Silent Hill 2 (2024) Review Thread
from chloyster@beehaw.org to gaming@beehaw.org on 04 Oct 2024 15:02
https://beehaw.org/post/16385362

Game Information

Game Title: Silent Hill 2

Platforms:

Trailers:

Developer: Bloober Team

Publisher: Konami

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 88 average - 91% recommended - 34 reviews

Critic Reviews

Arabhardware - Ahmed Yousry - Arabic - 9 / 10


Areajugones - Urko Miguel Galparsoro - Spanish - 9 / 10


Atomix - Alberto Desfassiaux - Spanish - 95 / 100


CGMagazine - 9 / 10


Checkpoint Gaming - Luke Mitchell - 9 / 10


Eurogamer - Vikki Blake - 5 / 5


Everyeye.it - Riccardo Cantù - Italian - 8.2 / 10


GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 90%


GRYOnline.pl - Sebastian Kasparek - Polish - 6 / 10


Game Rant - Dalton Cooper - 9 / 10


GamePro - Samara Summer - German - 87 / 100


GameSpot - Mark Delaney - 9 / 10


Gameblog - French - 9 / 10


Gamepressure - Zbigniew Woźnicki - 6.5 / 10


GamesRadar+ - Leon Hurley - 3.5 / 5


GamingTrend - Henry Viola - 90 / 100


Hardcore Gamer - Chris Shive - 4 / 5


Hobby Consolas - Daniel Quesada - Spanish - 89 / 100


IGN - Tristan Ogilvie - 8 / 10


IGN Italy - Alessandra Borgonovo - Italian - 9.5 / 10


Metro GameCentral - GameCentral - 9 / 10


One More Game - Chris Garcia - 9 / 10


PPE.pl - Roger Żochowski - Polish - 9 / 10


PSX Brasil - Eric Oliveira - Portuguese - 100 / 100


Press Start - James Mitchell - 9 / 10


Push Square - Liam Croft - 9 / 10


Sirus Gaming - Jarren Navarrete - 10 / 10


Spaziogames - Domenico Musicò - Italian - 9.4 / 10


The Games Machine - Daniele Cucchiarelli - Italian - 8.3 / 10


TheGamer - James Kennedy - 3.5 / 5


Tom’s Hardware Italia - Andrea Maiellano - Italian - 9 / 10


VG247 - Kelsey Raynor - 5 / 5


VGC - Chris Scullion - 4 / 5


Wccftech - Chris Wray - 9 / 10


#gaming

threaded - newest

chloyster@beehaw.org on 04 Oct 2024 15:03 next collapse

Silent hill is one of my favorite series, and I’d argue the last time we even got a decent game was back in 2007 with origins. The drought has been unreal. I can’t believe we are finally eating good again

FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org on 04 Oct 2024 16:54 next collapse

Origins was so dang good.

DdCno1@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 13:07 collapse

Sooo, since I have you as an enthusiast here: The only Silent Hill I’ve ever played was Shattered Memories way back when (I actually have a rare pre-release press copy). Clever game and equally scary. Which game should I pick up first if I wanted to seriously get into this series? This new remake of Silent Hill 2? The original Silent Hill? Shattered Memories again?

chloyster@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 15:29 collapse

Good questions!

Tbh the only starting points I would recommend is the original or some version of sh2. Since it seems like this remake is really good I think it would be a great place to start!

Imo, the 2 S tier silent hill games are 2 and 3. However 3 is a direct sequel to 1 (an A tier game, only knocked down from S tier by PS1 jank) so i do think that should be played before 3.

The remake makes things a little different since it’s gameplay style will be pretty different, but my normal recommendation was:

Play 2 (PC enhanced edition preferably), if you enjoy that, then play 1 and 3. If you want more, play 4 (the last made by the original team and a good B tier game imo, but a bit different than the other 3). If you still want more, check out origins (a, imo, C tier game, the first made by not the original team but the most respectable effort of this new generation of games).

I’d say after that I personally don’t find any of them worth playing. Shattered memories isn’t my favorite but it definitely isn’t a bad game. I’d say play that again if you want! It’s more or less a very strange reimagining of sh1. An interesting game but not for me. A fine place to continue if you want more.

Homecoming and downpour are just quite bad imo. Stay away

DdCno1@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 19:26 collapse

Thank you for the thorough answer!

theangriestbird@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 04:43 next collapse

how tf there only 2 comments in this thread? Y’all this is SILENT HILL TWO and it’s scoring WELL I guess my reason is horror games aren’t really my cup of tea. but this is a BIG DEAL!

Edit: here’s a key passage from the Eurogamer review that is hype:

The original game was both combat-light and a little short, and Bloober has addressed both these issues head-on. For the latter, the remake has opened up a slew of new landmarks for us to explore, so I devoted a lot of time picking through the streets of Silent Hill, revelling in the new-found freedom of being able to visit shops and buildings that had hitherto been out of bounds for us. This, coupled with longer levels and more places to visit, more than doubles the original eight-ish hour run-time.

As for combat? Well, be careful what you wish for, I guess. Silent Hill 2 was outrageously easy, even on its hardest difficulty, and Bloober’s edition is not. The good news is Remake doesn’t exactly make combat central to the experience (at least, not on standard difficulty). But it sure does make it harder to adopt the typical survival horror strat of run-away-run-away-run-away. Because of its claustrophobic tight spaces and nooks and crannies, it’s incredibly difficult to retreat from a fight, and there is essentially no meaningful way to stealth around the place, either. On top of that, most boss battles - they are all here, as well as a surprise or two - will deplete your ammo reserves with ruthless efficiency. It’s also often tough to finish off foes without taking damage yourself as a result, burning through your ever-dwindling medical supplies. (Yes, Lying Figures spewing toxic vomit in your death throes - I’m looking at you.)

They took a legendary game and made it better. Props to Bloober team, guess they still got it.

chloyster@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 06:47 next collapse

You get whats up!!! Unbelievably stoked for this

Faydaikin@beehaw.org on 06 Oct 2024 05:37 collapse

Already played the original and found it perfect the way it was.

I don’t feel the need for a remake when it comes to SH2.

Aloomineum@beehaw.org on 05 Oct 2024 15:11 next collapse

Looking forward to this one. The original trailer kind of had me worried at first but it’s a nice surprise to see it reviewing so well. Youtubers who got it early are loving it too, which is promising. If the game does well I hope Konami doesn’t squander it, imagine entering a new age of silent hill and it’s actually good again.

Sort of off topic, it would be a great end of the year treat if both this game and Dragon Age manage to surprise everyone.

beepnoise@piefed.social on 06 Oct 2024 08:32 next collapse

I'm just downloading it to my Steam Deck as I bought advanced access to the game. I'll let folks know how it goes.

And before anyone jumps on my neck about buying advanced access:

  • I waited until review scores came out
  • Even then I was originally planning to wait a few weeks until launch but with Steam refunds, I figured I can play for half an hour to get a good feel of the game
  • Not only is this Konami's first good game in ages, I dare say this is also the industry's first good game in ages. RE4 was excellent, but the OG was great and Capcom at that point knew how to do well. I *cannot* say the same for Konami/Bloober.
  • I'm someone who is lucky enough to have enough disposable income where a purchase like this doesn't really negatively affect me financially.
beepnoise@piefed.social on 06 Oct 2024 08:51 collapse

Nevermind, I did a quick check on YouTube and the game runs absolutely terribly on the Steam Deck... so much for me supporting Konami, got that refund request in order.

noxy@yiffit.net on 08 Oct 2024 16:43 collapse

Its good. Not perfect, but better than I expected.

Headphones definitely recommended, a halfway decent Atmos home theater system sounds great but I still picked up subtle sounds better with even just bluetooth headphones.

Ambience is very much on point. Dialogue is a good mix of well-acted, and a tad “off” like the original. Angela and Eddie seem faithfully redone, so far. James too honestly.

Apartments were a nice change-up from the original, not too different thematically but still essentially a whole new layout, not at all a copy and paste job. Showdown with big knife guy was a big departure, though. Not sure if better or worse, but different from the original

Some graphical glitches (something like ghosting of the fog around objects moving on the screen, also flashes of light in the distance) sometimes that are frankly unacceptable for a $70 game, especially a game of this sort of mood, but hopefully they get those patched soon.

Combat is not exactly great. Nor was it in the original, to be fair. The dodging mechanic is a bit much, and at least on the hardest combat difficulty, it feels like you gotta already be familiar with enemy attack patterns, since it doesn’t give you much chance to learn and survive. But it does all feel learnable, so we’ll see if I just need to get gooder.

Steam achievement notifications at least one broke immersion for me, I might try to mute those next time I play.

But overall I’m very eager to resume playing after work, I left off after the apartments (and stayed up far too late doing so!)

chloyster@beehaw.org on 08 Oct 2024 17:29 collapse

I’m super happy with it so far, though I am not quite as far. I got up to Woodside apartments last night before going to bed.

Totally agree on the ambiance. They absolutely match the original and Akira Yamaoka did an amazing job in this department yet again. Also agree on the dialogue, really happy with it so far. I was worried due to how much I disliked the hd collections redone vocals but they did a good job here.

So far haven’t had much in the department of graphical glitches, though I did notice my frame rate tanked when I got to the apartments at the end of my session so I made need to tweak some settings.

Combat hasn’t bothered me but also I’m playing on standard and haven’t gotten the pistol yet so my thoughts are developing. Melee is quite satisfying in this game though imo

Agree on the steam achievements haha.

While I’m still early it does seem like they’ve grabbed the vibes straight from the original and dropped them into a modern coat of paint. And at the end of the day sh2 thrives on its vibes, so I’m very happy. Excited to keep playing