It feels appropriate that today, in which my usual commute through Melbourne was accompanied by the kind of thick morning fog that inspires social media posts comparing it to a certain iconic survival horror, is the day that the first hands-on previews of Bloober Team’s already-divisive Silent Hill 2 remake have hit the internet. And, perhaps unexpectedly depending on how you feel about Bloober, folks who’ve played the first few hours of the game seem pretty optimistic.
The general consensus seems to be that Bloober is striking a careful balance of preserving the original experience while also updating it where it feels appropriate, which is about the best that fans could hope for. It does genuinely sound like it’ll be a great entry point for newcomers as well, revisiting a classic story with modern sensibilities.
IGN’s preview compares the game to Bluepoint’s excellent 2018 redo of Shadow of the Colossus, in terms of its faithfulness to the source material, which is a departure from what we’ve seen in Capcom’s efforts at remaking classic Resident Evil games.
“As a remake, Silent Hill 2 falls more in line with BluePoint’s faithful Shadow of the Colossus rather than Capcom’s rejuvenated Resident Evil 2,” writes Dale Driver. “It substitutes bold new swings for a slavish dedication to the original, which is by no means a bad thing, just not the radical step some might expect. Silent Hill 2 certainly needed a fresh coat of paint and a tune of the engine, and Bloober Team has provided that in spades, but everything else is an extremely faithful reimagining that mostly resists the urge to alter the successful formula of a stone-cold classic.”
Polygon’s optimism shows in the moments that the game is being the most Silent Hill 2 it can be, with Jay Castello saying, “At its best, Silent Hill 2 (2024)’s biggest inspiration is Silent Hill 2 (2001). And, again, Silent Hill 2 (2001) is a very, very good video game. It is, in the most crystalised sense of the word, iconic. Where the remake can make that iconism work, and draw on what made it that way, it will also be very, very good. That won’t be all the time, but it might be for enough of it.”
Screen Rant’s preview is titled “I Played Silent Hill 2 Remake: There Was Worry Here. It’s Gone Now,” which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the attitude after this hands-on round.
PCGamesN meanwhile tells us not to believe the trailers, painting a better picture of the game than even Konami’s own marketing has, and writing, “For the long-time fans that hold the source material close to their hearts, I of course can’t give you an accurate prediction on how you will truly feel about the remake. However, as an entry point into the series, I think Silent Hill 2 totally delivered. Its modernizations, like a smooth third-person camera and the expanded combat, don’t come at the expense of tension, storytelling, and puzzling. In the opening hours, at least, Bloober appears to have done an equally great job at faithfully recreating some moments and using the creative license afforded to it by Konami to adapt or overhaul others.”
Appropriately enough, this round of previews also accompanies the drop of a new story trailer, which you can see below:
Silent Hill 2 launches on October 8th for PS5 and PC. You can find the best pre-order deals here.
