Returning to Silent Hill 2 | The Remake PS5

Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment
Developer: Bloober Team

PS5 Review

Hi, it's been a little while. I needed to take a break from writing and concentrate on more pressing matters in life, but I'm back, and I'm happier for it. I hope you all missed me, or that can just be my wishful thinking. Anyway, let's get into it. I would love to sit here and say I can play a horror game and be chill with it, but that would be a lie. The Silent Hill franchise has always scared me; it's always been the scariest one I've played, and having to hype myself up to get through it takes some time, and I needed breaks like the chicken I am. Even though I was scared, Silent Hill 2 has an amazing storyline, and replaying it again was such a throwback for me.

Silent Hill 2 Remake delves into a lot of deep and dark corners of the mind, James's mind to be specific. With the clever use of monsters and the worst place possible to be stuck, we explore deeper into James's mind to find out why he is trapped here and what occurred to make it happen. Whilst we are on the subject of monsters, I have to admit I was on guard and on edge the whole playthrough due to one particular monster. This sneaky thing could hide and jump out at any minute, and yes, they are far worse and more annoying than the Nurses. That's right, I'm talking about the mannequins, my friend calls the Legs and the name just kind of stuck and now whenever I see them anywhere I have to call them Legs because let's face it, that's basically what they are.

If you want a comparison on this version and the original,, I'm happy to say that they go hand in hand with each other and are mostly the same, which is what I wanted. Considering it's a remake, I thought it would be a lot different, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that wasn't the case at all. I also am aware that some fans can be very toxic and would have rioted if they changed too much. I definitely think that Bloober Team took great care when developing this, and it turned out beautifully. When I first started the game, I wanted to just get a feel of the environment, camera angles and graphics, which obviously led me to running around as much as I could to look in every nook and cranny.

The more I progressed, the better the gameplay got for me, not just in terms of the storyline, as I already knew what it was, but more so, the mechanics and how uneasy and immersed I felt throughout every minute of the game. I kept saying I hated it, and truth be told, that wasn't the case. I won't lie, I needed a guide some of the way through, as I became completely dumbfounded and lost at times, even with the use of a map, and yes, I did play on easy mode, also known as light mode. There is no way I could have played on harder modes knowing my abilities when it comes to horror games.

I'm pretty sure this version is darker than the original, which freaked me out more than the original did. My friend kept saying she doesn't know how I am managing to get through the game when it's that dark; it's a good thing I didn't need to collect batteries for the torch, which a lot of horrors force on players. Thanks to how dark it is, those monsters are a lot harder to see, just like the mannequins, those damn scary freaks! For players new to Silent Hill, my biggest bit of advice is to take your time and make use of the dodge button once you have hit your enemy. I mostly saved my ammo for harder instances, which was a godsend towards the end of the game.

James is such a tortured soul; he made me feel his sadness the whole way through. Not only that, but I did a good few videos of me reacting to how scared I was of getting through the game each time I went back to it. Being smack bang in the middle of Silent Hill 2 made me realise I had forgotten everything but the storyline from the original. I wasn't too mad about this, as it was a whole new experience. There are a good few videos on social media of me reacting to certain areas within the game, which all turned out to be scary, but I stuck with it and pushed through. I had to see if I wanted to see Pyramid Head, right? I know some of you know what I'm talking about!

The Bloober Team managed to give me and other fans a well put together game that pulled at us emotionally in more ways than one. I'm so grateful I was able to experience Silent Hill 2 again with up-to-date graphics, but nothing will ever beat playing the original for me. 

Have a cosy day

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