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Seeing as many a player had mixed feelings about Bloober's track record, how does the Silent Hill 2 remake honor the 2001 original while also iterating upon it?
Remaking a game, especially one that has earned quite the reputation in the years following its release, is hardly a walk in the park.
On the one hand, remakes must do their best to honor the legacy of the source material and emulate the vibes that left an impression on players many a moon ago—and they must do so with more advanced tech that alters the original's gameplay and presentational feel. On the other hand, remakes must iron out the source material's sore spots and offer new content that caters to old-timers and newcomers alike—lest the product come across as a missed opportunity to breathe new life into a game that may not have wholly stood the test of time.
The medium is no stranger to titles that work with an existing template and revamp audiovisual assets and gameplay components. Releases like Resident Evil (2002), for instance, allowed developers to fully realize the source material's untapped potential and sprinkle in mechanics and features that more limited tech could not have accommodated. Meanwhile, games like Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) attempted to modernize the original's looks and feel—only for the addition of new character abilities to mess with things such as game balance and level progression. Suffice it to say that remakes are a tightrope to walk.
Now make that tightrope incredibly thin and brittle, and you end up with a scenario in which a studio is tasked with updating an incredibly hallowed experience. An experience belonging to a long-dormant series the developers seek to revive, much to the skepticism of many a fan.
Enter the remake of Silent Hill 2 (2024), with horror gaming outfit Bloober Team at the helm.
Originally released in 2001 and developed by the now-defunct Team Silent, Silent Hill 2 became one of the PS2's early darlings when gamers got a taste of Konami's brand of (psychological) horror. As woebegone widower James Sunderland, players were tasked with venturing into the fog-ridden town of Silent Hill in search of James's supposedly dead wife Mary. Throughout his adventure, James encounters fellow out-of-towners and not-so-fellow monsters that seem otherworldly and yet have some kind of tie to the protagonist's presence.
With its tackling of weighty themes, hauntingly beautiful soundscape, and loopy levels, Silent Hill 2 added a paradoxically dreamlike and grounded twist to the survival horror formula by injecting the whole experience with a hefty dose of uncanniness that wouldn't feel out of place in a David Lynch production. That much of the game's tension stemmed from technical and gameplay constraints (e.g. tank controls, fixed camera angles, load times in between rooms, low CRT display resolutions...) imposed by hardware limitations and intentional design choices meant that Bloober Team had to find a way to emulate the original's spirit without having the remake come across as a relic of bygone times that happens to sport a fresh coat of paint.
While opinions vary on the quality of Bloober Team's efforts, the general consensus is that the remake did the 2001 game justice in virtually every department. Seeing as many people had mixed feelings about the studio's track record and held Silent Hill 2 in especially high regard, it begs the question: In what ways does the remake suck players into the experience and make them feel as if they've stepped into a gloomy nightmare that will enlighten them in the end?
NOTE: This design breakdown will focus on features that were introduced or updated in the remake. Additionally, spoilers for key story events and late-game locations are to be expected.
Perhaps the most obvious thing that Bloober Team had to get right was the eponymous town's presentation. With three console generations standing between the original and the remake, the studio had more powerful tech at its disposal—though that would hardly matter if the art direction and special effects that Team Silent whipped up back in the day didn't smoothly make the transition to newer hardware. Such a fate befell the Silent Hill HD Collection (2012), which jeopardized the 2001 title's graphical integrity with pared-back fog, buggy sound effects, and textures that had been robbed of their intentional grit.
The remake sidesteps such issues by doubling down on the town's limited draw distance, overwhelming griminess, and overall sense of decay. This is achieved via a two-pronged approach that respects Team Silent's vision of the town while bringing more detail to the fore.
The first part of that approach pertains to Silent Hill's layout. As with the original, the remake opts for a grid-based approach to its open world that nonetheless imposes obstacles (e.g. gaping chasms, sheet-covered walls, locked doors...) meant to guide players along the golden path. Only shops that were once closed in the original offer some kind of reprieve from the town's tight control of James's movements. Not only does this keep gamers from feeling daunted by there being too much freedom of exploration, but it also paints a picture of a once-thriving town with clear and open streets that belie their claustrophobic nature.
This is meant to prep players for the even more suffocating "dungeons" they'll be exploring and solving puzzles in—grounding them in a world that asks their avatar to play by its rules if he stands a chance of finding Mary. That's if Silent Hill's gloominess doesn't get to James.
The second part of that approach concerns the updates to the town's sights and soundscape. No longer bound to the PS2's limited hardware, the remake touches up previously blurry textures and crunchy sound effects to make Silent Hill look clearly uninviting to James and co. From the unattended windchimes that pierce the eerily pregnant silence to moldy walls and rusted metalwork that can sink property prices, the environment's plethora of audiovisual details ensures that James feels increasingly isolated and far removed from civilization. All the more convenient for the town, which aims to have its guests wholly preoccupied with tackling their respective traumas and makes even the harshest of therapists seem soft by comparison.
As mentioned before, the use of a claustrophobic setting and grimy aesthetics is meant to make players think that they've gone inside a slammer—which brings about feelings of powerlessness and insignificance amplified by the remake's tangibly oppressive ambiance.
With Team Silent alumnus Akira Yamaoka lending his musical expertise once more to the series he's best known for, the remake makes it clear to James that he has stepped into an alternate dimension of sorts that blurs the line between reality and James's mindscape. Seeing as the 2001 original is well-known for its dreamlike and melancholy vibes, Bloober Team had to ensure that the atmosphere wasn't just something that one'd find in a quality horror game, but also something that offered gamers a glimpse of haunting beauty beneath the muck James has to plow through. The outcome? A mix of unease and quietude that keeps one on edge while beckoning them over to the finish line and promising answers to James's questions.
This is most apparent in the tunes that play during cutscenes, while gamers are exploring the title's "dungeons," and as James nears points of interest such as multi-piece puzzles. From the track "The Day of Night" which doubles down on the town's dreamy qualities, to the simultaneously ominous and soothing melody that defines the coin puzzle in Woodside Apartments, the remake's collection of songs serves to underscore the importance of steps James must take to see Mary again and let players in on the feelings that characters embody during specific scenes. As varied as the tunes are, they all share a common link in reminding audiences of the fact that they have indeed left the real world behind and found themselves trapped in a simulacrum of James's better memories and the locale(s) associated with them.
Without this kind of atmosphere hanging over players' heads, it's unlikely that the rays of hope James sees in finding his wife would've shone as brightly where the story's concerned. Ergo, when things go south, only the town's grim ambiance will keep the protagonist company.
It's not merely the atmosphere that leaves players feeling rather lost in a world of Silent Hill's making. Even the locales that James encounters are designed in a way that forces him to explore every nook and cranny, however dangerous it may be. This is best illustrated by how labyrinthine and dark every "dungeon" is, with multi-story apartment complexes and winding hospital hallways compelling players to find shortcuts and rummage through every container and drawer they can find in the hopes of unearthing key puzzle items and precious resources.
Through the use of lockable doors, open vents, breakable walls, and initially inoperative elevators, the remake aims to give gamers the impression that they're a mouse trying to find cheese at the end of a maze designed by an omnipresent overseer. Unlike your usual mouse, James can turn obstacles into proverbial bridges as he unlocks new paths and leverages newfound shortcuts that spare him from encounters with foes he may've evaded beforehand.
By making areas with "dungeons" highly interconnected and imbuing them with the sort of doom and gloom that'd have any sane soul get out of Dodge, the remake makes players feel like the quest they've embarked on is one of short-term pains (i.e. wending one's way through areas with many locked doors and blocked paths) and long-term gains (i.e. finding shortcuts upon feeling like they've reached the beast's belly). On top of keeping the gameplay loop satisfying, this approach to level design mirrors James's attempts to unlock the repressed and innermost parts of his psyche—resulting in an experience that hints at unsavory revelations.
Perhaps the remake's biggest deviation from the original concerns its runtime. Whereas the 2001 game could clock in at 8-10 hours on average, the 2024 remake doubles it—with the changes being seen most clearly in the title's "dungeons" such as Brookhaven Hospital and Toluca Prison. While the reactions to such a pacing-altering shift have been mixed among the gaming masses, a case can be made in favor of Bloober Team's decision to stretch things out.
Given that the experience goal in both Silent Hill 2 iterations has always been to drop players in an otherworldly environment that forces them to confront James's demons (and not just the ones trying to do him in), one could argue that keeping the protagonist trapped in claustrophobic spaces for long stretches of time can help plant the seeds of apprehension in gamers' minds and have them blossom into something more akin to panic and an insatiable thirst for closure. This is something the remake achieves in spades by tapping into the Otherworld sections that defined the latter half of each of the original's "dungeons."
In other words, just as it seems like players have mastered their understanding of their surroundings and are about to get out of the lion's den, a sudden transition to the Otherworld unfolds. Be it by walking through a doorway or being caught off-guard by a powerful monster, the ways in which James is pulled right back into the fray suggest that respite is a pipe dream.
As if that weren't enough, the almost universal lack of illumination (save for James's flashlight) makes already suffocating levels feel like solitary confinement. Add to that an intentionally muted and limited color palette, and the remake's expanded "dungeons" and outdoor excursions start to feel less like standard survival horror and more like a manifestation of James's attempts to delve into his mindscape. It's almost as if he's trying to consciously shed light on his predicament and subconsciously circumvent that which troubles him most.
It's a tug-of-war between seeing the light and remaining stuck in darkness, with the town trying to get James to where he needs to be if he wishes to walk away an enlightened soul.
23 years is an eternity in game development. To put things into perspective, three console generations stand between the original Silent Hill 2 and its remake—with storytelling and technology having become more refined and advanced, respectively, in the meantime.
As narratively impactful as the 2001 title was, its reliance on dialog, pre-rendered cutscenes, and camera perspectives that hid the character models' visual imperfections meant that the storytelling wasn't always as subtle or elegant as the game's handling of its themes. This had less to do with the developers' chops and more to do with the PS2's limited hardware, giving Bloober Team a chance to leverage modern tech to add a fresh coat of paint to a timeless tale.
One glance at the remake's character animations makes such efforts quite visible, particularly when looking at the remake's updated story beats and fully real-time cutscenes. Take the (in)famous scene with Maria and James talking to one another behind bars, for instance. Whereas the original used pre-rendered footage and in-game assets to get its point across, the remake fully opts for the latter—keeping players grounded in the narrative and letting them appreciate the cinematographic changes made to highlight the characters' emotions.
From the facial tics that characters display when under pressure, to the hand and head gestures they make to clue others in on what they're thinking, the updates to the actors' motion-captured performances help make Silent Hill 2's story feel more tactile, intimate, and less verbose than before. Comparing the original's cutscenes to the remake's, for example, shows that dialog lines that came off as particularly expository have either been replaced with body language or reworked to complement the characters' new means of communication.
As with the atmosphere and level design, then, the remake paradoxically grounds players in its human narrative and reminds them of how eerie and otherworldly everything is. Even the most basic of interactions and exchanges can seem out of place under normal circumstances, making it clear that the likes of Eddie and Angela deal with more woes than they're letting on.
It's not just the narrative that has been made more tactile. Another part of Silent Hill 2 that Bloober Team spruced up is the combat system, which has historically been the series' most pedestrian component. That made sense given that an everyman is unlikely to be as adept at defending himself as a trained merc, and the remake does retain some of the original's jank while updating the animations to make James look and sound like he's fighting for his life.
For starters, the damage that players deal and sustain from enemy hits now carries more oomph—letting James know that as dreamlike as Silent Hill is, the pain he feels is anything but imaginary. The grunts he lets out, the desperate-looking stomps and swings he performs on downed foes... It paints a picture of a tormented soul who stops at nothing to seek deliverance. Even with a dodge move, enemies feel craftier and more aggressive than before. Mannequins that can blend in with their surroundings to catch James by surprise? Check. Nurses that rush toward James and give him a metallic taste of bedside manners? Check.
This increase in challenge means that the combat now more closely matches the narrative in terms of how hard-hitting it can be, making the remake feel more even in terms of how it impacts players on an emotional level. As if that weren't enough, actions that could be performed in James's inventory now get triggered in real time. The days of consuming health items and checking one's map without having to pay attention to what's happening around them are as long gone as James's happier times. Happier times with Mary, to be more precise.
Now, the only way James can take a break from facing his fears is by seeking refuge in a safe room or by having players pause the game. No wonder James looks spent near the finish line.
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