Yes, I played the OG when it first released in 2001, and it’s remained one of my favorites to this day. I’ve listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count. Hell, I used to listen to the game rip before bed just to relax (you know, the industrial noises that sound like “rocks banging around a washing machine”). None of that makes me an expert on the series, though, nor does it even matter. Silent Hill 2 isn’t the same game that was released in 2001. Sure, there are aspects of the original that I prefer and don’t believe can ever be fully replicated, but Silent Hill 2 is a good game. No…it’s a GREAT game! And that’s WAY more than I expected to say when it was first announced two years ago.

Silent Hill has been, and always will be, about atmosphere. These games instill a sense of dread in me that I can’t fully explain or comprehend, and that is why I constantly find myself returning to them time and again. To step back into that world for the first time in over a decade has been a dream come true! What Bloober Team was able to accomplish has finally brought me home to where my love of survival horror had all begun.

Despite my initial worries, the story remains faithful through and through, with added scenes, tweaks to conversations, and new character interactions elevating its emotional core even further. The actors are beyond fantastic. Luke Roberts adds so much depth to James Sunderland's character, he feels like a flesh and blood human being. I’ve seen comments that the performances are flat and lack the emotional poignancy of the OG, but I don't agree at all. These actors ARE the characters; you can see it in every expression, hear it in every sigh, read it in every utterance… There are moments when I know EXACTLY what a character is thinking, and they haven’t said a single word. Granted, there are a few line deliveries from the original that come off more intensely authentic, but I far and away prefer the new performances to the old, and don’t find them to be any less “dreamy” or effective. James is more than a grieving husband. Maria is more than a trampy harlot. Angela’s pain and trauma is so on display that I can’t understand how anyone can look at her and not instantly feel their heart rend in two... Eddie is, well, Eddie, but I like that he’s less a of goof and more of a ticking-time-bomb, and that works perfectly for his redesigned boss fight.

If there’s anything that has been improved over the original, however, it’s the combat. All of the old weaponry is accounted for (save for one item, but I like what they did with it thematically), and they feel satisfying to use, especially the melee weapons. The heft of the board with nails, and later on the pipe, is palpable when you’re bashing the monsters into a bloody pulp. Granted, it’s not as thrilling as Leon S. Kennedy round-house kicking ganados, but it feels weighty and impactful, and I never really got tired of it. James’ increasingly unhinged grunts and screams as he’s bashing away at eldritch monstrosities don’t hurt either. The gunplay, while basic, is serviceable without making James feel overpowered; even while using keyboard and mouse, landing hits isn’t always a guarantee. The way the enemies move is often unpredictable and requires some finesse with the dodge button, but that’s all part of making the mechanics more engaging. James isn’t a commando, nor does he play like one, so you’ll be on your toes from start to finish, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Then there are the graphics. I’m not lying when I tell you this may be one of the best looking games I have ever played. The world design, the environmental detail, the lighting, the fog, the grime, the decay and blood and rust, it all adds to the immersion and makes me want to explore every nook and cranny ‘til I’ve uncovered all the little secrets the game has to offer. The ONLY issue I have with so much graphical fidelity is that sometimes the increased detail doesn’t allow the mind to fill in all those disgusting little cracks with even more horrific imagery. But that’s where shadow comes into play.

The darkness in Silent Hill is almost an entity in-of-itself. The way it swallows James’ surroundings, especially in the Otherworld, eliciting feelings of claustrophobic isolation…it's near perfection. I’ve never seen darkness wielded so well in a horror game. When you’re drowning in a sea of black, when not even your own flashlight burns bright enough to push back the encroaching shadows, every source of light is a welcome respite from the horror. You’ll definitely need to have ray tracing turned on to get the most out of the lighting effects, however. Without it, the dark areas are TOO dark, and you’ll be forced to increase the gamma to the point that the shadows aren’t nearly as ominous as they should be. For some, that may mean their performance gets dumped into the toilet, but if you can at least play at a stable 30 fps with RT on, I’d highly recommend it over the alternative.

As for where the game falters, it's in the sound design. Most of the ambient sounds are remastered from the OG, but I feel part of what made the original so unsettling is that there was rawness to the “noise” that feels overproduced with the remastering. It’s like when an artist remasters an old song, it rarely has the same vibe as the original. Imperfection creates character, and taking it away doesn’t always make something better. In a game where the degradation of your surroundings is actually part of the story, losing those imperfections actually removes a bit of the horror. Then there’s the silence. The moments when James is surrounded by the complete absence of sound are few and far between, and THAT is the biggest failure in the sound design. There’s nothing like walking down a hallway and the only thing you hear are James’ footsteps echoing throughout the darkness. It not only instills a sense of loneliness in the player, but creates unease as our emotions are no longer being lead by what we hear. Now don’t get me wrong, the sound design isn't at all horrible. It WILL freak you out, especially while traversing the darker environments, doubly so if you’ve never played one of these games before, but it’s missing the eeriness of the original that I’m not sure can be recaptured, and that's a shame.

Of course, there are also the performance issues, which are difficult to get around no matter how beefy your system is. Despite upgrading specifically for this game, my RTX4080/Ryzen 9 5950x combo at 1440p was still struggling, and the stuttering and frame drops proved to be far more than mere annoyances. It took days of fiddling with settings, installing mods, and endless engine.ini manipulations to determine that none of it was really fixing anything. So I dropped the mods, switched DLSS off, turned Rebar on, cut my monitor’s refresh rate in half, and capped my fps to 60, and that gave me a smooth enough experience to truly enjoy my stay. That said, I can completely understand how the performance issues are a deal breaker for many, but even at its worst, I was still able to enjoy myself enough to overlook these technical difficulties.

To be honest, I could probably write another half dozen paragraphs on the game (I didn’t even touch on the boss fights, symbolism, theories and new endings), but this review has gone on for far too long. Despite some minor grievances, Silent Hill 2 is a fantastic return to form for the seminal horror series, and I really, TRULY hope future games continue on this trajectory, because I want MORE. I NEED more. Whether it’s another remake, a new entry, or just more Silent Hill media in general, we need games like Silent Hill. There really isn't anything else out there quite like it, and I’m overjoyed that it’s finally back to fill the hole in my horror-loving heart.