23 Years Later, ‘Silent Hill 2’ Is Still Scary As Hell

When Capcom released its reimagining of Resident Evil 2 in 2019, it was lauded as one of the best horror games ever made. Since then, it’s been the blueprint for other studios to follow for their (many) remakes. Some were successful, like EA’s Dead Space (2023), which kept just enough of its source material’s DNA intact while updating its combat. Others flopped, like THQ Nordic’s Alone in the Dark (2024), which attempted to completely overhaul an outdated 1992 game, but failed to deliver the level of terror of its modern peers.

Now, Konami and Bloober Team have banded together to remake the fog-filled horror classic, 2001’s Silent Hill 2. Expectations are high, especially since this is the first fully-fledged Silent Hill game since the canceled PT in 2014. Earlier this year, the head of Bloober Team told Rolling Stone that he hoped fans would give them a chance, and it appears that the developers have earned it, managing to pull off a reimagining worth playing. 

Its haunting atmosphere and audio design will leave you constantly on edge, and levels are masterfully crafted to feel claustrophobic and trapped. Although it’s not without problems, as the game’s runtime of nearly 15 hours feels bloated, with unnecessary backtracking at parts and a general lack of variety in enemy type and weapon options to shake things up.

Silent Hill 2 follows James Sunderland, a plain and unremarkable company clerk, who receives a letter from his supposedly dead wife of three years, saying that she’s waiting for him in the town of Silent Hill. Of course, like any great horror protagonist, James decides to leap head first into the mystery despite common-sense reservations.

Throughout his journey, James stumbles upon other people with dark pasts, including a young teenage girl named Angela and a kid named Eddie, all of whom were drawn to Silent Hill and are looking for a way to escape their trauma. Throughout its narrative, Silent Hill 2 touches upon themes of mental health and abuse tactfully, as James’ character growth allows him to confront his demons and accept the consequences of his own actions. Bloober Team was criticized for its depictions of similar themes with its previous big release, 2021’s The Medium, with its bleak ending that implies trauma simply can’t be overcome. By sticking so faithfully to the original Silent Hill’s vision, which was highly celebrated at release, Bloober Team is able to avoid these pitfalls this time around by sticking to the script of an already stellar game.

Silent Hill 2’s level design feels suffocating, both inside and outside. Despite the town’s relatively wide roads, the dense fog obscures vision, leaving players wondering what’s hiding up ahead while they explore. There are little shops to peruse through, sometimes hiding precious ammo and healing items, making it rewarding to snoop around. But where this remake really shines is in its indoor locations like the Woodside Apartments and Brookhaven Hospital.

These indoor levels feel much more in line with what players would expect from a remake, similar to Resident Evil 2’s with fully 3D roaming cameras instead of fixed ones like their originals did. Fixed camera angles were a byproduct of hardware limitations at the time of their release, but it allowed developers to heighten the horror experience by adding in elements like surprise attacks from monsters offscreen. 

That’s now been replaced with realistic graphical fidelity. The modern visuals makes the walls look disgusting and decrepit, which made it all the more captivating. There’s worn-out wood in every corner, and you’re bound to find a body in a bathtub filled with blood on more than one occasion. Everything around James looks like it’s dying. Even with James’ flashlight, interiors are consistently dark, obscuring the monstrous threads that loom at every turn. Combined with tight corridors and hallways, it makes for a frightening experience. Running into undiscovered rooms sometimes provided a sense of reprieve and escape from enemies, but there’s always a chance that it could be locked, or there’s another monster right inside.  

Outside of slowly inching through the darkness and fog, fending off gore-soaked ghouls along the way, James will also have to solve puzzles to progress. They are surprisingly engaging, pushing players to move weights around to balance a scale or interpreting poems to open up cabinets. The puzzles strike the perfect balance between mental stimulation and challenge, without becoming too easy or repetitive.

The game’s incredible audio design also really adds to the immersion. Every time a monster approaches, James’ radio emits static, eerily alerting the player that a threat draws near. It’s reminiscent of how the enemies in 2013’s The Last of Us let clued players in on their whereabouts with subtle clicking noises moving around three dimensional space. While it may seem like cheating to know if a monster is close, another layer of tension is added through crawling bugs, called Creepers, that also trigger the radio, and serve as a harmless distraction. But you’ll never know which is which.

Unfortunately, there’s an overall lack of enemy variety, with only five different types throughout the entire game. There are a few differences to the way some monsters act later in the game. The most common monster, Lying Figures, can explode after being defeated, potentially hurting James even after their deaths. The Mannequin, which likes to hide in corners and launch surprise attacks, can also crawl on walls and jump from ceilings later on which makes for a formidable encounter each and every time. However, even with these additions, it still doesn’t feel like enough to break the monotony that sets in after felling dozens of creatures throughout the lengthy campaign.

The weapon variety isn’t up to snuff either. On the first playthrough, James’ arsenal is limited to a melee weapon, pistol, shotgun, and rifle, with no options to upgrade any of them for more fire power or faster reload speed. While this is more in line with the original, it would’ve been nice to have some more modern mechanics to make combat more dynamic. In games like Resident Evil 2 (2019), The Last of Us: Part I (2022), and Dead Space (2023), upgrades are a form of character progression, which makes the player feel stronger throughout the journey. Without those in Silent Hill 2, James feels stagnant from a gameplay perspective.

On top of the lack of upgrades, defeating monsters doesn’t provide any rewards, such as extra ammo or health items. Running away and avoiding them is frankly the best strategy, but the way monsters are positioned regularly forces James to fight them, even as resources dwindle. Defeating enemies does make backtracking much more manageable, however, as most monsters stay dead, very rarely respawning over time. These issues are compounded by the remake’s expansion on existing locations from the original such as the South Vale map, with the extra real estate to traverse making the monster and weapon issues felt much more noticeable. The constant backtracking makes combat stale after a while.

Thankfully, the PS5’s excellent DualSense controller features and haptic feedback helps alleviate some of the repetitiveness. It’s never tiring to feel the heavy recoil and tension of the adaptive triggers from James’ shotgun, or the satisfying and impactful crunch from his melee weapon. Silent Hill 2 also provides a plethora of fantastic accessibility settings, such as colorblind modes and a personal favorite, high-contrast mode, which makes finding collectibles and items much easier in the dark.

After the first playthrough, Silent Hill 2 also offers a suite  of incentives to go after in subsequent runs. Aside from cleaning up requirements to unlock achievements, there’s also a New Game Plus, which gives access to additional items as well as newly added endings that weren’t in the original, newly created to give the remake’s narrative extra punch for series veterans

Silent Hill 2 was lauded by critics as a horror game staple when it was launched in 2001, and Bloober Team managed to recreate a faithful rendition of the now-dated game for the modern age. In some instances, however, staying so close to the original vision is to its detriment. Bloober Team nailed the chilling environments and oppressive level design, but what if they had taken some more creative liberties? With a few gameplay and combat additions, this solid remake could’ve been even better. 

Silent Hill 2 launches for the PlayStation 5 and PC on Oct. 8.