Can see why people who played this at release loved it but playing this in 2022 does make it harder to enjoy. The atmosphere of the game is fantastic with the fog and the sound design making it a very tense game. However the tank controls take awhile to get a hang of and often I would try interact with an object only for the game to not allow it until moving back and forth and the boss fights felt incredibly clunky feeling more frustrating than scary. The story was enjoyable to go through however I do see why this game is getting a remake as the gameplay has not aged well

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

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

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.

This is a review of the more technical aspects of a 10 Star run in Silent Hill 2 and my experience with the scoring system. I managed full 10 star run of Silent Hill 2 with no saves or usage of the Green Hyper Spray. Unlike the first, this game does not place enough enemies en route to meet the 75 shooting kill requirement, so there is grinding that is done after the hospital, although, it's not too bad as it's on the way to your next location.

You can use 2 saves here, but I did the first with no saves, and I wanted to do the second with no saves. You still need to finish this game in the allotted time. Though it is way more generous at 3 hours. The biggest source of difficulty is that this game has a damage requirement. You must take less than 500 points of damage or you lose. Like the first game, this creates an amazing atmosphere of heavy tension even after the initial playthrough. While timing was made more generous, I would absolutely say the damage made this game much stricter with how you deal with bosses and enemies. You need to watch your spacing more carefully and have preset strategies for bosses. You can't just spam healing items.

It's harder than the first, and that's very appreciated, because no matter how good you get, you can probably still fuck up against the penultimate and final bosses which have very specific strategies you must use. This is due to the fact that this PC version has bosses moving at 2x speed. My heart was pounding at the final boss, because while everything you did before the final boss matters, the final boss is by far the most important part of the game to get right. If you fuck it up, it's all over, and it's super easy to rack up damage against it.

I've said all I can say in my Silent Hill 1 description. This game's not quite as good, imo. It's more straight forward with dungeons and the grinding drags it down -- however, even with my qualms, this is one of the greatest games ever made. These complaints are minor at best. The dungeons are still very satisfying to complete. It's satisfying to route and satisfying to play. On top of that, it has one of the best narratives I've experienced in the medium. I have no regrets calling it a masterpiece, just like the first game. I played it through 12 times, and I would gladly play it again.

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.

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

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.