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Whether you’re the most die-hard fan of the originalSilent Hill 2or planning to experience it for the first time, 2024’s remake has a lot to offer. Though there were apprehensions, there has luckily been a lot to rejoice about for the Silent Hill community, as the game launched to a strong critical receptionand ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews from players on Steam.
The 2001 game wasan instant survival horror classicthat many hailed as the gold standard for the genre, so it’s a very high bar to overcome. Silent Hill 2 now finds itself in the same playing field as Resident Evil 2, Dead Space, and Resident Evil 4, and it begs the question: Is the new game ultimately as masterful as the original game was?
Review
The moment of truth has come. Does Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 live up to the quality of the original? Our reviewer at TheGamer, James Kennedy, gives his honest answer.In his 3.5/5 star review titled ‘Revisiting A Restless Dream,‘James Kennedy starts by saying the remake is a"tale of two games."
He states that the new game “clearly has a strong reverence for the source material,” but bringing it to a more modern audiencewith all the new changes, especially the updated over-the-shoulder camera perspective,loses the atmosphere and charm of the original.
Other faults Kennedy gave the new version of Silent Hill 2 areJames’ animations(which you may see coming, considering that Bloober Team largely sticks to first-person horror games) as well asthe sound design, which becomes too much with its loud noises and “doesn’t always serve the game’s atmosphere.” However, the brilliant soundtrack from veteran composer Akira Yamaoka never disappoints.
Where the praise ultimately comes in for Silent Hill 2 Remake is the performances, puzzles, and bosses. James Kennedy feels thatthe voice acting surpasses the original gamewhile still adhering to the same Lynchian tone and aesthetic, which is what anyone can ask for. Silent Hill 2’s gameplay also brings engaging new puzzles to solve,especially on ‘Hard’ difficulty, along withmore well-designed and exciting boss battles.
The funny thing is, the majority of the original Silent Hill 2 is buried inside of this remake, and it often isn’t too far beneath the surface either. Bloober Team’s version of Silent Hill 2 often feels like a high fidelity version of the original with remixed puzzles and item locations.
For the final point in his review, James Kennedy discusses the game’s story. He says that whilethe remake sticks to the same script and doesn’t change much of the dialogue, Bloober Team also chose to expand it with some new scenes, which often weren’t for the better and felt like they were included just for the sake of making the experience longer.
In the end, Kennedy admits that even with all the divisive new changes from the original Silent Hill 2, “enough of what made it special remains and will likely warm the cockles of nostalgic hearts and newcomers alike.”
Time Expenditure
The original Silent Hill 2 was only an eight-hour-long game, which most would find way too short for a singleplayer game by today’s standards, so Silent Hill 2’s remake essentially doubles the playtime.According to HowLongToBeat, the main story should take you around15 hoursto complete, with the completionist run taking you nearly double that amount at29 hours.
This also depends on how hard you set the combat and puzzle settings, which will definitely eat up way more time than you think. There are also eight different endings you can get in the remake. Couple all of that with the explorationand New Game Plus mode, and you start to see how you can lose yourself for a while as James in Silent Hill (if you can survive that long in the eerie town).
Cost
As of its launch date, Silent Hill 2 isonly available for the PS5 and PCwith the base price for the standard edition of the game being$69.99 USD. There’s also a Deluxe Edition available, which will cost you$79.99 USD. For the extra $10, you get a digital art book, the digital soundtrack, and a Pyramid Head pizza box mask cosmetic for James.
This is the most expensive game yet that you can buy from Bloober Team, but the time expenditure and the fact that it’s a masterfully crafted effort trying to be faithful to the original is worth considering. If you want to see a lower price tag before deciding to buy it, you may need to have a lot of patience before it goes on sale.
If you pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition 48-Hour Early Access, you would’ve also received the Mira the Dog mask for PC and a Robbie the Rabbit mask for PS5.
What Players Are Saying
A Silent Triumph - Hilton Webster
I had never touched a Silent Hill game before Silent Hill 2’s remake. I had absorbed plenty over the years but never sat down to actually play it.
Yet even with a mishmash of awareness in what the game portrays, I still came away surprised by the remake. It doesn’t attempt to usurp the original game, nor is it shy about the fact that it’s a remake, either. It straddles a fine line between genuinely transformative and overly faithful, but keeps up the balancing act the whole way through.
While there are places where Bloober could’ve gone further, the parts it recreates are done so with a surprising amount of tact. Certain lines of dialogue are cut to allow facial expressions to do the speaking, while puzzles are recreated to breathe new life into old areas.
The biggest failure of the game is its length. It portrays the original story to the letter, yet is around double in length. That extra playtime doesn’t do it any favours, making those beautifully remade cutscenes feel ever so far apart.
Exceeding Expectations - Aidan Cannon
Silent Hill 2 is often referenced as one of the industry’s finest achievements in interactive storytelling, blending surreal horror with dark psychological drama. Unfortunately, Team Silent’s work is largely inaccessible, making a remake an intriguing prospect, but also raising questions about whether or not another developer could capture the creators’ original vision.
Thankfully, Bloober Team was more than up to the challenge, expertly recreating the titular town. It’s clear that there is a lot of love for the series at the studio, and it went to great lengths to honor the 2001 classic. The bones of the original title are on full display but modernized to be more palatable for contemporary audiences (third-person camera, no tank controls, etc.). Most importantly, the atmosphere has been preserved, with wonderfully off-kilter voice performances and fog smothering the town.
It does get a little long in the tooth at points; Bloober has taken key areas from the original and blown them up into more complex dungeons. Often, it can feel like you’ve been stuck in a single area for much too long, but the game will keep you on edge so you never feel safe, alleviating any nascent boredom.
A Remake That Recaptures The Story And Atmosphere - Dominic Allen
Silent Hill 2 beautifully recaptures the story with virtually every hidden detail intact, along with new content as well, that, for the most part, adds to the story with these newfound details. You might even finally understand some things that were in the original but you never picked up on.
Sound Design brings it big time, making it just as scary if not more so than the classic title. The game definitely feels bloated in some areas, like the Prison, and the puzzles are way below the original, but the game nails what’s important in a Silent Hill game: story and atmosphere.
