Let’s get one factor out of the best way – the Silent Hill franchise is one which’s handed me by. Don’t ask me why, I simply by no means had the will or alternative to play as a youth. What hasn’t escaped me is the criticism from followers and horror purists directed in the direction of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. I’m very conscious that handing the keys over to Bloober Group, altering key design features, and seemingly focusing extra on fight has all resulted in concern.
I’ve to confess, whilst a Silent Hill newcomer with no pores and skin within the sport, Silent Hill 2’s preliminary trailers did not encourage or impress me. They didn’t actually scream ‘psychological horror sport’ all that loudly, and I recall being significantly bored by its fight trailer that dropped in January. Nonetheless, I’m right here to let you know that after nearly three hours of hands-on time with the sport, you must in all probability neglect all that – Silent Hill 2 remake is a tense, visually gorgeous, and gripping horror puzzler that I didn’t wish to put down.
The placement of Silent Hill is each deeply atmospheric, which is par for the course, and visually spectacular. Whereas there may be an abundance of grey fog, concrete, and rusted brown metallic, being outdoors in Silent Hill 2 by no means feels drab. The identical is true for interiors – after all there are many shadowy black hallways and ugly purple blood stains, however there’s additionally selection and distinction.
James Sunderland – who needed to obtain an emergency facelift from Bloober after followers mocked his preliminary ‘I’m a disgruntled geography trainer’ look – now appears way more like a plausible lead of a serious horror expertise, and extra carefully resembles his preliminary look too with out being an entire carbon copy. Having checked again on the designs from the 2001 unique, I personally suppose Bloober’s interpretations of all the solid appear devoted and robust. The skulking monsters additionally obtain a visible improve whereas staying true to their unique, grotesque varieties. Pyramid Head appears particularly freaky and ugly, and the recreation of James’ preliminary assembly with the enduring enemy feels momentous.
The sound design is fast to ship tingles down your backbone. The warning sounds of static out of your radio are intense. Smaller particulars, just like the jangling of wind chimes or the sizzle of bile spewed up by a monster, additionally sound sharp and lower by way of the common, sinister background tones.
However what concerning the gameplay? Nicely, let’s discuss fight first, seeing because it spurred the biggest of the pre-launch controversies. Whereas some conditions positively required me to swing my trusty wood stick or pull the set off on my handgun, the sport doesn’t endure from an over-reliance on fight. Compared to what I’ve seen of the unique, there’s possibly just a little extra ducking, diving, smashing, and taking pictures, however I by no means felt it detract from every thing else the remake units out to ship. The melee bashing is chunky and satisfying, and aiming the pistol has an immersive wobble and sway that piles on the stress when you attempt to make each shot depend.
What I actually got here away eager about was the slow-paced however brilliantly tense exploration and puzzle fixing. Silent Hill 2 saved me locked in and curious for just about my complete session. In fact, people who performed the unique sport might discover fixing a few of its landmark puzzles a bit simpler and fewer stunning than I did, however there are additionally brand-new brainteasers to get caught into. The primary entails you discovering elements for a damaged jukebox, and it doubles as a superb introductory tour of the city.
Together with your jukebox mounted and considered one of many, many keys obtained, you head to the primary main puzzle location from the unique sport, the Woodside Residences. Bloober has spoken so much about the way it’s reimagined and expanded key places, and that is considered one of them, with its sprawling format maintaining me busy for an prolonged time. I gained’t say an excessive amount of about it to keep away from spoilers for my fellow first-timers, however there isn’t a single nook of that large location that I didn’t wish to examine.
For the long-time followers that maintain the supply materials near their hearts, I after all can’t provide you with an correct prediction on how you’ll really really feel concerning the remake. Nonetheless, as an entry level into the sequence, I believe Silent Hill 2 completely delivered. Its modernizations, like a clean third-person digicam and the expanded fight, don’t come on the expense of stress, storytelling, and puzzling. Within the opening hours, a minimum of, Bloober seems to have completed an equally nice job at faithfully recreating some moments and utilizing the artistic license afforded to it by Konami to adapt or overhaul others.
For those who’ve by no means performed the unique video games, it’s value maintaining an eye fixed out for the remake when the Silent Hill 2 launch date arrives this October. Its opening hours had been genuinely laborious to fault, so let’s simply hope the requirements don’t dip when venturing even deeper into the fog.