Silent Hill 2 Remake's 10 Biggest Changes From The Original

Bloobers’ Silent Hill 2 Remake is a testament to what remakes should strive for, aiming to enhance the original experience rather than replace it. Despite plenty of worry from long-time fans, the newest Silent Hill 2 received praise from critics and new players alike for its overall level of quality and dedication to the franchise. While it’s still faithful to the original game’s story and setting, the remake still features plenty of wide-reaching changes that alter how the game plays out.

Being much longer than the original Silent Hill 2, there are plenty of unique additions that make the extra time spent in the town of Silent Hill even more enjoyable than before. From new areas to explore and deeper gameplay mechanics, players will uncover the story of James’ past, while encountering harrowing monsters that defy all reason. Whether players are returning fans of the franchise or venturing into Silent Hill for the first time, there are plenty of new things to experience in this new SH2 remake.

10 Moving The Location Of Significant Events

Returning Players Will Have A Fresh Experience

With the additional length of the game and new segments for players to experience, the developers re-arranged the game’s major events, creating a similar but unique playthrough. Paying homage to the original Silent Hill 2, players can collect Glimpses of the Past at various key locations in the story. Many key areas will have nods to specific events as well, with blood stains or scratched surfaces, hinting at the events of the original while adding a sense of nostalgia for fans of the original version.

Some characters can also be met in different locations than the original Silent Hill 2, with their stories playing out relatively the same aside from a few minor differences. Both returning and new players will be forced to explore the haunting town of Silent Hill on their first playthrough, recreating the original experience for those who may have already beaten the predecessor.

9 Complete Graphical Overhaul

Bringing The Classic Game Up To And Beyond Modern Standards

The Silent Hill 2 Remake is a fantastic and faithful upgrade in visuals, taking advantage of advanced modern hardware to bring the franchise up to and beyond modern standards. Despite some concerns over the general atmosphere from the original games being lost with the modernization, the remake retains the spooky visual themes and dense fog the franchise is known for. The town of Silent Hill itself has never felt more ominous thanks to this enhanced level of quality, letting players take in every detail of the near-apocalyptic environments.

New technology like DLSS also helps further improve visuals while boosting performance, enhancing the experience for a wide range of players on different hardware. These changes were the first step to making the Silent Hill 2 Remake even more immersive than its predecessor, sucking the player into James’ living nightmare right alongside him.

8 Visually Reworked Characters

New Outfits And Designs For Classic Characters

One of the first complaints about the Silent Hill 2 remake’s first trailer was about Maria’s new outfit, being afraid the game’s tone would be watered down to target wider audiences. Thankfully, these concerns were dismissed with the remake’s success, with the Silent Hill 2 Remake faithfully adapting the classic horror game according to its many positive reviews. Maria’s new design still retains her alluring design that’s the core of her character but opts for more professional attire that she would have likely worn before the events of the game.

Maria wasn’t the only character who got a visual redesign as well, as every important side character in the game had a visual rework from Eddie, Laura, Angela, and of course, Maria, with the latter’s design reflecting a more nuanced look into James’ psyche. The updated designs make each character feel more alive, with realistic features and proportions that aid immersion, all while allowing each character to have much more varied expressions than the original. It isn’t just the NPCs aren’t the only characters to receive a noticeable face-lift either, as the various enemies players will encounter look even more visceral and terrifying than ever before.

7 Even Scarier Enemies

Haunting Movements To Increase The Fear Factor

With the revamped combat mechanics, the terrifying monstrosities of Silent Hill 2 have also faced a significant overhaul. Keeping up with James’ new fighting abilities, the various enemies players will encounter have become even deadlier than before. No longer slowly shambling towards the player, many enemies will have jerky and difficult-to-predict movements, launching themselves at players when they least expect it or sliding across the ground at unnatural speeds.

These changes are also more than just on the gameplay level, with the improved visuals aiding the feeling of dread players experience. Every enemy has received a complete visual and mechanical upgrade, being even more terrifying than the original when fleshed out in full modern detail. Unlike somewhat controversial remakes like Bluepoint’s Demon Souls, the designs in the new Silent Hill 2 Remake are incredibly faithful to the original, updating them without losing any core elements of their design along the way.

6 Overhauled Combat Mechanics

Making Combat More Enjoyable But Still Challenging

One of the biggest concerns over the Silent Hill 2 Remake was that the game would take too much inspiration from the widely popular Resident Evil Remakes, thinking that updated combat was a mistake. Luckily for players, James isn’t going around roundhouse kicking every terrifying monster, as the combat system finds a great balance between satisfying gameplay and the feeling of impending danger. Not every enemy can be defeated by hitting or simply shooting them enough times, forcing players to manage their resources and know when it’s best to run for the hills.

While the combat trailer itself was met with less-than-stellar reviews, the updated mechanics don’t take over the feelings of Silent Hill 2’s feeling of helplessness. Players still need to be careful if they want to survive every monstrous encounter, scouring for enough resources to survive while keeping weapons in top shape. To make the combat even more tense, the game no longer pauses when James looks at his map, adding immersion while taking away some of the game’s meme capability.

5 Bigger Areas To Explore

New Locations With Plenty Of New Areas To Discover And Loot

Being more than a simple graphical remaster, Silent Hill 2’s map was built entirely from the ground up based on the original environments, taking advantage of modern hardware to allow for even greater scale. The Silent Hill 2 Remake map is not just bigger but filled with even more places to explore and loot to scavenge. Given the time required to beat the remake is nearly twice as long as the original, it makes sense the map had to be equally expanded to fit more content for players to enjoy.

Some of the new locations include a large theater replacing the bowling alley where players meet Eddie, offering a completely new experience for returning players. Throughout the game, players are more encouraged to interact with the expanded environment, breaking into store windows to find additional resources. Key areas like Heaven’s Night and more have also been expanded, not only increasing in size but offering completely new cutscenes that enhance character building, showing more of the complicated relationship between James and Maria.

4 New And Improved Puzzles

Challenging New Players While Expanding Upon Past Puzzles

Silent Hill 2’s puzzles were much more intuitive than the first game in the series, with the sequel furthering this while making them just as challenging as ever. One of the best features of the Silent Hill franchise is also its puzzle difficulty settings, letting more confident players challenge themselves with even more demanding puzzles without altering the rest of the game. The larger map sizes also allowed the developers to cram even more puzzles into the Silent Hill 2 Remake while expanding on pre-existing ones. Returning puzzles like the rotating cube come to life thanks to the enhanced graphical fidelity of the remake, letting players see every intricate detail of the hand-crafted environments.

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Returning puzzles like the rotating cube come to life thanks to the enhanced graphical fidelity of the remake, letting players see every intricate detail of the hand-crafted environments, but the upgraded ones are the star of the show. The Clock puzzle requires players to go to even greater lengths to complete it, adding new steps required to solve it like the moth room puzzle. These changes flesh out the already existing and believed puzzles from the original game, meaningfully padding the increased game size with more encounters and puzzles to experience rather than distances to walk.

3 Fully Player Controlled Camera

More Control For Players Exploring Each Environment

One of the most convenient additions to the new Silent Hill 2 Remake is ridding the locked camera of the originals, giving players more freedom thanks to the over-the-shoulder camera. Being a product of their time, iconic aspects like the intense fog and locked cameras weren’t always the intended experience, but requirements based on hardware limitations. Thanks to the modern technology utilized in the Silent Hill 2 remake, players are getting a somewhat more authentic experience than the original, even if it’s tough to beat the charm of the original game.

The only downside to the new camera abilities is that it lacks a bit of the claustrophobic feelings instilled by the fixed-focus camera angles. Despite this, the new camera doesn’t offer complete control, still holding close to James as he journeys through dimly lit and incredibly cramped hallways. While it takes away a bit of the original’s fear factor, players can use the camera to take in even more of their nightmarish surroundings, adding to the immersion of this ominous and otherworldly town.

2 A Smoother Gameplay Experience

General Improvements to Streamline Player Experience

Many aspects of the Silent Hill 2 Remake have been slightly streamlined for a modern audience, to make it easier to access. These changes by no means remove difficulty or fear from the game, but simply make it easier to engage with, giving players more fluid control over James and his actions. Save points and points of interest are much easier to see, helping players from getting too lost or losing their progress after searching for where to go next.

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Aside from the general combat encounters, boss fights have been fully redesigned to provide a much more engaging experience. Bosses will hunt down the player and chase them through hallways and rooms, being drastically more terrifying than the static single-room fights of the original. Aiming weapons is also much more forgiving in this remake, but still requires a level of skill, requiring players to aim their shots carefully rather than start blasting away without worrying about how much ammo they’ve used.

1 New Easter Eggs To Discover

Plenty Of Additional Throwbacks To The Original Silent Hill Franchise

The Silent Hill franchise has never shied away from including plenty of Easter eggs and hidden unlockables for players to discover, with the remake following suit. Bloober took advantage of the larger map size to fit in even more references than the original game, with one of the most notable being the discovery of Maria’s old outfit in the apartment complex. Players can even find the map from the original game located in front of the Wood Side Apartments, spotted by Reddit user toxiccarnival314.

Aside from these cheeky nods to the Silent Hill 2 Remake’s predecessor, there are even more references to other games in the franchise as well. Another great Easter egg is the comic sans sign from the Silent Hill HD collection hidden in the abandoned barn, only accessible by clipping through the map.

This inclusion has an even deeper meaning, with fans interpreting it as the developers acknowledging and avoiding the failings of the critically panned Silent Hill HD Collection, with its terrible voice acting, consistent bugs, and overall low level of quality. These references give players even more incentive to explore the larger map of this Silent Hill 2 Remake while encouraging new players to try out the older games to fully appreciate each of the many references.

Sources: Bloober Team/YouTube, PlayStation/YouTube, toxiccarnival314/Reddit

Systems

Released

October 8, 2024

Developer(s)

Bloober Team

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

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