Silent Hill 2 is as horrifying as it is depressing. The 2001 game gave us some of the most recognizable enemies not just in the series but in horror gaming at large: the homicidal sexy nurses and Pyramid Head. But it’s the psychological elements and unsettling atmosphere that really cement its creep-factor. The 2024 remake feels even more in-your-face about it all, as if everything scary about the game has been ramped up a few notches. As in the original, you play as James Sunderland, who has traveled to Silent Hill in search of his (dead?) wife, only to discover a hostile ghost town.
I did not relax for a single moment over the course of my first playthrough. That’s mostly due to the game’s incredible sound design, which creates an atmosphere of ever-increasing tension until it’s almost unbearable. In areas like the prison, the cacophony of frightening sounds in the dark — galloping horses, metallic clanging, creatures scuttling — had me so on edge I found myself having to step away from the game a few times and get some air. It really gets under your skin.
The Silent Hill 2 remake leans more into combat than the original, and the enemies are abundant. They lurk around corners, crowd narrow hallways, drop from the ceiling; there’s no avoiding them. They’re even unnerving when they’re not doing anything but staring you down from the end of a dark hallway (one particular Pyramid Head moment comes to mind here). There are plenty of startling encounters, too, which made me scream an embarrassing number of times. As a horror fan, this is exactly the experience I was looking for. And, without getting into any spoilers, it could be argued that the scariest thing about Silent Hill 2 is not the monsters, but the dark sides of human nature that it exposes. If you want a game that will leave you thoroughly freaked out, you really can’t go wrong with this one. — Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor