Bloober's Silent Hill 2 was more remix than remake and that's why it was great

GamesHorrorSilent Hill 2Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 was more remix than remake and that’s why it was greatWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Konami)

Silent Hill 2

Personal Pick(Image credit: Future)In addition to our mainGame of the Year Awards 2024, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We’ll post new personal picks, alongside our main awards, throughout the rest of the month.

Personal Pick

(Image credit: Future)In addition to our mainGame of the Year Awards 2024, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We’ll post new personal picks, alongside our main awards, throughout the rest of the month.

(Image credit: Future)

GOTY 2024 Personal Picks

In addition to our mainGame of the Year Awards 2024, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We’ll post new personal picks, alongside our main awards, throughout the rest of the month.

I wasn’t sure Bloober Team would stick the landing. I’ve played a couple of the studio’s previous games, Observer and The Message, and both times been disappointed when a promising beginning led to an underwhelming finale. In remaking Silent Hill 2 though, Bloober mostly stuck to the script, preserving the story and atmosphere that made the original unforgettable—the rare game where you remember exactly where you were when you first played it. The remake works because just enough has been changed to create a sense of uncertainty that has you questioning your memories, which fits Silent Hill 2 perfectly.

In the remake you visit the same parts of the USA’s premiere fog-haunted nightmare holiday destination, but each location is bigger and there’s extra stuff between them. Being able to go inside more of the empty shops makes the streets feel less like art on a wall at the back of the stage. See that window? You can smash it. Then you can climb inside and loot the place. Like I assume everyone else did, I smashed every window I saw until Maria called me out on it.

They’re not killing machines 100% of the time though, which gives them more personality. The mannequins hide in ambush, leaping out to blatter you with the blunt footless legs they have in place of arms. But at other times you’ll walk into a room and see one scurrying off as if you got home too soon and caught them putting up the balloons for your surprise party. They’ll try to hide around a corner or under some furniture, but because you saw them run off you’ll probably spot them—yet the cautious game of hide and seek you play is still tense.

(Image credit: Konami)

James fighting a monster

Especially because, even when you do spot them, zooming in with your gun makes them spring to life and your flashlight flicker, throwing off your shot and resulting in a sudden frantic melee. The mannequins have gone from a minor annoyance to a huge part of Silent Hill 2’s atmosphere, and that’s a real achievement. They startled me more than once, but just as surprising as finding Legs & Co. around another corner was how impactful the familiar story beats were when slightly rearranged.

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