Bonded Through Trauma: Silent Hill 2 Remake review

It’s been five years since I first reviewed the original Silent Hill 2, jumping into James’s world and peeling back the layers of his covert narcissism. The story and all of what Silent Hill 2 encompasses is the feeling of finding the missing parts of you, and looking into the parts hidden away in the subconscious territory of the mind that we have shunned completely. Whether it be because it’s something abhorrently evil, or a self-inflicted pain from an outside source, when you are in Silent Hill, you are in your own hell…           Going through the remake of Silent Hill 2, originally released in 2001, three things caught my eye the most: the attention to mental health, the graphics, and the importance of dread. There are other things like the story and the audio design, but dread is by far one of the most difficult things to nail and capture in a psychological horror game successfully.  The Bloober Team, while leaving their distinguishing mark with labyrinths, akin to what they did in their previous titles, also approached the world of Silent Hill 2 with sincerity, respect, and a clear love for the project they are taking on.

The Psychology of Silent Hill 2:           During the beginning of the game I was so nervous about whether The Bloober Team was going to do Silent Hill 2 justice, or if would it be like my worst fears come to life with Resident Evil 3 Remake, I’m still not over that.  As I got further and further into the game, as my heart rate increased, and memories fled back to when I first played the original I realized that this remake was akin to the remake of Resident Evil in 2002.  The remake of Silent Hill 2 perfectly captures the characters in all their flaws and the world in all its grotesque beauty. From Angela’s abuse to James coming to terms with the fact that he’s the monster of his own making, to Eddie’s twisted humanity. Each character has been not only respected but enhanced to show just how twisted their “Silent Hill” can be.                The boss battle between Abstract Daddy and James took on an even more horrific and disturbing light, in the original Silent Hill 2 Abstract Daddy was fought in a small room with no variance in the fight, it was very cut and dry. In the remake, the boss battle is much more immersive, done in separate rooms, and there’s a space you can hide where everything goes silent. No, I’m serious, no background audio at all, if you stand still and not move James at all there is nothing, just the desperate silence that kept Angela safe. The character Laura as mischievous as she may seem, is probably one of the most human parts of Silent Hill 2 as a whole. Going towards the end of the game, getting to see the connection between her and James’s late wife Mary showed me that there is this continuous trauma bond with certain characters, Mary and Laura, James and Maria, and even Angela and James. But the most significant trauma bond is with Silent Hill itself, the place that called everyone to heal their wounds, dwell on what they’ve been through, or take their wounds head-on. The psychology and way in which this game was approached was a respectful firmness that showed us the brutality encased in trauma that these characters have experienced. I thought the characters were intense in the original, the brightness was amped up to 100% and I can see to its fullness how these characters are so beautifully constructed to make a sad, horrific story that takes on so many colors the more you experience it.           The psychology and mental health were difficult discussions to have in this game.  The psychoanalysis of James for example shows that Silent Hill isn’t a place, but a state of mind consuming him and everyone he meets. For all intents purposes, he is in a state of denial and paranoia brought on by trauma and guilt.  Throughout the game, you’ll see a nicely made bed a part of an overall chaotic surrounding, things that are calm and serene a part of one giant mess. This is a representation of how James is mentally, at some points he’s calm and wise and at others, he’s aggressive and demanding. He suffers from the guilt of killing Mary, which is why he created Pyramid Head, his own executioner.  There’s a lot of debate and theories put into play about this game, and I feel like Silent Hill, much like the town itself calls to people and they make of it what they experience.

The difference is incredible:                     The graphics and audio design were the best I’ve seen in any horror games I’ve played. The Bloober Team put everything into this remake and made it one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had as a gamer. The audio created a sense of dread and fear within the environment that made the entire experience true to the nature of what Silent Hill 2 was in the original and what Silent Hill in general encompasses.  Jumpscares build a preemptive goal in games, I’m not going to get scared I’ll “beat” said Jumpscare.  It’s become somewhat of a competition within oneself that the game can’t make you scared if you’re one step ahead of it. I’m here to tell you there is no competition with yourself when it comes to the jumpscares within this remake. Much like James, if I’m numb and don't show how I feel then nothing can hurt me.            I would consider myself fairly desensitized to horror and how this game triggered my flight or fight was something to behold.  The labyrinth section while the first one was a bit lackluster, the remaining two demonstrates elegantly horrific area design and a sound design that creaks through and breaks the fourth wall, making me actually think there is something outside of my headphones waiting for me.  From 2001 to 2024:           The way the mechanics were redone in this remake had ups and downs especially when it came to the dodging and healing mechanic.  Keeping the camera over the shoulder in the same vein as Resident Evil 4, for example, was a smart move and made the experience overall more immersive.  The camera being attached to the ceiling in the original Silent Hill felt like I was on a mission impossible, fun, but not practical. While it was incredible to see how new mechanics warmly embrace Silent Hill 2 remake, some things felt both buggy and stiff in my experience playing the game. The healing mechanic and the dodge mechanic felt off, dodging felt very slow, like I was wading through water, but during the boss battles it would be a mix of good and slow. When I would heal James at certain points (it didn’t matter if it was the bottle or the syringe) it wouldn’t heal him. The mechanics besides that were very well done and easy to pick up throughout the game. I played the entirety of this game on PS5 and some of it on PC, and the difference was substantial. On PS5 the game was smooth with a few graphical hiccups but nothing too major to worry over, or that could become an issue down the road. As I stated previously, the main issue was with the dodging and the healing at times. Now if you're on PC it's a different story entirely. If you have a beefy PC, then you'll be fine when running this game but since I'm getting to the point where I might have to upgrade something soon I ran into a few hiccups. Mind you the graphics card I'm running with is a G-force RTX 3060, so by no means is the quality (when the game wanted to behave) slow or bad but there are a few things to mention. The PC version took me by surprise positively at how smooth it ran, and how it connected seamlessly to my PS5 controller. I went between utilizing the controller and mouse & keyboard, and both ran beautifully. Part of me loved how the graphics looked more so on my PC than on the PS5, something about it felt and appeared different. Now when you're utilizing different headsets the audio will be different, for the PS5 version I used my Razer headset, and with the PC version I used my Logitech headset, both sounded fantastic but I loved the sound quality from the Logitech/PC version better, it sounded more realistic. Now, the main issue I have with the PC version of Silent Hill 2 remake is that it crashed multiple times, and on one occasion gave me a blue screen. So keep that in mind if you plan to get this on PC there is a chance of that happening. I know it won't be for everyone but check your settings, and make sure other applications are closed before you play (unless you're recording the footage at the same time too with OBS).

In my restless dreams, I see that town:             If you love horror games and heavy-duty puzzles with a slow buildup establishing characters then you’re going to love this game. A lot of puzzles may not be for everyone, so if you want to try this game and don’t want to have too intense of a puzzle experience, turn the puzzle difficulty on light mode.  I’ll be honest, not everyone will enjoy the pacing of this game, be it the original or the remake.  I would recommend watching a no commentary play-through for the first 30 minutes to an hour if you don’t mind spoilers to see if it’s something you’d not only invest your time in but your money.       Much like Death Stranding in how every character has a beach, every person has their own Silent Hill.   From Pyramid Head getting a more significant role making the game more psychologically intense, to the endless Easter eggs that The Bloober Team provided players, Silent Hill 2 Remake showed the gaming industry how a remake is done. There were no cutting corners,  the soul of what made the original what it was stayed intact, and there were new things added that respected the original.