The story and concept is great, transcending that of normal games. However, similar to the first Silent Hill, it is extremely repetitive and every new location does not add anything new to the table or experience, save for more interesting enemies and a different view. The gameplay and everything else remain the same, almost to the point of stagnation. Needless to say, the "Born From a Wish" sub-scenario is one of the most redundant extra gameplays ever created. I think this whole thing would have worked much better as a film or series rather than a game.

i love the idea of Silent Hill, but the hype for second entrance to the series' story was too colossal. maybe if i didn't watch any movies, read any books, or never thought while studying a piece of art i would be shocked about the notorious ending, but personally i kinda like original's finish more.

non the less, it's a great survival horror and classic for a reason. everything is great about it prior to last half an hour of game: setting, puzzles, exploration and even combat, including great replayability with -- what? -- four endings.

the only thing that kills the game for me is how ridiculous is hard difficulty; if it's your first run you won't finished the game (same thirty minutes) without cheese and annoyance.

esse foi um dos que eu mais demorei pra zerar, tanto que nem tenho uma data exata para fornecer na avaliação pois foi uma jornada conturbada desde perda de save até eu dropando o jogo por semanas kkkk
simplesmente porque esse jogo me aterrorizou, merece todo o mérito e referência como um terror psicológico. ele te joga na cidade de silent hill somente te entregando as informações aleatórias de que a esposa do protagonista morreu há 3 anos por uma doença, mas agora ele recebeu uma carta e deve encontrá-la. todo esse suspense e a forma como a história se desenvolve, e juntos vamos mergulhando no declínio mental de James Sunderland cria uma atmosfera tão sufocante que quem disser que não sentiu medo está mentindo.
a ambientação, trilha sonora, narração, diálogos... tudo nesse jogo é pensado com tanto cuidado que esquecemos por um momento que se trata de uma obra no início dos anos 2000, pois a jogabilidade envelheceu extremamente bem, e fico feliz pelo projeto enhanced edition que nos permite ver esse jogo em gráficos tão bonitos até mesmo 20+ anos depois do lançamento.
espero verdadeiramente que o remake anunciado consiga captar e recriar essa caminhada torturante que o James Sunderland enfrenta e que nós enfrentamos junto com ele, pois essa é uma característica marcante de silent hill — te colocar no lugar do personagem e fazer você sentir na pele toda a angústia, solidão, medo, incerteza e tortura mental que ele está passando.

Truly a fascinating approach to a sequel to the original Silent Hill. It does away with the direct cult shenanigans centric narrative of the first one and focuses instead on a purely internal and personal psyche-based plot. And honestly there isn´t much of plot here, which works in favor of what the game is trying to do and say.

Right now I feel like I like this approach to Silent Hill better. Here the surrealism and insanity doesn´t just come from a supernatural presence, it´s internal and more up in the air with its reasoning and motivations. More obtuse I would say, and doesn´t really want to give answers to its events, which I like and appreciate. It’s through this approach that it clearly becomes a more mature experience than its predecessor.
The David Lynch inspiration comes easily. There´s this uncanny sheen to every element of this game’s story and overall structure. An uncanniness that I tend to associate with the surreal and zany elements of Lynch’s oeuvre. But because of its nature as a digital interactive medium, the ‘videogame-ness’ of it all adds an extra, very particular, layer of weirdness and surrealism to the experience.

While most locations didn´t necessarily feel as fresh or shocking as they are fairly similar to what is to be found in the previous game (excepting some really fascinating ones in the latter section of this one), the characters are a clear standout. They feel developed, interesting and memorable in a way no character in Silent Hill 1 felt. Obviously, this is all the more clear with the player controlled character. Here James is a real protagonist, with an arc, and actual three dimensionality as a person. Even Mary, the fridged wife, has more of a personality than any character in SH1.

In terms of gameplay, it´s very simple and pretty much identical to SH1, you’ll walk around, read clues, pick up useful items, check your map, solve a puzzle here, solve a riddle there, kill a monstrous abomination with a steel pipe or a gun, stomp on it a little to really make sure its dead. Not hard per se, just kind of obtuse like pretty much every other game of this type that released around this time. But exploration is fun, and spooky and the environments are so rich and detailed that it’s worth it.

You are mostly here for the story, the scary atmosphere, the truly fucked up designs and environments, and I must make special mention of the musical score, which absolutely fucks hard. It’s some insanely good music, some of the best ever written for the medium, and an album that now listen to often.
A horror game that knows how to deliver a proper gut punch. I loved the ending I got this time around, and the final letter that plays before the credits just destroyed me.

‘Born from a wish’ is short, so play it too, but it doesn’t really add anything all that interesting. I guess it worked as a bonus for certain game editions at the time of its release, but pretty much non essential.

I played the Enhanced Edition on PC, at 60 fps, and it plays and looks flawlessly. It feels like a modern port pretty much, this must be the best way to play this game today. I’m extremely curious about this new remake that is being developed by Bloober Team, as I truly do not understand how you remake this game for modern audiences without changing plenty of stuff that make it special and would fundamentally alter any experience one could have with it. I’m not saying it would be bad, I just don´t believe that it would be a superior experience, nor the definitive one as with the Resident Evil 2 Remake, just a very different one that I’m very much looking forward to trying out.

This was a really good game overall, the story is interesting and the characters too, the soundtrack is very good, the voice acting is mostly very mehhh, the gameplay is ok, the graphics were also good (this is the enhaced edition), it's a bit clunky but it gets the job done. I think sometimes it gets a bit confusing what you have to do next (I didn't play this for a couple months and I was a bit lost when I picked it up again, I stopped playing it because I started playing other games and then I kinda forgot I had to play this too lol), the remake will probably improve upon this and the gameplay, they said it'll be different so hopefully it's good! I already knew the final twist but it was still good to see how it all wrapped up. If I played this like 10 years ago or on its launch I'm sure I'd give it a higher rating, but meh voice acting, clunky gameplay and sometimes confusing sections drag the score a bit down for me. There was one puzzle where I had to look up what the hell the answer was because I couldn't understand the numbers that were on a wall, they were so messed up, it seemed like a number but it was actually another lol. Hopefully in the remake they also change this. If you're into horror this is a great game!

I am a person who is easely scared, and it's quite the reason why I couldn't really enjoy horror. But lately, I tried to develop taste for it, until I was ready to play Silent Hill 2.

And oh boy, I was not dissapointed. While I were playing another game, I thought "I really want to play Silent Hill", that is a rare sign of something truly special.

Silent Hill 2 is a classic, no doubt one of the most well known classics.

I entered it, not knowing anything except some plot beat here and there that did not make sense without a context.

We start the game, seeing James Sunderland, staring at the mirror of the dirty sideroad bathroom, observing himself, touching his face seemingly to see if he is awake at all. He then reminds himself why he arrived to this town, to find his wife - who has been dead for 3 years.

Exploring the Silent Hill town, shrowded in eternal, thick as milk fog felt uneasy and encountering first monster was immensly stressful. Slowly uncovering the mystery surrounding James and his slowly deteriorating, lonely relation with the world is unnerving.

Meeting other characters in the same town, some struggling with their own demons, some seemingly not seeing the same monsters that torment James, and some seemingly know a lot of personal detail only his dead wife would know...

The entire game is terrific, from the narrative of James, and mirror narratives of Angela and Eddie, being lost souls that wondered into Silent Hill; to James manerism of how he walks with a handgun, and designs of the monsters, giving insight into James' character - especially iconic Piramid Head

And while the game is as subtle as a brick to the face at the end of the game, the lead up to the reveal is excelent thrill of trying to put together what the hell is happening.

The only complain I can have is that some puzzles are a little obtuse and combat may be too easy and clunky for some (I still enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed RE4 in a sense of only positioning and managing recourses).

A game that opened me to the horror experience, and which will stuck with me for the rest of my life, a must play!