass in how to make a superb remake

I thought I'd open the review with a short passage describing the start of the game, to drop you into the sad, dark and above all oppressive atmosphere of Silent Hill 2 Remake. In my article on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle I wrote in the conclusion that it's my game of the year, no discussion. Well, Silent Hill takes second place on my list of 2024 favourites. It's the most intense game I've played so far, a title I won't forget any time soon… Silent Hill isn't even really a game. If you mixed a film, a game, a soundtrack and a book, you'd get a new, hybrid medium, and Silent Hill 2 could be its launch title. Why do I say that? Because it has a bit of everything: it's a good game, challenging in places, with puzzles that make you use your head; it has an incredibly complex and intense story; it has an exceptional soundtrack that doesn't just fit the game like a glove but that you can happily listen to in the car or while you work (or put together GRIND magazine); and its scenes and episodes flow as smoothly as a well-directed film or even a series, with everything so neatly packaged it might as well have been written for a book.

I admit I'm a little embarrassed that until October this year I hadn't played a single Silent Hill game… nor did I have any interest in or leaning towards this superb series. I do have an excuse: I don't like horror games and films. I'm the kind of person who empathises very easily and soaks up that negative energy fast… plus, with a wilder imagination, a few dodgy scenes in a film or game are enough for my brain to amplify those images and make them ten times nastier. Horror games are a bit more “digestible”… but films, especially the ones that skip the jump scares and focus on the psychological side (the boogeyman you never see), are the biggest mind-screws. I won't go into more detail, but the point is that I try to steer clear of this darker corner of entertainment. At the same time, since joining the GRIND project, I've learned to be more permissive and open to everything happening in the games industry (especially). After reading Vlad's articles, I started experimenting with my first JRPGs, and above all the wonderful Final Fantasy and Octopath Traveler series. From Aidan I caught the retro bug, most of those games being true hidden gems that absolutely have to be saved on an external hard drive and kept sacred so that future generations of gamers can enjoy them and taste the history of video games. From Darky I came to love physical games and started building a small library full of Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox titles. The list is long, but so as not to bore you too much, I'll jump to the game we're talking about today, for which Tudor and Klamath are to blame. They're the ones who stirred my interest in Silent Hill, especially the second game, in its remake edition. So in October, a few days after launch, I received a review code from CD Media (thank you, Bogdan!), and without a second thought I walked through the wall of fog and landed right on the outskirts of Silent Hill, as James Sunderland, the game's protagonist. From the very first seconds, I fell in love with the music. Composer Akira Yamaoka did a brilliant job. My favourite track is called “Promise”, but the whole soundtrack is exceptional, perhaps one of the best in gaming. Not to mention the sound effects… Sometimes you get the impression that the real bad guys aren't the freakish monsters but the sound, which is ten times more terrifying. I recommend playing it with the best pair of headphones you own, in the evening, with the lights off. “Thank me later”, or rather “hate me later”, hehe. I know it's hard, but that's pretty much the ideal experience for a game like this. See, that's why I don't like horror games… Joking, joking.

Silent Hill 2 is a very strange game. We're talking about the remake of a game released 23 years ago, yet it's incredibly current and relevant even today. The developers at Bloober Team have pulled off the almost impossible. It isn't just a technical matter; after all, how hard is it to rebuild in 2024 a game that came out on PlayStation 2? The mastery lies not in the implementation but in the fact that they've translated perfectly the atmosphere, the characters, the music and everything that Silent Hill 2 stands for. We're talking about different actors, but ones who do an even better job than those in the original. I'd say Luke Roberts, who voices James, is my favourite… but absolutely all the new actors play their parts admirably and seem to breathe new life into the characters of Silent Hill 2.

Speaking of characters, I said above that even the music and sound in the game have a character of their own. Well, wait until you see the town and its surroundings. From the first moments, the scenes are carefully crafted and every detail is well thought out. Personally, I went into almost every nook of the map (tip: when you start the game, head in the opposite direction, down the street lined with trees), mostly out of curiosity and to admire the details (at least when it isn't too dark), which I recommend you do as well. That way you'll find more hidden resources and the game will go easier on you. This being survival horror, you'll learn very quickly to treasure every bullet and especially every syringe you find. Firearms may be optional, especially as you'll always have a plank from a fence or, later, a pipe to defend yourself with, but you'll certainly appreciate the medical kits and syringes that help you survive the intense fights. Silent Hill 2 is as linear as they come, but thanks to the fog system you get the impression that the map is huge, along with that sense of mystery. In fact, here's another important character: the fog. It has become so iconic among gamers, whether they've seen the films or played the older games in the series, that whenever it's foggy outside the joke comes up: “look, fog, it's like we're in Silent Hill”. Speaking of jokes, here's another: “without the fog, life is desolate”. Shortly after the remake launched, pictures circulated on social media and in gaming groups of the game modded with the fog turned off. You simply say it's a different game. It's like having a Batman game without Batman… yes, I'm looking at you, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. There's a lot to say about Silent Hill 2, but to avoid spoilers and not bore you, I'd like to raise a few more points about some of the locations, and about a few things I consider weak. Well, I mentioned linearity above, and that it isn't a negative. The game deliberately “walks” you through certain areas in search of Mary. All these locations are carefully crafted and give the story meaning, especially through the small key moments marked by cutscenes. These trigger when you find a special item that can be activated by solving a puzzle, or when you meet a character. Speaking of which, you may find it odd at first how extremely calm James is when he meets someone in town, even though five seconds earlier he was fighting off a horde of monsters. As if nothing had happened… But what's normal in Silent Hill, right!? Back to the areas: the beginning isn't very hard; it's more like a tutorial where you get used to your surroundings and especially the story. There are always save points, marked by a red square in which James's face is reflected, as if he were staring insistently “into your soul”. Especially when you go into a boss fight, the game doesn't send you back to your last manual save; there are automatic checkpoints. From my point of view, a big plus and a time saver. Now, what I didn't much like about Silent Hill 2 is that some locations, or rather episodes, are stretched out too long. I don't want to give away the story, but you'll probably feel what I mean when you reach the hospital level. For the first time, I felt the game was dragging a bit. Other than that, I can't think of anything else that particularly bothered me.

I was about to finish the article without mentioning Pyramid Head. Yes, the famous Pyramid Head, the bad guy who has an actual iron pyramid on his head, dressed in a butcher's overalls and rubber boots, dragging an absurdly large and probably very sharp sword. He's probably one of the best-known bosses in video games. The first fight with him didn't seem all that hard, especially after I'd emptied a few good magazines into him. Much scarier was the first encounter, and the fact that he's always hunting you, or are you hunting him!? One last point I'd like to make is that, unlike Resident Evil, where Leon is a brawler and a military-tech expert, our James is just a sim-ple shop manager. He can't fight or shoot very well. The good news is that he learns fast out of the need to survive. This gives the combat a unique feel, and I gather it's much better done than in the original. James's clumsiness and lack of skill make Silent Hill 2 quite a hard game, one where you always feel vulnerable, even when you've gathered 10 health syringes and 40 bullets. The double-barrelled shotgun might save you, but I wouldn't rely on that alone…

A labyrinth of regret and forgiveness…

I should have started the article by acknowledging the effort and above all the passion of the developers at Bloober Team. As the Romanian saying goes, you can see from a mile off that this is a carefully crafted, thoroughly researched and expertly put-together game, a true masterclass in how to do a proper remake in 2024. Why do I stress 2024? Because, as you know, there's a trend in the industry for rushed remakes, with minimal optimisation and polish, built to make a lot of money in a short time. Every studio's dream, the kind where creativity and innovation come dead last, right!? You can count on one hand the remakes that are truly remakes… But on a positive note, Silent Hill 2 joins, head held high and chest out, the list of games to admire and collect: Resident Evil 4 Remake, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Dead Space Remake. Those are just the ones that come to mind right now; add your own favourites. One more thing about Bloober Team: I can't wait to learn more about their new game, Cronos: The New Dawn. The trailer revealed a while back looks insane, and I hope they'll sprinkle some of the magic they learned from the Silent Hill 2 remake into the new title.

As a non-fan of survival horror, I warmly recommend you try Silent Hill 2 Remake. It's a must-have purchase if you're the lucky owner of a PlayStation 5. If you're in the right frame of mind, and it happens to be foggy outside, pfff… it's something indescribable. Without a doubt one of the best games of 2024, perhaps even of recent years, and one I'm sure will be played for a good while to come. It's one of those games that stays etched in your mind, and you'll think of it at key moments. You can't help recognising yourself, at least a little, in one of the characters you meet in Silent Hill 2 Remake, or being marked by the story of James and Mary… A sad, cruel, unfair tale, just like life sometimes… the end.

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Played on: PlayStation 5
Release date: 07 October 2024
Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Konami