Review: SILENT HILL 2 is slow going because I’m too scared

Konami recently released the long-awaited remake of the classic horror video game Silent Hill 2. This remake was developed by Bloober Team and brings the 2001 game to PC and PS5. Konami was kind enough to provide me with a PC review code, but all thoughts below are my own.

I’ll warn you that I’m a huge baby when it comes to scary things and I’ve never played the original PS2 game, so this won’t serve as a comparison to the original. You can purchase your own copy of Silent Hill 2 from your favorite stores including Humble (affiliate link).

Having received a letter from his late wife,

James heads to where they shared so many memories,

in the hope of seeing her once again: Silent Hill.

There, by the lake, she finds a woman strangely similar to her…

“My name… is Maria”, smiles the woman. Her face, her voice… it’s just like her.

Experience a masterclass in psychological horror, acclaimed as the best in the series, on the latest hardware with chilling visuals and visceral sounds.

Before I get too far into my review, I want to talk about my testbed and settings. The game launched with a “Playable” rating on Steam Deck, but that was quickly changed to “Not Supported,” so I played the game all the time on my gaming desktop (specifications below).

I recently booted up Silent Hill 2 on my Steam Deck because a recent patch supposedly improved the experience, but after loading it up and playing around with a few settings, it looked terrible in my opinion and struggled to maintain 30fps.

On my desktop, performance was noticeably more stable and I could crank up several settings and maintain more than 60 fps while playing with a controller. Since I last played, I believe they have injected FSR 3.1 support and so in theory this should further improve performance capabilities.

Staying on the technical side of things for a brief moment, at launch there was some nasty stuttering that would occur when crossing area boundaries, but I’ve seen that at least partially improved with patches.

• Processor: Ryzen 9 5900X

• GPU: Radeon RX 6800 XT

• RAM: 32 GB 3600 MT/s

• SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus

• Operating system: Windows 11

Like I said, I’m a big kid when it comes to horror. However, I had heard so much praise for Silent Hill 2 and I enjoyed listening to my favorite gaming podcast (shoutout to Play) I mention that I decided I wanted to try this game with the remake. I’m a kid and I have to play for short periods and then have a lot of fun, but I had fun with Silent Hill.

In case you’re not familiar with Silent Hill 2it’s definitely more of a psychological thriller (my kind of horror in movies) but there’s also some creepy and disgusting stuff.

You play James Sunderland who travels to Silent Hill, Maine, in search of his dead wife Mary, who sent him a letter three years after her death. You arrive to solve this mystery and there is a thick fog all around the now empty city, full of terrifying and grotesque creatures ready to harm you.

If I’m honest, Silent Hill 2 it’s amazing! The writing is really good, the team did an impeccable job of creating an eerie atmosphere that in itself made me want to abandon the game, and everything looks amazing.

The gameplay overall is good (see some tips below) to play and I’m happy to play it even though I often say “why did I do this to myself”, which seems to be not uncommon for players who play it.

You can adjust the difficulty of combat and puzzles separately, which is nice because I’m definitely more of a puzzle guy and so I lowered the combat difficulty in hopes of lessening the creepiness (with moderate success).

The sound team really did an incredible job with everything. The atmospheric sounds are phenomenal, but the grotesque sounds of the creatures you encounter are also something else. The team did a fantastic job using audio to transport the player into the horrors of Silent Hill.

What are my nitpicks? The stuttering above was really bad at launch. I haven’t played enough since the patches came out to know how much has been fixed, but there’s still some stuttering even though it’s significantly improved.

Also, it really bothers me that you walk into doors and swing them open. I always expect to press A or X to open a door, but pressing the button does nothing. When it comes to saving money, I’m torn.

On the one hand I love the convenience offered by modern conventions to save money anywhere. However, Silent Hill 2 it keeps the use of save points which I think might be the better move overall. It feels much more thematic, as if the save points give you a clue to the game’s true story.

Fighting with the wooden board (the first weapon you get) just feels awkward to use. I’m sure that, at least some of it, is on purpose, but it was definitely something I wasn’t a fan of, regardless of the team’s intentions.

Honestly, if you’re not a horror fan, I’d say I’m enjoying the narrative aspect of it Silent Hill 2but it’s hard to cope because of my fear.

This is not a game for everyone, but if you think you can handle the horror and fear, then I highly recommend you play it. Silent Hill 2 on your favorite platform. Maybe I’ll have the courage to finish it before next Halloween.