The original Silent Hill 2 is a horror classic. In terms of aesthetic and psychological intrigue, not only was it groundbreaking when it came out, but you could argue that it inspired an entire generation of horror games. There's just one problem: it is tough to play the 2001 version at its best quality without a bunch of workarounds. HD re-releases of the original threeSilent Hill games are broken in some ways, leading the original copies of the games to rise in price. Honestly, this franchise has needed the remake treatment for some time. While I'd guess Silent Hill 2 was selected out of the original trilogy due to it being more marketable with characters like Pyramid Head, I was open to the idea of creating a remake that could highlight the appeal of this amazing game in a modern setting. After the initial announcement and early trailers, a lot of people had reservations. Konami's track record with how they treat their legacy properties and developer Blooper Team's résumé also weren't inspiring a lot of confidence. However, I can effectively say that this is an excellent recreation with even some improvement on the original game.

Silent Hill 2 follows James Sunderland, everyone's favorite depressed white man, as he visits the fog-encased town of Silent Hill, where the line is blurred a bit between what's real and what isn't, be it the town or the people drawn to it. It's impossible to go into the specifics of the narrative without spoiling many significant plot points. People have made video essays breaking down the intricate complexities of this game with good reason. I played the original for the first time just a few months ago. With that game still fresh in my mind, I was curious to see how this remake would pay respect to not just the complexities of the narrative but the heavy subject matter that permeates it.

I would argue the original Silent Hill 2 succeeded because it properly made use of all of the limitations of the medium at the time. The town is riddled with fog to help the game load better, the voice acting is a little bit awkward, and the game has a low graphical fidelity. However, that fog created a unique atmosphere, the awkward voice acting made the characters feel realistically damaged, and the lack of visual clarity made it easy for players to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks. Given that we're now talking about an HD AAA game, how does the Silent Hill 2 remake recreate these iconic staples without the limitations? The answer is that they take advantage of the graphical leap to fully highlight the major aspects that made the original game so disturbing.

Enemies are more detailed this time but move so erratically that it's almost hard to fully get a good look at them. The game tricks your senses by having the creatures hide away or stay idle, almost as if they are afraid of you. They attack in particular ways that are specific to their designs instead of just slamming into them like the original did, and there are even subtle audio overlaps that can act as hints to the larger implication of what these monsters represent in the narrative. These are aspects that you're not going to get right away when you play the game, but when you finish it and go through the new game plus mode, maybe you'll start to notice these details, like how the nurse creatures make feminine moaning sounds as you beat them with you steel pipe.

Admittedly, the environments are a bit boring, and I wish more were done with the environmental design to emphasize its twisted, nightmarish nature. However, while the environment lacks detail, the game makes up for it with strong, cinematic directing and superb character acting. The original Silent Hill 2 had the characters act like they were walking in a haze, not fully comprehending what was happening. The remake is more indicative of “normal” people who pretend they have everything together, but as the game goes on, you start to see their behaviors unravel after spending more and more time in this town. James starts off sounding like just a regular confused dude; his voice begins to sound wistful as he wonders why he's in this town in the first place. Characters like Angela seem put together, if not a little reasonably startled. Then you begin to hear more of the loneliness and desperation in her voice as she has trouble finding the mother that she's looking for.

Many of the cinematics are longer here than in the original, and the enhanced graphical fidelity allows the character's facial animations to be much more expressive. The fear and anxiety in their faces almost come off as subtle but still noticeable. Playing this on PS5, I could switch between graphics or performance mode. Performance mode definitely helps the game run at its smoothest frame rate, with some lost details. Graphics mode makes everything look nicer, but there are moments when the frame rate dips with some graphical pop-in. Thankfully, I didn't feel like the game was harder due to any optimization issues.

Everything about this game is longer, as it is roughly double the length of the original. While the general layout for the game is similar, there's a lot more stuff to do. The original Silent Hill 2 would have puzzles and necessary items that need to be found to progress the story. In the remake, there are many more puzzles and items to find. You might enter and realize that you need to solve three separate puzzles to solve one, which gives you a key to unlock another puzzle before you can move on to the next narrative point. I would call this padding if I didn't find the puzzles so genuinely engaging. Many rely on careful observation of the environment, while others rely on simple wordplay. I admit that some puzzles in this game are a little obtuse, but I also don't want them dumbed down.

You're always doing something in Silent Hill 2 that keeps the pace relatively steady, so it never drags even if you spend roughly double the time here as you would in the original. The only time things feel monotonous is when the game throws a bunch of enemies at you, and you hit a point where survival is difficult. James is not Leon Kennedy, despite the more refined and fun combat system. You are a brittle human being who will go down with three solid hits from the weakest of enemies. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes the game can be a little cheap with how it racks up the damage. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that on standard difficulty, the checkpoint system is based on when you last saved the game. I could be in the middle of an incredibly long puzzle far away enough from the last save point for me to think, “Oh, I could probably finish this without much issue.” But then I die and am forced to reacquire all the items I just found while running through the same boring hallways. I could understand this being the case for the hardest difficulty, but for the standard one, it did feel like a little bit much. A more forgiving checkpoint system would've helped keep up the game's sense of flow.

The remake could have improved upon its use of music and audio. There is some great attention to detail here with the audio, like the Nurse example I mentioned earlier or the use of a particular music track to punctuate a scene. However, I feel that, more than the original, this remake relies on a lot of ambiance and a lack of music to create an atmosphere. This is usually fine, but considering how long the game is and how often you will be running back and forth to solve puzzles, I think a bit more variety would've helped things feel a bit more involved. When you're at specific locations like the hospital, there are subtle drowning noises and the occasional audio sting to help keep you on your toes. But outside of those iconic locations, it's silent unless you're in the presence of enemies. This is a shame because a lot of the recreations of the music from the original soundtrack are fantastic. I just wish their implementation in the remake was a bit stronger.

That said, I can confidently say that you probably don't need to go back and play the original if you went through this remake as a casual horror fan. It still holds up in terms of a psychological horror experience. But when it comes to updating that game for a modern audience while also retaining a lot of what made it so special in the first place, I have to tip my hat to the staff behind the remake. They addressed many of my fears early on while also delivering a fun gameplay experience that paid proper respect to what came before. Hell, I would put this remake on the same level as some of the more recent, well-renowned remakes like Resident Evil. What a time to be alive as a fan of retro video games.