What's so great about the original Silent Hill 2? Why did Konami decide to re-release it?

In October 2022, information appeared that Silent Hill 2 would receive a full-fledged remake. At that time, many were surprised why Konami started with the second part of the series. However, there are objective reasons for this decision. You will learn about them, as well as about the advantages of the original 2001 game, from our article.

The very first Silent Hill was released in 1999. It was conceived as a kind of response to Resident Evil, but in practice it turned out to be a completely different game. Where Capcom relied on demonstrating zombies, Konami pressed on psychology. Thanks to the ominous music of Akira Yamaoka, thick fog that hides enemies, and a city with its secrets and otherworldly world, Silent Hill became a unique horror for its time. The events continued in the third part, and later a prequel with the subtitle Origins was released.

The story of James Sunderland from the second part is not directly connected with the global plot of the series. But it allows us to better understand the specifics of the sinister city, to learn how the fears and experiences of people affect its inhabitants and form nightmarish creatures, from disfigured nurses to Pyramid Head.

Subsequent games narrated events in other cities. For example, The Room took place in South Ashfield, and Homecoming — in Shepherd's Glen. However, they are considered unsuccessful. Horror fans value, above all, the original Silent Hill trilogy.

The events of Silent Hill 2 revolve around the tragedy of the main character James Sunderland. He receives a letter from his deceased wife Mary, in which he is asked to come to the foggy town. It was there that the couple was once happy. The guy understands that this is madness, but the longing for his deceased lover makes him go to Silent Hill. There he encounters the locals and meets Maria, who seems to him the perfect girl, and also like two peas in a pod with his wife. Of course, in reality, everything is not so simple, soon James is faced with the dark truth, which is connected with himself.

It's amazing, but the plot of a 23-year-old game can impress even today. Therefore, the remake did not need to change the script — it is enough to transfer all the key events to new technologies.

Most people play horror games for the scary moments. Silent Hill 2 has everything in order with this issue. Like the first part, the game masterfully builds up tension. Moreover, if on the street you have to peer into the fog and look around, then indoors a feeling of claustrophobia arises. And it intensifies when meeting local opponents. They look surreal, make inhuman sounds and move completely unnaturally. Their appearance makes you want to run away and hide.

In addition, the developers sometimes use sound effects that you don't expect to hear. While wandering around the hotel, you may hear a child crying or playing the piano. As practice shows, such moments are more frightening than the most terrible monsters.

The controls in the original Silent Hill 2 are not responsive, it is impossible to aim accurately, and fighting in close combat is problematic, especially at higher difficulty levels. The camera often chooses the most successful angles from a narrative point of view, but because of them it can be problematic to fight opponents. In our opinion, this is the only serious drawback of the game.

However, fans of horror films of the 90s and early 2000s may disagree. Many of them believe that the «clumsy» controls are an important feature of the genre.

In recent years, Konami has focused on mobile games and has not paid due attention to projects for home consoles and PC. However, the success of the remakes of the early parts of Resident Evil motivated the management to release their own classics on modern hardware. They decided to go with their trump cards right away, so the choice fell on the best parts of the legendary series. We are talking about Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Silent Hill 2. If the idea is successful, we will probably see remakes of other Konami games.

There is another reason to choose the second part, not the first. The original Silent Hill from 1999 was released on PlayStation 1, and over the past 25 years its gameplay has become very outdated. To re-release this project, it will be necessary to start from scratch. And at this stage, the Japanese company is not ready to invest a lot of money in such an experimental direction. Let us recall that Electronic Arts was not satisfied with the sales results of the new version of Dead Space, so the development of the remake of the second part was canceled.

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Have you played the original Silent Hill 2? Are you planning to play the remake? Share your opinions in the comments!