In 2001, the Konami teams delivered to us Silent Hill 2. A sequel to the first opus released in 1999 on PlayStation, which took up the Lore of the license, but with a completely different story. The game will immediately enter video game history, offering a unique story that will mark an entire generation of players. Silent Hill 2 is considered to be a masterpiece and a survival horror icon.
The announcement of a remake in October 2022 was a very nice surprise. Developed by the Polish studio Bloober Team (Blair Witch, The Medium), many players experienced some restraint. Indeed, this studio has always been known for making decent games, but far from perfect. And unfortunately, the first times of communications led us to fear the worst with a game that was shaping up to be far below the original work.
Fortunately, the latest announcements seemed much more convincingallowing us to maintain a little hope. A few days before the release of the title, we were able to travel the streets of Silent Hill to discover the final version of the title. It is high time to give you our final opinion.
Welcome to Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2 is a game offering a very special story. You can embark on the adventure even if you haven’t played the first gamegiven that the story of this second episode has no connection with the first title. Only the setting and the town of Silent Hill are preserved. In this game we control James Sunderlanda young man who received a letter from his wife Mary, asking him to join her in Silent Hill.
So far, so good. The problem? It’s that Mary presumed dead for three yearsvictim of a terrible illness. James still decides to go in search of his beloved with the hope of finding her. Upon his arrival, he faced a dark city, lost in the fogwho seems affected by a terrible curse. It is the beginning of a long and perilous journey to search for Mary and understand what is happening, whatever the cost.
We will not go any further regarding the story so as not to spoil it for you. We can simply tell you that it’s the same story. This is a good first point since the narrative framework of Silent Hill 2 is unique and offers quite a few very interesting twists and plot-twists. It is a psychological horror gamewhere the elements take time to fall into place. You understand certain things as the adventure progresses and you will have to be very attentive to each dialogue and each cutscene which brings crucial narrative factors.
A remake succeeds on the graphics part, a little less on the gameplay and technique
Unlike the original game, Silent Hill 2 Remake is a project with relatively modest means. Difficult to classify it in the AAA category. However, it defends itself quite well graphically. This won’t be the biggest graphical slap you’ll take on current consoles. On the other hand, it will offer you beautiful sequences with some pretty cool effects, in the mist or in the rain with really successful lighting effects. The game is a little uneven on some pointswith sequences and parts of the city which are really successes and others a little less so.
Where it gets a little stuck is in terms of gameplay and technique. There are quite a few small bugs, which are not very annoying and which will not spoil your gaming experience, far from it, but which nevertheless remain present. Among the problems, we can note actions that will not be triggered (when you have to jump into a hole, pass through a wall), and a lot of problems retrieving an object. You will have to battle with your game camera and the location of the character to succeed in grabbing the object in question which is located on a wall or on a piece of furniture.
Apart from this, we didn’t have any big problems with crashes or concerns preventing us from progressing in the adventure. We were able to highlight some rare drops in framerates (on PS5, in performance mode), but again nothing catastrophic.
The most disturbing thing is undoubtedly the gameplay which sometimes has difficulty following. In all phases of exploration, there is nothing to say. The game is a little stiff, but nothing dramatic. On the other hand, in moments of action, the title clearly struggles to convince. Aiming is not practical, rather slow and laborious. Dodging is quite random. The character is quite heavy, making movement again complicated.
Which will inevitably cause a lot of problems and frustration given that this remake is much more action oriented with many more enemies than in the original version. And, precisely, that too is a concern.
Far too many lengths that break the rhythm
The original Silent Hill 2 from 2001 offered players a psychological horror adventure that focused everything on the atmosphere, universe and anxiety of the town of Silent Hill. This is what was the greatest strength of the game. The title was content to go straight to the point, with a good ten hours of lifespan, puzzles, few enemies and an atmosphere that made everything charm of the game.
Alas, this remake moves away quite radically from all that. It will take you on average 16 to 18 hours to reach the end, with much more action, many more enemies and a lot of lengths which will break the rhythm of the game and inflict sequences that are far too redundant.
The first few hours are really good though. We feel the unease and the unique atmosphere of the town of Silent Hill. But from the third zone of the game, this repetition effect is starting to manifest. Very quickly, we understand that many moments have been extended compared to the original game simply to increase the lifespan. You have to do the same things and the same puzzles over and over again to complete a section and move on to the next. In the end, a part that could be completed in 30 or 40 minutes becomes a 1h30 or even 2h sequence in this remake.
Even worse with the maze area being completely redone. If at first glance this seems like a good thing, we quickly realize that we have to start again three times the same thing without any purpose. In this part of the game, you do not find any documents or collectibles that serve to advance the story. You simply spend more than an hour and a half going in circles, and returning to the starting point, before being able to continue your adventure after the third attempt.
It’s a shame and this is where we see that a significant lifespan is not necessarily a good thing. It is better to have ten or eleven very satisfying hours, rather than 16 to 17 hours that are average and sometimes very unpleasant. Beyond the fact that certain sequences are far too prolonged, the latter are also invaded by enemies. All this, coupled with the laborious gameplay in the action zones, gives us a fairly indigestible result at times when we just can’t wait to get it over with.
Fortunately, the game has of passages which have been redone and which are very correctlike the boss fights which are for the most part very well thought out. A large part of the puzzles have been improved, making them more logical than in the original game. We can also discover new sequences which are, for some interesting and for others, very dispensable.
Like the original game, this Silent Hill 2 Remake offers several different endings with two new ones added to the list. To unlock all the endings, you will have to opt for a “New Game+” and collect collectibles, weapons and specific objects and also make the right choices throughout your journey. This adds very good replayability to the title.
Source: www.journaldugeek.com
