Bar none, still reigning king of Survival horror. This game cannot be really even described, you have to play it...somehow, thanks to konami being not great about porting it properly. DO NOT PLAY SILENT HILL HD COLLECTION version, its, technically, not the same game. Konami straight lost the Silent Hill 2 dev build(YKNOW, WHY KEEP IMPORTANT THINGS, F&$% IT MAN JUST THROW IT AWAY) and the SIlent hill 3 one. So the games 1.incomplete 2.missing vital things part of the experience (fog, proper fitting voice actor) 3.its crash heavy(if your xbox 360 game is crashing, man have you meshed something up somewhere)

while not exactly terrifyingly scary, it trades actively trying to scare you, for this tone that is not even describable. A depression with a side of fear i guess for the unknown. Im going to cut this gush piece of a comment now, just please play this game

It's hard to put into words what I experienced with this masterpiece. This isn't the first time that I've played Silent Hill 2, but it's the first time that I actually finished it.

I'm glad I did.

Ain't no point in delaying my verdict: this is one of the best games I've ever played! Silent Hill 2 isn't just a good survival horror, it's a deep psychological dive into the minds of disturbed characters, a masterclass in subjective imagery, a horrifying story to uncover and a stunning work of sound and music.

One thing that needs to be absolutely praised here is how this game uses sounds, noises, music and ambient songs to scare and soothe the experience. Not only every single noise, and even silent moments, is masterfully used in the right moment to put you in the mood that it wants you to feel, but it also packs a modest, immersive and beautiful soundtrack.

Thank you, Akira Yamaoka.

But sound design isn't Silent Hill 2's only key feature. The writing is interesting, level design is near flawless, pacing keeps you tense, the eerie voice acting fits the atmosphere, the dark graphics are nerve-racking and even the puzzles stand out.

Not to mention the story. In its own unique and subjective way of capturing your attention and desire to keep going, James Sunderland's melodic and frightening tale manages to tell one of gaming's deepest stories. It even manages to pay off with its 6 different endings.

The only bad aspect about Silent Hill 2 is that the gameplay is outdated. There's no running away from it. It may still hold up better than most survival horror games out there, but it's undeniably stiff and clunky. The camera sucks, tank controls are harsh, movement is too rigid, animations may feel a bit off during cutscenes and MY GOD the combat is bad. I know that the game's clunkiness adds up to its horror-factor, but the combat is just not fun.

The good thing though, maybe compesating to SH2's outdated mechanics, is that the experience is VERY scary. It messes with your eyes, ears, reflexes and perceptions. Even here, in 2021, this game is still one of the scariest and most intense games ever made, in my opinion. It not only does right by the genre, but by video game design as art.

If you somehow get your hands in this game, whether it's on a PS2, PC or even on the inferior HD remaster, you're in for a memorable experience. One for a lifetime. Especially if you're a survival horror fan.

Trust me. Take a trip to Silent Hill. You won't regret it.

Silent Hill 2 is a beautiful mix of being wonderfully dated, and immensely ahead of its time.

The controls of this game feel a bit janky, but it completely works to emphasize the horror, as it allows the sound design to stand alone as you struggle to see the incoming - something that's fueled by the genius of the radio. The gameplay loop is simple, but deeply addicting, as perhaps the best game of its type. The voice acting is occasionally, (okay, maybe more than occasionally), hilariously goofy, but it can't stop the story from being one of the most impactful ever put in a game. (The ending VA performance though!)

SH2 is just a series of incredibly cool moments, such as the first time your flashlight turns off, and a series of examples of genius game design, such as how it uses camera angles to make sure that you pretty much never miss a key object, while also never feeling like it holds your hand.

I don't really even love horror, but I do really love Silent Hill 2.

10/10
Game #15 of 2024, March 6th

Mi nota al Silent Hill 2 fue de 5 estrellas, un juego de 10.
¿Por qué doy 3.5 a esta versión? Aquí únicamente estoy tomando en cuenta "Nacida de un Deseo" el "DLC" del segundo juego.
El DLC es "corto", pero conserva el mismo estilo que el juego base, aquí nos cuentan la historia de María y el Sr. Baldwin, pero, quizá en mi ignorancia como jugador, no entendí la historia.
El personaje de María, hasta donde tenía entendido, era una versión ideal de Mary creada por James, la cuestión es que aquí se le da una identidad propia como habitante de Silent Hill, en cuyo caso, podría tener sentido el final "María" de Silent Hill 2, sin embargo, es extraño concebirla aún así como personaje propio (ya que mi interpretación es que, en el final María, James no atraviesa el duelo entero y se sigue refugiando en la idea de la posibilidad de que Mary este viva, bastante doloroso).

Me gustó bastante la ambientación y el tono de misterio del juego, sin embargo, nunca entendí realmente la necesidad de este DLC: la explicación más lógica suena a un intento de explicar como James integra las características de su esposa con las de una bailarina del club que, llegó a visitar en alguna estancia en Silent Hill. Sin embargo, no veo la necesidad del recorrido que realiza María por la mansión.

(Si alguien llegase a leer esto, le agradecería mucho una mejor explicación para la compresión de este "DLC").

SILENT HILL 2...The horror masterpiece the greatest game of his time and one of the greatest ever always gonna be with in my thinkings about what make videogame a art this game is a masterpiece



I Got A Letter

Now that I finally played it, I really get the buzz about Silent Hill now. And even though I'll defend to the death that games indeed are art, this one goes beyond that, just because it's one of the few that I really think should be in a museum exhibition or something. I mean, Restless Dreams just destroyed the concept of what a videogame is to me, and I love it. I love the way it somehow portrayed absolute psychological terror better than most stuff I've seen in my life. From start to finish, its early 2000s visuals and sounds are just unnerving, which is not the kind of horror I was expecting, although there were little jump scares here and there.

Another thing I loved, just like most people, is its writing. My God, how can every character in it be so miserably real?! Although they all look like they're made out of wax, they actually feel human. In contrast, its monsters and bosses are just okay to battle, but I feel their symbolism is really meaningful to the main cast. Speaking of symbolism, I love when stuff presents itself in this Lynchian way, and what is also really cool, just like Lynch's work, is that you don't have to straight up get it to make the experience enjoyable. The game is indeed really fun with or without its batshit insane story! This is an awesome way to have each experience be really personal and introspective, making each player create their own little storyline to answer the questions they ask themselves.

Leaving the game's subjectiveness aside, one thing I feel is universally acclaimed is its whole presentation, and even if it's tiring how much it is discussed, I can't help but also give it the credit it deserves! Team Silent did an awesome job with it, especially Yamaoka for blending ethereal ambient soundscapes with some mellow trip-hop tracks that play sometimes. The credits theme is also a banger. To go along with the soundtrack, we have its art direction, which sets the tone right from the start. It really felt like I could smell the mist, but I think that's because it's really rainy in my city right now—which just turned the playthrough to a whole other level.

I think you can see how much I loved it. Like, a lot. I think that is because, like I said, it defied what I've known as a game to date. The gameplay is simple enough that most people who aren't into the medium will love it for sure—it just feels like a really weird interactive film at some point. Puzzles (on normal settings) are mostly easy, though sometimes I couldn't identify what objects were interactable. Enemies are also the same; they weren't much of a problem for a first-timer on normal mode, being slightly annoying at most. Yeah, it is an awesome game, and I'm excited to try new game+ to get other endings, because I'm really curious at this point. I just don't think it will be so soon, because my head hurts from the insanity that Silent Hill 2 is. Oh, and Born from a Wish is alright, I guess.

Playthrough was done using the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition mod pack for the game.

Silent Hill 2 is a touchstone in the survival horror genre, period. A game that in its short time does everything across the board pretty much perfectly, and a master class on how psychological horror, subtle storytelling and symbolism can go so well together to make the most immersively rich experience possible. And is overall a massive jump over its PSX predecessor.

While 1999's Silent Hill has way more focus on classic themes of the occult to tell its horror story, being quite literally the story of how the town of Silent Hill came to be and is showing of the many paranormal qualities of the town, and in that game Silent Hill was pretty much like a random nightmare world taking into account it wasn't the main protagonists' personified guilt and distress... But then came Silent Hill 2, a game that is so much more character-focused, leaving behind the occult topics to shower us with a vision of the town literally adjusted to our main protagonist, James Sunderland, some man who we don't quite know anything about, making you figure out yourself the story of recurrent characters such as Angela, Eddie or the mythical Pyramid Head, and when you realize that the reason this version of the accursed town is so different than the one Harry Mason would experience, it's when you realize why this game is so good at telling you the story of its characters, and it was all made super ahead of its time.

Leaving aside the story, because this is one of those games where you really have to go in blind or else you'll be spoiling yourself of one of the most immersive and suspenseful experiences in all of gaming the game pretty much lives to the standard that is Making The Second Game In Your Franchise Play So Much Better Than The First One™️, Silent Hill 2 offers some new stuff here and there without straying too much from its roots, and it basically plays like a smoother version of the first game. Allowing you to do stuff like running while attacking with any sort of light melee weapons or, exclusive to this version of the game, being able to get rid of those abhorrent tank controls from the get-go.
Nothing too big in that department, but when you look around and see how nice the environments look for a 2001 PS2 game and how the immersive and gloomy soundtrack masterfully crafted by Akira Yamaoka sets the mood for any situation (and is so good even to listen outside of the game), you truly do notice how much they did to capture a timelessly grim aesthetic that will probably never phase out considering the current state of the franchise.

Silent Hill 2 is a game i regret not have played any sooner, and while I can't say every single one of my expectations about this so highly regarded legendary title were met, I can still appreciate a work of art made with so much meaning and spirit behind it, and how it managed to be one of the most famously influential horror video games of all time. It also nearly made me cry, and that's wild considering I could probably count the times in my life where a piece of media was so moving that I could nearly feel myself tearing up in its last moments, a must play for absolutely everyone, even now considering the advancements of the refined, fan-made (and free!) Enhanced Edition mod for the PC version of it.

Honestly, as much as I love Silent Hill 2, I find it to be overrated among the Big Three Silent Hill games, since it feels like the weakest of them all. As my score indicates, however, I still adore Silent Hill 2! It destructively deconstructs the male ego and its institutions of power, noting the irony of a religion (Christianity) based on mercy being so punitive in practice. Through destruction and reconstruction (the latter being the Silent Hill franchise's secret sauce), Silent Hill 2 creates compassion from the thin air of nihilism boastfully masquerading as realism.

I played this when I was 10 on ps2. It scarred me for life. I sold it for a dollar to gamestop just to get the evil out of the house. when I was in college I had to buy it and got the xbox version and played on my 360. Since the 360 can't save for the xbox version I had to beat it in one sitting in my dorm. by the end I had 10 friends hanging in my dorm screaming as monsters would show up and attack me. Defeating this game meant a lot to me then. This is the game that made me realize video games can be meta-art.