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.
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.