Along with Resident Evil, Silent Hill is a franchise that is synonymous with the survival horror genre, and while I still haven't played the first Silent Hill game, I always knew that I wanted to get into the series with Silent Hill 2. Not only is this game the fan favorite, but it has also maintained this legacy as one of the greatest video games ever made more than two decades after its release, and that made me curious to see what the excitement was all about. Initially, I thought that I was going to play Silent Hill 2 through the Inner Fears re-release for the Xbox using backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360, but I ended up playing the original PS2 version instead, and it meant that I got to experience this phenomenal game much sooner than I thought I would. For me, Silent Hill 2 achieved everything that it had set out to accomplish masterfully, and that resulted in a game that was scary, melancholic, uncomfortable, beautiful, dreamy, and nightmarish all at the same time.
Despite how often I've heard people continuously say great things about this game's story over the years, I didn't hear much about its actual gameplay, and so I'm glad that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did. Although other horror games like Deadly Premonition and Resident Evil 4 did benefit from focusing on action, Silent Hill 2 was a lot more effective in actually scaring me, as fighting the game's grotesque and unnerving monsters with limited ammo and slow melee weapons did a great job of evoking a feeling of powerlessness. The combat and puzzles were already good on their own, but what made them so much more engaging for me would be the game's inherently creepy atmosphere, as the foggy exteriors and grungy, dirty interiors combined with the brilliantly oppressive sound mixing, claustrophobic fixed camera angles, and intentionally stilted dialogue gave even the most basic activities a sense of unease that I've never felt while playing any other game. The music in Silent Hill 2 is flawless, as Akira Yamaoka's eclectic score manages to be perfectly evocative in whatever context it's used in while still having a generally haunting feel.
Like I've mentioned earlier, Silent Hill 2 is famous for its storytelling, but even with that in mind, this game's narrative still managed to blow me away. Silent Hill 2 takes full advantage of its survival horror gameplay in order to strengthen the impact of its story, as the more psychological and even outright surreal elements felt naturally integrated into the main plot of James Sunderland reckoning with the death of his wife. A lot of horror media deals with grief, especially nowadays, but the way that Silent Hill 2 handled these themes made them feel unique and honest, along with how the game explores how guilt, abuse, and love affect both James and the various people he meets during his stay in Silent Hill. The story is as disturbing as it is tragic, and on top of having a spectacular ending, it also features one of the most heartbreaking pieces of ending narration that I have ever heard. Silent Hill 2 is a horror game that can not only go toe-to-toe with many of the horror movies I've seen, but also a good amount of media in general, as it is very easily one of the best pieces of art I have ever experienced, video game or otherwise.
Despite how often I've heard people continuously say great things about this game's story over the years, I didn't hear much about its actual gameplay, and so I'm glad that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did. Although other horror games like Deadly Premonition and Resident Evil 4 did benefit from focusing on action, Silent Hill 2 was a lot more effective in actually scaring me, as fighting the game's grotesque and unnerving monsters with limited ammo and slow melee weapons did a great job of evoking a feeling of powerlessness. The combat and puzzles were already good on their own, but what made them so much more engaging for me would be the game's inherently creepy atmosphere, as the foggy exteriors and grungy, dirty interiors combined with the brilliantly oppressive sound mixing, claustrophobic fixed camera angles, and intentionally stilted dialogue gave even the most basic activities a sense of unease that I've never felt while playing any other game. The music in Silent Hill 2 is flawless, as Akira Yamaoka's eclectic score manages to be perfectly evocative in whatever context it's used in while still having a generally haunting feel.
Like I've mentioned earlier, Silent Hill 2 is famous for its storytelling, but even with that in mind, this game's narrative still managed to blow me away. Silent Hill 2 takes full advantage of its survival horror gameplay in order to strengthen the impact of its story, as the more psychological and even outright surreal elements felt naturally integrated into the main plot of James Sunderland reckoning with the death of his wife. A lot of horror media deals with grief, especially nowadays, but the way that Silent Hill 2 handled these themes made them feel unique and honest, along with how the game explores how guilt, abuse, and love affect both James and the various people he meets during his stay in Silent Hill. The story is as disturbing as it is tragic, and on top of having a spectacular ending, it also features one of the most heartbreaking pieces of ending narration that I have ever heard. Silent Hill 2 is a horror game that can not only go toe-to-toe with many of the horror movies I've seen, but also a good amount of media in general, as it is very easily one of the best pieces of art I have ever experienced, video game or otherwise.