Silent Hill 2 is considered by many to be one of the finest examples of interactive horror, and even to this day it is considered one of the absolute giants of the genre, setting trends in the years following its original launch on PlayStation 2 in 2001. I might as well raise the white flag right from the start and admit that because I was only nine years old at the time, and wouldn't toughen up enough to experience solid horror games until well into my 20s, I never experienced the original game.
Therefore, this review will, in part if nothing else, also have to be a critical assessment of Silent Hill 2 as a modern horror game and whether it satisfactorily functions both as a celebration of the original, but also as a modern, cohesive, distinct work for those of us who... well, just like the genre conventions.
First and foremost, it's worth noting that Bloober Team has clearly gone all out here. Despite a few inelegant animations here and there, Silent Hill 2 Remake is a technically polished gaming experience that, after the introduction of an update halfway through the review window, removed virtually all remaining technical anchors, and the game has run at a rather silky smooth, high frame-rate with both beautiful and polished graphics that really stand out as Bloober's most complete visual experience to date. There are a few moments where specific artistic choices jar, such as slightly upbeat music during rather dark cutscenes, but it may well be that the studio is trapped by the artistic framework of the original.
Silent Hill 2 Remake is endlessly beautiful to look at most of the time, and the voice acting is more than satisfactory in almost every scene. What they say isn't always tantalising, but again, Bloober seems to have stayed pretty faithful to the source material, because even though they remix elements for the sake of pacing, pretty much the entire plot seems to be heavily inspired by the story that took place back in 2001. That's for better or worse, especially if there are parts of the actual, original Silent Hill 2 narrative that don't resonate as deeply as hoped, and more on that later, but the game is well put together - no doubt about it.
Silent Hill 2 centres on James Sunderland, who receives a mysterious letter from his late wife Mary, who lost her battle with a serious illness three years earlier. In the enigmatic letter, she lures him to Silent Hill, where they apparently spent a holiday together, and in the hope that Mary is somehow magically alive, he goes to Silent Hill and steps through the fog into a nightmarish scenario where almost all the residents are gone, monsters roam the streets and the enigmatic and iconic Pyramid Head is also waiting in the dark.
Whereas the original Silent Hill made a virtue of establishing relatively early on that Silent Hill is a physical place, anchored by a certain kind of internal logic and where the characters react collectively to an external threat, Silent Hill 2 is far more introspective, personal and allegorical in its narrative nature, something that I think really divides players. For me, it became increasingly unnatural that the setting itself is actually just a platform for James' confrontation with inner demons, with even the physical threats becoming an extension of the allegory instead of... well, monsters. As the game progresses, it becomes less and less about a physical place where mysterious, horrific events have occurred that could provide the framework for unravelling why things are the way they are, and instead it centres itself as a kind of cavalcade of dream-like scenarios where one incomplete explanation takes over from another in an attempt to say something bigger, something broader than a classic escape-this-scenario narrative could support. It's brave, and the game does have something to say about some pretty serious topics, which plays well with the almost metaphysical and gruesome. But does it work as an incentive to push the player forward? Well, I have my doubts, and without spoiling anything or getting too hung up on criticising one of Silent Hill 2's central concepts, it didn't work for me, and as we approached the 16th hour of Silent Hill 2 Remake, I felt no connection to James, those he meets along the way, or any need to further explore the city's colourful history. It all just felt too ephemeral, too insignificant, a bit like when characters wake up and realise that everything was "just a dream" after all. Playing Silent Hill 2 is a bit like that. It's all just a dream, and because it's all a dream, there is no beginning, middle or end.
If you're a fan of allegorical storytelling yourself, these relatively in-depth themes will give you something that few other mainstream games dare, but for me, I feel that the story loses something quite essential by going for it. It loses the unique connection to what makes Silent Hill so unique.
But again, this is dictated by the original game, which many still love and respect by the way, so I think you can probably overlook the central appeal and enjoy a remake that really makes Silent Hill 2 look both modern and mechanically tight.
It must be said, however, that while Bloober has really nailed it, there are still aspects of the more structural, pragmatic gameplay that could have used a little more optimisation. No, the battles aren't nearly as bad as the original "Combat Trailer" made them look, and as soon as you find firearms, pretty solid, satisfying mechanics take the place of the more clunky melee animations. This doesn't help the bosses, however, who really don't manage to act as terrifying conclusions to a suspenseful chapter, but boring, incomplete "meatsacks" with no personality or function.
Overall, there are too few enemy types to justify the 16+ hour playthrough, and at times even a more omnipresent threat is missing. Sure, a few of the enemies that are included are pretty smart, crawling on walls or trying to camouflage themselves to attack you from behind, but the majority are introduced after a few hours and there aren't really any new ones. Fortunately, the game's puzzles are quite ingenious and solving them in stages is satisfying all the way through, even if the game doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel.
It's been a great pleasure for me personally to experience one of the modern classics that are considered seminal to the conventions of the genre, and I have to applaud much of Bloober Team's work here. That doesn't change the fact that there are aspects of Silent Hill 2's foundation that appear slightly shaky to me, and your immersion and enjoyment will be dictated by how forgiving you are of a story that becomes a little too thin as the game progresses. That said, this is undoubtedly a love letter to the original, and respect for that.