Warning: This review goes into spoiler territory!
The Spoiler Free bit:
I know a lot of us are suffering from ‘Remake Fatigue’ and are getting tired of games getting unnecessary remakes that really don’t add much to the game (I’m looking at you, Until Dawn. That new secret ending wasn’t worth it in my opinion), but when the news came out that Bloober Team of all people were tied to the remake of Silent Hill 2, it got a LOT of people interested.
For those who are unfamiliar, Bloober Team are best known for developing some of the most iconic horror games in the last ten years, with titles such as Layers of Fear (2016), Observer (2017), Blair Witch (2019) and The Medium (2021) under their belt. In 2021, Bloober Team and Konami announced that they would be partnering together to ‘jointly share technology and game development towards video game titles’, and in late 2022, the Silent Hill 2 remake was officially announced, with Bloober Team tied as developers. On the 8th of October 2024, the game was officially released, hitting a whopping one million copies sold within four days of its release.
Silent Hill 2 gained its rightful place as one of the most influential horror games of all time all the way back in 2001 when it was first released on the PlayStation 2, giving inspiration to an entire generation of horror games that would try and follow in its foggy footsteps.
Because the story of Silent Hill 2 shares a separate story from that of the first game, this is a great starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toes into the franchise who might not have had the chance at the games original release, or for those who might be turned off by old-school graphics.
(If you’re the second, I promise that you’ve missed out on some of the best games of all time. Graphics < Story)
Anyone who might have been turned off by the original games fixed camera angles and tank controls can cast their worries aside, as the remake has opted for a manually controlled over-the-shoulder camera, meaning you can navigate through the dark, foggy streets of Silent Hill with ease.
If you’ve been considering giving the franchise a go, or just exploring this game as a standalone psychological experience, I highly recommend it. The remake has an additional near ten hours of content, with character stories being more deeply explored, and more time to simply soak in the amazing story that Silent Hill 2 has to tell.
Now on with the spoilers!
In Silent Hill 2, you take control of James Sunderland (voiced in the remake by (Luke Roberts) who receives a mysterious letter from his wife Mary (Salóme Gunnarsdóttir), inviting him back to the town of Silent Hill, a place they supposedly shared fond memories of. The reason the letter is so mysterious, is because we learn Mary had died of an illness three years prior. We assist James in his exploration of the town as he searches for a possibly not dead Mary and help him to survive the inhabitants of the town who are all shambling, grotesque monsters.
Along the way, we meet an interesting cast of characters who are all just as lost in Silent Hill as James finds himself to be, with each of them appearing to be here for different reasons.
We find out through talking to our rag-tag cast of equally confused and concerned characters that each of them are experiencing a different, personalized version of Silent Hill. One that takes their own personal trauma’s and twists them into confronting amalgamations.
A lot has changed about these characters in the remake, being remodeled and re-voiced as well.
(TW: Sexual Assault)
Angela, who is the first character you come across as you enter Silent Hill, is changed not only in her appearance and voice (She looks like a traumatized teenager in the remake, like she’s supposed to), but also in her ‘final fight’ which sees James taking on the Abstract Daddy, a grotesque physical embodiment of Angela’s own trauma at the hands of her father.
Angela in the original vs. the remake
He appears as a creature whose body has been mashed into a bedframe, hovering above another lifeless figure attached to the same bed. This fight is significantly longer with James having to navigate an elaborate labyrinth of Angelas own home, destroying TV’s that spill vulgar and abusive words through the static in the voice of her father.
Gianna Kiehl does a phenomenal job voicing Angela in the remake, and her talent truly shines during the infamous scene where Angela states to James, “You could force me, just like he always did”, truly confirming the heartbreaking reality of the extent of Angela’s torment. Watching Angela let out her anger and sadness on
the Abstract Daddy after James defeats it is even more satisfying after a longer and more thought-out fight and the remake does so much more for Angela as a character. Her segments are even more harrowing, but they add a new dimension to her character that makes her feel even more real.
Maria in the original vs. the remake
Maria, (also voiced by Salóme Gunnarsdóttir) who is arguably the most important character to James throughout the game, has also been changed quite a lot. Visually she looks different, as do all the characters since the game was basically remade from the ground up. Her outfit is different too, much to the disappointment of many fans who personally preferred her original outfit which is strongly believed to be based on Cristina Aguilera’s outfit from her appearance at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards. In the remake she instead wears a black dress and red jacket, in place of her mid-riff exposing cardigan and leopard print skirt. She still sports her signature butterfly tattoo, but on her chest now instead of her hip.
It is a widely believed theory that Maria isn’t real, and is a manifestation of James’ detest towards his wife Mary, as Maria is a physical embodiment of everything he wishes Mary was. She's physically identical to Mary and shares her voice, but Maria is also flirtatious and openly sexual in nature like James desperately wanted from Mary (as are a lot of the creatures that pursue James throughout the game) and in the end she’s killed by Pyramid Head several times over as a reminder of what James had done to his wife.
But what had he done?
We find out through our playthrough of the game that James’ search for Mary is futile. There is no possibility of her being in this town, it’s not possible that she recovered from her illness and made her way to Silent Hill. The reason we know this, is because James admits in a conversation with Laura, a young girl who was supposedly friends with Mary, that he killed her. Laura has in her possession a letter from Mary that states their friendship as having started one year ago, meaning Mary couldn’t have died three years prior. We learn through information gathered during our time with the game, that it’s likely Mary’s death had only occurred days prior, and that James had come to Silent Hill with the intention of taking his own life.
James in the original vs. the remake
There are eight different endings you can achieve which depend on certain variables throughout the game. Five of these are only achievable in New Game Plus runs (including two endings that are unique to the remake), which require a bit of a scavenger hunt for specific items, but the other three are all tied to James’ personal feelings towards himself and the overall situation he’s found himself in. The number of times you heal, the amount you interact with (or don’t interact with) or examine certain objects such as Mary’s photo, can change the outcome of the ending you’ll receive.
If you’re keen to check out all the changes and enjoy the Silent Hill 2 experience all over again but even better, you can find the Silent Hill 2 Remake on Steam. It’s also available on the PlayStation 5.
The remake of Konami’s Silent Hill 2 by Blooper Team comes at a time where remakes and remasters are at an all time high, and lot of them have felt unnecessary and unfulfilling. Silent Hill 2, however, is a breath of fresh (but foggy) air right when we needed it most. With additional content, a new and comfortable camera and control scheme, paired with original composer Akira Yamaoka’s wonderfully haunting score, this is a remake that is worth playing.
I rate the Silent Hill 2 Remake: They made Pyramid Head even sexier out of 5.
So sexy.
Pyramid head is sexy/10.