Why is he doing this?
You would have to ask him or the psychiatrist he badly requires.
And it’s unlikely he’d explain himself.
He makes no remark on this.
It’s probably nothing.
When I say it like that, it’s funny.
But it all complimentsSilent Hill 2’s ghostly and Lynchian psychological horror.
A lot of what happens will not make sense on a human level, including people’s motivations.
As a third-person shooty-scare, it isn’t particularly worse off for that mystery.
The setup is the schlockiest thing about it.
A man travels to the town of Silent Hill on the beckoning of a letter from his wife.
The thing is… his wife has been dead for three years… [mysterious piano notes].
This, on the other hand, is a review, so I’m going to talk about graphics!
The act of remaking a belovedhorror gameis not one I envy, especially one as rose-tintingly remembered as this.
(If you’re deadly into these things, James has you covered withthe best performance configs.)
But on reflection, the mististhe point.
And what about that exploration?
You will collect coins and broken records and valves and porcelain figures and dozens of ornate keys.
These puzzles can be hit and miss.
This puzzle, like others, will change according to each playthrough.
So it’s possible I just got a particularly shonky combination of riddlepoems that made the goal unclear.
Yet many other puzzles are strong tests of logic, intuition and understanding.
These benefit from pausing and taking a moment to think things through.
To spoil one very small example, you become locked in a tiny room full of respawning insects.
To escape you have to input a three number code on the door.
There doesn’t seem to be any hints around.
Until you realise there’s a pattern of blood on the keypad.
Try all the bloody buttons, my brain said.
Game designers love to paint the answer on for you, right?
Nope, those combinations weren’t working.
Ding ding, door opened.
This is exactly the level of puzzle I like.
Obvious in hindsight, but one that makes you feel clever in the moment.
And then you get kicked in the head by a monster hiding around the corner.
Silent Hill 2’s approach to boss fights and enemy encounters is to play it utterly safe.
This is a decision that extends to all aspects of the game.
It’s a great-looking, tonally faithful reproduction, if dry as an act of adaptation.
Sticking his arm into every unsanitary cavity he can find.
James “loves a hole” Sunderland.
James “elbows deep” Sunderland.
Again, I can’t help but compare James' Jolly Jaunt to Leon’s Laudable Lark.
Consider also the much-altered storytelling ofFinal Fantasy VII’s ongoing remake.
The revamped Xen ofBlack Mesa.
The thorough Majima-ing ofYakuza Kiwami1 and 2.
Next to these, Silent Hill 2 feels unambitious in all aspects but the admittedly excellent technical craft.
Like I say, I don’t envy Bloober Team’s job here.
Others, like me, will find it conservative and unwilling to take risks, mechanically or otherwise.
Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 is both rapturously faithful and as mild as bottled water.
Whether the taste of horror game Evian bothers you will come down to personal taste.
I like it when a remake bites.
I want Tifa to die inFinal Fantasy VII, just to see how it plays out.
In the inevitableDino Crisisremake, I want to play as a velociraptor.
The spiced-up puzzles and niced-up puddles only add so much.
That’s not to say I would have preferred Bloober to de-mystify the disjointed dialogue and unreliably shifting world.
It looks different, but it’s the same game.
