Achei um jogo bem sólido, e até impressiona que ele continua assim jogando 23 anos após seu lançamento. Sei que a versão em questão teve melhorias etc, mas me refiro a base do jogo em si. Não fica absurdamente deslocado de jogos mais recentes.

Aqui temos personagens muito bons, uma ambientação unica que é composta por trilhas sonoras excelentes. O jogo constrói bem o feeling desde o inicio e vai te imergindo na vibe que quer passar, e até mesmo as cinematicas que contam mais do enredo são bem feitinhas, ainda mais pra época em questão, reforçando mais uma vez o ponto que citei no inicio!

A névoa como todos sabem foi introduzida para que o hardware dos consoles na época conseguissem processar outros efeitos essenciais que iam compor o jogo. Isso foi uma decisão sensacional, por que além de melhorar o aspecto grafico, ainda construiu uma das ambientações mais caracteristicas desse genero.

A gameplay obviamente é um tanto dura pros padrões atuais, mas depois de algum tempinho voce se acostuma. A maneira como o boneco se move ao menos nessa versão pode ser mudada no menu do jogo, trazendo mais acessibilidade e opções para os jogadores escolherem o que se adequam mais. Isso é um baita ponto positivo, por que as duas opções de movimentação tem logicas bem diferentes no controle, então pode ser que tanto uma quanto a outra não agradasse algumas pessoas, sendo assim a possibilidade de poder variar entre ambas acaba sendo muito bem vinda!

A história é certamente o principal chamariz desse jogo, mas não espere encontrar nada mastigado ou simples de entender. Na verdade é tudo um tanto ambíguo, fazendo com que eu tivesse que pesquisar sobre interpretações do roteiro apos terminar, pra ter um feedback sobre as concepções que eu tive e descobrir mais detalhes também!

E agora é a parte que entramos nos pontos negativos: apesar da história ser interessante, ter varias camadas e dar muito pano pra manga em discussões. A gameplay não esta andando no mesmo nivel! A questão de ser truncada podemos ate relevar pra época, mas ela sofre de outros problemas também como repetitividade, e o uso da camera que diversas vezes fica em angulos que dificulta em combates e principalmente em puzzles.

Inclusive, os puzzles no geral são interessantes, ficam proximos do nivel Resident Evil, mas pra mim ainda não chegam lá de fato. E o designer de varios lugares me deu uma leve enjoada, a primeira vez que voce entra em um local com milhares de portas e andares é instigante. Mas depois quando voce faz isso pela terceira vez já ficou um tanto saturado pelo menos na minha experiencia.

Os inimigos também tem seus significados e simbologias, mas na hora da ação são bem ok. Até mesmo os chefes pra mim ficaram bem em cima do muro, nem bom nem péssimo, só estão ali existindo e cumprindo seu papel de maneira igualmente ok!

De maneira geral achei interessante a experiencia e matei a curiosidade de conhecer finalmente essa franquia e universo. Jogaria os outros jogos para me aprofundar mais, mas esse em questão não sei se jogaria novamente. No fim não morri de amores como vejo muitas pessoas por aí. Mas recomendo com certeza, ótimo jogo!

The combat/gameplay? Whatever, 6/10.

The narrative, music, presentation, puzzle design?

It deserves every bit of praise, and I highly suggest you play it, at least once, it wouldn't be right to spoil the plot here.

I will say that I was in tears by the end of it all.

Ma tean et see on väga kuulus masterpiece mäng. Nüüd proovisin ise ka, varem pole selle kohta eriti midagi vaadand/näinud.
Mina stoorist väga aru ei saanud, jäi ebaselgeks, tahaks rohkem seletusi. Üldse mängides ei olnud palju emotsiooni, pigem oli kohati ärritav ja natuke igav. Hirmu ma ei tundnud kordagi, aga see oli pigem minu mängimiskeskkonna, valguse jms viga.
Muljet avaldas heli ja maailm, selle muutumine. Kolle oli küll liiga vähe erinevaid ja nendest oli liiga kerge jagu saada, eriti selle koguse ammoga, mis mäng annab. Bossfightid olid ka üksluised.
See versioon nägi täitsa kobe välja, välimus ja graafika polnud üldse hullud.
Mina sain "In water" endingu. Nagu öeldud, siis emotsioone see väga ei tekitanud ja palju jäi mõistmata, mis tekitab stressi minus, FOMOt ka.
Sellega on see sama keis mis Alan Wake IIga ja seal reviews. See on stoori mäng ja gameplay poolest ei hiilata. Aga millegipärast ei saa mina paljude teistega samaväärset elamust. Kurb jah see apaatia mis sellega on. Ma arvan et enamus halbu külgi mis ma kogesin oli pigem minu enda süü ja minu põhjustatud.
Ikkagi, halb see mäng kindlasti polnud, palju on siis detailidele tähelepanu pandud, stoori ja tegelased on väga sügavad, maailm on väga hea, huvitav mängida (enamus ajast), heli ka meeldis.
Loodan kunagi uuesti mängida/kogeda ja suuremat elamust saada.
Pärast mõne video vaatamist saan natuke paremini aru, sellise stoori eest panen ikka 4.5

A work full of symbolism, a very deep psychological background in its characters, an electrifying soundtrack with Yamaoka's usual originality and ease.
Well-posed puzzles, very interesting level design (except some areas), with one of my favorite deaths in fiction (those of you who have played know which one I'm talking about). Its enemies are probably the most difficult to understand in the entire saga.
And probably one of my favorite protagonist of all time.

Thank you so much, Silent Hill 3!

I don't even know where to begin with this game, there's so much so talk about that I don't think I could feasibly write it out in a review (along with not wanting to spoil the game, since its one of those games everyone have to experience first hand, with everyone who does play it respecting an unwritten rule that it should never be spoiled).

This game's atmosphere was palpable. I was going into it expecting "haha, its just foggy, that's the atmosphere" and knew it was psychological horror but even then I was not prepared in the slightest for how genuinely scared of this game I would be. Resident Evil 7 held the title of scariest game until it got put in its place with how horrifyingly dark this game is willing to go, Resident Evil has nothing on this game in its scare factor. The music and sound design go hand in hand with one another perfectly varying from silence besides James' footsteps, calming yet mellow respite with some of the most complex characters I've seen (which is incredible for such a small cast); tension filling sounds and music and a cluster of horrifying mismatching sounds to disorient you and put you on edge (definitely worked on me).

The visuals, animations and controls may seem dated today but I don't think you could play a "clean" or HD version of this game and play the same Silent Hill 2 because it all adds onto the experience: low quality textures make the world seem so much more grim, the animations make everything so much more creepy and limiting control makes it feel like you're stuck in mud. Sure there were some times I wished that these things were a little easier, like having the camera not move about everywhere but I don't think I could have it any way and I wouldn't change it.

The enhancements they added to this "port" are incredible, yet they intentionally restrained themselves to prevent themselves from going overboard and to keep it faithful, so they improved things like the lighting, the fog, a working 16:9 aspect ratio, improving the camera to be more functional, HDing some textures like the map and menu options for greater clarity and it plays so well that I don't think I could ever emulate it or attempt to play it on original hardware by buying an £100+ copy of the original disc, which is fine by me, as much as I'd want to own this masterpiece.

It is absolutely a must play no matter how you decide to play it, though the excellent enhancements make this one an easy choice.

No one does dread and tragedy as expertly as Silent Hill. Team Silent’s debut title in the series showcased a mood and atmosphere so singular, dreamlike and visceral that even more than 20 years removed from its release it still managed to haunt me in ways I didn’t expect and made me appreciate the horror genre in games even more when reined by creative minds and ideas in generating fear and oppression. Silent Hill 1 is a classic game no doubt but the sequel game is the one that generally attracts the most attention and in many ways is patient zero to what contemporary horror games would borrow from in creating their own art. Silent Hill 2 dominates much of the popular consciousness of Silent Hill that many people start with it or haven’t even played the original ps1 game, which isn’t a complete loss given how independent 2 is from 1 rather than being a continuation from its story. Pyramid Head is a pop culture icon removed from the context and space of own title and even the big VHS sized secret of SH2 is one of the worst kept secrets in video games next to Persona 3’s own ending. I haven’t played Silent Hill 2 myself until this past month and even going in with the expectations of the first game and some of what I knew to expect with this game, I still managed to be surprised and disturbed almost like I was going in blind not knowing what this game has in store.

Sound design was an impressive feat of the first Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 wastes no time flexing this strength while also creating its own signature that stands out from what came before. The starting long trek in the forest with plumes of fog obfuscates the area with gut wrenching sounds of something being beyond the fog and watching James’ every step, even before the monsters are finally introduced. Silent Hill itself is as eerie as it was previously but the second game landed more consistently for me across the first playthrough where just running around outside left me feeling tense and weary of what will start chasing me in the darkness with the horrifying wails of the enemies. The central areas are claustrophobic and nasty with the soundscape of distorted bumps, disembodied groans and even bits of whispering littering the space to unsettle and unease any sort of progression through them. The apartments and hospital have standout moments of this jumping me but the prison felt near indomitable all throughout, especially in one pitch black, open area with a Gallows puzzle where it sounds like something or someone is galloping towards you at high speed. Everything sounds even more demonic and depraved in Silent Hill 2 even in the more tiny details with the industrial ambience crossing frequently between reality and unreality.

The cinematography and scene direction was another expert feat of Silent Hill 1 in establishing its off kilter tone and SH2 maintains this same high mark of quality in much more subtle ways. Similar to the characters, the direction is subdued and cerebral with slow, measured shots and panning focusing on the characters stewing on their struggle or interacting with one another. It is all sol well directed and engrossing to follow: the apartment scene with Angela staring at the knife with a nice use of the room’s mirror as a reflection, the iconic prison cell scene with Maria, the starting sequence of James in the bathroom staring into the mirror before it moves out to him overlooking Toluca Lake, the first appearance of Pyramid Head, the scene of James and the VHS tape, and the final interaction with Angela before she ascends the stairwell. Even in game the fixed and dynamic camera angles have many moments of levity such as the boat ride to the Lakeview Hotel and the long stairway descent from the Historical Society to the prison. The cinematic language hammers down what makes Silent Hill 2 so enthralling to engage with and learn more about the town and figures that loom the space.

Silent Hill 1’s cast was small and less prominent outside of Lisa and Cybil, and 2 keeps the small size but doubles down on the subdued, disjointed and especially tragic feel of their personalities the more their tales are revealed. Each of them offer much to chew on regarding Silent Hill 2’s narrative and themes, but any scenes and interactions with Angela and Maria felt especially pivotal and emotional to me in understanding who James was and how these characters and even James became drawn to Silent Hill. Everyone and everything is distinctively off kilter, dreamlike and on the verge of a violent breakdown with many clear nods to several inspirations including David Lynch’s work with Lost Highway and of course Twin Peaks, especially thematically. Even in the weakest link of the bunch (Eddie), there is still much to engage with and dig further into that unravels the tragedy and grief these characters are experiencing and trying to hold themselves together, not too dissimilar to James himself and his mission to look for Mary.

I was already a fan of Silent Hill 1’s puzzles, even the few esoteric ones I respected in how clever they were, and Silent Hill 2 ups the ante. The starting few in the apartments provide intriguing riddles to solve and this quality keeps up and maintains surprise such as one leaning on basic trial and error while bugs litter the small space sapping away health. I really appreciate the breadth of puzzles that vary across the difficulty levels and even making them on the standard normal difficulty have cool brain teasers that aren’t piss easy or bland to solve. The loss in cryptic presentation is made up with how intricate and in detail each of the puzzles are even in later runs and on different difficulty levels. Combat wise, Silent Hill 2 maintains the general arcade-y template that the first game and other horror titles executed at the time. Boss battles are more memorable and distinctive from the puzzle-focused approach in the first, even if many here do lean on simply putting distance between James and the bosses to do damage and rinse and repeat this process in cramped spaces with an occasionally awkward camera. While still being pretty run of the mill otherwise, combat never felt too important or distracting in the experience so I don’t really have much negative to say on it outside of those small nitpicks.

Like Silent Hill 1, multiple endings are available to cap off the experience but Silent Hill 2 makes them even more impactful and weird with its interplay of gameplay choices and the various conclusions. Depending on how you play and what you do, you influence what ending you get such as protecting or neglecting Maria, examining specific items, maintaining James’ health, and other decisions. For 2001 and even today it is wildly impressive in how much it tracks with the multiple endings, including the secret ones, making Silent Hill 2 immensely replayable and interesting to pick apart. Even after learning the huge revelation that Silent Hill 2 built up to since the start of the game, there is still much to learn and pick up on in later playthroughs that didn’t stand out particularly at first without context and these additional endings offer a lot in interpreting and deconstructing what Silent Hill 2 is all about.

While these ratings are pretty arbitrary and don’t hold any strong impact to me and how I evaluate the work of games outside of just organizing them on here, I initially didn’t rank this higher than the first game based on how viscerally that grabbed and horrified me, while Silent Hill 2’s revelations didn’t impact me as strongly at first. It wasn’t until I rewatched some footage of the upcoming remake from the transmission weeks ago that all of my experience in SH2 hit me at once. The sights, sounds, emotions, characters, words, enemies, settings, and various other elements, efforts, and details that Silent Hill 2 has and commits to are so unique and masterfully done that still meaningfully separates it from future attempts and inspirations that try to replicate its special sauce that’s captivating to this day. Yeah it’s unflinchingly scary but it’s also immensely empathetic and compassionate in dividends towards tragedy, harm and loss and trying to move on to better days on the horizon. No one does it like Silent Hill 2 does, even if it doesn’t have a radioactive, pre-order bonus Pyramid Head pizza box mask to wear while playing the game.

Grief and repression of its trauma presented in the form of Bataillean eroticism, discontinuous beings mired in the pain of life until death returns it all, transgression of representation fearful to experience in a town which knows it all, expressionistic to the end. The definitive survival horror game still remains the apotheosis, even as its combat suffers from woe of too little negation compared to the Forbidden Siren series, because it realizes the potency of play with the frightening stories of individuals captured within themselves and an environment, less political than the original game but no less developed in the solipsistic mentality of the American. Mary and her letter are bookends to a journey whose necessary transformations contain the brilliant design of characters set against what they already know and what the player must know before a conclusion which confirms the cycles of violence, an ingrained eroticism, and returns us back to the continuity sought by all.

Just wanted to shout out this amazing mod that remasters Silent Hill 2 on PC better then Konami ever did! With the remake of this game coming out (that I am excited for) I wanted to replay the original but the only way I could do it was to dig out my PS3 and SH HD collection copy. I have been a defender of the HD collection as to me it was the most convientent way to play this game, but I take my words back after playing this mod!

Its very easy to install as you just need to have a rom download of the original SH2 PC port and then just download the mod into that port's game folder, run the setup and your good to go!

The mod comes with lots of accessibilty features, full controller support and it just makes the game look so good with the fog fully intact! The moment when I was fully sold was when I was running around the apartment section and there was a puddle of water in the hallway. No only did the water ripple when I walked past it but I could actually see Jame's relfection in it! For a 2001 game that is just amazing!

Mod link: https://enhanced.townofsilenthill.com/SH2/

If you want to hear my thoughts on Silent Hill 2 itself, then read my original review here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/review/607060/