Silent Hill 2 (2024) review

 
“Aren’t you…Maria?”

    SILENT HILL 2 has a reputation among horror games aficionados as one of the all-time greatest, if not THE all-time greatest horror games. This despite its somewhat clunky combat, camera angles, and having to make a large number of sacrifices for the limitations of hardware. The story was just so good that just about everyone ignores the game’s flaws or even pretended that the flaws were intentional (and somehow made the game better). An attempt to remake the game was done with the much-maligned HD Remaster. That was something of a misnomer as a name since the original code had long since been lost.

    The official remake, however, was released recently and handled by BLOOPER TEAM AKA “The Layers of Fear Guys.” A lot of people were skeptical that they’d be able to do a better job or even if remaking the classic game was something that should have been done at all. Suspicions were made worse by combat trailers and the fact that it had quite a few similarities to the Resident Evil 2 Remake. The images were gorgeous, however, and some of us were cautiously optimistic when the game out.

    So, is it good? Yes. Yes it is. Is it better than the original? That’s going to be a complicated question best answered with, “In some places, yes. In other places no.” However, if you’re going to get into Silent Hill and never played the originals then I suggest this is probably the place to start and certainly the “easiest.” Which is going to be something that gets brought up for better and worse among my review points.

    The premise for Silent Hill 2 Remake as in the original is that you are James Sunderland. James’ wife died three years ago and he’s not taking it well. His deteriorating mental condition is illustrated by the first image of our protagonist being him staring vacantly into his own reflection at a dirty abandoned bathroom overlooking the town. Is James crazy? Possibly. He’s received a letter from his dead wife that has told him to meet her in Silent Hill. It’s such a good premise that Resident Evil VII stole it as the basis for Ethan Winters going to Louisiana.

    Well, if you have any familiarity with the series, James immediately finds Silent Hill is hazardous to one’s sanity as well as health. The mysterious fog-ridden streets are full of strangely  monsters and a variety of puzzles. Much more emphasis is put on the town of Silent Hill this time around and the game is about a third longer this time around without changing the story (much).

    There’s a great deal more combat (theoretically) but you can kite around virtually the entirety of the enemies present so this isn’t even an issue for those who prefer to avoid it. James handles much better, though, and if you want to shoot or club monsters then you can. Never so much that James feels badass but so much so that he’s not nearly as physically painful to handle. James is also not likely to run out of energy drinks or dirty morphine needles to restore his health (though I’d get tested for hepatitis if I survived Silent Hill).

    Generally, the game is gorgeous and I have to say that is the biggest argument for the game’s existence. Silent Hill 2 Remake has photo-realistic graphics and if you ever wanted to know it was to live in a town that is the neighbor of the Beast then this is a fantastic example. The town doesn’t look like it’s only been abandoned for a year, though, but more like twenty. Everything is falling apart and decaying.

    This is even before you manage to take a trip into the Otherworld and things go from being abandoned to, “Yeah, I’m in a blood splattered hellish version of my previous environment.” James will spend a significant more amount of time more in the Otherworld this time around and I feel this makes the environmental exploration all the more satisfying. Ironically, it is the simple act of the fact you’ll be exploring a lot of these rooms in the dark with only a small flashlight that really turns a lot of them into terrifying labyrinths.

    Team Blooper has earned its stripes here and this game is a love letter to the original Silent Hill 2 in every way that matters. Indeed, there’s possibly “too” many in-jokes and references to the other Silent Hill games. One of the collectibles is references to the slight differences in the story and locations like James coming across a pizza box in the Bowling Alley or the locked-up Baldwin mansion that makes Maria uncomfortable to be around. There’s a couple of new endings but, of the two, I think only “Bliss” genuinely qualifies as new.

    The pacing of Silent Hill 2 Remake deserves both praise and criticism. Silent Hill: Downpour failed in large part because it showed all of its cards far too soon and came off more like a Halloween ride than a genuinely terrifying journey through a haunted town. Silent Hill 2 Remake doesn’t show its first monster for 15 minutes and they’re used sparingly until you arrive at the first Otherworld. Unfortunately, after that, the terror gradually fades and the game may be a little longer than it needs to be. Still, it’s never boring and I parceled out my journey across nearly a month to maximize my enjoyment. Played straight, it’s about 16 hours long.

    I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about my favorite character of the game: Maria. The mysterious sexualized doppelganger of James late wife, Mary, who is obviously not someone to be trusted from the very beginning but one of the few friendly (?) faces in the town. I really like her redesign and think she looks slightly older than the original but that fits with James as an experienced husband versus a guy chasing a twenty-year-old.

    Some people have complained her costume isn’t as sexualized but I’m not sure “tight leather skirt and low cut halter top” qualify as a nun’s habit either. It seems most of the complaints are about the fact she’s wearing a jacket in a foggy cold town. Certainly, I wouldn’t kick her out of the bed for eating crackers. Inhuman succubus/product of James’ diseased mind or not. Indeed, I really hope Team Blooper expands on “Born from a Wish”, where Maria is the star, from a 30 minute DLC to something resembling a couple of hours.

    In conclusion, Silent Hill 2 Remake reverses a lot of the failures of previous Silent Hill sequels. I hope it heralds remakes of Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3, and even Silent Hill 4. I doubt they could make Homecoming or Downpour into “true” Silent Hills but I wouldn’t mind them taking a shot at those either. In any case, this is one case of seeing Pyramid Head and being glad he’s back where he belongs.

Available here