Off the Shelf Media

My first experience with the Silent Hill series came in the form of a pretty lengthy demo for Silent Hill 4: The Room on one of those PS Magazine Jampak demo discs. I was probably nine years old. The young gamer in me was absolutely terrified by the atmosphere and the imagery featured in this demo. What I would soon come to realize was that I wasn’t terrified in the traditional sense. It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle it and wanted it zapped from my memory. Rather, the series introduced me to the kind of fear that also piques your interest. That fear almost invites you back so you might experience that feeling of exhilaration again

For many people, certain films were their first foray into the arena of psychological horror. For me, it was Silent Hill. Upon becoming more familiar with both the series and key aspects of the genre, I realized that I am much more scared by persistent, lingering fear than sudden, in-your-face, brief fear. 

Just as I was beginning to be old and mature enough to fully appreciate these titles, they started to become increasingly less accessible, on consoles that is. Today, physical copies of the PS2 version of the original Silent Hill 2 are selling on Ebay for $120.00 or more. Not only that, Konami decided after the middling 2012 release of Silent Hill: Downpour that they’d rather not do anything with some of their most amazing titles, save for licensing them out to be used as Pachinko machines. For a moment, it seemed as if Konami had all but given up on the consumer videogame market. 

Thus, it seemed a remake of one of the grandaddies of the genre was, hypothetically, the only realistic option in which console players would find themselves able to get the Silent Hill 2 experience for a reasonable price. 

Now, in 2024, it’s no longer a hypothetical. Konami decided they want more from their most successful intellectual properties than to languish away as licensed Pachislot machines. Developed by Polish company Bloober Team, of Layers of Fear fame, I’m here to tell you this remake delivers in a big way. 

Though not quite perfect, this game is about as good as it gets as a stand-alone survival horror experience. Let’s get into why it’s worth your increasingly harder-earned dollars and your decreasingly available spare time.

Gameplay: 1

For all this game does well, even within the gameplay department, this is perhaps the weakest overall component of the game. Player character James Sunderland is an ‘everyman’- as are most player characters within the Silent Hill universe. This fact means that he is not some military-trained badass able to roundhouse kick everything into oblivion (no disrespect to my boy Leon S. Kennedy). I like this framing for a game, especially one in 2024. Too many games nowadays appeal to a power fantasy. In many titles today, you build up your array of gear and by the endgame, you’re able to efficiently dispatch any threat that comes your way. In the Silent Hill games, even with hundreds of bullets and bundles of health drinks, you never really feel like you’re in full control. It is much more immersive for me as a player to be playing as someone who would more or less be as capable as me in this type of situation.

Despite the lore reason for James not being a skilled combatant; the combat, especially the melee, remains incredibly janky. Compared to the original 2001 release, it’s worlds better, don’t get me wrong. Even still, it leaves a lot to be desired. Once enemies are knocked down, they can be stomped on to make sure they stay down, a staple of the series. This mechanic, however, is oftentimes literally hit or miss depending on where you fell your foe. If they are too close to a wall or other obstruction, James will instead swing his weapon wildly in the opposite direction of what you were trying to stomp. You better hope that the enemy doesn’t get back up while you’re in this snafu, as this can lead to incurring unnecessary damage.

One thing you’ll notice about the game, especially fans of the original release, is simply how much more combat there is compared to the 2001 version. I didn’t really mind this initially, as modern audiences and publishers alike would more often rather have players fighting hellish abominations than exploring spooky environs. More on that in a bit. 

That’s not to say the game is without exploration entirely. Puzzles comprise a large chunk of the gameplay throughout the series and this game as well. Players will need to explore locales such as hospitals, prisons, apartment buildings, and the town of Silent Hill itself to find various key items that progress James’s journey to its next point. These puzzles range from simple fetch quests to outright headscratchers. The difficulty of the puzzles can be adjusted to be as hard or easy as the player wants, separate from the combat difficulty- ensuring the player has at least some control over just how challenging of an experience they want to have. There’s even a bit of randomization to some of the puzzles encountered, meaning you won’t just breeze through the game again after you’ve beaten it once before. 

Not unlike other survival horror titles of recent memory like Callisto Protocol or The Last of Us, the over-the-shoulder camera adjusts slightly when engaging a foe in melee. This allows for an ostensibly better view of the foe you are facing. Where this system breaks down almost completely, however, is when more than one foe is in the mix. Since the camera hones in on one enemy at a time, any other enemies not directly in front of James are going to be obscured from view. This means James will almost certainly take a hit or two from one of these flanking foes. Couple this fact with the many tight and narrow environments within Silent Hill 2, and you’re going to be in for a very frustrating experience at certain moments. Perhaps there is a reason for this. As in real life, fighting more than one foe would probably feel just as chaotic and unpredictable. Perhaps Bloober felt this mechanic added to the overall horror. Unfortunately, this aspect comes off as more of an annoyance than an immersive gameplay element in the end. 

Also, in another emerging tradition of third-person survival horror, James can now dodge attacks left, right, forward, and backward. This particular gameplay mechanic sort of flies in the face of James’ supposed “everyman” aspect, as it makes him seem less like an average Joe and more like a UFC-skilled prizefighter. That said, I didn’t mind this addition too much seeing as combat was such a fixture in this game. It’s just a little immersion-breaking when the game does all this work to tell you James is just a ‘dude’ while he effortlessly bobs and weaves around demonic nurses swinging knives and pipes at him. 

Firearms are always tools at the player’s disposal in the Silent Hill franchise, and they’re here in this remake too; modernized mechanics and all. The shooting in this game is great. Perfectly updated and executed for modern gaming. The same system you’ll find in Last of Us and Resident Evil is here, a far cry from the original. For those who didn’t play the older Silent Hill games, shooting in those games was dreadfully simple. Aim and the player character would automatically target the closest enemy, unload a flurry of bullets, rinse, repeat. In the remake, we now have full control over where we want to shoot our weapons. Legged foes can be shot in those appendages to stun them, giving the opportunity to attempt a quick escape or go in for a killing blow. Certain boss fights can be made much easier as well with the careful targeting of certain body parts, but I’ll let you discover those moments for yourself, dear reader. 

Adding to the revamped combat, the enemies are much more aggressive than I remember from the original release. Enemies will follow the player a fair distance before giving up the chase, even breaking through windows or kicking down doors in their pursuit of James. I didn’t necessarily hate this change, but it almost outright eliminates the ability to run away from enemies in lieu of fighting them. This choice has almost always been a staple of Silent Hill and survival horror in general. In this entry, however, I felt like I had to engage every single enemy that came my way, especially in tighter, less open areas. 

Speaking of enemies, the variety is a bit lacking for a game released in 2024. Hardly any liberties were taken by Bloober in this aspect, and the game in general – a decent strategy, but a boringly safe one nonetheless. Admittedly, it would have been much more interesting to see if Bloober could have injected more originality into the formula, and maybe a new enemy, or at least a new spin on one could’ve spiced things up in a cool way. In all honesty, you’ll grow tired of seeing Bubbleheaded Nurses and Mannequins, having engaged about 100 of both by the endgame. 

While the enemies of Silent Hill 2 definitely lean more towards quality than quantity, one such liberty Bloober did take in the remake was the usage of the Mannequin enemies. The mannequins are hellish, demonic, sexualized abominations consisting of two sets of legs stacked inversely on top of each other. No mouth is seen on them, but they make feminine grunts and groans. A perfectly unsettling foe, but one you’ll be cursing at in annoyance rather than screaming at in fear after your 4th or 5th experience with them. These foes like to hide around corners or under tables, waiting for James to barge in headlong so they can ambush him. Sometimes you can even catch them scurrying off to a new hiding spot if you alert them before engaging them. As I said, after you’ve been ambushed by the mannequins a few times, you’ll start to become desensitized to this jump scare tactic because Bloober uses it at every possible opportunity. It would have been a lot more interesting if these enemy ambushes were spaced apart – yielding more to that persistent, lingering fear that Silent Hill introduced me to back in the day.

Outside of combat improvements, one of the many big changes made for the better in this remake is the minimization of time spent using menu screens. In the original Silent Hill games, players would need to artificially pause the game in order to heal or change weapons- a feature that got in the way of the enjoyment of the overall game. Now, weapons and healing items are bound to shortcuts. James can stick himself with a syringe or pull out the shotty with a single button press. Conversely, picking up and examining new items and checking the map does not pause the game. This means the game sacrifices a way for the player to get their bearings and strategize, which can be a significant disadvantage in certain moments.

There were several instances during gameplay where the fog effects, coupled with the amount of enemies on screen, led to some choppiness in the frame rate. As good as this game looks and runs, it was honestly pretty jarring to have this issue. Adding to my confusion, my game’s graphic settings are set to ‘performance’ over ‘quality’ which has made most games with this option run completely smooth almost 100% of the time. Some cutscenes also play out noticeably choppy, which distracts from the overall story moment featured in the cutscene. One such moment occurred during the hospital section where James returns to one of the rooms to check on a resting Maria. The scene was so choppy, it almost seemed like it was shot in stop-motion. This issue occurred in the same spots on multiple playthroughs for me. 

All in all, the gameplay is pretty good, but not quite great. Unfortunately, these issues keep me from singing the highest of praises that I could. I don’t think it’s necessarily hopeless. Future fixes and patches could rectify these issues. 

Story: 2

This is the place where the game really shines. If this is your first experience with a Silent Hill game, buckle up. It is a wild, terrifying, dreamlike hellscape. I won’t spoil too much but there are layers upon layers here, and this story is best experienced by simply playing through the game. Trust me, this game is worth your time and money based on the story alone. There are many wonderfully weaved twists and turns that don’t show their cards too early – a problem with many videogames, especially today.

The story, on the surface, is simple. Protagonist and player character James Sunderland has received a letter from his wife Mary, saying she is in the town of Silent Hill, waiting for him at their “special place”. The only catch is, Mary has apparently been dead for three years. Despite this, James finds himself in the town, searching for her all the same. Along his journey, James meets several other people. Each wayward soul he encounters has their own troubles and reasons for being in Silent Hill. There’s the manic-depressive abuse survivor Angela, a troubled and portly young man named Eddie, a precocious little girl named Laura, and a sultry exotic dancer named Maria, the latter bearing a striking resemblance to James’s late wife. These characters were well-written and believable in the original, and not much has changed with their roles in the story this time around, except for a few lines being switched around here and there. We’ll dive deeper into those changes soon enough.

There are some new moments between Maria and James here, both in game and in cutscenes. These work to better develop the relationship between these characters, and they raised the stakes for me considerably. Maria will now thank James for rescuing her from enemies. Additionally, she’ll react and remark accordingly when he does things like smash a window to get to an item. Eventually, she’ll respond in a manner that suggests she’s getting used to James’s behaviors like wanton window smashing. These tiny additional levels of believability and detail added between these two might seem small, but it went a long way for me with respect to the overall experience. 

Bloober understood the assignment, and they got good marks here. The minor changes they’ve made relating to the story only add to the existing game’s overall greatness.

Atmosphere: 2

Probably the best aspect of this game and the series in general. The game wastes absolutely no time immersing you in this nightmare of a world. Thick fog permeates the town, obscuring most things that aren’t directly in front of James. The various buildings entered over the course of the game are filthy, disheveled, and derelict. Players must wade through mud and dirt and stick their arms into small openings full of unidentified muck and sludge. The visuals are enough to make even the most unflappable grimace and cringe, and this is supplemented by the equally unsettling sound design. Squelching, writhing, and chittering enemies announce themselves in the dark and narrow corridors. Additionally, James acquires a broken radio early on in the game. This radio crackles with eerie static when enemies are near, a crucial gameplay mechanic that also functions as a perfect garnish on top of the spooky atmosphere. 

Series veteran and Composer Akira Yamaoka returns to lead the music direction, and thank goodness he was here. For me, it would not have felt quite like a Silent Hill game without his involvement. Yamaoka has such a unique process that produces pieces that are somehow beautiful and melodic yet, also deeply foreboding. He’s one of the best in the business because of his unique style and his contributions alone were enough for me to get excited in anticipation of this game’s release. There are even reimaginings of some parts of the soundtrack that I would wager are even better than those of the original. One such example is the theme that plays when James and Maria make a stop at Maria’s workplace in Silent Hill: Heaven’s Night. 

At certain points in the game, whether voluntarily or otherwise, James will find himself in a hellish, even dirtier version of the environment he has been exploring. These sections are known as the ‘Otherworld’. Just when you thought the atmosphere couldn’t get any more unsettling, the Otherworld cranks things up to 11. More enemies await and the ambient noise is even more ominous and oppressive. This spurs the player to desperately continue progressing the game so they can get the hell out of here! Usually, however, this is easier said than done – as there is a large puzzle or boss fight awaiting the player before they can escape the Otherworld. These moments are great, plain and simple. If there was only one aspect that Bloober got exactly right, the Otherworld sections would be it. 

One main way in which this remake differs greatly from the original is the performances of the voice actors in the game. Some audiences, going back to the decades-old original game, might find the dialogue stilted and awkward. Some might even simply call it ‘bad’ or ‘cheesy’. The performances in this remake are much more grounded. One of these large differences is seen almost immediately upon meeting Angela for the first time not five minutes into the game. The 2024 remake version of Angela is a much more timid and fearful take on the character than the manic, high-strung introduction to her found in the 2001 version. For me, I didn’t find the original performances necessarily ‘cheesy’ or ‘awkward’. I think within the lore of Silent Hill, there is a reason for the other people the player encounters to be a little ‘off’. Silent Hill seemingly exists within a dimension that is both unlike and not unlike our world, and this is reflected in its characters and its environments extremely well. The dreamlike presentation of the dialogue featured in the original is a large reason why the game overall worked so well in the past.

Despite the about-face from the original’s presentation in some ways, this isn’t completely ripping the soul out of the game, in my opinion. To me, James Sunderland sounded way too exaggerated, even goofy at certain points in the original. This is addressed in the remake, with English voice actor Luke Roberts bringing a more somber, sullen tone to the character. Roberts’ performance in this is much more indicative of a man with serious baggage and grief. At certain points, you almost feel bad for James, perhaps even identifying with him. Maria/Mary’s English voice actress, Salóme Gunnarsdóttir, turns in a great performance as well. Though of Icelandic origin, her American accent is near perfect. Any time it isn’t, it works, almost as a nod to that ‘dreamlike’ atmosphere that is vintage Silent Hill. Eddie’s English voice actor, Scott Haining, has also dialed up that character tenfold. Eddie was a lukewarm and unfriendly person in the original. In this new entry, he is much more dynamic and manipulative, making him miles more memorable to me than his first iteration.

The facial animations of all the characters featured in the game are great for the most part. James’s expressions are believable and apparent. Maria is gorgeously animated, with her smirks and eyebrow raises perfectly complementing her character’s seductive and mysterious nature. The only areas where this falls short are some moments with the little girl Laura and Angela. It almost seems as if the animators didn’t get to spend enough time modeling the actresses these characters were based on. As a result, the pair lacks more detailed facial animations producing a slightly distracting “uncanny valley” look for them. 

The textures here are beautifully rendered too. Skin, hair, stone, wood, cloth, etc. all look amazing and photorealistic. The rust, stains, and blemishes seen in Silent Hill’s environments and the Otherworld are also perfectly grimy and gag-inducing, leaving me hoping that James and everyone else involved get a tetanus shot or two when this is all said and done.

The enemies of the original release were smoothed, blotchy, melted pizza-looking abominations that did the job well enough. The graphical fidelity provided by modern hardware gives these enemies much more significant levels of detail, which made them a lot more frightening to me than their 2001 counterparts. 

As stated earlier, the atmosphere is the pinnacle of the experience in these games. This rendition does the quintessential Silent Hill atmosphere justice. Albeit with a few significant, yet mostly undisruptive changes.

Duration: 2

The original version of this game offered about an 8-10 hour experience, which simply won’t do for many gamers today. I’ll admit, even I myself am looking for much more than 10 hours out of a game for $70+, and anything less can leave me longing for more. In my Alan Wake 2 review, I lamented how great the combat was, but how few and far between these moments were at times. Silent Hill 2 has the inverse problem. This game can have too much combat at certain points. Coupled with the aforementioned low enemy variety, this can make the later parts of the game feel like a slog.

The large amount of combat also means the moments within the story are much more spaced out. This can make those looking for that great story feel like they have to really work to get to that next beat. As great a story as Silent Hill 2 has, the sanctity of it can be marred by the amount of time between those moments.

Gamers are often forced with a difficult conundrum these days: Would you rather play 10 hours of the best game ever? Or 30 hours of a decent game with plenty of flaws? Developers and publishers seem to think the latter is preferable for most. As a result, we have gotten many 30-hour games that are decent with many flaws in recent years.

Anyway, I digress. Your first playthrough of the game will take anywhere from 16-20 hours, depending on how much you explore. Believe me, you’re going to want to explore, a lot (I won’t feel comfortable until I have over 200 handgun bullets in my possession). 

Even with what felt like unnecessary padding at times, I found myself loving most of my time with this game. The prospect of multiple endings achieved in unorthodox ways provides a lengthy amount of replayability. You are definitely going to get your money’s worth in time spent with this game. 

Value: 2

For a ground-up reimagining of one of the best video games of all time, $69.99 is as good of a price as you can get. Additionally, any bugs or quirks this game has aren’t going to completely upend your experience, which is more than can be said about many AAA games upon release today. Bloober has also done a good job of releasing a few patches since release that have fixed many of the problems discovered at launch. All that to say, the game is a mostly finished product that looks and runs pretty well for the most part. This game is a must-play for Silent Hill fans, and fans of good survival horror alike. With a multitude of endings in an experience brimming with content; as I mentioned before, you’re getting your money’s worth. Buy it ASAP and thank me later.

Final Score: 9/10 

What did you think of the remake? Is it just another soulless husk of something that was great? Are you sick of all the remakes? Let me know below! Thanks for reading.