2024’sSilent Hill 2from the horror extraordinaire developers at Bloober Team quickly rose to a praiseworthy success. The game has been hailed by fans and critics alike as a love letter to the original that preserves everything that proved so captivating and iconic but with a modern spin. However, since it launched on Steam, the modding floodgates have been opened, even if it doesn’t require much.
The mods are all over the place for Silent Hill 2, with some that truly elevate and improve some aspects of the base game and some that change it in intriguing ways. Others might serve as nice referencesto other survival horror games, or are just downright silly and fun. Here are all the best mods created thus far!
1Silent Hill 2 HD Collection
Mod Created By FrancisLouis
The 2012 Silent Hill HD Collection aimed to bringthe classic PS2 survival horrorto more modern consoles and have it reach new players, but it turned out to be a disastrous way of experiencing it. Among the numerous issues was the fog, which was hardly there, and a poor display from the original. Now, modder FrancisLouis does the same for the 2024 game.
Bloober Team’s remake delivers a wonderfully reimagined foggy Silent Hill environment that should please the most die-hard fans, but getting rid of it entirely with the HD Collection mod presents a whole different dynamic. It eliminates the disorienting atmosphere and the suspense of not seeing what’s before you, so this might work nicely for a second playthroughin New Game Plusto contrast the experiences.
2Enhanced Silent Visuals
The remake of Silent Hill 2 only launched on newer-gen platforms, like the PS5 and PC, so the visuals are already miles better than the 2001 version, especially with all the ray tracing and graphical settings. However, there might still be some slight technical improvements you’d want to iron out to make the game look its absolute best.
The Enhanced Silent Visuals mod sharpens everything up, so you’ll see noticeable differences in the image quality and more vibrant colors. Modder FrancisLouis states in the description that some of the effects disabled in this mod are “Bloom, depth of field, [and] lens flare.”
3Classic Angela And Play As 2001 James Sunderland
Mods Created By NorskPL
If you’re really feeling nostalgic for the classic 2001 game, go for these two mods by NorskPL, where you not only get to play as the original character model of James Sunderland but also change Angela’s design to be that of her original model. Seeing the older versions in action in the graphically updated environmentsand with new voice performancesbrings a little of the old mixed with the new.
Angela’s character model is supposed to look much younger, considering she’s meant to be 19 years old, so, therefore,the 2024 design is much better at capturing that look for her. But if you desire the older, more ghoulish-looking OG Angela, NorskPL makes it available. James' model also looks much more natural in the new game, but why not take the journey as his former self?
4Play As RE4R-Leon
Mod Created By SpiritHun
Rip Leon away from his harrowing search for the president’s daughter and all the Los Iluminados mayhem happening in rural Spain and place himin the eerie town of Silent Hill in Maine. You’ll have the model of Leon from 2023’s Resident Evil 4 Remake, should you want to witness the ultimate Resident Evil and Silent Hill series cross-over.
With the new redesign of James Sunderland for Silent Hill 2 Remake also came comparisons to Resident Evil 4 Remake’s Leon S. Kennedy, which, if you put the two characters side by side, the resemblance is very uncanny. Furthermore, Resident Evil 4 Remake garnered the same high acclaim as the new Silent Hill 2, so it just makes perfect sense for this swap to occur.
5Classic Health Indicator
Mod Created By SilverEzredes
One of the minor faults you could give Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 Remake is the health system and UI. When you take damage and see yourself getting lower and lower on health, the game displays a rectangular red box along the edges of your screen to create a bleed effect that seems way too excessive. Thankfully, you’re able to disable it, but then you now also have this.
The Classic Health Indicator mod by SilverEzredes puts a red cross in the bottom corner of your screen to have a more subtle way of showingthe amount of damage James has just taken in combat. This is the best solution because, even with the original UI removed, you can only rely on the blood on James' jacket, but this way you get a clearer picture, and it won’t take up the entire screen.
6Samurai Edge Custom
Another fun way to have Resident Evil be a part of Silent Hill 2 is via the Samurai Edge Custom mod, also by SilverEzredes. This one essentiallytransforms James' handguninto the iconic Beretta 92FS, or the ‘Samurai Edge,’ which is the standard issue weapon for members of Raccoon City’s S.T.A.R.S. unit. Therefore, James can feel like he’s part of the team, or, combine it with the Leon mod for a complete RE takeover.
There are excellent details on the model for this gun mod, and it’s like seeing the updated version of the original Samurai Edge from the 2002 game. The weapon’s effectiveness and the damage it can deal won’t change, however; just the cosmetic appearance.
7First Person Mod
Mod Created By JessicaNatalia
Despite being largely a third-person survival horror game series, Silent Hill has dabbled with first-person entries, like The Short Message and P.T., but have you ever wondered what Silent Hill 2 would look like if played from the first-person perspective? Luckily, modder JessicaNatalia has created just that for you to try out.
This mod is even more radical than the remake abandoning fixed-camera angles for an over-the-shoulder camera perspective, but it will once again add a new dynamic to the game, especially with the updated combat system. First-person horror games are often more immersive, including Bloober titles like Layers of Fear and Blair Witch, and the dense fog and sound design of Silent Hill 2 would only boost that.
8Hair Sheen Removal - No More Oil
Mod Created By Eggo
Is the super shiny blond hair on James Sunderland’s head getting in the way of enjoying Silent Hill 2’s suspenseful atmosphere and jump scares? Make it less shiny and oily with the Hair Sheen Removal mod by Eggo. It turns his hair color a darker brown, and with this makeover, he’s not so much like Leon Kennedy anymore.
While this mod doesn’t alter the gameplay in a significant way, it can definitely help if you feel that James' normal hair is super distracting to the degree of Squidward’s glistening chiseled transformation from SpongeBob.
9Pyramid Hat And Robbie The Rabbit Hat
Mods Created By FrancisLouis
It wouldn’t be a modern game these days if you didn’t have to cough up additional funds to get some pre-order bonuses or Deluxe Edition cosmetics,and Silent Hill 2 Remake leans into just that. You get a Pyramid Head mask made of taped-together cardboard from pizza boxes with the Deluxe Edition, and additionally a Mira the Dog mask if you pre-ordered the Deluxe version on PC.
If you pre-ordered the Early Access Deluxe Edition on the PS5, then you’d get the exclusive Silent Hill 3’s Robbie The Rabbit Hat mask for James. This mod gifts PC ownersthe iconic Robbie the Hat maskto replace the Mira the Dog cosmetic, as well as upgrades Pyramid Head’s mask from a pizza box version to the one worn by the actual boss.
10Bright Falls Sheriff James
Mod Created By Sir_galahad172
Here’s another cross-over you probably weren’t expecting in Silent Hill 2! Sir_galahad172 has given a new cosmetic outfit for protagonist James Sunderland, which just so happens to be a Bright Falls Sheriff’s uniform from the Alan Wake series. In another universe, maybe it was Deputy Sunderland and Thornton assisting agents Saga Anderson and Alex Casey in Bright Falls.
By now it’s well-known thatAlan Wake 2 took much of its inspiration from Silent Hill, and paid homage to it with the atmosphere of the Dark Place and the areas in Bright Falls and all the surrounding locales, but now you may have Silent Hill 2 return the favor and pay homage to Remedy Entertainment. This outfit also gives James a mustache and tie to really make him resemble Thornton.
