I was one of many who were skeptical about the Silent Hill 2 remake. Bloober Team’s track record had always been mixed at best, especially in regards to their problematic depiction of mental illness in games like The Medium. Even with the little I knew about Silent Hill 2, I knew that the title meant a lot to people worldwide.
Sure, there have been a slew of successful remakes lately, but I suspected this would not reach the same heights as the original version. Even if it surpassed expectations, I realized I probably wouldn’t care: I’d never gotten into the Silent Hill franchise. Why should I care about a remake of the second entry in the series?
That quickly changed when I heard about the rave reviews the remake was getting. Not only did it seem to meet fans’ expectations, but people also compared it to the Resident Evil remakes. So, with the Halloween season approaching, I opted to buy Silent Hill 2 with my own money.
One thirteen-hour playthrough later, and it all makes sense: why Silent Hill 2 was originally so beloved and how Bloober Team was able to brilliantly execute a remake. While there are some minor problems here and there, the Silent Hill 2 remake earned its place in the current gaming landscape and serves as the perfect entry point for new fans of the series.
“In My Restless Dreams, I See That Town…”
James Sunderland is a widower who has been called to Silent Hill, a mysterious town buried deep in the heart of Maine. The reason? He received a letter from his wife, who had been dead for three years. The invitation brings him back to the vacation home for both himself and his wife as it’s in the midst of a devastating fog. Sunderland enters the town with one goal: to find his wife.
His goals remain the same even as matters escalate and monsters begin chasing James at every turn. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also taken it upon himself to try and protect the others called to Silent Hill. This includes the traumatized Angela, the gluttonous Eddie, the mischievous Laura, and the mysterious Maria. There are countless twists and turns that add to the overall mystery of the town of Silent Hill and the tragedy of its inhabitants, but on the surface, the narrative of Silent Hill 2 is simple enough to hook people in within moments.
A major reason why Silent Hill 2‘s story works so well is due to its characters. I’d go as far as to say that the game has one of the best cast of characters in horror game history. There are only six major characters, and all of them have their own unique backstories and conflicts.
What makes the horror genre so interesting is how it inverts the traditional character development structure. While most genres progress their characters and force them to evolve so that they are capable of facing any danger that crosses their path, horror instead has those very same characters slowly descend into insanity.
Silent Hill 2 is no exception. Every character slowly devolves as the story continues, becoming worse versions of themselves as they fall deeper into the inherent madness of Silent Hill. For example, Angela starts the game slightly aloof as she warns James about the dangers within the town. The very next time he sees her, she is holding a knife and contemplating her own existence.
These are very sensitive topics, but Bloober Team handles them with grace. Not only is there a content warning at the beginning of the game, but each character is given the respect and time they deserve. The characters are further elevated by those who voice them. Each of the game’s voice actors knocks it out of the park and far outpaces the original vocal performances. Whether it’s Salóme Gunnarsdóttir as Maria, Evie Templeton as Laura, Gianna Kiehl as Angela, or Scott Haining as Eddie, all of them bring the right amount of depth to their respective characters.
I want to give special attention to Luke Roberts as James Sunderland, who gives arguably one of the best video game performances this year. He is able to convey so many different emotions as the character: from empathy to frustration to fear to resignation. The motion capture performances he delivers are also brilliant and are some of the most expressive I’ve ever seen in a video game.
I captured so many pictures from Silent Hill 2 that depict the various states of James’ character. One of my favorites is near the end of the game, where a major plot twist has just unraveled in front of his eyes. When another character asks him about it, the look that James conveys is so haunting that it has stuck in my head since I beat the game.
The best compliment I can give Silent Hill 2‘s story is that it makes me want to play through the game again and try getting one of the other eight endings. The narrative itself is great enough, but the amount of nuance that the characters and their respective voice actors add to the overall experience makes me want to go back and appreciate it even more.
Of course, a story is only half of what makes a great game. The other half that matters is its gameplay and visual performance. Thankfully, Silent Hill 2 doesn’t disappoint in that aspect, either.
A New Spin on the Terrifying Classic
I’d always heard that Silent Hill 2‘s gameplay was intentionally designed to be clunky and frustrating to navigate. It admittedly made me nervous when I saw people panning the trailer that focused on the game’s combat mechanics: would the remake still feel like a PlayStation 1 title after all these years? Thankfully, it manages to strike a balance between an experience that is fun to control and one that sticks to the message of the source material.
James Sunderland isn’t a super soldier, a police officer, or someone with any combat experience whatsoever. The first weapon he gets isn’t a ranged weapon; instead, it’s a loose piece of wood with some nails stuck in it. Fighting the many monsters that roam Silent Hill doesn’t feel like a power trip where you can shoot off a zombie’s head with one shot. Instead, it feels like a desperate fight for survival.
There were countless moments where I couldn’t decide if I wanted to run away from a nurse lumbering towards me or use the game’s dodge mechanics to try and outpace them before bludgeoning them with a makeshift bat. Therein lies one of Silent Hill 2‘s biggest attractions: how it gives you the choice of how to approach each encounter.
Your gameplay choices determine the ending you get at the end of the game. I personally chose to face every monster with my head held high and with whatever ranged and melee weapons were at my disposal. The ending I received reflected James’ determination to not run away from the lessons Silent Hill was trying to teach him. Others who are quicker to flee an encounter will get an ending that reflects their playstyle as well.
I personally found more comfort in the more combat-oriented approach to encounters because of how satisfying the controls felt. While James doesn’t feel like a superhero, controlling him feels so satisfying. There were very few instances where his actions didn’t reflect my movement on the controller, and I found it very easy to pick up and play.
Another reason I found myself fighting monsters more than running away was because of their tendency to trigger my “fight” rather than “flight.” The monsters in Silent Hill 2 are absolutely terrifying, and there were several distances where I jumped in my seat as I quickly tried to fire a few bullets into whatever creature dared to cross me.
The worst were those monstrosities known as Mannequins that had their legs on both the top and bottom halves of their bodies. These “mannequins” had a tendency to hide in spots where you could barely see them, and before you even process their presence, they attack you. Their attacks were never unfair, though. If anything, they taught me to be far more paranoid when entering rooms.
The other enemies are just as deadly, if not more so. Whether it was the nurses stalking the hallways, the lying figures that slither across the floor, or the mandarins that are almost impossible to kill due to their tendency to hide beneath chained platforms, it felt like my heart rate never failed to drop below 100 BPM for most of the game. Plus, there are the games’ countless bosses to really keep you on your toes (and likely keep you at the very edge of a heart attack).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the iconic Pyramid Head. The series’ most iconic monster is perfectly realized here as he’ll often show up to chase you to the far reaches of whatever building you’re navigating at that moment. Bloober Team made sure to honor the character’s legacy by keeping its iconography and inherent metaphor intact rather than reducing it to a cheap form of fan service.
Silent Hill 2‘s monsters feel especially terrifying due to its impressive visuals. Bloober Team opted to use Unreal Engine 5 for the game, which works wonders for the overall experience. There were some minor instances of stuttering, but they were very few and far between. The game is technically brilliant in most aspects, with very few glitches and bugs.
I say “very few” because there was one particular instance where a patch caused a door to be permanently locked, completely gating off any progress. Thankfully, after a quick email to Bloober, the issue was fixed within days. It really goes to show how much care and love the developers put into reviving this classic title.
On that note, it’s worth examining how Silent Hill 2 compares to the original. As someone who had never played a Silent Hill game before this and instead did a lot of research on the differences in the new experience, I was genuinely surprised by how Bloober Team approached the impossible task of resurrecting one of the most beloved horror games of all time.
The Return Everyone Was Hoping For
Remakes have gotten a bad rep recently. Criticisms have stemmed from the concern that the culture of remastering games comes from a desire to make more money off of consumers. With the current nature of business practices within the industry, it’s hard to write off these concerns as unrealistic or cynical immediately. However, my perspective on the idea of remakes is different: I think they’re a great way to welcome new fans into an old franchise.
Silent Hill 2 is a perfect example of this. I’d always heard of the game, even when I was first becoming invested in the medium through the consoles I owned and watching TV shows like X-Play. I knew about some of the game’s biggest plot twists more than a decade in advance. Going into the remake, I fully expected to be unmoved by the story because of how much I already knew in advance.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The remake introduces its story in a way that undoubtedly feels the same for new players entering the series through the 2024 version vs. those who played the game for the first time back in 2001. While some minor adjustments were made to some narrative details (Eddie gorges himself on ice cream instead of pizza), they never feel invasive or major enough to the point where they actively take away from the experience.
If anything, much like a certain other remake released earlier this year, Bloober Team implements some details that create a broader meta-conversation about the nature of a remake in the world of Silent Hill. One of my favorite moments in the game is when Maria stops outside of a mysterious house in the town. She’s cautious to enter, saying that the place “gives her the creeps” and gives her a feeling of déjà vu.
Why? The location she stops at is the setting for the “Born From a Wish” sub-story from the original Silent Hill 2. There are countless other details that allude to the original game, as well as other entries in the franchise. Similarly to the implementation of the Pyramid Head, these don’t feel like attempts to get an easy reaction from fans. Instead, they’re subtle enough to the point that fans who go out of their way to look under every nook and cranny will be rewarded for their curiosity.
This even extends to the endings. Several of the endings have been updated for the modern day. Two new endings have also been added. On the surface, these endings may seem like they’re trying to build hype for a future Silent Hill game. Instead, they only add more depth and dimension to the story’s inherent tragedy. Even the modified endings feel like a perfect modernization of the original.
That’s the key word at the heart of the Silent Hill 2 remake: modernization. While some games gracefully age more than others, people have been wanting a new version of the original experience since the seventh generation of consoles. We’ve had poor attempts in the past, but Bloober Team’s endeavor succeeds because of how reverent it is.
If you watch several of the behind-the-scenes videos released for Silent Hill 2, you can see the passion shown by the developers and the cast members. Seeing the care that English actor Luke Roberts put into the audition for the role of James Sunderland, such as how he completely transformed his accent and physical habits to demonstrate his passion for the role even over Zoom, is inspiring. I highly recommend watching the many Bloober Team dev diaries for more insight into how this incredible game was put together.
The new Silent Hill 2 remake is the perfect entry into the franchise for newcomers. You don’t need to be a series veteran to enjoy this modernization. It also perfectly demonstrates how the franchise’s legacy will always live on.
Silent Hill Lives On
Before Konami and Bloober Team announced the Silent Hill 2 remake, you wouldn’t be remiss for thinking that the series was dead and buried. The last time the series had any activity was in the announcement of P.T./Silent Hills, and we all know how that went. Even the announcement of a remake for the most beloved entry in the series didn’t inspire much confidence.
In the end, though, the finished product speaks for itself. Bloober Team has more than earned their stripes with Silent Hill 2. The narrative is as brilliant as ever, the vocal performances deserve to be in the conversation for the best this year, the gameplay is fun yet challenging, and the visuals are nothing short of remarkable. Every detail and area, from the Wood Side Apartments all the way to the Lakeview Hotel, are all designed with reverence and respect to the original release.
Plus, thanks to the experience being far more modernized, this is arguably the definitive experience of Silent Hill 2, especially if you’re a newcomer. As someone who is just now getting into the franchise for the first time, I am now more determined than ever to explore the ins and outs of not just this game but the other entries in the series.
From here on out, I am more than invested in whatever Bloober Team does next, whether it be a new IP or a return to Silent Hill. I am also deeply curious to see what Konami has planned for the series and how the previously announced Townfall and Silent Hill f live up to the incredible work presented in Silent Hill 2. Make no mistake: not only is Silent Hill 2 one of the best remakes of the past few years, but it’s also a genuine contender for Game of the Year. Whatever comes next for the series, I’ll be there on day one.
