FarnySeals's review of SILENT HILL 2.

Silent Hill 2 Remake has totally interrupted my flow of regular reviews, because I still can’t form a solid opinion on this game. I want to start out by saying that nothing and I mean absolutely nothing, will reach the same heights as the original Silent Hill 2 for me. It’ll take a truly life changing game to really surpass how deep that game cut for me, and as such a strong fan of the original game, I was instantly skeptical about Konami deciding to hire Bloober team to remake the series’ best game instead of the first one. I’ve never played a game by Bloober team, but the general consensus is that their games are okay with some thematic flaws, a perception that had me even more worried, but my skepticism slowly subsided into appreciation for Bloober team for how they handled this remake and gave a remixed take on the original game, with different puzzles, engaging combat, breathtaking boss battles, and horror that’ll be sure to keep you on edge for your entire play-through. That being said, after replaying it a couple of times to get every single ending and trophy, I did start to find holes those things I mostly enjoyed the first time around. The most obvious thing Bloober team knocked out of the park are the game’s visuals. Alongside giving a plethora of UI options to make the game as immersive you want (I went for very minimal HUD, but not entirely off), Silent Hill itself looks the best it has ever been. Granted, it doesn’t have the same grungy, rough texture that the PS2’s graphics has over any modern game, but even playing through the otherworld in this game makes me feel like holding the controller will give me tetanus, probably thanks to the additionally immersive haptic feedback. Sound design is great and contributes to the nightmarish atmosphere and Akira Yamaoka’s remixed soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous with the addition of live instruments to flesh out the dreamlike tone of the original’s frankly perfect soundtrack, headphones are definitely recommended. When engaging with combat, the enemies are scarier than ever before to fight with the addition of varied behaviours depending on the enemy. Those four legged bastards are genuinely the scariest enemy I’ve had to fight against in any survival horror game. Usually it’s the nemesis style enemies like the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation or Mr. X in the Resident Evil 2 Remake that scare me the most, but having a regular enemy that runs off and hides in the environment, taking the shape of its closest objects, hiding behind beds, chairs, even in blind spots, only to jump out and aggressively attack you is never not terrifying. That combined with their uncomfortable appearance makes me want to stomp them into oblivion after I’ve knocked them down. There are enemies that climb up walls, can counter your melee attacks, or spit at you, just to rub salt in the wound too. Combat is generally challenging, but my biggest problem with the game is how generous it is with ammo and health items as well as it being a pain in the ass to avoid said enemies when the option was previously available. I played on standard mode due to the description saying it was the intended experience and I did not die a single time during my entire play-through. Maybe it’s because I like to explore every nook and cranny, but even when I realised how lenient the ammo was and used my guns and health items way more near the end, I still had more than enough of both by the end of the final boss fight. Because you have more than enough ammo to fight every enemy, you kind of have to as well. In some areas like the prison, it’s easier to run past certain types of enemies and is kind of insinuated to be the best thing with the amount of enemies there, but this isn’t the case in Brookhaven Hospital where enemies track and follow you around. Combat was rarely the focus of the original and took kind of a backseat to the puzzles and storytelling, so it feels a little more gamey and sometimes even a little sluggish, pacing wise, to have to beat every enemy, especially since the game is so generous with it that you don’t have much to lose. That’s the game’s biggest problem, really, it’s way too easy. For standard being the intended difficulty, it’s a cake walk, including some of the puzzles. There are great puzzles like the hangman one in the later game, but a lot of them are simply just counting or adding up, making it feel more like a brain training game than an actual puzzle game at times. I don’t think any of the puzzles are bad, but sometimes they get a little repetitive, though luckily the item based ones are pretty enjoyable to explore for. It’s just a shame that they took out my favourite puzzle, the horseshoe, wax, and lighter puzzle, which is symbolic of the difficulty they’ve decided to avoid with item combination being a lot simpler and guided too. It makes the story beats a little less rewarding, though like I said, they’re still of quality. My favourite changes are probably the boss fights, which were simple but scary in the original, though now they’re a lot more dynamic and equally as tense. The first Pyramid Head fight is okay, but the Flesh Lip, Abstract Daddy, and Eddie boss fights are incredible and pretty horrifying at points. Probably the biggest “improvement” of the game is the build up and setting of the Abstract Daddy fight as it adds more to Angela’s story and slowly leans into the original games’ overt imagery instead of confronting you with it upon entering the fight. When the flesh walls and rusty pistons show up, it feels earned as well as being super disturbing. I also really like how Eddie’s fight uses the environment to its advantage with several phases that mix it up and add tension to the fight. This remake doesn’t really build on the original as much as it makes it accessible. Even the over the shoulder camera which takes away from the feeling of being watched in the original game was added to fit more into mainstream horror game perspectives. Luckily, there’s no yellow paint and the tutorials are optional and minimal, which I do definitely appreciate, but it’s kind of a “win some, lose some” situation with it being an accessible remake for modern mainstream audiences. Regardless, the story stays intact, and while I don’t think it improves the original’s story overall, because what could, I do think it does the original and all its characters justice. James himself is the biggest highlight of the game, being played amazingly so by Luke Roberts. The Heaven’s Night cutscene is a perfect example of this in a way that there were details I didn’t pick up the first time, like the way James acts around alcohol for example. He’s also so boring, in a good way. James is so very clearly a square in his regular life and Roberts communicates this perfectly with his reactions to Maria most of all, who’s also effectively played by Salome Gunnarsdottir, bringing another dimension that was only really seen in Born From a Wish. Was there really justice to be had, though? The original is perfect on its own, and as good as it is, Silent Hill 2 Remake is safe in every way, even down to the lack of any new extra content outside of the two new endings, which I actually like quite a lot. It’s a shame really, I would’ve liked to see a Silent Hill 2 Remake that appealed to the fans of the games rather than the general audience for horror games, but the original is a hard act to follow, so I get it. If there’s no additional content outside of the frustratingly pointless digital exclusive cosmetics, I really don’t see myself ever choosing to play this in place of the original game, and the lack of content would definitely impact my feelings for it long term. That being said, this is a solid remake and the first play-through felt pretty special due to it being a new way to experience the incredible story. Here’s hoping we get a remake of the first game in the series that builds upon this one and irons out some of those flaws.