To be honest, I don't quite know what to think of the game. I had fun, but something bothers me about it. The atmosphere in the game is great. I still love the foggy city, just like in 1. The enemy design was also on point again. I was able to follow the main storyline and understood it, but everything that happened next to it just confused me. The technical gameplay wasn't absolutely strong either, but the puzzles were great. I was unsure whether to give it 3.5 or 4 stars, but for the atmosphere and the vibe the game gave off, it gets a 4 for now.

It is so hard to meet expectations as high as people set for Silent Hill 2, and for that game to meet them in 2023. Video games evolve so rapidly, especially in terms of aesthetics and storytelling, that a game from 2001 that leans heavily on those will inherently have an uphill battle.

Silent Hill 2 takes all that in its stride to deliver what is still a peerless, often imitated horror experience -- even in 2023. It's PS2 era vibe and feel have aged gracefully and almost enhance the atmosphere. The music is incredible; haunting and ethereal at times, mechanical and menacing at others. The story is fascinating and doesn't whiff with the ending like many.

The combat is stiff which in turn makes the boss fights feel mechanically basic, but that's thematically appropriate at least, and to knock points off this as some kind of box ticking exercise would miss the point.

A note on the Enhanced Edition; it is excellent. A superb way to play this classic game. The PS2 version has its emulation woes, the HD collection is a legendary fumble, and physical copies are extortionately priced - but thankfully the folks behind this project did some incredible work to the PC version. And it ran like a dream on Steam Deck. HD, widescreen, 60 fps.

It's the best-looking and best-running (60fps) version of the game. The bosses still move at double-speed like in the original PC port, so be careful if you have a preferred strategy from the console versions.

I have a complaint with it (the game, not the Enhanced Edition mods), even though I'm giving it a 5/5, and it's a very specific (and for most people, petty) complaint. If you do play these games for their scoring aspects (10 stars), the 75 shooting kills required are quite the slog when compared to the original game. This is mainly due to the nerf to guns in general as a single shot on downed enemies no longer finishes them off. The rifle in particular is almost completely worthless. You will probably need to waste a good 30 minutes clearing the streets after Brookhaven to meet quota. While you absolutely can get kills using other weapons, the 2-4 shotgun shots required is so much less grating than the 30+ handgun bullets (the rifle is somehow worse) it'd take. I'd gripe that the game should penalize you for using the Green Hyper Spray, but you've earned that right after unlocking it.

The game also has the smoothest tank-controls I've ever used personally. Silent Hill 3's might be slightly better for general movement, but you lose the ability to run-strafe on stairs in that game. I only wish you were able to constantly run at top-speed like in Silent Hill 1.

Incredible game overall though. In certain aspects, I still find it to be underrated. 5/5

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.

Truly a fascinating approach to a sequel to the original Silent Hill. It does away with the direct cult shenanigans centric narrative of the first one and focuses instead on a purely internal and personal psyche-based plot. And honestly there isn´t much of plot here, which works in favor of what the game is trying to do and say.

Right now I feel like I like this approach to Silent Hill better. Here the surrealism and insanity doesn´t just come from a supernatural presence, it´s internal and more up in the air with its reasoning and motivations. More obtuse I would say, and doesn´t really want to give answers to its events, which I like and appreciate. It’s through this approach that it clearly becomes a more mature experience than its predecessor.
The David Lynch inspiration comes easily. There´s this uncanny sheen to every element of this game’s story and overall structure. An uncanniness that I tend to associate with the surreal and zany elements of Lynch’s oeuvre. But because of its nature as a digital interactive medium, the ‘videogame-ness’ of it all adds an extra, very particular, layer of weirdness and surrealism to the experience.

While most locations didn´t necessarily feel as fresh or shocking as they are fairly similar to what is to be found in the previous game (excepting some really fascinating ones in the latter section of this one), the characters are a clear standout. They feel developed, interesting and memorable in a way no character in Silent Hill 1 felt. Obviously, this is all the more clear with the player controlled character. Here James is a real protagonist, with an arc, and actual three dimensionality as a person. Even Mary, the fridged wife, has more of a personality than any character in SH1.

In terms of gameplay, it´s very simple and pretty much identical to SH1, you’ll walk around, read clues, pick up useful items, check your map, solve a puzzle here, solve a riddle there, kill a monstrous abomination with a steel pipe or a gun, stomp on it a little to really make sure its dead. Not hard per se, just kind of obtuse like pretty much every other game of this type that released around this time. But exploration is fun, and spooky and the environments are so rich and detailed that it’s worth it.

You are mostly here for the story, the scary atmosphere, the truly fucked up designs and environments, and I must make special mention of the musical score, which absolutely fucks hard. It’s some insanely good music, some of the best ever written for the medium, and an album that now listen to often.
A horror game that knows how to deliver a proper gut punch. I loved the ending I got this time around, and the final letter that plays before the credits just destroyed me.

‘Born from a wish’ is short, so play it too, but it doesn’t really add anything all that interesting. I guess it worked as a bonus for certain game editions at the time of its release, but pretty much non essential.

I played the Enhanced Edition on PC, at 60 fps, and it plays and looks flawlessly. It feels like a modern port pretty much, this must be the best way to play this game today. I’m extremely curious about this new remake that is being developed by Bloober Team, as I truly do not understand how you remake this game for modern audiences without changing plenty of stuff that make it special and would fundamentally alter any experience one could have with it. I’m not saying it would be bad, I just don´t believe that it would be a superior experience, nor the definitive one as with the Resident Evil 2 Remake, just a very different one that I’m very much looking forward to trying out.

- Leave Ending, Normal difficulty -
Holy fuck.
I honestly cannot put into words the things this game made me feel by the end of it. What a beautiful journey...
This game is an absurd upgrade to the first game, combat feels a bit more fluid and intentionally janky, albeit to a more comfortable aspect with the Enhanced Edition's 60 FPS and full widescreen support (almost to a fault since some cutscenes might be a bit glitchy because of it).
I'll try and not go into spoiler territory here, but.... yeah, all the things I heard and read about this game's story and atmosphere are truly real. Not just that, but this game also somewhat embraces the MGS2 idea of playing with what the player knows this game should and should not do. For instance, a segment where you seem stuck just might mean you gotta keep looking for an "invisible wall" of sorts, or maybe the game wants you to turn off a core mechanic from the game for you to play properly.
It's an insane descent into madness and grief, with that good PS2-era cheesy dialogues and atmospheric soundtrack playing, clearly inspired by those small town shows where the peaks might be a bit twin for your own good.
Since I was a kid I remember reading a walkthrough magazine I got that had both Silent Hill 1 and 2 on it, never fully understanding it since the game was in english and the magazine just gave you the abridged version of the events on a cutscene. And... since then this game has been etched into my mind, even though I never went out of my way to play it. It... didn't feel right.
Now as I'm older and I dealt with the loss of family members, I can understand this game a lot better.
Overall, a fantastic experience I feel every survival horror fan should play. And... this does make me somewhat scared of what the remake might do.

It's the first version of Silent Hill 2 I've ever played! I've never tried the original PC version, so I can't tell what the differences are. What I can say, however, is that Silent Hill 2 is one of my all-time favorite video games and definitely the top 1 horror title. The full review will be available on the original game's release page, as well as the Restless Dreams version.

The Enhanced Edition looks and plays great, even on mouse and keyboard. I didn't experience anything frustrating or standing out too much - it's a very faithful project.

Silent Hill 2 is an absolute masterpiece, and the Enhanced Edition makes it look even better. This deserves nothing but a perfect score. - 🕙

La manera correcta de jugar Silent Hill 2 a día de hoy, es una experiencia que hay que jugar sólo, leyendo y poniendo atención a todo lo que ves en pantalla.

Ambientación, Visuales, Sonido, Personajes.. 10/10

Deja que Silent Hill te atrape..

Enhanced Edition is probably the best way to experience SH2 (unless you're a collector or you're really set on playing the PS2 original).

The game looks really good (on top of how great the PS2 original still looks) and enhanced edition fixes all the issues with the buggy original PC release.

Don't buy a physical PS2 copy from a scalper when this exists and is just as good!