The Silent Hill 2 The remake, developed by Bloober Team and published by series creator Konami, had a Herculean task ahead of it. Any time such a beloved classic is given the remake treatment, it inevitably invites unfavorable comparisons. This is only made worse by the remake's marketing, which consistently misrepresents the focus and nature of the game, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I care about that a remake can never fully replace the original. No matter how difficult the original's combat was, how loud the sound was, how bad the graphics were – and how brilliant the remake – I say it's always worth seeking out and playing the classics, especially something as groundbreaking as this. Silent Hill 2. (And sometimes confusion is the point.)
The best a remake can do is build on the original. Instead of offering an equivalent or worse, better experience, it should try to be similar but different whether you're playing it for the first time or the fiftieth time. Admittedly, this is a tall order, however he is the one who Silent Hill 2 The remake delivers surprisingly well. I may not always agree with the choices he makes along the way, but he manages to impress, surprise, and leave me wanting more at almost every turn.
Silent Hill (Almost) Perfectly Remembered
SH2 Remake Gave Me Déjà Vu
It should not be surprising all aspects of the plot Silent Hill 2 they remain completely intact in the remake. It's the same horror story that fans are no doubt familiar with: James Sunderland receives a letter from his late wife, urging him to return to Silent Hill, a small lakeside town where they once spent a pleasant vacation. But he finds a ghost town shrouded in fog and inhabited almost exclusively by twisted monsters. As he searches for Mary, he descends into the depths of his own fear and guilt, eventually confronting some disturbing truths hidden deep within his own psyche.
It is supported by Perfect presentation on the board. The Silent Hill 2 nail every aspect of the original's creepy atmosphere: dreamlike sound, dutch angles, and a thick layer of fog covering everything. Silent Hill looks gloriously grotesque in 4K. From the opening sequence in a cliff-side parking lot to the long line at Toluca Lake, all the big sets are wonderfully crafted and create a sense of terror and suspense.
The Silent Hill 2 the remake replaces fixed camera angles with a more standard third-person perspective. The original version uses these forced perspectives to create dread: you can never see what's coming around that corner unless the game asks you to. The remake instead uses impenetrable darkness and some clever tricks from the enemy AI. James's flashlight is weak and seems to blink when you need it most. Sometimes you see a monster out of the corner of your eye for a split second, then it goes away and hides.
Akira Yamaoka, the composer of the original game, also returned for the remakeand all the skin-crawling rips, scrapes and scratches sound as scary as ever. The stunning sound design is supported by an immersive new haptic feedback system, where the controller rumbles as Pyramid Head drags its blade across the floor above your head, or softly whispers as you walk through the rain.
in short, the Silent Hill 2 The remake strikes the same perfect balance between creepy atmosphere, moral duality, and emotional honesty.making perfect use of the PS5's hardware to do so. I found myself moved by the same elements of the story and horrified by the same dark corners as always.
The only major difference is that the remake has two new endingsand I can hardly blame the Bloober Team for wanting to expand in that direction. I hardly noticed the minor changes, which mostly just consisted of reworked story scenes – necessary to maintain the pace for a little longer. Silent Hill 2 the story.
Silent Hill 2 Remake Demands Your Attention
Remixed Puzzles and Story Elements
When I first started Silent Hill 2 remake, the well-executed familiarity of its opening chapter put me at ease. As I took the long walk into town, my muscle memory kicked in and I started following the route I always took in the original version. But I quickly noticed something was wrong: I hit an obstacle I had never seen before. I had to fix the broken jukebox before I could get the apartment key.
This is probably the biggest change made by the remake: the broad strokes of its puzzle solving are the same, but the details are quite different. You'll still build the grandfather clocks at Wood Side Apartments, but you'll need to find all the scorpions first. The order in which you explore certain rooms has been rearranged, and some stories take place in slightly different locations.
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the remake also has a few new collectible sets, but these don't add as much to the experience as the reimagined puzzles.
This had an interesting effect on me: it made me pay attention to the remake in a way that would not be possible when repeating the original for the thousandth time. Without knowing the answers, I had to study the maps carefully and relearn the new moves of all the bosses. The result was this i lived Silent Hill 2 with high intensity, as if I were playing for the first time again.
The new puzzles aren't any better – the remake has more of them, and this causes it to drag in some places. In particular, the Brookhaven Hospital and Toluca Prison segments ran a bit longer than I would have liked. They reveal some additional lore, but these weren't always worth the effort – learning about the hospital director's own deteriorating mental health added nothing to my experience. However, these detours are usually short and movement always resumes shortly after.
Silent Hill 2 Remake's Combat Is Different But Effective
No Complaints Here
Combat has probably been the single most controversial aspect of the game Silent Hill 2 to do again. The remake of the previous film (via PlayStation) is a heavily edited trailer.Battle detection,” pitched it as a standard third-person shooter, with James running and shooting Bubble Nurses as he bounces between buildings. Silent Hill 2 need”Battle detection“first of all – his tough fight sends home the idea that James is, at least physically, an average Joe entering the world of horror. beyond his understanding.
But rest assured Combat is even harder in the remake. Sure, it's a bit more agile and enemies move a bit faster. But James has no fancy new maneuvers: if anything, his aim is worse. You really have to stand still and watch your shots carefully to avoid depleting your severely limited weapon supplies. When enemies hit you back, they hit hard and you have to run and heal quickly (while also adjusting your healing items) to survive.
The difficulty also applies to boss battlesI found it harder than the original Silent Hill 2. Bosses move significantly faster and are harder to fight. Enemies that I defeated easily in my first game gave me a few tries this time.
That's honestly the biggest complaint I can think of about the combat the camera movement is a bit wonky. When James uses a melee attack, the camera moves violently with him, making it easy to miss an enemy he's targeting with his chaotic whip. In practice, however, this only adds to the problem, reflecting James's anguish and panic as he is shaken by the physical manifestation of his guilt.
Final Thoughts on Silent Hill 2 Remake and Review Score
8/10: A Pleasant Surprise on All Accounts
In an October full of incredible horror movies, Silent Hill 2 stands out. Not just because of its brand recognition (albeit strong), but also because of its masterful handling of its difficult subject matter and presentation of psychological horror. The Silent Hill 2 the remake is full of respect and care for its source material. In the absence of a modern remaster, this is a perfectly suitable way to experience it Silent Hill 2 first or fiftieth time.
It will never replace the original, but Silent Hill 2 the remake has enough innovation to suggest it deserves its place in the series canon. By faithfully recreating the original game while offering new surprises for returning players, it not only justifies its existence, but also the viability of large-scale gaming. Silent Hill revival. If this is just the start of a longer collaboration between Bloober and Konami, I can't wait to see what comes next. For now, you can find me starting the second game Silent Hill 2.
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The remake releases on October 8, 2024 for Windows PC and PlayStation 5 console. A digital PS5 code has been submitted
Screen Rant
for the purposes of this review.