Review: Silent Hill 2 Remake — A Successful Series Revival
October 20, 2024
Silent Hill is back, better than ever. Silent Hill 2 Remake is a major success story, the game already on track to be both the fastest-selling and best-selling Silent Hill title ever. A series that looked completely dead in the water now has new life.
There were many doubts about whether Bloober Team could faithfully remake such a beloved game as Silent Hill 2, but any such doubts have been thoroughly quashed. The remake is a quality experience, arguably better than the original in many ways.
If you've been meaning to play Silent Hill 2 at some point, there is no better opportunity than now. Silent Hill 2 Remake is a great remake. It's a great Silent Hill game. It's a great horror game, in general. Absolutely worth checking out.
This game's review is based on its PC version.
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Enjoyability: 10/12 — More Than Just An Illusion
Horror games that are deeply satisfying to play through at all times aren't all that common. It's just hard to overcome the overall tense nature that generally comes with the genre. A player's natural instinct is to be slightly hesitant about moving forward. Few players expect "fun" out of a horror game.
Silent Hill 2 Remake is a little different in that department. It has more to offer than pure horror. It comes with a deeply engaging narrative. Dealing with monsters can be very fulfilling on its own. Working through puzzles, even just passively, gives you something to preoccupy yourself with. Silent Hill 2 Remake is a good time when it allows you to experience all of those things concurrently, which is the case a majority of the time, thankfully.
Gameplay: 11/12 — It's Basically Resident Evil But That's Not A Problem
The Silent Hill franchise has never really been able to escape comparisons with the Resident Evil franchise, and that certainly won't be changing after this remake. Everything about the gameplay, except for the melee part of combat, feels just like the recent Resident Evil remakes.
Honestly, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a formula that works. Puzzles add a good amount of depth to the environments, making them more interesting to explore. Every area is like its own personal escape room — super entertaining to work through. Making progress is satisfying. Backtracking really doesn't feel that bad when confined to a specific area.
The action is thrilling without being the focal point of the game. Using the weapons feels good, and James moves very well. Strategic use of your items also matters. Preparing for bosses feels like a genuine necessity. If the formula ain't broke, no need to fix it.
Atmosphere: 11/12 — Silent Until It's Not
Silent Hill 2 Remake masterfully captures the foggy, distorted sense of reality that James Sunderland must navigate through in his journey. The game is only able to do that so effectively because of how well designed its locales are. The town of Silent Hill is beautifully detailed. Its potential for life is what serves to amplify the unnerving sense of emptiness that permeates the environment through one's playthrough. Every realistic setting fits incredibly well. That sets up all the "unrealistic" settings for success; they feel like proper extensions of the established world.
The game, through many portions, will have players incredibly tensed up. The radio noises play a big part in that, telling you in advance that something terrifying is soon to come into your path. The sound design as a whole is really effective at adding depth to even the emptiest of rooms, giving you little sense of comfort. This works great for a long stretch of the game...and then the scariness kinda just wears off. The combat could be partly to blame, as enemy encounters gradually lose their intensity once you accumulate more resources. That's an unavoidable problem, frankly, with how the health items work.
Design: 10/12 — It's The Thought That Counts
The puzzles in Silent Hill 2 Remake aren't exactly outstanding. There are very few of them that really feel like a major accomplishment to solve. For the most part, they just exist to take up more of your time. There's honestly nothing inherently wrong with that, as the experience that surrounds the puzzles usually makes everything worth it in Silent Hill 2 Remake. But when it isn't worth your time, the game really doesn't feel good. I'm looking at you, head turning puzzle section...
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Just to make sure that I get to comment on this, Silent Hill 2 Remake is very poorly optimized for PC. For as taxing as the game is on your hardware, the visuals don't really make it worth it. An easy comparison to make is with Resident Evil 4 Remake. That game puts Silent Hill 2 Remake to shame. It both looks better and runs better than this Silent Hill title. From what we can gather, the main problem seems to be Unreal Engine 5. It just isn't being used to its best ability here.
I know that these might seem like heavy complaints, but, really, they're just small inconveniences. Silent Hill 2 Remake is built on a strong foundation, design-wise. The original was masterfully crafted, and you can very much feel that here in the remake. So much thought went into expressing the different themes of the game. Little of that is lost in the remake. It just carries a little bit of extra baggage now.
(As of Patch 1.04, performance seems to be a good deal better, so props to the developers!)
Direction: 11/12 — A Subversive Horror Narrative
Silent Hill 2 Remake has a deeply fascinating narrative that easily pulls you in. It all starts with James Sunderland's journey of grief and despair. The pursuit of truth is what defines the experience, but there's always this subtle sense that something is not quite right. I can't say much more without spoiling the story, but it really is impressive how much can be subtly stated. It's a masterpiece of a story, and it can be interpreted in so many different ways. It truly is a work of art.
I feel a bit bad criticizing the game for this after praising its story so much, but the remake is a bit too long. A lot of the areas are just overwhelming in size. It begins to feel a bit disconcerting towards the latter half of the game. It mostly just becomes exhausting. Don't come into this game thinking that you'll be able to beat it quickly.
