Played the enhanced edition, and man i feel so mixed on this game, as a massive fan of old survival horror the level design is generally pretty great, although the combat is pathetically easy and they shower you with so many heals and ammo that it makes saving anything useless. The main issues i have with this game come in the formatting of the story, i truly do not understand the massive praise this game has for tackling emotional issues, it seems like it correlates vagueness with any amount of depth or maturity, and it especially felt insulting towards the arc with angela and the abstract daddy, the voice acting was especially abysmal and not even for the time, the original silent hill had better voice acting than this.

Imported from my Backloggery: (In Water Ending)

I enjoyed thinking about SH2 way more than I enjoyed playing it. There's a staggering amount of depth when it comes to atmosphere, visual design, storytelling, and much more. That being said, actually PLAYING the game was rough. The survival horror mechanics were rudimentary, and I had much less trouble in this game than SH1. I ended the game with 300+ pistol, 100+ shotgun, and 60+ rifle ammo. The game was stupidly easy. I was just never scared, which definitely dampened it for me.

I'd pretend that I loved this game if I played it when I was in my teenage years. I was into depressive and surreal stuff but I'm a simpler man now.

I admire the atmosphere and the setting of this game. It doesn't rely on cheap scare tactics at all, it makes you feel uneasy with silence and isolation. I like the visual design, how muddy and dirty it looks, it is visceral. That's the kind of horror makes stuff memorable. I'll give some credits to Konami for this aspect of the game.

However, other than these, nothing feels worthwhile to get through this experience in my opinion.

Gameplay is really basic, no unique mechanics at all. Controls are clunky but it is kinda expected. There are also overabundance of resources, there is no challenge at all in combat. Basically, playing the game feels like a slog.

What about the story since its the primary reason for all the praise it gets? Its the kind of story where you'll have to look for some in-depth story analysis on web to truly understand what the hell was your whole experience is all about. I don't really crave this kind of abstact storytelling anymore unless it feels really captivating and profound with its worldbuilding and characters. I think Silent Hill 2 had none of those unfortunately. Even though I was curious for some of my playtime, in late game I realised that it's one of those "you won't understand shit" kind of stories and I was right. Silent Hill 2 feels like one of those artsy fartsy movies that make you feel confused and make you say "That's it?".

I also want to mention that the voice acting was tacky. I think Konami didn't want to spend their budget on good casting and decided to work with very first American actors they could find in Japan. It feels that lame. However, I also gotta say that, the lackluster voice acting also fits the bizzare nature of the game as well. If you think that way, it can enhance your experience but it didn't work out well for me.

In short, yes, I will watch an analysis video of this game just for the sake of it. Maybe, there is something profound out there to justify the whole experience. But my initial impression is not that satisfactory.

PS: Not gonna lie, this franchise some fantastic tracks and this game's best track is Theme of Laura. I used to listen to it way back in the day but I guess I didn't hear it even once in the game.

One of my top favourite third-person shooters of all time, despite the steep departure from the first two games. The game plays a lot more like a movie and unfortunately takes away the control far too much, but I accepted the direction as it is and loved the game nonetheless. Gameplay is slick and is a huge improvement from the first two. It is super well written and has humanized Max far more than the previous games. Despite the dizzying filter effects, I have an affinity for how the cutscenes are directed. If video games want to go the linear cinematic route, I wouldn't mind it if it went like the direction of this game. Overall an excellent experience.

I'm so sorry, I really wanted to like the game, but the gameplay is mediocre, I can't believe Resident Evil 4 is one of the most influential games in action and this game took nothing from it.

The combat is reduced to lighting the enemies and using the pistol and shotgun or rifle, Also grenades and flares, running away is not a very good option, since the enemies are very fast and it is difficult to know when they will attack you from behind, Alan does not even run, just dodge infinitely and is very vulnerable, there are no kicks or a melee weapon, if you do not have bullets or other tools you're screwed.

The game looks for excuses to stay in the same forest as always in the most ridiculous ways, for example when they possess Rose and despite having changed her personality they don't hesitate a bit and have a coffee with a sleeping pill xD

The story is the best part of the game, especially the ending, it's open to two possible endings, it's great.

I really do not know if I recommend this game, if you do not mind eating 8 hours of the same monotonous gameplay with the same old forest that stretches like a chewing gum is your game.