When news was announced back in 2022 that Konami and Bloober Team (The Medium, Blair Witch Project) planned to remake the seminal 2001 horror game Silent Hill 2, gamers were both intrigued and skeptical. After all, even decades after its release, Silent Hill 2 still remains the franchise’s sacred cow, and one of the most beloved and revered psychological horror games of all time.
With such a passionately ardent fanbase, Bloober had the daunting task of delivering a remake both faithful enough to appease the die-hards and accessible enough for newcomers. Reactions were mixed, with many believing that Silent Hill 2 had no need for a remake, and that Bloober Team couldn’t possibly do it justice. Well, two weeks after Silent Hill 2’s long-awaited release and one thing is for certain: the doubters (this writer included) owe Bloober Team an apology.
From the second players are introduced to the revamped James Sunderland, Silent Hill 2’s slightly off-kilter widower protagonist, staring confused at himself in a restroom mirror, the remake cranks into full gear as one of the most visually outstanding survival horror games since Capcom’s massively successful Resident Evil remakes. While the original Silent Hill 2 was hugely graphically impressive for the time, Bloober have taken it to another level, showcasing the power of Unreal Engine 5. The attention to detail is truly impeccable, making the world of Silent Hill feel far more expansive than any of its predecessors.
The town itself is larger, and more prime for exploration. Although players won’t find any side quests or extras to take them off the path of the storyline, it’s nice to be able to appreciate the graphic capabilities that can now flesh out the larger world of James’ nightmare. Light and shadow fall with effortless naturalism, and the infamous fog – once famously used as a way to avoid having to push the earlier PlayStation models past their rendering capacities – now swirls and moves with James as he navigates through it. At times, the game is breathtakingly beautiful, but, more importantly for a horror game, the sleek visuals take away none of the grime and grit that make the desolate town so disturbing.
Also improved from the original game is the combat. Even the most aggressive Silent Hill 2 purist can admit that the tank-controlled combat of the original was more than a little clunky. Whether or not you believe this was an intentional choice on Team Silent’s part to increase feelings of vulnerability is up to you, but the point remains: trying to get James to get a hit on anything with ease was like pulling teeth.
Remake James has no such issues, and is mostly easy to maneuver outside of the contextual limitations of his character – as opposed to Resident Evil’s combat-trained cop Leon Kennedy or The Last of Us Part II’s vengeful soldier Abby Anderson, James Sunderland was always an everyman, and his combat reflects this.
Timing can be an issue, both with James’ dodging and reloading, and combined with the new resilience of the enemies, fighting in Silent Hill 2 has never been scarier. A common complaint among players of the original was that the monsters terrorizing James were too easy to take down. Well, don’t worry, because the Silent Hill 2 remake makes short work of that gripe with some truly vicious monsters: the knife-wielding Bubblehead Nurses pack a real punch, and if you thought hopping over a wall or through a door can save you? Think again, because these girls do not give up.
Also upgraded in toughness for the remake are the Mannequins, who have a nasty habit of leaping out at you without warning and taking years off your life with each jump scare.
Due to the constraints of the storyline (in that every monster in the game is a manifestation of James’ twisted psyche), Bloober wisely decided against adding any new enemy designs, and instead handing the reigns over to original Team Silent creature designer Masahiro Ito to evolve and expand on the existing enemies. The introduction of a new form of arachnid Mannequin is particularly nightmare-inducing, and the drain-dwelling Mandarins, who were barely a threat in the original game, play a much more prominent part in the scares this time around.
The same rings true for the boss battles – one of Silent Hill 2’s biggest successes is the new and improved Abstract Daddy fight, which has changed from a rage-inducing shuffle-and-shoot affair into a twisted labyrinth that seems to warp space and time with the utmost unpleasantness.
Alongside the monsters, the music of Silent Hill 2 has always been regarded with an untouchable fervor, and, happily, the remake doesn’t try to improve on perfection. Much like with Ito, Bloober and Konami made the wise decision to bring Silent Hill soundtrack genius Akira Yamaoka back to refresh the iconic OST, updating classic songs with a distinctive twist (the new, bassy take on the Heaven’s Night strip club theme is particularly funky), and adding some all-new tracks into the mix that range from epic to understated, and perfectly capture the spirit of the remake.
However, Yamaoka’s achievements aside, the remake falls short on capturing or outdoing the atmosphere of the original Silent Hill 2 (admittedly, an arguably impossible task). Maybe it’s because everything in the town is now too detailed, or maybe it’s because the new character designs and performances make this motley crew of mysterious weirdos sound like real people rather than skin walkers trying (and failing) to imitate the vocal stylings of a human being. The Silent Hill 2 remake more often than not fails to capture the same phantasmagorical uncanniness of the original.
One of the most divisive aspects of the original Silent Hill 2 was its voice acting, as voice actors Guy Cihi (James), Monica Horgan (Mary/Maria), Donna Burke (Angela) and David Schaufele (Eddie) performed their lines with a stilted, drowsy lilt that made every conversation feel just as unsettling as the rest of the game. Some fans believe this added to the disjointed, nightmarish feel, while others believed it to be frustrating.
In contrast, the remake’s voice cast all give suitably natural performances, feeling neither over-the-top uncanny nor bland. Luke Roberts as James in particular brings a relatable and vulnerable depth to the character that previously felt lacking, although some would argue that this humanization removes some of the eeriness that made James Sunderland such an intriguing character.
The same goes for the face models. Angela Orosco (Gianna Kiehl) looks more like the 19-year-old she is canonically supposed to be, and one of many nice additional touches is that James’ face becomes more weathered and haggard as he descends into the monstrous depths of his own personal hell. While Salóme Gunnarsdóttir does an excellent job bringing Maria to life, the enigmatic seductress no longer feels sinister and beguiling like the original did, due to the newfound softness of her character model.
The same goes for Evie Templeton’s Laura who, in the original, had an air of creepiness to her even as an eight-year-old girl. Conversely, remake Laura looks like an adorable Disney character. Whether or not this realism affects your overall enjoyment of the game is entirely up to your own personal preferences and expectations of a Silent Hill title, but it certainly changes, for better or worse, the player’s overall connection to the characters.
While it’s hard to want to spend an extended amount of time traversing relentlessly suffocating hospital corridors or the pitch-black expanse of the Otherworld, Silent Hill 2 is a game that not only rewards but insists upon multiple playthroughs, firstly to appreciate the magnitude of Easter eggs and references to not only the originalSilent Hill 2, but also other games in the Silent Hill series. Then, of course, there’s the multiple endings, of which the remake adds two new ones to the original’s existing six.
Thankfully, the Dog and UFO endings remain, and for newcomers to the game, figuring out how to manipulate James’ actions into achieving a certain ending will be as delightfully complex as any of the puzzles he has to face in the foggy town.
Overall, Silent Hill 2 is a marvel of technical prowess, with its only true letdowns coming when comparing it to its source material – and even still, they are minor negatives that barely impact the enjoyment of the game. After years of poorly received entries like Silent Hill: Homecoming and Silent Hill: Downpour, and even more years of lying dormant due to a series of poor decisions on Konami’s end, Silent Hill 2 could be the game that brings the franchise back to life for a whole new generation of gamers and fans who lost all faith that the world of Silent Hillcould ever regain even a modicum of its former glory.
As one of those fans, a longtime obsessive of the original Silent Hill 2 and staunch hater of the idea of it being remade for a modern console, I have never been so happy to eat my words. See you for a Silent Hill 4: The Room remake, Bloober?