After 100 Hours, Here’s What Silent Hill 2 Could’ve Done Better

I may be nitpicking here because Silent Hill 2’s quality is something you just can’t doubt. However, after pouring a little over 100 hours into the survival horror following its release, I wanted to share some of the game’s shortcomings from a player’s perspective purely. No, this is not a review nor a critical take on Bloober’s masterpiece—it’s an opinion from someone who’s been a long-time Silent Hill fan. 

Kudos to the Polish developer for handling the immense pressure on its shoulders so well though. A lot of people had their concerns about the now-released remake following its announcement– and folks weren’t wrong about that- but now that it’s out, we know Bloober has not left a lot to be desired. 

On the flip side, here are some of the things that I think should’ve been a part of the Silent Hill 2 remake. Going forward, we may very well see these getting added to the next Silent Hill remake, which is a clear possibility, considering the title’s rampant early success. 

Where’s James’ Inner Monologue As He Takes A Look At In-Game Items?

If there’s one thing I’m dearly missing in the reimagining of the 2001 icon, it’s James’ inner monologue as he interacted with the objects around him. I don’t know how exactly, but those small paragraphs of text somehow added quite a bit of depth to the gameplay, letting us in on the thought process of the protagonist as we navigated Silent Hill in all its fright. 

With the remake, Bloober decided to cut that feature out, making object interactions fairly straightforward without an inner monologue popping up in text form. I genuinely hope a talented modder out there takes to NexusMods and creates something that brings this functionality back. 

If not, I just hope Bloober notices the gap and turns to add it in for the next Silent Hill remake, which could revolve around the first franchise iteration. No one’s sure about that yet and is only speculation at this point. Konami has, however, plans for the franchise, and thanks to the early success of Silent Hill 2 where the title has rolled over a million copies in less than a month, the vision definitely seems on the cards. 

The Silent Hill 2 Remake Discourages Running Away From Combat Situations

One of the reasons the original Silent Hill got as popular as it did is that it understood its nature. The main hero is not ex-military or anything of the sort which would put him in the same room as combat-trained men—the poor guy’s a simpleton looking for his missing wife merely. As such, the first iteration did not encourage combat, whereas the remake does. 

This is a gripe that I’m sure is felt by many who are currently going through the survival horror, but is, again, purely subjective in nature. I can’t shake the feeling that the remake gives you fewer options to traverse the environment however you want at times, effectively forcing confrontation and combat. It’s even worse in higher-level difficulties, of course. 

In situations where stealth is not an option, you will need to put up a fight, and if you try to escape the conflict, enemies will chase you, even into dedicated safe rooms. That’s kind of pushing it. 

Brilliant Game. Too many Mannequins (SH2 remake)
byu/ManyMannequins insilenthill

Oh, and don’t even get me started about the sheer number of mannequins that Bloober has put in the Silent Hill 2 remake. Every time you pick an item, frickin’ 5 of these suckers come lurking out of the shadows, down to the point where the fight starts getting a little redundant. This is in direct contrast with your first few encounters with the mannequins, where every time one of these appears, you can’t help but be petrified. 

As you progress in the campaign, that feeling of tension no longer remains the same, and you desensitize yourself to the onslaught of monsters with every passing combat scenario.” 

The Amount Of Unlockables In The Game Leave More To Be Desired

I also noticed a clear lack of enough unlockables in Silent Hill 2 as I gunned for that shiny Platinum trophy. If you go for replayability, there’s really not much motivation there to pursue another playthrough of the entire campaign, because there’s literally nothing for you to unlock from an NG+ perspective outside of a chainsaw. The least I expected from Bloober was an addition of classic outfits for both James and Maria, but oh well, you don’t get everything in life, do you? 

The Rundown

I’ve gone ahead and outlined some of the minor complaints I’ve had with the Silent Hill 2 remake, but they in no shape or form compare to the overall brilliance of Bloober Team and what it’s done with reimagining this legendary classic. 

If you have your fair share of critique pertaining to the game, feel free to comment down below and talk about it.