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I've lost count of how many horror games I've played in my life. Every time a great new horror title peaks around the corner I tell myself, "No more, you don't need the stress from a game," but curiosity always wins. There's just something about horror games—something that keeps you hooked. Even though such games keep you on edge the entire time, the need to discover what's next is always stronger than the fear.
That was exactly how I felt with Silent Hill 2, which, as you probably know, is a remake of the iconic psychological horror from 2001. Luckily (or unluckily), I didn't play the original back then, so my experience with Silent Hill 2 was completely fresh—I had no idea what to expect.
From reading online comments, I heard it was one of the scariest horror games ever made. I even told my editor to keep me away when the game code arrived, but fortunately, he didn’t listen so here I am, talking about my incredible experience in the foggy town of Silent Hill.
Story
The story of Silent Hill 2 can be interpreted from many perspectives, and if you try to see it straightforwardly without including your thoughts and conclusions, it might even seem too simple. But in reality, it’s anything but. The story is so deep and brilliantly written that, while playing, I often wondered: am I playing the game, or is the game playing me?
This is the kind of story that you'll have to experience multiple times to completely comprehend everything, and I must confess that I was utterly confused the first time I played the game, probably all the way to the very end when some things started to add up.
After beating the game for the first time, I decided to go for the second playthrough and then everything started to take its place—the characters, their connections, the monsters, and the town itself. This is when I started to see Silent Hill 2 with another set of eyes.
The story follows a young man called James Sunderland, who suddenly receives a letter from his late wife, inviting him to a place called Silent Hill, where she is waiting for him in their "special place."
James knows that she's dead and that the letter cannot possibly be from the love of his life, but the curiosity, remorse, and probably the feeling of guilt took the better of him, and that's where the adventures of Silent Hill 2 begin. This is, of course, just the premise of the story, without venturing into details, but the premise itself is enough to hook you immediately, not to mention all the plot twists you're about to experience during your journey through Silent Hill.
The story is masterfully told in a minimalistic style, leaving you to draw your own final conclusions. The few characters you encounter throughout the game—just four of them in total—are there either to confuse or enlighten you, depending on how you interpret their presence.
On the other hand, you'll frequently find yourself questioning—I know I did—whether these events are really happening or if they’re just manifestations of James's troubled mind. Maybe everything is part of a larger trauma he’s endured, fuelling his vivid imagination. The game leaves a lot open for interpretation, letting you piece it together and come to your own conclusions.
At the end of the day, Silent Hill 2 is a psychological horror so everything is possible. The multiple endings you can get in the game support this claim further. By completing certain steps during your playthrough, you can unlock up to eight different endings. Some can be reached during a regular playthrough, while others are only available in New Game+ mode.
Apart from that, you'll encounter some levels that are called "otherworldly," during which you'll go through the same levels but in a more chaotic state—everything will be taken by some sort of corruption, the buildings will be devastated, and everything, in general, will be more chaotic than usual.
During those levels, you won't hear James comment that he felt or experienced anything unusual, which is really strange, to be honest. Well, it could be due to his quiet nature, as James is certainly a man of few words, or perhaps it’s a reflection of his mental state, which by the time we meet him in the game has become his new normal. Either way, we won’t get a clear answer to this question—once again, the game leaves it up to you to decide for yourself.
The pinnacle of this story awaits you at the end, where the revelations hit you like a bus. I must confess I really didn't see such an end coming, but again, this, among many other things, is a testament to this game's exceptional storytelling quality.
At the end of the story section of this review, I will say just one thing. If you experienced this game earlier when the original came out, you still have a lot to discover due to multiple endings and some new story moments, but if you, like yours truly, haven't played it earlier, this game, at least when it comes to the story, will literally blow you away.
Gameplay
In essence, Silent Hill 2 is a horror game, and, of course, we all expect a horror game to scare us; at the end of the day, that's their main goal, right? Silent Hill 2 is a scary video game but one that won't scare you with cheap tricks.
Some horrors will try to jump-scare you, others will try to make you feel helpless, and some of them will even force you to run for your life, but not Silent Hill 2. This game will get under your skin and will build a scary atmosphere around you.
Everything you see and experience—the town full of fog, the monsters wandering its streets, the long walks without anything happening—will build that tension through the roof, and all the time you play the game, you'll be in a constant state of anxiety.
The game won't throw a single jumpscare at you; hell, you even have a radio that will warn you by a static voice that you're close to the monsters, but the feeling of tension when you approach them, not knowing where they are and from which corner they're about to attack, is unparalleled.
Then the darkness—oh, the darkness is beautiful, especially indoors. The hallways you play through are always poorly lit, and the flashlight you carry is the worst ever. Once you find yourself inside a big, dark space, all you can see is a small spot of light in front of you, and you can feel the darkness closing on you from the edges of the screen.
Even though you know that probably nothing will jump you, you're still scared as hell. The atmosphere this game manages to create and the way it makes the fear crawl under your skin is really unmatched; I probably shouldn't say that, but I don't remember that any other game made me feel like this ever.
Speaking of darkness, as the game progresses, it becomes more tense to the point where you'll probably go to the settings and set the brightness to the maximum because you'll see almost nothing. Make no mistake, it isn't a bad thing, not at all.
This dark setting also intensifies as James descends into the deeper levels. Once you reach a certain point in the game, James will start jumping into very deep holes, and each place he visits after jumping down will become darker. Perhaps that symbolises entering the deepest dungeons of his mind, but again, you can interpret it any way you want.
The dark setting is directly connected to the level design, which is, in my opinion, just perfect. Whether you roam the wide, foggy streets of Silent Hill or wander around apartments, an abandoned hospital, a prison, or a lakeside hotel, all the locations are designed perfectly and work towards building a creepy atmosphere.
The closed levels like the hospitals, hotels, and apartments usually have several floors and all those floors are interconnected with various shortcuts you can unlock to access some areas more easily. This design encourages exploration, and the map plays a key role in that. It’s well-designed, easily showing you where you are and where you need to go next. Plus, whenever James discovers something new—like a code or a puzzle solution—he automatically notes it on the map, making the process of exploring both easier and more engaging.
The only problem with the map is that you'll rely on it more often than you actually should. Due to the darkness, the narrowness of the hallways and rooms in general, and the feeling of horror and anxiety, you'll feel disoriented quite often, which will lead you to pull the map all the time, and sometimes it can break the immersion of the gameplay.
Speaking of exploration, this aspect of the gameplay is more than solid, with a lot of collectables you can look for scattered throughout the levels. Many of the collectables, like memos or even texts you cannot pick up; just reading them where they are, will serve to deepen the lore and provide further explanations of what's going on in that location.
The only downside to exploration is that the levels are limited—once you leave an area, you can't go back. So, if you're a completionist, you'll need to be careful not to miss anything along the way.
The other very important aspect of the gameplay is the combat, and even though it usually isn't a game-changer in horror games, in Silent Hill 2, the combat is excellent. Given that the game is very slow-paced, the combat responds in kind. At the beginning of the game, you'll get the famous plank with nails, and this weapon will serve as the main weapon for the majority of the game.
Later, you'll receive a pistol, metal pipe, shotgun, and rifle as you progress through the game, and the entire combat will be a mixture of melee attacks, dodges, and shooting. The combat reminds me a lot of modern Resident Evil games, only it is way more responsive and fluid.
The weapons you acquire and use throughout the game are fine, but it would’ve been great if the developers had allowed for upgrades, similar to the Resident Evil games or Alan Wake 2. This would have added another layer to the exploration. However, it's just a small observation and not something that significantly detracts from the overall experience.
I can't discuss weapons without mentioning the enemies. While the enemies are well-designed, unfortunately, they lack variety. You'll encounter around six or seven different types of monsters, which are repeated throughout the game. Some will attack you head-on, while others lie in wait to ambush you from the sidelines.
The bosses, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired as well. You'll encounter around five of them throughout the game, and the problem is that they all share a similar design. Bosses pose a certain amount of challenge; that's true, especially on the harder difficulty levels, but it feels like you're fighting the same boss each time the boss fight commences.
Graphics, Sounds, and Performance
As much as I was impressed with Silent Hill 2's story and atmosphere, I was equally, if not more, blown away by the visual and sound presentation. At the end of the day, you can’t create a truly immersive atmosphere if the visuals and sound aren’t up to standard, and this game delivers on both fronts.
The visual and sound design perfectly aligns with the atmosphere, leaving a lasting impression. From the very beginning, the foggy streets of Silent Hill make you uneasy just by looking at them, and you hesitate to venture further into the mist.
The game is graphically so detailed that, for example, every room inside the apartment building at the beginning of the game has something different inside. Some of them are left in a mess, some are maintained perfectly, and some will be completely empty. The developers really paid attention to the smallest detail, and it is very visible when you immerse yourself deeply into the game.
Graphically speaking, Silent Hill 2 is a true next-gen title that employs all the modern graphic tools. The PC version of the game offers a wide range of graphics settings to tweak, although I must say the game isn’t particularly demanding. I tested it on my RTX 3060, and with high settings, the game ran smoothly at over 60 FPS, which is quite impressive.
However, the PC version was only for testing since I actually played the PlayStation 5 version of the game mostly, and I must say that, at least performance-wise, Silent Hill 2 isn't the smoothest game ever on this console. Like in many other titles, you can play Silent Hill 2 in performance mode that targets 60 FPS and quality mode that prefers resolution with the cost of lower, 30 FPS.
Quality mode is okay, although I am quite disappointed because the developers decided not to include ray tracing in this mode, even though the same option exists in the PC version. However, the reflections are very well displayed, even though they are not ray-traced.
The performance mode promises 60 FPS, but as soon as you enter the larger area, or the one with more details, especially the one with the vegetation at the beginning, the game truly struggles to maintain a stable framerate. Perhaps this will be fixed with upcoming patches, but I have to inform you of the current state of the game, not after the patches.
And now the sounds and the soundtrack—probably the star that shines brightest in Silent Hill 2. As I mentioned earlier, Silent Hill 2 doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares; instead, it continuously creates an atmosphere that evokes unease and fear. Sound, particularly the music, plays a significant role in this.
The soundtrack for this game is expertly crafted, and the compositions that play in the background are truly fantastic. Thanks to the folks at Bloober Team, the Deluxe Version I received includes a separate soundtrack section. Listening to these pieces is a real pleasure, and I often let them play in the background while I was doing other things.
At times, you’ll find yourself wandering the hallways, exploring rooms, or engaging in various activities without hearing a single sound apart from your footsteps. And in such moments, even the silence can be haunting, adding to the atmosphere. Truly, everything related to the sounds in this game is a work of art.
Conclusion
I know there’s so much more I could say about this game, but if I did that, this review would go on forever. Words can’t fully capture the experience, as to truly understand Silent Hill 2, you have to play it. This game is a true masterpiece—its story will leave you breathless, the gameplay will fairly entertain you, and the atmosphere will keep you on edge the entire time.
Despite some minor performance issues that I hope will be addressed soon, this game offers a psychological horror experience that is truly one of a kind, especially if you haven't played the original Silent Hill 2. You won’t regret spending your money on this remake; I assure you, every penny will be worth it.
The Good
Deep and brilliantly written story- Engaging and atmospheric gameplay that builds tension
- Excellent level design and exploration mechanics
- Responsive and fluid combat system
- Stunning visuals
- Multiple endings
- Memorable soundtrack
The Bad
Limited variety of enemies and repetitive boss designs- Some performance issues
