Silent Hill 2 Remakeis a bloodytriumph.

Silent Hill 2 Remake review

I’ll explain why shortly, I promise.

This is the part that impresses me most.

Silent Hill 2 Remake official image showing James walking away from the camera in the misty grey town of Silent Hill

And, look, I get it.

Yes, I know I’m aslobberingSilent Hill fan.

It does make me wary.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James is running down a dilapidated corridor bathed in a red-means-scary light.

Besides, Bloober and I?

We’ve not always seen eye to eye.

Fear not, though, my friend.Silent Hill 2is given the care, consideration, and reverence it deserves.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James stands in darkness, looking down a line of seats in the visiting room of a derelict-looking prison.

That’s always been the magic of Silent Hill for me.

Everythinglooksfine - oddly quiet, sure, but fine.

A gorgeous lakeside hotel later succumbs to dank darkness, where only mould and inhuman things grow.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James stands at the end of a street. It’s draped with strange white sheets, a message written them in red: “The door that wakes in darkness, opening into nightmares”.

Sunderland doesn’t comment on this, though.

He doesn’t comment on anything.

The original game was both combat-light and a little short, and Bloober has addressed both these issues head-on.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake shows the item menu. Whilst there is no health indicator per se, the text will change colour according to James' health status. Here, it is orange, indicating James has taken some damage but isn’t critically injured.

It’s possible it runs on a little too long, mind.

Well, be careful what you wish for, I guess.

Silent Hill 2 was outrageously easy, even on its hardest difficulty, and Bloober’s edition is not.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James stares at the wall in an Otherworldy hospital. Everything from the walls to the furniture are draped in dirty, moldy dustsheets. A rusty valve pokes out from the wall.

But it sure does make it harder to adopt the typical survival horror strat ofrun-away-run-away-run-away.

(Yes, Lying Figures spewing toxic vomit in your death throes - I’m looking at you.)

Part of how Silent Hill 2 mitigates that is through its puzzles, which are great.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James stands in a corridor in Blue Creek Apartments. A creature stands in front of him, behind bars, staring… even though its head is a rusty pyramid and it doesn’t have eyes.

  • you’re free to mix and match the difficulty to better suit your skills.

But there are new things, too, cementing - or bulldozing - long-held fan theories.

I’m so grateful for this attention to detail.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: As he explores the town - here he’s in a diner - James replenishes his health with this syringe.

  • does ring true in this instance.

(I’d tell you what these are, but that would inevitably ruin the surprise.

Avoiding cheap jumpscares and graphic gore, Silent Hill relies on its moody atmosphere to unsettle you instead.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James surveys a scene of complete destruction in a dilapidated hotel room. A red substance covers every surface: the bed, the walls, the floor.

There is no T-virus or capitalistic conglomerate here.

The world’s subtle (and not-so-subtle) symbolism equally dazzles and confuses.

Almost constantly, quite frankly.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: The image is almost completely dark except for the humanoid form in the centre. James is holding out his weapon, the crosshairs fixed on the creature.

Even knowing what was coming.

Even knowing I’d only just saved my progress.

It’s also possible to change the colour and size of the interaction icon, too.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James is outside in a dusky, foggy twilight. A nurse - covered in blood and with no fence - recoils from James, who is thrashing it with a rusty pipe.

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure Ieverwanted a remake of one of my all-time favourite games.

Never have I beensopleased to besowrong about something.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never played Silent Hill 2 before.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James holds aloft one of many collectibles you’ll find. This is a key. It looks like the word “fireplace” is written in script on a piece of masking tape labelling the key.

It also doesn’t matter if you have.

Silent Hill 2 Remake is as close to perfect as I could have ever hoped.

And my hopes werehigh, my friend.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: James stands before a gate in a beautiful, if foggy, garden.

A copy of Silent Hill 2 was provided for review by Konami.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: A young girl with blonde hair looks directly into the camera, eyes wide.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: In a derelict prison, James aims his weapon towards a grotesque creature. As if the lower halves of two humans have been welded together, it is scuttling across the ground.

A screenshot from Silent Hill 2 Remake: A smashed mirror is in front of you. Pieces lie on the ground, and there’s some kind of red text written on the board behind the broken glass.