The unique Silent Hill 2 is broadly thought of one of many biggest horror video games of all time. It has garnered a infamous fame and a large following that features a radicalized, cult-like fanbase. When it was introduced in 2022 that the sport can be getting the remake remedy just like its contemporaries like Resident Evil, Lifeless House, and Alone within the Darkish, the gaming group went wild with anticipation. Nevertheless, this pleasure sadly led to web bullying.
Because the reimagining of the sport was being developed by the horror veterans at Poland’s Bloober Crew, whose earlier work was already divisive amongst horror curmudgeons, a lot of racism and hate was thrown on the builders, regardless of them working hand-in-hand with Konami and even a number of the Crew Silent workers who labored on the unique recreation. Regardless of all of the ignorance, the event pressed ahead and now we’ve had an opportunity to sink into the reimagined Silent Hill 2 for fairly a while, so we’ll check out the way it fares in opposition to its friends and because the first full-length recreation within the sequence for almost 15 years.
Story
When it comes to the narrative or story, that is simply the place the sport sticks most carefully to its unique model since there’s not often a single line of dialogue modified all through any of the character interactions. This can be a good factor for the reason that unique narrative is among the most beloved and harrowing psychological horror tales of all time. As such, too many alterations would certainly incite an offended, pitchfork-wielding mob.
Nevertheless, the microscopic adjustments that have been made so far as the script is worried have been all for the higher and simply edged it in the direction of being only a hair extra related with out dropping numerous the extra esoteric components of the story’s presentation. There’s been plenty of added paperwork and puzzles, which do contribute to a bit of little bit of what is perhaps known as “lore,” however don’t change something involving any of the main characters or their tales.
One of many largest adjustments within the story’s presentation is the brand new voice performing and movement seize for all the characters, that are a number of the finest I’ve seen in a very long time and are dealt with with such exact care and diligence in order to not step over the unique. The characters all really feel extra emotional and alive, and the cinematic framing of cutscenes is improved in drastic methods, letting the story seep out and be even barely extra impactful than earlier than, which is a hell of a feat.
General, I’d should say that this reimagining absolutely harnesses the cinematic data and talent that Bloober Crew has and the technological enhancements of video video games through the years, and makes use of them to enhance and deepen the expertise just a bit greater than the unique. This new model will certainly resonate extra with a contemporary viewers, not as a result of it dumbed issues down or modified issues egregiously, however merely up to date it with the visible and storytelling strategies which were honed in video video games during the last 23 years since Silent Hill 2‘s launch.
Gameplay
Now we are able to actually dig into a number of the larger adjustments, because the gameplay expertise is vastly modified in comparison with the unique, and I’d should say, it’s usually all in optimistic methods. To start with the obvious, this reimagining does away with the cinematic fastened digicam angles that so outlined the early 3D era of horror video games that the unique Silent Hill 2 was part of. This was arduous to get used to at first and it felt a bit of underwhelming to start with, but it surely quickly began to sink in and be a completely immersive expertise.
Typically, the entire starting part of the sport earlier than arriving on the house constructing was a reasonably large adjustment interval of studying to view the world of SH2 by a brand new lens and never simply anticipating it to be precisely because it was earlier than. This is usually a arduous factor for followers to do, however one thing clicked after arriving to the primary main “labyrinth” of the sport that made all of these fears and expectations depart my thoughts, the place I might simply be immersed and start to actually benefit from the recreation as it’s.
As soon as I bought previous the preliminary change and shock of the presentation, this new SH2 regularly simply saved getting higher and higher, and shortly the care and absolute devotion to the craft of constructing a terrifying and pleasant online game grew to become very palpable. The quantity that’s modified right here so far as the presentation and development of the sport is staggering, however I used to be hard-pressed to seek out any of these components that felt prefer it made the expertise worse.
When you assume you’ll have the ability to hop into the expertise with all of your speed-running expertise from the 2001 Silent Hill 2, you’ll be in for a impolite awakening, as there are frequent new areas, targets, and buildings to discover, new notes and puzzles to seek out, and a normal enlargement of the gameplay expertise. This new model even likes to throw in occasional little nods to the unique, the place you’ll discover an previous puzzle object or merchandise mendacity round that appears precisely the best way it did within the 2001 model, although the sport presents them as a non-interactable, nostalgic reminder of the previous, a stark reminder that you’re not enjoying the 2001 recreation anymore.
Fight
Apart from the modified digicam angles and normal recreation development, this comes together with a number of different adjustments, together with a really totally different strategy to the lighting and a wholly new fight system. The brand new lighting system basically makes the sport even darker than the unique, with the flashlight being much more dim than within the unique recreation. Mixed with the over-the-shoulder digicam, this makes for some completely terrifying exploration of the world, and the sport exploits the low visibility in very intelligent and nasty methods.
For example, the low visibility is utilized in tandem with the brand new fight system to make it so enemies are way more hidden from view and may launch sneak assaults (and scares) on you anytime and from wherever. Even after preventing with an enemy, they could scurry away in the midst of fight simply to discover a new hiding spot to leap out and shock you from, making it by no means really feel secure.
The sport makes use of each tight nook of a room to present heavy potential for sneak assaults and scares, whether or not it’s behind a shelf in a good hallway, beneath a desk or desk, or mixing in with the surroundings, and it by no means fails to startle me. This method of enemies having the ability to constantly and dynamically disguise creates extra pure stress and scares than the everyday scripted ones we’ve come to anticipate from trendy over-the-shoulder horror video games.
The brand new fight system is streamlined equally to the current Resident Evil remakes, permitting you to immediately swap between melee and ranged weapons with out utilizing a menu, making for way more dynamic fight general. This additionally implies that enemies are way more of a menace of their behaviors and that encounters with them shall be way more plentiful, making for a really totally different expertise with regards to fight.
Typically, the fight feels simply clunky sufficient that you simply don’t really feel like a superhero, and leaves only a tinge of vulnerability that continually reminds you that James is only a common, human man, not a educated soldier or an individual who’s significantly expert at fight. It’s nonetheless significantly visceral and cathartic, because it was within the unique, and it’s good that this ingredient caught round, because it additionally performs a subversive function within the recreation’s story as effectively, on a deeper degree.
The comparatively scarce quantity of assets out there in comparison with the fight problem strikes a pleasant stability, and requires you to assume extra carefully earlier than dashing into an encounter. It’s simple to get overwhelmed by a couple of enemy at a time, and also you’ll have to have your dodging expertise about you, since many fights that appear like they’ll be one-on-one at first rapidly turn out to be a crowd when beforehand hidden enemies leap out to assault from behind you or from the darkish nook of a room.
The brand new dodge button is usually a nice assist should you search for the audio and visible cues of when and the place to dodge, but it surely’s not only a easy approach to keep away from harm by spamming the dodge button, because it has comparatively quick vary and stops you from doing another actions whereas within the dodge animation, together with working.
The revamped puzzles and exploration really feel nice throughout the board, with James having to actively pull out the map in real-time to test instructions and mark down any essential clues or updates, which is a pleasant contact that provides a bit of little bit of immersion and retains you in your toes. The brand new puzzles will hold you shifting alongside comparatively swiftly more often than not should you’re accustomed to basic survival horror puzzles, however they’re simply powerful sufficient on the usual puzzle problem to maintain you scratching your head each occasionally or getting caught every so often and having to retrace your steps to seek out what you missed.
The expanded areas additionally trigger the sport to be round double the size of the unique SH2, clocking in round at the least 15 hours for a primary playthrough, and each minute of it feels compelling and thrilling. This can be a testomony to the work that went into the sport, that it might probably nonetheless keep as alluring even with round twice as a lot of a run-time.
General, the brand new gameplay is tremendously improved from not solely the unique SH2, but it surely even feels a step above its current contemporaries just like the remakes of Resident Evil and others, most probably having realized from all these different current related video games to fine-tune the expertise.
Audio/Visible
As anticipated, the audio and visible presentation right here is on the high of its class, with the groups at Bloober and Akira Yamaoka working collectively in each realms, and it feels as good as a remake might be, from a creative standpoint. The sound design is tense and oppressive all through each second of the sport the place sound is current, and the remixed/rearranged soundscape from Yamaoka is a number of the finest in current reminiscence.
The visuals, regardless of being so darkish for 75% of the sport, are gorgeous and finished in a means that allows you to sink into the world and soak up its visible splendor whereas additionally by no means feeling snug, secure, or too acquainted. That is usually the best-case situation that no different related remake has nailed fairly so effectively, particularly whereas adhering so carefully to the final aesthetics of the unique recreation.
Throughout the board, the groups have created one thing that feels wholly devoted to its supply materials from an aesthetic standpoint, whereas additionally bettering and adorning issues sufficient to the place it looks like a brand new expertise.
Controls/Efficiency
The sport controls are usually well-executed, with fight, exploration, and most different actions feeling fast and responsive. The one minor difficulty is that generally it’s obligatory to regulate the digicam to a really particular angle to select up or work together with sure gadgets. This is usually a bit irritating, particularly throughout intense moments, and it looks as if it might be simply fastened with a bit of effort. Hopefully, will probably be patched quickly.
Relating to efficiency, that is the one class the place SH2 2024 will get any type of unfavourable mark, at the least with regards to the PS5 model. Whether or not you’re working the sport on High quality or Efficiency modes, it’s by no means in a position to hold a constant framerate for very lengthy. Random choppiness and stuttering happen continuously, with it being worse in some areas than others.
There are additionally frequent points with the digicam getting caught on partitions or objects and inflicting unusual picture leaping and stuttering, which will be off-putting and trigger moments of misplaced immersion. Though these points gained’t damage the general expertise, they’re fairly noticeable all through the sport. I hope they’re patched and improved quickly.
Conclusion
The reimagined Silent Hill 2 is an expertise that really understands and honors the unique recreation. It deconstructs and rebuilds the expertise from the bottom up, creating one thing that feels acquainted but additionally like a complete new recreation.
It takes inspiration from the basic 2001 unique and incorporates the various developments made since its launch. Influences from video games like Condemned, RE, Lifeless House, The Evil Inside, Alan Wake 2, and even later Silent Hill video games are collected and honed to make one thing very recent and intensely polished.
It is probably not pushing the style ahead, however Silent Hill 2 (2024) looks like the height of what the present horror remake motion of the final 5 years can accomplish. It’s an expertise I confidently suggest to anybody on the lookout for a shining instance of what the horror style has to supply.
(9.5 / 10)
(9.5 / 10)Wonderful
