Review: Silent Hill 2 (2024) adds yet another layer of interpretation

How do you remake a narrative that lives in interpretations?

In “Misplaced Recollections: Silent Hill Chronicle,” a prolonged doc revealed by Konami and Workforce Silent in 2003, the builders wrote that there’s no canonical ending to the unique Silent Hill 2, which has 4 most important conclusions relying in your actions. Many narrative subtleties with regard to the characters, the city outdoors of cutscenes, and scattered notes discovered within the recreation have taken on totally different meanings for various folks. After greater than twenty years of present fan theories and meticulously crafted wiki pages, James Sunderland’s story stays a foggy amalgamation of figments.

And now, right here is Bloober Workforce’s Silent Hill 2, reimagined below the norms of the present recreation business zeitgeist. Even after the Resident Evil remakes paved the best way for the likelihood, it’s nonetheless odd to see. The preliminary trailers showcased a well-known but modernized presentation, switching to an over-the-shoulder digicam and snappier, up-to-standard fight. As soon as previews appeared, builders at Bloober Workforce reassured each interviewer that it’d be devoted to the unique to a painstaking diploma — even some members of the unique crew concerned within the remake needed extra modifications however had been overruled.

Throughout my first playthrough, which lasted over 17 hours, I might sense the designers’ hesitations about what to change on the partitions of each rusty hall. As you possibly can decide up from my playtime, in comparison with the 2001 recreation (which was about 10 hours lengthy), lots of the unique areas have been expanded. The stuff you love are, for probably the most half, nonetheless current. However there’s an array of modifications, some delicate, some daring, that problem that familiarity, leading to an intriguing revisit.

As early gameplay streams appeared to point, some encounters — like the primary monster sighting contained in the tunnel — have been altered. Once you work together with sure areas and objects, the sport performs a record-scratch animation with a particular music cue. I received’t point out every other instance, as they’re enjoyable pockets of nostalgia value (re)encountering by yourself. The implication at massive, nevertheless, which is capitalized on by some new textual content entries and collectibles, is that the sport is certainly enjoying round with the concept you’ve already skilled the occasions of Silent Hill 2 no less than as soon as, each from a narrative and virtually meta perspective as a returning participant.

I’d like to inform you intimately how this all performs out in the long run, however I can’t. For one, overview embargo restrictions prohibit me from describing the brand new two endings; I can solely point out their existence. I couldn’t describe them anyway, although, since I didn’t get both throughout my first playthrough — it was the “Maria” ending as a substitute. Talking with friends who additionally had entry to the sport earlier than launch, these additions are nonetheless being unraveled and found as different folks progress in new recreation plus and attempt to discover a new collectible kind. Any person on the market has doubtless seen them already, however the particulars received’t (or shouldn’t) be out within the open till after the sport’s launch.

The Silent Hill 2 remake doesn’t go to the lengths of Closing Fantasy 7 Remake, reimagining a traditional in a daring method to increase the narrative into uncharted territory. James nonetheless plunges by way of the identical most important areas as within the unique. The “Maria” ending stays (roughly) an identical. The opposite endings are in place as puzzles to unravel, including scattered enigmatic items for returning gamers to seek out, introducing story outcomes to the prevailing listing. However other than the scavenger hunt expertise of discovering these endings, there are some elementary modifications to the bottom recreation that each broaden and, on some events, tone down what got here earlier than.

On the gameplay facet of issues, my largest issues previous to enjoying this model had been across the digicam and total ambiance, which go hand in hand. The mounted angles of the unique had been a staple for a motive. Strolling down a darkish hall towards the digicam with out understanding what was in entrance of you till it appeared within the body or the angle modified was at all times terrifying. The environments themselves, comparable to the long-lasting Toluca Jail, thrived within the technically restricted grittiness of the PlayStation 2 period. The change of perspective to a shoulder digicam means being nearer to every little thing and having free rein to discover areas, however I used to be afraid that it will basically change the oppressive tone of the unique.

Fortunately, that’s removed from the case. The Silent Hill 2 remake does an awesome job at asphyxiating you utilizing its new perspective. When you’re now ready to decide on the place to look always, enemies can nonetheless sneak up on you, with Mannequins doing all types of peekaboo interactions — in a similar way to Stalkers in The Final of Us Half 2, hiding behind furnishings and at instances escaping from you after being sighted to seek out one other shock spot. Adjustments in traversal, comparable to having interconnected rooms with out doorways separated by a loading display screen, or areas to crawl or squeeze by way of, may also be utilized by enemies.

It would sound clichéd to speak about darkness in a horror recreation, however that’s a facet that the remake captures from the unique to a triumph. James’ flashlight can solely illuminate a lot of the display screen, and the flickering of that flashlight, which — like the unique — alerts you to shifting enemies alongside the radio’s static, is terrifying at any time when it momentarily leaves you in a pitch-black room crammed with monsters. Their presence can typically be a bit too considerable, which at greatest helps to make you are feeling unease, comparable to listening to the fixed crawling of Spider Mannequins till you’ve taken all of them down or moved some other place, and at worst appears like an annoying reminder that the remake has a contemporary fight system, and the designers launched extra encounters to justify it.

By way of the story, most cutscenes current modifications. By way of the brand new character likenesses and voice performing, your mileage might range. The unique recreation’s campiness, whereas charming, has been refined, though there’s some stiffness in the best way the solid reads traces that feels by the way devoted. It’s among the precise story scenes, nevertheless, that current a extra drastic change.

Silent Hill 2, just like the franchise as a complete, depicted mentions of sexual abuse, suicide, and despair, amongst different darkish matters. In Bloober Workforce’s model, there’s a disclaimer about this every time you begin up the sport, together with a QR code to a Konami web site with a listing of sources. But, among the most annoying imagery or direct mentions of mentioned matters throughout dialogue (particularly round Angela, Pyramid Head, and Mary’s videotape) are extra delicate now. Contemplating Bloober’s previous observe file in video games like The Medium, which dealt with these matters poorly, to say the least, these modifications ring as a cautionary methodology of not repeating previous errors. None of them change the story per se, but it surely’s an fascinating choice inside the context of Silent Hill 2. There’s a case for correctly revisiting tropes and depictions that haven’t aged properly, together with current circumstances, like Useless Rising Deluxe Remaster. For Silent Hill, nevertheless, lessening the affect of sure moments could make among the most unfastened narrative particulars shed pounds whereas piecing the story collectively.

However right here’s an instance of the other that finally ends up being a shocking standout: James’ interactions with Maria when she’s tagging alongside. Sure, it falls into the AAA trope of an NPC companion not with the ability to take pleasure in some quiet time for greater than 5 minutes. However Maria’s new interactions and dialogue are becoming. She feedback on sure areas in addition to your actions with a enjoyable and flirty aptitude that serves the character. With the ability to correctly discover the strip membership Heaven’s Evening intimately whereas additionally getting a brand new cutscene are additions that carry substance. They’re fleeting, small moments within the grand scheme of most important story beats that add a steadier presence with out being intrusive.

This subtlety is current within the Silent Hill 2 remake as a complete. Among the scariest components of the unique are these you couldn’t see or comprehend at first look. The recurring whispers, the footsteps within the jail, the occasional scream from an unknown particular person. All of them added to the stress with out the should be blunt about it. The designers behind the remake have retained these components, understanding that gaining access to higher tech doesn’t need to equal fixed spectacle. Now you can see the rust and mildew of Silent Hill in 4K, however larger constancy doesn’t make any of the locales any extra inviting.

It’s an fascinating time to revisit Silent Hill 2, contemplating the unique has been in an abandonware state for years now, and the one remastered model obtainable isn’t nice. Within the official sense, the remake is the present retelling of the story. It’s a devoted interpretation of the occasions that transpired, capturing many of the massive and small story moments whereas fleshing out some particulars in between. When contemplating the legacy of the unique recreation over the previous 23 years, nevertheless, it’s arduous to think about the Silent Hill 2 remake will have the ability to replicate that as properly, for followers to spend many years discussing its new endings and narrative additions with contrarian analyses. On the very least, it’ll make for one more figment to theorize about.

Silent Hill 2 will probably be launched Oct. 8 on PlayStation 5 and Home windows PC. The sport was reviewed on PlayStation 5 utilizing a pre-release obtain code supplied by Bloober Workforce. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover extra details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.