A Masterpiece.
Sometimes a game can just click with you. Everything about it just captivates you and makes you feel like you are playing something truly special. This was very much the case for myself with the remake of Silent Hill 2. I had been quite interested in the original PS2 version for sometime before this remake, although I never actually played it. I had listened to some of the music from it which really intrigued me, and had seen shots of the bleak foggy environments and absurdly creepy enemy designs which also really appealed to me. So, when the remake was announced I knew it was a great opportunity to finally give it a shot. I can get pretty damn scared playing horror games, therefore, I tend to only really play one every few years, I can probably list them all now... Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Outlast, Dead Space & most recently a short indie game called Mouthwashing. So, although my horror resume is fairly limited, I've still played a few of the classics. I can comfortably say this is the scariest and best horror game I've ever played and a new all-time favourite video game in general.
Without spoiling anything in this review, the basic premise for the story and gameplay, that you learn about in the opening scene, is that the character you play as, James, recieves a letter from his wife Mary, asking him to come meet her at their 'special place' in Silent Hill. The catch being, his wife died not long ago from a sickening disease. Instantly I was hooked. Such an intriguing and curious opening to a story that had me wanting to know more and made it very hard to put down the controller. The game begins with James arriving in Silent Hill, as his journey to find this so called special place and maybe even his wife begins.
The first thing I wanted to talk about was how the story is told. There aren't that many cutscenes in the game, a lot of the storytelling is done through the environment as well as little bits of lore you can find through letters or newspaper articles scattered throughout the game. I really loved how the story remains a mystery for most of its 20 hour run-time. It drip feeds you information slowly and keeps you wondering what the hell is going on with this town. A lot of the story and lore is told very cryptically through symbolism and contains a lot of hidden meaning. I found myself so intrigued and confused at the same time. Nothing was making sense to me but that made it all the more fun and kept me really fascinated.
This is a story that touches on some extremely serious themes. If I was to shortly sum it up, it's a story about how we cope with trauma in our lives. It doesn't play it safe or try to be subtle with these sensitive topics either, not holding back at all when it comes to the intimate details and characters back stories. Considering the time the original came out, in the early 2000's, I assume a video game story like this would of been very avant-garde. Even today, I personally have never experienced a story quite like this one in a video game format before. As a pretty big RPG fan, I'm more used to playing games in which I'm some hero defending the world from evil. Whereas here, I'm playing as some quiet & ordinary guy who just wants to find his wife in a creepy abandonded town. It was quite a refreshing experience and one that felt extremely raw.
Cutscenes come few and far between. There will always be a whole lot of puzzles, fighting and exploring before you get to your next cutscene, which made them feel very rewarding and all the more special. The game also keeps you on edge the entire time, there is rarely a moment of solitude unless you just stand still. So cutscenes also offer a much needed break from the fear. Every single cutscene had me absolutely glued to the screen... The background ambient music that draws you in, the unbelievably authentic performance from the cast, and the bizarre yet truly absorbing writing ~ it all combines to creates a very surreal feeling. The writing in particular felt super uncanny. You will meet a few other characters during your time in Silent Hill and all of them catch you off guard. It just feels so strange that anybody else would be in this abandonded run down town. The dialogue, particulary during the first half of the game, is all very soft and peculiar, which strikingly contrasts with the unexplainable chaos that surrounds them. It's quite relaxing hearing them chat and it acts as a nice break from the exhausting and terrifying chaos you've just dragged yourself through. The dialogue just has this way of sucking you into the scene. Not only due to the writing and voice acting, but the facial expressions too. As the game progresses and the story unfolds, cutscenes become more and more dramatic. There are a few towards the end that are absolute cinema. With some lines of dialogue and imagery that will stick with me forever. If you're too scared to play the game yourself, I highly recommend just watching the cutscenes to see what I mean!
I must now talk about the main character James. The performance by actor Luke Roberts is absolute perfection. It takes the cake as my favourite performance in a video game ever. I don't know what it was, it's very hard to describe why I liked this character so much. He seems eager and full of hope to find his wife Mary, but there's also this underlying sadness to him. He's both calm and unsettled, composed and broken. Even though at face value he's a very simple character, looking back now... there are also so many subtle layers to him. During dialogue, his voice is very soft spoken and solemn, like he isn't fully there, just... on auto-pilot. It makes every conversation feel like a fever dream. Also, as the game progresses, you can see in his eyes and facial expressions just how exhausted he becomes, as if he really doesn't care anymore. His eyes become dead with massive bags hanging under them... he even grows a stubble beard from the stress. His performance just completely captured me. He's confused alongside you about what on earth is going on. He's a huge reason I loved this game so much.
Another absolute highlight for me was every single one of the environments. So diverse, so amazingly immersive. You get a great variety of different places to explore during your playthrough. The first and most famous is the foggy streets of Silent Hill. An abandoned town swamped with fog, as if its past had been washed away or hidden. Every corner you turned was into the unknown. Enemies will slowly stumble towards you out of the fog. It made exploration feel constantly suspenseful and because you couldn't see much around you, it felt like you were constantly being watched. You will also enter run down apartment buildings, motels, restaraunts, cinema & other shops ~ all of them leave you wondering what this town must of been like before it was abandoned, especially when you find small remnants of its past normalaties, such as a static TV being left on or a fridge door left open. Apartment rooms in particular felt really odd to enter, like you were invading into somebody's personal history.
I'm getting scared just thinking about it. During the middle section of the game, you explore two utterly terrifying locations. Those being an abandoned hospital & prison. These two locations had me on absolute edge. I was exhausted during this part of the game. I remember thinking in my head 'please... give me a break'. It was just relentless. Everything about the mental hospital was just so creepy. There were little details that got me such as photo frames of doctors doing procedures on patients & the disturbing and tragic notes left behind from those patients. You could just feel that truly messed up & dreadful shit happened here. There are so many claustraphobic rooms without windows. The place never gives you a chance to breathe. Then... you are finished. Peace at last right?
No. Shortly after that you reach the prison ward. Which is somehow even scarier than the hospital. My god, it was terrifying. Enemies now crawl on the walls above you which I think is a big reason this place was so scary to me. You are again in pitch black darkness, although you can turn the building lights on, but they automatically turn off after 10 seconds. Leaving you scrambling for the next room before they turn off. You just never feel safe here, they overwhelm you with monsters. I also died a few times here. While dying isn't to punishing in this game, you can lose some significant progress. The constant threat of having to run down the prison cell hallway again and again was too much. This long hallway gave me the shivers, I always felt as if a monster was chasing me from behind. The prison consists of 4 different sections, each of them were so insanely scary. One that comes to mind is the shower section. I get some PTSD thinking about it, that's all I will say.
I've mentioned the monsters a lot now. Excluding bosses, there are around 3-4 different monster types/designs. They are all something out of a nightmare. Their designs are so freakishly imaginative. The only way I can try to describe them is to say they look like some human experiment gone terribly wrong. That goes for their audio design too, they make these noises that sound half human and half... something else. Everything about them just feels wrong. Although, the lack of variety in enemy design means you do slowly lose that initial fear over them, they are introduced sparingly over the course of the game, so there's always at least one enemy you are still newly afraid of. The iconic nurse monster shaking and twitching as you approach is just pure horror.
I must also give a huge shout out to the lighting in this game. The majority of the time you are in the dark, guided by your flashlight. But, there are times when you come across little rays of light, which I always found so beautiful. Whether it be a left on TV or open fridge like I mentioned before. Or a room door slightly left ajar in a pitch dark hallway. The lighting felt so pure, captivating and realistic. Just these little bits of light that warmed up the room and gave you a tiny moments reprieve. Another time the lighting excels is the moment you first enter the mental hospital. It's during sunset, and the warm yellow rays of light seep in through the windows. One of the most gorgeous bits of lighting in gaming I've ever come across. Considering how scary the hospital is to explore, looking back, it acts as one last calm before the storm.
One of the big reasons this game is so scary is the audio. I recommend playing this game with headphones if you have the bravery. It suffocates you. It makes you never feel safe. Loud alarms, squeeling enemies, random short gasps of breath that come from nowhere, crying heard behind locked doors... it never ends. It's truly relentless.
On the topic of audio...as mentioned in the intro, the main part that drew me to Silent Hill was the music. I had heard some songs on YouTube before and really loved the ambient vibe it provides. It exceeded my expectations. Composer Akira Yamaoka returns from the original and remixes all of the original music and adds some entirely new stuff too. So many beautiful soft tracks that really enhances the very personal story and gives you some much needed comfort from the horror. It gives the game its dreamy feel. But the soundtrack is much more diverse than I had originally thought. Haunting piano pieces, relaxing guitar pieces and even some funky jazz like music too. Somehow all of these don't feel out of place in this extremely dark story. The game is nearly worth playing for the music alone.
Combat follows the tried and trusted survival horror formula. Looking for and preserving your ammo and medicine. Every shot of your gun feels stressful as missing one bullet feels like such a waste. Enemies will swerve and sway as you aim your gun at them. If you run out of bullets you have to get up close and personal with your pipe and dodge the enemies random attack patterns. These patterns are fairly simple to memorise but even still I found myself getting hit a lot, as my adrenaline and fear was at an extreme high so I often dodged too early in a panick! Combat is far from anything special or revolutionary, it happily takes a back seat to the story, environments and enemy designs, and never felt frustrating or in the way. The fear of dying and losing progress and thus having to walk through that same scary area once again was enough to always have me on edge. I don't have much else to say about the combat. It just does its job without being overly impressive. Outside of combat you are also often completing puzzles. Some of them I liked, some of them I found a little silly and had me thinking 'how was I supposed to of know that!'.
It's weeks after I've finished my first playthough of Silent Hill 2, and I'm still thinking about it. On drives to work, in the shower, as I fall asleep. It captured me. Sure, it's not perfect, no game ever is, but it's a game I feel so lucky to have played. One I will be thinking about and looking to replay for the rest of my life. It's a slow and deep descent into madness. I felt like for 90% of the game I couldn't breathe. It's suffocating, I've mentioned that word a few times and it really sums up the experience. It's my favourite type of horror, the type that just gives you this unsettling feeling of dread. The story constantly has you asking questions. I was so excited to learn any information about what the hell was going on and the pay off was incredible. The most artistic video game I've ever played. I can't wait to try more of the series.