KingReview

Silent Hill 2 Remake has arrived and it is a masterpiece. For me, the game undeniably surpasses the experience of the original but of course, this is only because it stands on the shoulders of the 2001 game that redefined psychological survival horror. Today, as in 2001. Silent Hill 2 sets the standard with a deeply personal, emotional journey into the depths of an unraveling psyche facing its inner demons. The first 4 Silent hills are all great however SH2 is able to shine on its own as a different game. It stays with you, it makes you question reality. The atmosphere, the mood, the characters, the audio, and the locations all tell the real story. Combat is better here than the 1st one with an over the shoulder view and a dodge mechanic that makes combat feel more in control and tactical but bloober was clearly careful to balance it out and set up encounters to feel overwhelming since at no time do you feel overpowered vs even the most basic enemy. Even the little insect enemies will have you spinning in circles to find them before they attack you. The graphics are insane. They look very lifelike at times and playing the game in the dark with headphones will have you looking at the real world differently for a few minutes when you stop. Audio: this is one of the best aspects of both the original and the remake and a great example of how the original composer stood on his own shoulders to perfect it. Creaks, grinds, thus, and heavy breathing will all have you looking behind you and around and truly immerse you in the settings. Acting: the voice acting is much better than the original. While the acting in the original never took away from the atmosphere, the acting here adds to it. I have no desire to skip any cut scene so I can relish in the emotional turmoil of the nuanced delivery from each actor. Locations: beautifully and faithfully recreated and enhanced. The 20+ years of technical advancements add so much here. The first time you step into the otherworld in the apartments feels like a nightmare. I remember when I played the original back in 2001 the sense of relief when you escape the apartments and the previously eerie, unsettling and surreal but foggy silent hill suddenly feels like an oasis of safety. That feeling is magnified here and it's fantastic they kept that intact and enhanced it. The pacing, the encounters, it's all excellent and it delivers everything you would hope from a remaster of what is arguably the greatest survival horror and definitely the greatest psychological horror game of all time. So, is there anything that could be better? Yes, but they are fairly minor. While the standard difficulty is fine for an experienced gamer at the beginning, it becomes pretty easy if you have excelled at over the shoulder survival horror before. I found that by the time I got to the hospital, combat had lost most of the challenge and i had a large stockpile of ammo and health items. That being said, the atmosphere is not diminished by this amd the enemies are still atmospheric and frightening since encounters are so well set up and the audio, graphics, and art direction are so good. You still may want to play on standard even knowing this since everyone knows the game is really not meant to be an overly challenging combat experience. Standard combat easily delivers the scariness that it is there for. Where you might want to increase the difficulty is the puzzles. You cannot adjust the puzzle difficulty once you have started a new game. Part way through the apartments the puzzles were all feeling too easy and straightforward. They were enjoyable and the game was still fantastic with atmosphere fully intact but if you want a challenging puzzle experience like I did, you may want to consider increasing the difficulty. DEI controversy is overblown. Like most gamers hell like most of the general population I am sick of the modern day puritans (aka SJWs) expecting society to adhere to greater and greater degrees of political correctness that of course is determined by them. I really hate how far left "progressives" took a socially evolving society and decided they should be the ones to get credit and tried to create a culture of a sterile society based on pulling down the traditional values of success to replace them with victim worship and their own racist/sexist/ideological biases. That being said, there are no real problems here. Some people complained about Maria changes as being another example of western IP falling victim to DEI ****. It really isn't. The new outfit is quite appropriate for the character and yes it may be a bit hypocritical to make Maria have a more masculine jawline while james looks like a male model but she looks quite in tune with the original character. During regular gameplay maria looks very feminine and again, the outfit is very appropriate and I think the change is fitting. Don't let the haters scare you, nothing here detracts from the game.