Building on its reputation as ‘that one weird studio that is always working on really interesting stuff’, Bloober Team’s announcement that it would remake Silent Hill 2 caused much skepticism.
In addition to being a huge and iconic game in the horror field, Silent Hill 2 carried a mixed track record of being known for a bad remake, so there was a buzz of hope, and a buzz of fear that it would fall short.
This was due to all these reasons, including that Silent Hill 2 is a cult classic, and Konami, despite some recent struggles, has also shown a hazy track record when it comes to game remakes.
To remake such a much-loved movie seemed risky. Yet, after 11 or so hours with the game, it’s evident that Bloober Team has bucked expectations, and delivered a remake not just able to serve the original but to impress new players as well.
The Silent Hill 2 Remake at its heart adheres to the story of the 2001 PS2 original release. The Maiden draws most of its narrative from James Sunderland’s story—a man who received a letter from his dead wife inviting him into the strange town of Silent Hill.
In the streets filled with fog, James runs into scary monsters and crazy people, until he starts to lose touch with reality, and sanity.
It’s appropriate that Bloober Team has made no changes to this story, keeping what made it so potentially haunting and effective in the first place. The remake respects the original and stays very close to the script.
From a visual point of view, The Silent Hill 2 Remake is visually stunning. Any unsettling dialogue and any strange encounter now seem to be much more realistic because of the game’s environments and realistic character models.
Many of the additions to lighting and textures bring to life the tortured environment of Silent Hill in a way that makes the town even more threatening than before.
The art style of course includes more contemporary elements, and this is visually effective in having the characters deliver their dialogues more convincingly and having the story become more emotionally charged as it goes along.
Other than the art, Bloober Team has redesigned the entire gameplay to meet the standards of today’s video games. There will be more focus on James, thanks to the new view shift, and fights will look closer to the last Resident Evil remakes, smooth and responsive.
They keep the price formed for the today’s player yet retain the horror and fear that was seen in the first game. Old school fans will probably like these changes, as they make the game somewhat less annoying to get through while retaining its main aspects.
Yet, fans’ concerns did not end there, which the developers confirmed regarding erasing of the series’ odd and obscure puzzles from the original.
Fortunately, they have kept them in their title, which, despite some changes in development, has always had its share of head-scratchingly difficult moments.
Nonetheless, as with the rest of the game, these puzzles have been revamped, with a sharper graphics and better implementation into the game environment.
The Silent Hill 2 Remake does the best it can at recreating the oppressive atmosphere fans loved in the original. All of this contributes to a massive sense of dread — the fog filled streets, the dimly lit buildings, the claustrophobic environments.
The buildup of tension steadily thwarts players, dismisses the cheap scare, but builds slowly to maintain tension.
It’s not that Silent Hill 2 brings the environment to the player to unsettle them, but that through it we are convinced that we are indeed in a nightmare from which there will be no escape. But for the horror game veteran, there’s nothing quite like the power this remake has to chill your spine.
Conclusion
Finally, Bloober Team has achieved to make a good faithful remake to the legacy of Silent Hill 2. With what they’ve modernized the gameplay and visuals without skipping an underlying soul of what made the original game a masterpiece.
Certainly, the world doesn’t need a remake of Silent Hill 2, the original of which is still very playable and can be made even better through mods released in 2024.
Nevertheless, the story in the remake is presented in a new, clean and polished way for those who have grown and it will be for the new fans as well.
Also read: Shadows Of Doubt Review
