He silent hill 2 The remake has exceeded our expectations, emerging as a victory for Konami and Bloober Team and a fitting modern revival of a highly influential cult classic horror game. With my colleague Kazuma review As the only real frame of reference for the full remake, I entered Silent Hill, happy as a clam. That joyful calm did not last long. The atmosphere and the ghosts (especially those damn mannequins) of Silent Hill 2 Remake It really affected me, despite how easy it is for James to eliminate the town’s supernatural inhabitants.

This is one of those “No, Stephanie, it’s just you” moments, but for a long time I was under the impression that the clunky controls in old horror games were a deliberate choice by the developers. That part of the fear comes from how difficult it is to maneuver your way out of dangerous situations and fight or escape horrible enemies. That was the idea I had after playing. resident Evil A long time ago, I was on the PlayStation and gave up out of frustration because my six-year-old brain couldn’t understand the puzzles, the English, or the controls.

Well, it turns out no, Capcom didn’t make resident Evil difficult to handle on purpose, nor resident Evil only. Tank controls were just one normal part of life for games, and all the other PlayStation games I played simply didn’t have them. However, other horror games I played added to this narrative I was forming in my head. When I played the fatal frame games and I felt like the girls were a little clumsy, I figured that would add to the tension. The same with him Siren games. Horror games are bad because they accentuate fear. That’s the way it is, I thought. Nothing really challenged this worldview either, so I spent a good two decades thinking about it.

Fast forward from 2001 to 2024. Bloober Team and Konami unveiled the poorly received combat trailer for silent hill 2 Remake with the camera on James’ shoulder. He’s not too bad at first, but then we see him tear through crowds of iconic enemies with a variety of melee weapons and firearms. There’s very little of the oppressive, solemn atmosphere that made it such a beloved horror game.

Looking back at this, music is probably the biggest factor in why people he reacted so badly to that back then. It sounds like something you’d hear in a trailer for something more generic and action-focused. James uses all of these weapons in the original game, so rifles and shotguns aren’t new. However, combat is the most important thing. From a marketing standpoint, I understand the decision to make a combat trailer to show the differences between the remake and the original. I also understand the use of exciting music for these types of sequences. But considering the emphasis on psychological horror, something milder might have worked better.

I was in the camp and felt very worried about the remake after seeing this trailer. Bloober Team said that they really didn’t agree with the way Konami was marketing and that it did help, but the record It didn’t look very good overall. I was still convinced that for maximum levels of horror, a horror game shouldn’t seem too good or easy to control, and the silent hill 2 The remake was starting to feel too polished for me. It reminded me a lot of the last of us and Resident Evil 2 Remake—Perfectly good and great games, but very different from what silent hill 2 he started to do.

Fears among the community dissipated after his release, as silent hill 2 launched to very favorable reviews. The vast majority of people loved it. Team Bloober did it. It was an absolute home run. I excitedly installed my copy of the game and launched it, and the opening hooked me and made me forget all my doubts about the game. Fighting off the occasional lying figure while exploring the foggy streets wasn’t so bad. Wood Side Apartments started to get a little scary thanks to the claustrophobic hallways and infuriating mannequins, but it was okay. Bluecreek Apartments? Creepy, but still okay. I was patting myself on the back while mentally apologizing to Bloober Team as I wandered around and looked at the titular city.

And then I arrived at Brookhaven Hospital. Oh my gosh, I made it to Brookhaven Hospital. In full disclosure, I got the game when it came out and it took me basically a month to finish because I really had to psych myself up to get through it from this point. It didn’t matter that I had over a hundred bullets for my pistol and a good aim as a third-person shooter. It didn’t even matter that I was following guides While playing I didn’t miss out on collectibles, which meant I knew exactly where the enemies were and when they would appear. Of course, the lack of confusion or trial and error, leading to frustration, was the likely reason why fear was at the forefront of my mind. It was difficult to continue being afraid of, say, the Shibito in Siren After all, when he was most irritated with them.

The other world in silent hill It’s always been a nasty place, with all the walls stained with blood and rust and stuff. It’s rude, disgusting, macabre… Any synonym for those words or general feeling is an excellent and accurate way to describe it. I did No I remember feeling so scared or nervous wandering around the aforementioned areas in the past. Maybe it was because the original had a more distant camera angle, or maybe it was because I did it in turns with friends (meaning I was only in control of a fraction of the playtime).

It’s really impressive that I was scared in the silent hill 2 remake for basically the entire trip. Yo know that I can destroy any enemy that comes my way in Standard. But that didn’t calm my nerves at all. Chris “Genuine Gorilla“Redfield of Resident Evil 5 could have been the playable character, and probably still I would have had trouble getting through most of the game. The design of the environment is phenomenal. Almost all places in the game are dark, narrow and dirty. However, each explorable room or hallway is short enough that it’s difficult to get used to. There’s always a new place to explore, full of chances for static to start and a monster to jump out at you.

And that’s where I think the real horror of the game comes from: the sound design. It’s not enough that the city, through James’s eyes, is the stuff of nightmares. has to sound Like a nightmare too. The music is deeply disturbing, even when nothing is happening. The fact that the monsters don’t look like living creatures at all also contributes to the creation of a . Radio noise really adds to that uneasy feeling. The fact that Mannequins only activates it for a brief moment helps add to the paranoia as you look around every corner to try and jump on it before it jumps at you.

Man, I was so sick of those mannequins. As a naturally nervous person in real life, I didn’t really fare well with how the game can eat you up with basically every facet of its design, only to add jump scares to the mix. Yeah, sure, I can remove the mannequins and all that without much trouble. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t freak out when these ungodly ambassadors of Hell’s Mall pounce on me. I’ve read some comments online about how its prevalence and shocks can cheapen the experience. Honestly, I can see where they’re coming from, even if I don’t agree. The risk of having to listen to his unpleasant movements or see his monstrous thighs leaping towards me kept fear from stagnating for hours of play.

He silent hill 2 remake is the first horror game I’ve played in a long time where I experienced a real rollercoaster of emotions until the end. It really drove home how wrong I was about how the real horror is in bad control schemes and I’m not mad at the correction at all. Maybe one day I’ll be able to pick it up and run through the story, terrifying sound design and horrible jump scares be damned. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for Bloober Team, that won’t happen anytime soon.

silent hill 2 is easily available on the PS5 and Windows PC.