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!

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!

It is so hard to meet expectations as high as people set for Silent Hill 2, and for that game to meet them in 2023. Video games evolve so rapidly, especially in terms of aesthetics and storytelling, that a game from 2001 that leans heavily on those will inherently have an uphill battle.

Silent Hill 2 takes all that in its stride to deliver what is still a peerless, often imitated horror experience -- even in 2023. It's PS2 era vibe and feel have aged gracefully and almost enhance the atmosphere. The music is incredible; haunting and ethereal at times, mechanical and menacing at others. The story is fascinating and doesn't whiff with the ending like many.

The combat is stiff which in turn makes the boss fights feel mechanically basic, but that's thematically appropriate at least, and to knock points off this as some kind of box ticking exercise would miss the point.

A note on the Enhanced Edition; it is excellent. A superb way to play this classic game. The PS2 version has its emulation woes, the HD collection is a legendary fumble, and physical copies are extortionately priced - but thankfully the folks behind this project did some incredible work to the PC version. And it ran like a dream on Steam Deck. HD, widescreen, 60 fps.

To be honest, I don't quite know what to think of the game. I had fun, but something bothers me about it. The atmosphere in the game is great. I still love the foggy city, just like in 1. The enemy design was also on point again. I was able to follow the main storyline and understood it, but everything that happened next to it just confused me. The technical gameplay wasn't absolutely strong either, but the puzzles were great. I was unsure whether to give it 3.5 or 4 stars, but for the atmosphere and the vibe the game gave off, it gets a 4 for now.

In my restless dreams, I see that town... What can I say about this game? After playing the first game, it was a big decision to play another Silent Hill back to back, I am so happy to have the opportunity to experience this piece of art, a videogame that made fall in love with the psychological horror genre.

Initially it was planned the gameplay would be on my Steam Deck PCSX2 emulator but the film grain or whatever it's called really bothered me. So the decision was unanimous and decided to try the PC Enhanced Edition mod, and might as well be the best SH2 experience available, it shows that they picked the PC version and made it better in every possible way. Really happy to get to experience the game in this way, the team assigned to do this remake better up their game because this version is the bombs.

The music does it for me, before even playing Silent Hill I would jam the playlist without knowing a single song, and when the playthrough was starting I just felt this nostalgia as I had played the crappy PS3 version before (a portion of it).

From the music, to the atmosphere, scary and sad moments: this game has a special place in my heart, please play it.

An absolute win in terms of design, storytelling, sound design and especially atmosphere. This game is what happens when there is passion in dedication. You see, I used to wonder why even though Marvel movies may be serviceable or some big budget games are kinda fun they're just not amazing, this game opened my eyes to that. They lack pure passion and talent. When something is made with love, you can just feel it, that's exactly what happened with this game, every minute was just oozing with love and care. After looking at the "making of" I can see why. These guys knew what they were doing, even if people have creativity these days and even nice ideas, they lack vision. They lack the ability to set their sights on a target properly and go for it with all that they have, that's what I think at least. Games need not be 80+ hours long, this 8 hour game showed me that quality is ALWAYS better than quantity.

Let's start from the base, the thing that holds everything together and the main attraction, the story and especially the characters. Each character serves a purpose, shows what's happening in the story and the main character here is the perfect example of doing a protagonist correctly, ESPECIALLY for this medium. What's the best part of this game is not just its story but how this story takes advantage of the fact that it is not a movie, a novel nor a comic, it's a video game, an interactive medium and uses that to its full potential. Typically you'd see compromises in stories or characters due to that but nope not here. Absolute class act. I do not want to spoil the story nor the characters so this is where I will stop, I do not think a review should spoil events, but honestly I went into this game knowing half the story and even then I was moved. The writing in this game is no less than Breaking Bad, The Godfather, Se7en, Perfect Blue, Requiem For A Dream, etc. I know it's cliche to say this but for this game it absolutely is true. This game stands shoulder to shoulder with those giants and does so confidently and with pride. That is respectable to say the least.

Moving on, the sounds. Absolute masterclass from the absolute mad lad Akira Yamaoka. Silent Hill 1 was good, great at parts even but overall not amazing in my humble opinion. The end game blooper track was absolute fire though. This time, Akira came back guns blazing. Spooky tracks are spookier, atmospheric tracks are dreamier and the rock songs are such bangers I played this game just because of them! This guy is an all in one band and composer and I have the utmost respect for him. Filling me with dread at one point, sadness in another and then making me bop in the same game is just nothing short of a miracle for me. 20-50% of this game is basically carried by the sounds. That's how important this game's audio is. Picture this, the windows XP background with the "Promises" song from this game, imagine how you feel. Then picture the windows XP background with the "Black Fairy" song. Music and just sounds in general are important for any experience now but for this game it is vital. The story is the soul and the music is the heart that beats and keeps everything running. Thank you Mr Akira, your work will continuously get recognised hopefully.

The visuals are outstanding, "technically" this isn't perfect but does that matter? Absolutely not, this game looks beautiful and all of that is because of their vision, confidence and their commitment to their work. The fog is still beautiful, mirrors REFLECT the whole scene without needing ray tracing or any screen space shenanigans. The textures are good, not great but that actually adds to their charm I'd say for 80% of the assets, makes the game grittier and spookier.

The gameplay is something I like a lot honestly, I think this game is a better version of resident evil though I haven't played those older ones. The claustrophobic controls and environments with the mid accuracy and stuff all add to the experience. The only gripes I have are some mediocre bosses and some long running and walking which are boring and time consuming sometimes. It is spooky for a minute or two but after that you get used to it if it's the same location. When thrust to a new location the fear of the unknown kicks in and then yeah they took advantage of that and did stuff with it. Some unnecessary "jumpscares" and enemy placement was also inconvenient, like I understand it was to scare but I'd say the jumpscares could have been cut by 50% and the impact would've been FAR greater. The (SPOILER ALERT) bathroom one will always haunt me, greatest jumpscare of all time.

So, a game with damn near perfect visual style, aural experience and a mind numbingly good story, what could go wrong? Nothing much really, just minor gripes with the gameplay and some in my opinion, poor decisions, reduced my enjoyment of purely the gameplay to 8/10. HOWEVER, the story was an absolute win, 10/10. FINALLY, the most important part is, my enjoyment of the game as a whole was 10/10, an absolute masterclass in video games and story telling. You know that thing where even if something isn't absolutely perfect it's still amazing? This is it. Nothing can be perfect and this gets so close to it that might as well call it perfect hah. Story was moving and the atmosphere, instead of making me "scared", made me dreadful of what was going to happen. That is far more difficult to pull off, let alone pull off for a whole ass game. Bravo Team Silent.

Now additional notes for the Enhanced Edition, I think using the noise filter is mandatory. Using a 480p resolution is cool and using a crt filter may be cool but isn't my cup of tea. 480p resolution is great! Game looks great imo, CRT filter was great too due to the colors but I hated the dotted look. Finally, the upscaled images can be a miss sometimes! The FMVs too, they're a bit uncanny compared to the pristine and (imo beautiful) original FMVs, but that's just me. Look at a comparison or two online and choose your poison. Lowered resolutions look good and emulate the original art style which is great and I'd have done that myself but 1080p was a good middle ground between TOO SHARP and too aliased.

Remember friends, this is not a "you should play" but a "you must play" type of game. Experience what the best of gaming has to offer.

Solid door-checking simulator.
It's an interesting story but it feels very padded out with unnecessary/uninteresting gameplay that ranges from dull to frustrating. If someone could turn this into a good novel that would be ideal.
All that being said, there's something to the depth and complexity of the characters and their motivations and the way these are metaphorically manifested that I just can't shake. I find the voices, dialog, and animations to be wonderfully weird and indelible. I like to think that the fatal act at the center of the story is not to be taken literally. James has enough to feel guilty about.

It's the first version of Silent Hill 2 I've ever played! I've never tried the original PC version, so I can't tell what the differences are. What I can say, however, is that Silent Hill 2 is one of my all-time favorite video games and definitely the top 1 horror title. The full review will be available on the original game's release page, as well as the Restless Dreams version.

The Enhanced Edition looks and plays great, even on mouse and keyboard. I didn't experience anything frustrating or standing out too much - it's a very faithful project.

Silent Hill 2 is an absolute masterpiece, and the Enhanced Edition makes it look even better. This deserves nothing but a perfect score. - 🕙

It's the best-looking and best-running (60fps) version of the game. The bosses still move at double-speed like in the original PC port, so be careful if you have a preferred strategy from the console versions.

I have a complaint with it (the game, not the Enhanced Edition mods), even though I'm giving it a 5/5, and it's a very specific (and for most people, petty) complaint. If you do play these games for their scoring aspects (10 stars), the 75 shooting kills required are quite the slog when compared to the original game. This is mainly due to the nerf to guns in general as a single shot on downed enemies no longer finishes them off. The rifle in particular is almost completely worthless. You will probably need to waste a good 30 minutes clearing the streets after Brookhaven to meet quota. While you absolutely can get kills using other weapons, the 2-4 shotgun shots required is so much less grating than the 30+ handgun bullets (the rifle is somehow worse) it'd take. I'd gripe that the game should penalize you for using the Green Hyper Spray, but you've earned that right after unlocking it.

The game also has the smoothest tank-controls I've ever used personally. Silent Hill 3's might be slightly better for general movement, but you lose the ability to run-strafe on stairs in that game. I only wish you were able to constantly run at top-speed like in Silent Hill 1.

Incredible game overall though. In certain aspects, I still find it to be underrated. 5/5

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.

- Leave Ending, Normal difficulty -
Holy fuck.
I honestly cannot put into words the things this game made me feel by the end of it. What a beautiful journey...
This game is an absurd upgrade to the first game, combat feels a bit more fluid and intentionally janky, albeit to a more comfortable aspect with the Enhanced Edition's 60 FPS and full widescreen support (almost to a fault since some cutscenes might be a bit glitchy because of it).
I'll try and not go into spoiler territory here, but.... yeah, all the things I heard and read about this game's story and atmosphere are truly real. Not just that, but this game also somewhat embraces the MGS2 idea of playing with what the player knows this game should and should not do. For instance, a segment where you seem stuck just might mean you gotta keep looking for an "invisible wall" of sorts, or maybe the game wants you to turn off a core mechanic from the game for you to play properly.
It's an insane descent into madness and grief, with that good PS2-era cheesy dialogues and atmospheric soundtrack playing, clearly inspired by those small town shows where the peaks might be a bit twin for your own good.
Since I was a kid I remember reading a walkthrough magazine I got that had both Silent Hill 1 and 2 on it, never fully understanding it since the game was in english and the magazine just gave you the abridged version of the events on a cutscene. And... since then this game has been etched into my mind, even though I never went out of my way to play it. It... didn't feel right.
Now as I'm older and I dealt with the loss of family members, I can understand this game a lot better.
Overall, a fantastic experience I feel every survival horror fan should play. And... this does make me somewhat scared of what the remake might do.

Part of Spooky Season 2023.

My original experience with Silent Hill 2 was about six years ago. I played through it alongside an old friend who would constantly tell me what to do and where to go while reading a walkthrough online. Even though we did have a good time getting spooked and making fun of the stilted and awkward voice acting and dialogue, we ultimately hindered our experience. We thought the game was kinda “meh” and never really got what made the game so special. Over the years since that original playthrough, I’ve watched numerous video essays and read several articles and fan sites for Silent Hill 2 in an attempt to better understand the story, the symbolism, and why the game in general is so beloved. Despite my initial apathetic feelings towards the game, it managed to occupy a space in the back of my mind for years. Much like how the titular town calls the characters to it, I keep coming back to Silent Hill 2 and the unsettling journey into the depths of James Sunderland’s mind and soul, learning more and more about it each time I do, even if I’m not directly playing the game. After finishing my second playthrough, despite knowing just about every little detail regarding the game’s narrative going into it, Silent Hill 2 still managed to leave a rather large impact on me, even if there are some parts of it that sadly tear me away from what is otherwise one of the most captivating games I’ve ever played.

With the change in console generations, Team Silent chose to refine the elements that made the first Silent Hill standout. The visuals and sound design, which were already some of the best in the medium on the PlayStation 1, manage to get even better here. The biggest improvement overall though, is in the game’s storytelling. While the surface level narrative of the first game was solid, the storytelling was at its best with what wasn’t explicitly shown or explained. The environmental storytelling and the ambiguous nature to certain aspects of the plot in conjunction with what was being directly shown was what made that game’s story great for me. Silent Hill 2 takes the same approach, but to a far greater extent. The game tells a story that is so hauntingly personal and horrifically tragic that words which can convey how effective and emotional it is fail me. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a piece of media where the pitch black, bottomless emptiness of immense guilt and despair is communicated so well.

Almost every aspect of Silent Hill 2 has been expertly crafted to communicate details of the plot, characters, or the themes of the narrative. The town and the locations you explore within it aren’t just dark and frightening labyrinths. The monsters you encounter aren’t just creepy flesh abominations. They all represent something, they’re all telling you things about either James or the other characters of the game’s story. The symbolism compels you to reflect upon the places you go to and the things and people you encounter, consider what it all means, and why things are the way they are. This is how Silent Hill 2 manages to suck you into its world and keep you thinking about it long after you’ve finished playing it. It is truly excellent storytelling that I haven’t really seen in many other video games I’ve played.

In terms of structure and gameplay, not much has really changed between the first and second Silent Hill. Both titles play almost exactly the same, and as a result, they both share many of the same strengths and weaknesses (which I discuss in greater detail in my review of the first game). Controls and combat are virtually unchanged aside from the guns feeling like they pack more of a punch. Boss fights are once again rather simple, though they do actually require you to occasionally move now instead of just standing in one spot and tanking attacks while you shoot them with your best guns. Still, they never get more complicated than just running to one corner of the room, firing a few shots, rinse and repeat. Once again, I found the game to be at its best when exploring the indoor dungeon-like locations such as Wood Creek Apartments or Brookhaven Hospital. You do spend more time in these sorts of locations and less time exploring the town this time around, which is honestly a huge plus. It’s clear that the goal of the devs wasn’t to really expand or alter the way Silent Hill 2 is played in any significant way, and instead to just stick with what worked.

The biggest gameplay change is how the difficulty works. Instead of an all encompassing Easy/Normal/Hard difficulty setting, Silent Hill 2 allows you to choose the difficulty for combat and puzzles separately, letting you customize your difficulty experience. Being the casual that I am, I chose Normal for both. I thought this was fine for the puzzles, which were a lot less cryptic compared to the puzzles on the same difficulty in the first game. They still require you to think outside the box, but I was able to solve almost all of them on my own. However, the Normal difficulty for combat is way too easy, and I don’t think it’s just because this is my second playthrough. What makes combat so easy is that the game showers you with ammo and health items, to an overbearing extent. Silent Hill 1 had a similar problem, but it’s even worse here. There was actually a point in the first game where I nearly used up all of my handgun ammo because I wasn’t thinking and almost put myself in a difficult position. This stressed me out and really forced me to reconsider my ammo usage despite the fact that I was eventually able to rebuild a large amount of ammo during the rest of the game.

In Silent Hill 2, you never have to think about item management on Normal difficulty. By the time I reached the final boss, I had over 150 rounds of handgun ammo, over 100 shotgun shells, as well as dozens of rounds for the rifle. I also had roughly 20 different healing items in total as well. The final area in the game in particular has a ton of ammo and healing items you can easily find. I don’t know if playing on Hard would make any difference or not. After looking into it, I’ve seen mostly mixed responses regarding the difficulty from people online. A lot of folks say that it doesn’t make that much of a difference, and that Hard also makes certain set pieces such as the Brookhaven Hospital Basement and the controls for the Boat more difficult in a detracting way. I didn’t play through Hard myself so take that with a grain of salt, but if that is the case, then I’d say that this is the biggest problem with Silent Hill 2. Since you have so much ammo and healing items, there’s no risk to just blasting away almost every enemy you come across, which dramatically lessens the threat they pose and takes you out of the horror experience. As a result, I actually think Silent Hill 2 plays slightly worse and is a bit less tense compared to Silent Hill 1.

I also feel like the camera is a lot worse compared to the first game as well. Oftentimes, especially in long and cramped hallways, the camera just won’t cooperate and rotate to a view of James from behind. It’ll swing around wildly, making it very difficult to see what’s in front of James. This is especially frustrating if the Radio is detecting an enemy nearby and you’re trying to rotate the camera so that you can check to see which direction the enemy is in, and I have gotten injured by enemies as a result of the camera not cooperating. This was also an occasional issue in Silent Hill 1, but it happened to me so infrequently that I didn’t even bother to mention it in my review of that game, and it’s a surprise that it’s a much bigger problem here.

If you are the type of player who prioritizes gameplay above all else, then I think that Silent Hill 2 may end up leaving you disappointed. Gameplay is not where the title shines, and is honestly it’s weakest aspect. However, every other element of the game is handled in a masterclass fashion. There are very few games that I have played that even come close to being as immersive or that tell a story as expertly as Silent Hill 2 does. Team Silent really played to their strengths and crafted an experience that very few games I’ve played have even come close to matching. After all these years, despite thinking that I understood it before, now I feel like I can post that Always Sunny gif of Danny DeVito and say that “I get it”. I get why this game is heralded as a masterpiece, why it’s still being talked about to this day, why I keep randomly thinking about it even after all these years since my first playthrough, and why it’s deeply impacted so many people. Despite its blemishes, there’s still a lot of beauty to it, and I think that it’s a game that’s definitely earned its cult status