Silent Hill 2 was the first Silent Hill game on PS2 and it’s a massive step up visually from the original game on PS1, and it still looks great today! The cutscenes look a bit dated but not awful, and generally the in engine cutscenes look quite good.
The story of Silent Hill 2 follows a man named James Sunderland who receives a letter from his dead wife telling him to come to their special place in Silent Hill. James quickly heads to the town to investigate the mysterious letter and find out if his wife Mary is still alive…
The story is definitely the strongest part of Silent Hill 2 and the mystery of Mary’s letter keeps the game engaging for the appropriate run time of 6-8 hours. I think the story continues to get better as the game goes on. Having a small cast of 4-5 characters was a smart choice as you get to see them go on their their own adventure around silent hill independent of your actions. It makes them feel more real and “alive”. Rather than just being there to give you quest objectives, or point you in the right direction they all act independent and don’t take much interest in your actions.
I think the only way I can describe the voice acting in this game is weird, I know a lot of people love it, and some people hate it. I did enjoy the voice acting but I’ve seen a lot of people say the “bad” voice acting is an intentional design choice which I disagree with. I think it’s just very hit and miss. James is pretty bland and monotone but Maria is great, her anyway outburst is one of the best parts of the whole game.
One interesting feature Silent Hill 2 has that I haven’t seen in any other franchise is there’s difficulty settings for “Action” and “Puzzles” independent of each other. I definitely think this makes the game more accessible to people who might get frustrated with puzzle games, or don’t have the technical ability for action games as you can choose their ability independently.
On the topic of replay value this game has plenty, the game is relatively short if you know what you’re doing. There’s a total of six endings, 3 Main endings, a secret ending, and two joke endings. Unlike most games which take you to the end of the game and let you pick ending red blue or green the endings are Silent Hill 2 happen naturally and are unlocked depending on how you played the game. There’s no “good” ending or “bad” ending, there’s just three alternative endings which all make a good conclusion to the story, the joke endings aren’t very conclusive but they are quite funny.
Some “Directors Cut’s” versions of the game have a short extra gameplay mode or sub story where you play as one of the other characters and lasts around an hour but it’s nothing special. It doesn’t really add much to the plot but just helps slightly explain this character’s origins.
Overall Silent Hill 2 holds up really well and is definitely worth playing if you can stomach the controls and overlook some shoddy voice acting. This game is a classic for a reason and is probably one of the best Survival Horror Games ever made.
Unfortunately as far as I’m aware Silent Hill 2 is not available on modern consoles. I think the most accessible version would be the PC release, as the game is very old so any toaster can run it.
There’s a mod called Silent Hill 2 enhanced edition which adds a lot of Quality of life enhancements and I’d generally advise against the HD collection on Xbox 360 and PS3 unless you have no other option. These versions of the games are very buggy and visually were arguably worse than the originals. It has brand new voice acting but I couldn’t comment on the quality as I haven’t played it.
How do you feel about the second game being a standalone story and unrelated to the Story of 1 and 3 (3 being a direct sequel to the first game), do you think this is a strength or a weakness?
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Was looking for a Silent Hill community, and found this post. It’s the game that keeps on giving.
Silent hill 2 is comfort food for me. It being a stand-alone is definitely a strength, as it brought the series to a more personal and psychological direction. Game still holds up visually today. (though I think SH3 looks the best)
The voice acting in the Team Silent games (SH1 to SH4) has that Lynchian vibe, where the characters are like in a dream state, hence why they talk weird. It’s a vibe, with all the awkward pauses, like when Angela looks at you at the graveyard and says…”lost…?”
Also, I feel the atmosphere that is so unique in the first four games is due to it being Japanese developers trying to make an American version of a sleepy resort town, with it peppered with all their western influences, and yet still having their own eastern undertones.
It’s what I think is lacking from the American made silent hills. As they do not have a unique “viewpoint” when making their version of silent hill, and it ends up feeling generic when compared to the atmosphere of the first four games.
The silent hill 2 enhanced edition on the pc is godsend, and I am so glad that the fans who work on the project continues to improve and “remaster” SH2 for future gamers to enjoy.
To answer your question I didn’t feel the same impact on 2. I went backwards from four, so by the time I got to Silent Hill 2 it felt extraordinarily mild compared to the femme fatales of 3 and 4.
It was such a long time between playthroughs I never realised that 1 and 2 was unrelated. I did enjoy both. Could be prime for remakes?