Do you ever feel like trying out a ??horror game to branch out of your ever-comfortable space of sports games? Or, perhaps, are you feelin??g like venturing into sports game territory but without wanting to betray the spirit of the spooky month? I have just the thing for you.

I'm talking about FEAR FA 98, an in-development project where you play the goriest and spookiest soccer game ever conceived. Joining the 22 players that regularly duke it out on a soc??cer pitch will be the fog from Silent Hill, a myriad of deadly traps, and even monsters out to murder whoever is on the pitch. Also, murdering your opponents is as important as scoring, as their heads are what you'll be using for scoring goals.

The past has a few examples of games that take some liberties with the soccer formula. In Red Card Soccer, committing fouls wasn't that big a deal. In FIFA Street, you pretty much ha??ve superpowers. Still, this is the first Soccer game I can recall where you choose which weapons and evil spells to bring onto the pitch.

Creator Jacob Jazz intends to make Fear FA an arcade-style fast-paced fun romp where you can play against the CPU or other pla?yers, locally or online, but there's much more he wants to implement:

Third-person horror - a single-player mode where you embody only one member of the team as he uses all the weapons at his di??????????????????????????sposal to destroy the enemy team.

Story Mode - yes, a story mode like you'd see in any survival ?horror game, except it takes place on a hellish pitch.

Asymmetric Online - ?last but not least, we have what's likely my favorite mode. In Asymmetric online, you get to play as the referee and summ?on all kinds of monstrosities to make the game harder for both players.

Commentator - A new multiplayer system where you get t?o join other people's games and ?act as the commentator.

FEAR FA TV ??- Another new system that will allow players to store and share their most gruesome highlights online.

Graphically, Fear FA has a retro style highly reminiscent of the PS1 era, but it seems to go beyond just the visual flair. It really does look like a game that will provide us with the same kind of unhinged fun we had back in the less risk-averse times of the ?OG Sony console.

I don't know about you, bu?t simple character crossovers aren't doing it for me anymore. After seeing this Kickstart??er, I will accept nothing less than absolutely bizarre genre crossovers.

Consider backing here on the game's Kickstarter page so we can one day a??ll enjoy it on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Steam, And Nintendo Switch.

The post Consider backing FEAR? FA 98, a magnificent Silent Hill x FIFA cro?ssover appeared first on Destructoid.

Though it's getting great reviews and bringing even more people into the titular town of Silent Hill than the original Silent Hill 2 did, the beautifully harrowing remake suffers from a few technical hiccups. The most press?ing of the bunch is a yet unpatched glitch that will stop players dead in ?their tracks.

Upon venturing into Brookhaven Hospital, interacting with a seemingly harmless prompt in a porthole on the th??ird floor of the hospital might accidentally teleport James to an inescapable area. This wil??l immediately soft-lock your progress.

Eurogamer warns that you?? should be able to reload to your last autosave and not have too much time wasted by this glitch. If the game didn't autosave your progress when it should have, or if the file got corrupted (both are unfortunate?? possibilities), you will have to load your last manual save.

It seems as if this glitch is triggered by interacting with the porthole after you've b??een to the rooftop, so the recommendation here is that players ignore the interaction with the porthole if they have al?ready reached the rooftop during that playthrough.

Either way, I recommen?d you perform manual saves regularly during your playthrough and make sure to save right before reaching the roof.

There's still no word on when the Bloober team will fix this glitch (and some other performance issues), but the game's success and Konami's will to keep it rolling likely dictates the quick manifestation of a patch. Otherwise, you can install a bunch of mods already to im??prove your experience if you're playing the game on PC.

You can now enjoy Silent Hill 2 on PlayStation 5 and on PC.

The post Careful: Silent Hill 2 hospital glitch will break your game. Here’s how to avoid it appeared first on Destructoid.

Now that most people have had enough time to finish the gorgeous Silent Hill 2 remake, Bloober Team announced their newest foray into horror territory. I'm talking about Cronos: The New Dawn, which was just been revealed at the Xbox s??howcase.

The reveal consisted on?ly of a cinematic trailer, but we already know a bit of what to expect.

Cronos will be a new survival horror IP, which seems to fall in line with Bloober's previous statement on abandoning the psychological horror genre. Cronos takes place after "the change", a cataclysmic event that turned a large part of the world's population into vile monstrosities. We play as a "??Traveler", an agent looking for time rifts that allow him to go back in time to the '80s. Once there, the Traveler will use his peculiar device, the "harvester", to extract the essence of key people who died in the Apocalypse, and bring them to the present in some capacity.

I'm not keen on showcases featuring no gameplay, b??ut I must admit I enjoyed the vibes on display. Cronos seems to put players in the shoes of a mysterious enforcer who has to deal with undead-like monstrosities and, apparently, old ladies in a post-apocalyptic Eastern European setting. Only one part of what I just mentioned sounds original �and in a weird way �but there's a neat twist. The "Traveler", this guy, or thing we play as, looks way scarier than any of the enemies shown in the trailer. The Traveler looks like a cross between a regular?? astronaut and the Pyramid Head, which does seem to make a lot of sense for Bloober �and I'm all here for it.

Will Cronos continue B??loo??ber's hot streak? Stay tuned to find out as it releases on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in 2025.

The post Xbox announces Cronos: The New Dawn, Bloober Team’s follow up to Silent Hill 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

No one is more relieved to see that the remake of Silent Hill 2 has been nothing short of a major triumph. Well, I suppose developer Bloober Team could be classed as being somewhat more reassured, espec??ially now the game has sold an impressive amount already?.

Maybe it's not too surprising, but it certainly vindicates any doubts people may have had prior to launch to see that Silent Hill 2 has sold more than a million copies worldwide. According to a post on the game's Japanese X account, it actually exceeds this figure, and the post itself comes with a? "thank-you" message to those who've bought and played it so far.

In fact, these numbers are based on research dating October 11. Not only does this mean that SH2 sold a whopping amount in just a few days (it launched on October ?8), but given we're now on the 17th, no doubt it's sold even more.

Take that, doubters

Bloober seemed very much up against it, particularly with its past reputation of not exactly treating themes of mental illness with great sensitivity. Now, though, any concerns about whether the studio could handle a reimagining of one of the industry's most influential psychological horror games can surely be put to rest.

Currently, the remake of Silent Hill 2 is sitting pretty on Steam, with a review score of "very positive," complete with some pretty glowing reviews from fans. Our own Zoey had some optimistic things to say about the game in her review, calling it "solid" though with some flaws.

Either way, as one user on Steam said: "SILENT HILL IS BACK BABY!" I'm just sad I have to wait until the Xbox ver??sion comes out before I can join in on all this merriment.

The post Silent Hill 2 has ‘exceeded’ one million sales, Konami says appeared first on Destructoid.

The excellent Silent Hill 2 remake hasn't even been out for long, but ??it already has a bunch of st?ellar mods.

If you think the r??emake looks too similar to the original classic, then?? this is where you might find the extra spice that'll make it original enough for you.

Silent Hill 2 First Person Mode mod

The main evolution seen in the horror genre during Silent Hill's dormancy was the shift to first-person perspective introduced in Amnesia: The Dark Descent and later seen in the doomed P.T.

The remake opts for a more modern approach in third person, but JessicaNatalia at NexusMods quickly found a way to remove?? the character that always stood between the?? danger and the player.

With First Person Mode, you really do feel like you're visiting the town yourself, and I don't need to explain just how scary that will turn out to be?.

Silent Hill 2 PS2 Demake

Maybe your gripe is with the remake's too-modern looks. If you're not into insanely amazing graphics, you can instead try to experience the entire thing as ??a PS2 game or just play a few chapters in lo-fi for a while to make the transition less shocking.

In all seriousness, this mod provides a way to get the game to run on less powerful ma??chines. It's a cool option for fans of the series who, sadly, don't have the rig that this monster needs to run smoothly.

Lastly, it's hilarious that this is called the "PS2" mod. We all know damn well that Silent Hill 3 looked way better than this.

Original James model

A lot of people seemed to forget that this is a remake �not a remaster �and took issue with the redesign of some of the characters. I don't know if this mod was made for those people, but it's good to know you can now play the game as the "real" James from the original game's release.

Playing?? as "classic" James is an interesting addition, especially when you bear in mind the Remake's new special ending that I love and absolutel?y won't spoil any further.

Better hair

Even though the remake does hair physics amazingly well, the same cannot be said about hair lighting. Regardless of your ray tracing settings, the hair on nu-James' head will sport a peculiar sheen in all locations. That's not very realistic and, worst of all, doesn't really look all that great. The best remake deserves the best hair, so modders quickly came to the rescue and gave James a realistic makeover.

Even better hair

If realism isn't your jam, then you'll be glad to know there are also mods to make your James' hair look just like that of Dante from Devil May Cry. Even better, perhaps, is how there are also mods that make his hair feature a color combo that matches Maria's hair. Fabulous Hills.

No fog

Whereas the difficulty level of most games comes from their enemies and/or level design, one of the biggest challenges in Silent Hill is not getting too sc?ared to keep on playing. Are you afraid of coming too close to deadly beasts using the?? fog as a camouflage device? No more!

You can now completely remove the fog, courtesy ?of FrancisLouis' "Silent Hill HD ??Collection" mod, which got that name after the 2012 HD collection that accidentally messed up most of the game's fog.

Sunny Hills

If even the complete removal of fog isn't enough for you, then let's make the game look even more like what James and Mary likely experienced when they first visited the town. How? By adding a sun. Sunny Hills doesn't alway?s look great �and it surely won't help you in the many indoor areas �but when it looks great, it looks? absolutely stunning.

This, like most of the visual mods on thi?s list, should?? totally be absorbed and made into an official alternate game mode for NG+.

Ultra Plus Fixes and Visual Improvements

The remake already looks out-of-this-world-good, but that kind of grandeur doesn't come without a few visual glitche?s and performance hicc??ups.

This mod fixes issues with fog noise, stutter, particle trails, and reflections and even?? improves the game's performance. Better yet, all donations made to modder SammiLucia will go towards Wildlife Society.

CJ Silent Andreas

I knew this would only be a matter of ti??me, but I didn't expect CJ to show up before the game had been out for a whole week. I guess it just makes sense that the remake would be blessed by the video game p??atron saint of "here we go again," even more so when we're talking about a crossover between two of the best games in the history of the PS2.

Modder Iven warns that CJ might look a bit weird in some cutscenes because he retains some of James' attributes, bu?t I'd argue that weirder can only mean better in this context.

Restoring the Silent Hill Ranch to its former "glory"

Some remakes go too far and end up removing jank that had rightfully earned a pla??ce in our hearts. Fans will know I'm talking about the controversial "Silent Hill Ranch" sign, which saw its serious font inexplicably replaced by the universally loathed Comic Sans in the 2012 remaster.

The remake, even with all of its immense improvements, has made �in the eyes of some �the mistake of fixing this sign, which caused the game to lose some of its soul. Rest easy, though, as you can now go through the trouble of downloading and installing a mod just so you can once again re-fix?? something that you'll only take a brief glimpse at once during your playthrough.

The post The 10 bes??t Si??lent Hill 2 remake mods you need to try appeared first on Destructoid.

The long-awaited remake of Silent Hill 2 is finally out and, aside from a few shortcomings, provides more than enough to shut up even its most cynical skeptic: me. The new Silent Hill 2 is gorgeously faithful to the original and mo?re than honors its beautifully ha?rrowing story. With so much reverence at play, it should come as no surprise that it even pays homage to the most accidentally iconic moment in the series.

If you’re into the franchise, you’ll know about the infamous Silent Hill HD Collection from 2012. Long story short, it featured Silent Hill 2 and 3, but the remasters were based on an incomplete beta build, not on the game's incredible final versions. The resulting games were ugly at best?? and downright unplayable at their worst. One of the funniest aspects of this remaster was the inexplicable “remastering�of the lettering of the Silent Hill Ranch sign that we see at the start of the? game.

As you can see below, the remaster replac??ed the original ?font with the dreaded comic sans font. It's a small change, but one that caused the remaster to fall even deeper into the neverending pit of Internet ridicule.

I doubt anyone in their right mind would’ve picked that font to make their location feel more appealing, let alone the people trying to make a game you're not supposed to laugh at. Unless this was a clever ru?se by the townsfolk to lure in unwitting travelers looking for a wacky town, this was just both bad game?? design and town marketing.

Many wondered what the sign would look like in the remake, and we now know that ?the comic sans font is nowhere to be found.

...or is it?

Many were happy with the decision to fix that reminder of bad reworks past, but others couldn't help but to feel a bit sad for the erasure of such an unintentionally great joke. The Gamer even wrote an obituary mourning the loss of the comic sans sign, only to amend it as a brave wondered discovered that the cursed sign ??actual??ly remains there for those brave enough to look for it.

Bloober Team asked fans to give it a chance with Silent Hill 2, and this (plus the rest of the remake) is all the proof I needed to confirm that this monumental task landed in the right h??ands.

You can now play the Silent Hill 2 remake on PS5 and PC.

The post Silent Hill 2 remake Easter egg pokes fun at the game’s dumbest moment appeared first on Destructoid.

As caught by Kotaku, you can already play the masterful remake of Silent Hill 2 without the series' ever-present and all-eng?ulfing fog. Behold, the marvel:

Though Team Silent originally came up with it just to circumvent the PS1's hardware limitations, the fog present in Silent Hill ended up becoming the series' most iconic element. I'd argue it's even one of gaming's most iconic visual elemen?ts, overall.

Removing the fog from any of the Silent Hill games seems like shooting yourself in the foot with a bazooka, especially since the volumetric fog in the new Silent Hill 2 is one of the most amazing visual effects ever seen in a game. Still, FrancisLouis immediately set out to create a mod that rids the town of fog, and the results are surprisingl??y neat.

The game sure does lose a lot of what makes it special because the remake’s unique fog is incredible to look at, but it also hides a lot of the graphical prowess of the remake. Another interesting thing you might notice is how the game doesn't get less creepy, it just gets so in a different way. Silent Hill, in the state James ??visits it in, remains a desolate place filled with creepy crawlies and other inexplicable phenomena, and now they're all in plain sight.

The mod is called "Silent Hill 2 HD Collection", a cheeky reference to the Silent Hill 2 and 3 remasters from 2012 that accidentally did away with most of the games' fog. Those were absolutely awful, but I'm glad they paved the way for this ki??nd of experimenting.

I wouldn’t recommend this mod for a first playthrough, obviously. But, alongside the official no-UI mode and 90s filter, I think this is a pretty neat (and funny) way to experience SH2 and proof that the remake is more than just its spectacular ??environmental effects.

You can now enjoy Silent Hill 2 on PC and PS5.

The post New cheeky Silent Hill 2 mod removes all fog appeared first on Destructoid.

The remake of Silent Hill 2 launched yesterday and judging from the current review scores on Steam, it's going down a mi?ghty treat. Bloober Team seems to have done the original a great service with its reimagining of the iconic 200??1 survival horror game. However, it's not perfect.

For example, the developer has ensured that the cutscenes in Silent Hill 2 are locked to 30 frames per second. In this modern era of gaming, this can be something of a bugbear. Fortunately, as noted by DSO Gaming, someone? has alrea?dy fixed that. At least on the PC version.

Nexusmods user RoseTheFlower has created "Cutscene Improvements," a modification fo?r the remake that unlocks the FPS during the cutscenes on PC. This means they can now be viewed in higher framerates. The mod also removes the "black bars from the cutscenes in anything other than 16:9."

Unlocking Silent Hill's full potential

According to the report from DSO, it does work pretty well, though they've only tried it on a few of the earlier cutscenes, with the writer adding that they "did not spot any framepacing or speed issues." This potentially ??raise?s the question of why the developer and/or publisher made the decision to lock the scenes to just 30fps.

Such a small detail may not be a huge issue for some gamers. However, those who want more bang for their buck are willing to play something that makes the most of their hardware. Bethesda raised similar concerns when it turned out that?? Starfield would be locked to 30fps on a console. At least the PC version still has it unlocked.

It seems there may not be any one reason why a modern studio would limit frame rates in this day and age, but it is far from me to speculate Bloober or Konami's rationale. In any case, if you are playing Silent Hill 2 on PC and you have a s??ystem with decent specs, "Cu??tscene Improvements" seems to be one mod that's worth trying out.

The post Not happy about Silent Hill 2 cutscenes being locked to 30fps? You need this m?od, then appeared first on Destructoid.

Remaking Silent Hill 2 is a paradoxically enviable and unenviable endeavor for anyone. I imagine that most develop?ers with their fingers in the horror genre would love to get all handsy with what has long been considered one of the pinnacles of the art form. On the other hand, it invites endless scrutiny from its legions ??of passionate fans, and you will never, ever please everyone.

In fact, attempting to improve on the original is suggesting that it wasn’t already perfect. It wasn’t, but the sentiment is somewhat understandable. Without getting to the most granular of details, it’s hard to tell what? compromises the original team had to make and what did and didn’t live up to their visions. What was informed by the technological challenges of the time? No answer is going to be correct in every fan’s mind.

So, the direction that the Silent Hill 2 remake chose is adding a ??lot while also changing very little.

Silent Hill 2 (PC, PS5 [Reviewed])
Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Konami
Released: October 8, 2024
MSRP: $69.99
If you’re new to the Silent Hill series, I want to tell you that you don’t need to play the first game to get into this one. Not only does it have a different protagonist with different goals, the story has a completely different focus. It still involves a guy looking for someone, but that’s mainly because in order to get a chara??cter to stay in a clearly unsafe environment, they need a strong motivation, and love has made fools of many.

In this case, we have James Sunderland looking for his wife, Mary. He receives a letter from her, telling him to meet her in the titular town of Silent Hill. The problem is, as James tells it, she’s been dead for three years. However, even though he is unsure why, he travels to the town anyway to tr??y and find her.

When he arrives, he finds it shrouded in fog and completely deserted. And not recently, either. It looks like the place has sat to rot for quite a while. Worse, he quickly discovers it’s full of monsters. Nonetheless, he’s set on finding Mary, and won’t let anything stand in his way. Then things just get progressively weirder from there. The big twist to Silent Hill 2 is one of the most spoiled in video games, but I’m not going to add to that resonance. Besides, if you want to know more about its depth and exe??cution, it’s been covered repeatedly by people far more devoted than me.

If you’re nearsighted, your place is in Silent Hill, where it’s always foggy, and if it’s not foggy, it’s dark. 23 years of added horsepower have certainly made things look a lot more active and detailed. Much of the time, the Silent Hill 2 remake looks fantastic. All of the time, it heightens the atmosphere of the original. It’s not quite a?s foggy, but the billowing plumes of white that block your vision still capt??ure the right feeling. From one side of the street, you might only be able to make out the faint outline of the roof on the other. It’s even better when it’s dark, where the small pinpoints of light struggling to illuminate in the distance give the town an even more pronounced feel of otherworldly desolation.

The downside to this is that it’s a bit of a technical mess. I played it on PS5 and favored quality over performance,?? but the hit to the framerate isn’t really my problem. My biggest issue was with temporal ghosting, which is a commo?n problem with Unreal Engine 5 games. Often, I just found this distracting, but sometimes it would affect gameplay by making some creatures visible in the dark just because of the streaks they’d leave behind as they moved.

There’s one particular fight in a meat freezer (you know the one if you played the original) where the enemy would move in the gloom, making them hard to track. However, because of the ghosting, I could usually see exactly where they appeared and where they were hiding. I suppose in Silent Hi?ll you can explain everything away as the work of whatever supernatural power is co?ntrolling things, but it looks gross and clearly isn't an intentional stylistic attempt.

The original Silent Hill was exceptional in a lot of areas, including art, atmosphere, sound design, and especially narrative, but the combat was legendarily terrible.?? Thankfully, it wasn’t really at the forefront of the game. There was a decent amount of it, but also long swaths without an enemy. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that combat has been significantly improved. The bad news is it’s now a major focus.

There’s a lot going on with the combat. There’s an auto-targeting system going on for melee, which means James will often swing at things around him, even if you’re not directly pointing at them. The downside is that he sometimes will interpret an intended swing at an upright enemy as a stomp to one laying supine, but it’s rare enough that it’s no??t a problem. Meanwhile, for firearms, you can aim like any other over-the-shoulder action game, but James is about as unsteady as you’d expect from someone sleep-deprived and unfamiliar with?? guns.

You can also dodge, which is key. It essentially sets James up with a short mome??nt of invulnerability, where he’ll react to whatever is coming at him, even when it’s extremely improbable that he’d be able to get out of the way. Sometimes, this causes an attack that clearly hits him to miss, but it’s probably better than it is undependable. It feels pretty good, and that’s what’s important. I’d definitely take the new fighting system over the old.

But that, unfortunately, leads me to my biggest complaint about the game, and that’s the length. The original experience was about 7-9 hours, whereas I clocked in at 18 hours on the remake, and that includes a bunch of? dicking around the town. Some will understandably consi?der the substantially added length a good thing, but I don’t think it’s earned.

The narrative hasn’t been much expanded, which is definitely for the best. Everything plays out exactly as it did in the original, with a few additions and minor tweaks. But everything between the narrative moments has been bloated out. You’ll s??pend more time wandering the apartments and hospital fighting the same small handful of enemies and searching rooms that sometimes only include a monster, a bottle of health, and nothing else of interest. It’s worth noting that the bulk of the added length is in the interior sections. If they had instead ?focused on extending the moments you’re wandering the town immersed in the mystery, it probably wouldn’t have felt like such an issue.

Length is rarely a positive thing in horror games. The longer you play in a game’s world, the more comfortable you become in it. You feel more capable. You’ve seen the monsters enough to know how to deal with what the game throws at you. Surprises lose their effectiveness, tension turns to discomfort, and it becomes hard to stay invested. Some complain that Alien: Isolation is too long (and I agree), but I at least feel that a lot of that mid-game malaise pays off when the last twist is revealed, whereas the added fluff in the Silent Hill 2 remake?? just feels like content for content’s sake.

Whether or not that’s a problem will depend on your tolerance. Largely, while I felt that it was a detraction, I don’t feel like it’s a massive issue that completely ruined the game for me, it’s just ?an unnecessary self-inflicted wound that gets in the way of what most people are here for: seeing a belo??ved classic benefit from modern hardware.

Largely, the remake of Silent Hill 2 was a success beyond my expectations, but I had my expectations securely in check. Truly, much of its success comes directly from what was already established by Team Silent in 2001, but retaining the atmo?sphere while upgrading the visuals is a feat in itself. I also ??found that the redone cutscenes, while largely being shot-for-shot reproductions, have a lot more nuance with the added facial animations and details.

Some restraint when it came to the length of the remake would have done wonders. But aside from the needless bloat and technical problems, there’s still a lot to like. Remaking Silent Hill 2 could have gone horribly wrong, and maybe this modernization won’t replace the original for some, but ??it’s at least a worthwhil??e new perspective.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Silent Hill 2 (2024) appeared first on Destructoid.

Today is officially Silent Hill 2 Launch Day. That's not an actual holiday, admitt??edly, but it? is a day that many of us have been waiting for. As we all wake up on this Tuesday, Bloober Team's long-awaited remake finally hits storefronts.

Praise for the game has already been doing the rounds, and one person in particular seems pleased with what Bloober has given us. As noted by VGC, Masashi Tsuboyama, the director behind the original Silent Hill 2 from 2001, had a few things to say about the game, as well?? as remakes in ??general.

In particular, Tsuboyama has lauded the remake for changing the perspective. In a series of posts on X, the director says the "change in playable camera has a significant impact on many aspects," adding that the new "over-the-shoulder view definitely adds to the sense of realism." They also admit they ??weren't happy with the camera angle in th?e original game, saying the "depth and angle were limited by the processing load."

Breaking the silence

In general, Tsuboyama seems very pleased with the way Bloober has handled Silent Hill 2, not t??o mention stressing the value of ??it as a remake.

I think t??he value of the remake is that a new generation can play it. As a creator, I'm very happy about it. It's been 23 years! Even if you don't know the original, you can just enjoy the remake as it is. Whether it's good or bad doesn't affect the original.

A quick look on the game's Steam page shows the reception is already pretty stellar. Okay, it's only just come out, but an immediate review score of "overwhelmingly positive" is not to be sniff??ed at, even in these early stages.

There were obviously a few concerns about whether Bloober Team could successfully bring one of the most important horror games to life in the modern era. I must admit, even I wasn't sure it was going to be worth the wait. The developer has been subjected to criticism in the past for its somewhat insensitive portrayal of certain topics, such as mental health. Given that Silent Hill 2 is largely about some ?rather deep topics, it sto??od to reason that the remake might not be able to hit the subtle marks as well as its predecessor.

Plus, what we've seen of the Silent Hill revival up to this point has not exactly been filling a lot of fans and critics with confidence. However, it definitely seems like we're onto a winner here with the SH2 remake. ??Masashi Tsuboyama and others seem to think so, at least.

The post Original Silent Hill 2 director praises the remake’s ‘over-the-shoulder’ perspective appeared first on Destructoid.

When a creative's imagination is the limit, there?'s no shortage of attractive characters in gaming. And when you spend hours, sometimes even dozens or hundreds of them, staring at a protagonist, villain, or trusted companion, it never hurts for them to be easy on the eyes.

Sometimes, I find myself a bit head-over-heels for a few of them, remin??iscing about the ha?ndsome men I've met on a few of my journeys. While I'm not sure I could fully commit to a relationship with a troubling few of these guys—regrettably, I can't fix him—I’d definitely take them out for a nice dinner date. 

10 Video game guys I'd take to dinner, and (maybe) a movie

10. James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2

Whether it be just dinner or grabbing coffee, any kind of commitment to James is probably a bad idea, given his track record with Mary in Silent Hill 2. He may have seen it as a mercy killing, or purely out of selfishness to seek a life free from bur?den, but either way, it's not exactly something I'd be willing to look past.

It's just that I think James could really use the pick-me-up a nice d??inner date would give him after the whole being stuck in a haunting mind hell ordeal, you know? Plus, he’s quite easy on the eyes, and dependable if I’m being attacked by the horrific creatures of the eerie town of Silent Hill. So, I’ll take him on a date, but just one.

9. Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

Look at that flowing, gorgeous hair. The cool black jacket, the sword, the wings? Obviously, I ?would say yes to a date with Sephiroth if he asked me, just based on aura alone. You can’t ignore him.

However, this is the only character on this list I probably wouldn’t even enjoy the date with. He’s so consumed by his hatred that I don’t think he could put it aside for even one meal at a cozy bistro in the city. But, seeing as he?’s just so pretty, he had to be here.

8. Johnny Gat from Saint’s Row

Johnny Gat is a murderous gang banger to the extreme. But, he’s a handsome murderous gang banger. And he’s pretty fun to chill out with when he’s just hang?ing out at the crib with his fellow Saints. 

Sadly, Johnny also lost his girl Aisha to the Ronin in Saint’s Row 2, so I’m not so sure he could protect me from those same rival gangs. That’s why a relat?ionship with him would never work out; it's just not practical. Surely, they won’t target me if we go on just one date, right?

7. Solid Snake from Metal Gear

We love a man who can get things done, and nobody does it as well as Snake. This is the man who makes the impossible, possible after all. Give Snake a mission, and you can bet it’ll be completed, whet?her it’s a highly classified operation or loading the dishwasher.

Unfortunately, the rapid aging business puts a huge damper on things. Does he still deserve love? Yes. Could I provide it, knowing his lifespan is dramatically shorter? than mine thanks to all the espionage? Probably not. So a few nice dates we both enjoy, but move o??n from, will work.

6. Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2

You could just tell me I’m going on a date with a real cowboy, and I’d be there. But Arthur Morgan? He’s not only a cowboy but a true Wi??ld West heartthrob. We could hunt for dinner ourselves, then enjoy it under the stars by a roaring campfire.

However, there’s one major issue with Arthur: spoiler alert, he’s dead. I'm n?ot really looking to go back in time, either, especially a time so far back I'm lacking ??modern comforts. And seeing as how the game takes place in 1899, it's just a non-starter. Time may keep us apart, but I can dream about the lovely dinner I’d enjoy with this cowboy.

5. Master Chief from Halo

The suit stays on. I don’t need to know what he looks like ??underneath it. It doesn’t matter. This man almost single-handedly saved all of? humanity from both The Covenant and The Flood—that alone would get me out the door and sat in an Olive Garden booth.

Master Chief als??o has one of the smoothest voices in the history of gaming, and you j?ust know an intimate conversation with him would be music to the ears. I don’t think marrying him would be ideal, though, since if anyone’s committed to their job, it’s him. I’ll go on as many dates with him as I can before the UNSC calls him back yet again.

4. Wyll from Baldur’s Gate 3

I’m sick of everyone talking about Astarion and Gale all the time. Yes, they’re lovely, but you’re missing out on this hunk of a Warlock, Wyll. This folk hero is kind, brave, and will do anything to keep Baldur's Gate safe. Plus, he’s got the whole tortured, dark secret that haunts h?im every day going for him. All the makings of a great?? romantic interest.

Now, there is the whole Mizora soul-binding thing to contend with?, and I understand how that will turn people away. However, I can look past it. Not forever, but at least for a few romantic steak dinners before we part ways.

3. Link from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

He’s the Hero of Hyrule and nearly every gamer girl’s first crush, so, obviously, I would take Link out to dinner. Even better, he can just cook dinner for ?us since he’s got the skills to make things like meat pies in a single cooking pot. There’s a reason nearly everyone in Hyrule is thirsting over him during the Era of the Wild.

There is one issue with Link though, and it’s that he’s very committed to someone already. He is so committed to Princess Zelda that he will, and has, died for her. I’m not willing to get between their relationship, and I don’t think I could. But I’m sure Link c??an spare me a few dates just to make my thirteen-year-old self happy.

2. Waluigi from Super Mario Bros

I don’t need to ex??plain this one. If you know, you?? know.

1. Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil

How cou?ld you look at this man and not want to take him on a date? He’s beautiful. He fights zombies. He’s got some of the most luscious hair in all of gaming?. Of course, Leon Kennedy is number one on this list because he’s clearly the best option.

Much like Link, though, Leon seems to already be involved with Ada. Their relationship is far more complicated than Link and Zelda’s, but it’s pretty clear he’s not going to let her go.?? I hope they can both be happy together, but only after I get my dinner date with Leon first.

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The Silent Hill 2 remake is on the horizon, and I didn't know what to make of it for the longest time. Credit where credit is due, I find t?he dense amount of mind fog preventing me from gauging my own hype for it to be an aptly positive sign, but it's Bloober team's latest update that really made me feel like this could be the real deal.

I’ve been following the Silent Hill series ever since Konami included a demo for the original game in the original PAL package of Metal Gear Solid. Was that a more charitable Konami from a nicer time in gaming, or had the company been evil all along and was trying to get 10-year-old me to pee his pants? I don't know, but I'm cool with either option because that demo changed my perception of what games could and should be.

I've always been skeptical of remasters and remakes. The too-polished nature of some remasters might erode the beautiful memories we have of some of our favorite classics' rough edges, and rema?kes can completely replace them, sometimes by what many deem "soulless" elements. I don't agree with the soulless part.

I'm pretty sure everyone involved with a high-profile remake is certainly putting their heart and soul into it, but that doesn't mean that the new project's soul understands or is connected to the original ones. I was never a fan of Bloober team, and my sentiment didn't change for the better when the company showed gameplay for the Silent Hill 2 remake via a combat trailer. Things didn't need to get worse, but they did when the company announced it was done with psychological horror �while developing the quintessential psychological?? horror game that it'd chosen to do.

Things only began to look better for me when PlayStation revealed an exploration trailer, which mostly seemed to get the tone and ambiance of a current-gen Silent Hill right.

I also liked the diegetic way in which James inte??racted with the items and? accessed the map, but I wasn't crazy about the way in which we'd get a social media-like notification on the left side of the screen that came accompanied by a "BWAM" sound. It felt like Bloober had the right vision, but they also had to pair every right move with a slight step back.

Then Bloober announced the "No User Interface" mode, an option that basically removes all non-diegetic information the?? base game shows you on screen. I believe that this mode would, among many other things, fix the missed opportunity at immersion.

The fact that Bloober made the announcement with such joy leads me to believe that this is how the studio has always wanted you to play the game. Did Bloober have to tone it down to avoid the ire of a bigger company? One that wants a game that is more in line with modern releases and not one that would dare to take horror in a more horrifying dire???ction?

No UI helps Silent Hill in more ways than one

Silent Hill works great with fixed camera angles because the original trilogy featured fantastic horror direction. Even though we no longer had the hard-fixed angles of Resident Evil's pre-rendered backgrounds, we were still looking at the game in the way that the developers had wanted us to. It worked masterfully.

It also works in first person, as we saw with P.T. However, the point of view chosen for the remake doens't work as well. It worked with Resident Evil 4, which popularized the over-the-shoulder camera to great effect, but even RE4's biggest fans will tell you that it just isn't as scary as the previous games in the Resident Evil series. It gives us too much control over the camera to set the mood and give players great jump scares. Nath, the developer of '90s revivalist horror title Hollowbody, shows it pretty well in this tweet showing a modded Silent Hill 3 with an over-the-shoulder 3rd p?erson perspective:

There are things you can't help but lose by going with RE4's camera, but the removal of the ??UI could dramatically help with the immersion. It'll make you feel like there ar?e important pieces of information you don't immediately have access to and, thus, things you're not in control of.

I’m of the mind that a remake should make bold moves �sometimes even crazy-sounding ones �like the ones seen with FFVII Remake/Rebirth. Tinkering with the gameplay in a way that would make it even scarier and seemingly less welcoming could do the game a great service. The problem? The awesomeness of these moves might take a while to realize. Silent Hill 2 didn't enjoy the commercial success of the original gam??e, and it took people some time to realize that they were, indeed, experiencing something far better than even the first game.

Team Silent suffered because of that back in 2001 because Silent Hill 2 cost much more to make and made much less money than the first one, and those were more forgiving times. The Silent Hill 2 remake might have to hit a home ?run on day one to avoid the Internet's vitriol �even if a genuinely spectacular gam?e exists within.

That is not to say that "No UI" should be the only way to play the game. I'm not applying the same Dark Souls purist logic that rejects any idea of an easier difficulty setting �but I think this should be the base way to play the game. I'm saying that right after the brightness settings recommendations, you should see an important figure from the series canon, say, the Shiba Inu from Silent Hill 2's dog ending, recommending you to turn off the UI.

As a person who's often resorted to turning off the UI in horror games, I believe that this will likely be the best way to enjoy Silent Hill 2 by far. It would be a shame if the game fails to capture the hearts of players just because they u?nwittingly decide to engage with the most horrifying game in existence in the safest way possib??le.

The remake will also allow players to toggle a "'9??0s filter". I immediately thought that sounded cool, but then I realized that the game already had the most iconic '90s filter of all time: its fog. So what's that about? We'll find out on October 8 when the game comes out for the PlayStation 5 and PC.

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The makers of the Silent Hill 2 remake have announced that the game will not only ship with a grainy '90s filter, but it a?lso includes an option to dunk the UI completely for that sweet nostalgia factor. Granted, a toggle to drop the UI isn't exact??ly innovation defined. But it should increase the spooky immersion of the horror game.

Bloober revealed the options earlier today on its social media channels. I'll be the first to say that the tiny screens on X/Twitter and Instagram don't really do the footage much justice. But take it from someone who spent the last 40 seconds with their face against the monitor, the filter does give the video an eerie quality. Or maybe that's just the poor en??coder? Feel free to make the judgment yourself:

Nodding along to the horror song

Bloober Team went on to explain that the lack of the UI means you'll have ??to rely on other elements for your surviva?l.

"Without UI, player g?uidance will na??turally be directed by the game’s visuals, sound effects, and James's behavior," Bloober wrote in reply to the video. "He will glance towards important spots and have different animations and facial expressions during wounded states."

Will this all be enough to intrigue wary fans of the original? Possibly. As someone who played the game many years ago, I do feel the remake is on the right path. Others seem to agree, despite prevale??nt concerns over its development.

I won't pretend that there hasn't been a healthy amount of critique surrounding Bloober Team's upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2. Authenticity is important to fans of the horror masterpiece, and the developer is no doubt feeling the pressure. The efforts the team has made to crea??te a remake fans and Bloober can be happy with seem clear, at least as far as aesthetic??s is concerned.

We'll know for sure if the Polish developer can nail its biggest project yet when the?? game launches next month.

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The Silent Hill 2 PC system requirements are pretty beefy, and for a seemingly gorgeous horror game like this, it makes sense. Publisher Konami recommends that you have an SSD and at least 16GB of RAM for both minimum and recommended specs list??s.

Silent Hill 2 PC minimum system requirements

Silent Hill 2 will be pushing some impressive current-gen visuals on your PC. This means you'll need the following specs to play the game on Low or Medium settings at 1080p, according to Silent Hill 2's Steam listing.

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K | AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 Ti or AMD Radeonâ„?RX 5700
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50 GB available space

These specs will also have you running Silent Hill 2 at 30 frames per second at Low or Medium. With this in mind, it may be time for you to upgrade your computer's specs before trying to play this horror remake. Is this spooking you to go to Best Buy or Amazon right now? Thankfully, you won't need as much storage as games like Starfield (125GB) and Horizon: Forbidden West (150GB).

Silent Hill 2 recommended specs

To play the gam??e at 1080p (or up-rezzed 4K with DLSS) on Medium settings (with 60 FPS) or High settings (with 30 FPS), you'll need the following:

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® 2080RTX or AMD Radeonâ„?6800XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50 GB available space

Hopefully, the way to play Silent Hill 2 on your PC won't be too foggy, but at least the high end settings aren't as bad as they could be, considering some of the demands of other current-gen ??games out there.

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The final version of Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is now out. Not to be confused with the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 by Bloober team, this is a fan-made mod that provides fans and newcom?ers alike with the definitive way of enjoying this modern classic in modern systems.

If you were to look at the Silent Hill HD Collection that Konami brashly put out back in 2012, you'd think that the subject of Silent Hill remasters was even more cursed th??an the town itself. As it turns out, the curse is bogus and the town is totally a special place worth visiting ?if the navigation is put in the right hands.

This remaster diligently makes all the enhancements you'd expect out of a proper HD treatment. There's HD support, HD textures, improved lighting, shadows, fog, but it takes things further. It completely replaces some textures, and remodels some graphical elements from the original. Very importantly, it even?? fixes the rare problems that existed in the original solely because of its PlayStation 2 g?ame DNA.

If you already own a copy of the original Silent Hill 2 for PC, all you need to do is head here to download and learn the simple installation steps to get the Enhanced Version to blow your mind.

Bloober Team asks fans to give the studio a chance with their remake of Silent Hill 2. I, while not a fan of the studio, will do so while saluting Bloober's bravery in undertaking such a gargantuan task. However, the coin is still spinning on that one, whe?reas this remaster is already a superior version of one of the most mesmerizing games in history.

I ask fans �and newcomers �to give this one a try. The team behind Enhanced Edition is aware that despite this awesome coat of paint, SH2 remains a game of it??s time. So, they also made this video to make ev??eryone new to this world up to speed:

If you're having a hard time waiting for October 8th when the Silent Hill 2 remake comes out??, then this is a great way to pass that time.

The post Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is?? finally complete and looks amazi??ng appeared first on Destructoid.

Although Silent Hill is finally back after a lengthy hiatus, the offerings we've had so far have not been wholly well received. The Short Message didn't exactly set the world on fire, and the interactive experience Ascension was a massive ??disappointment. As such, we're all waiting to see whether Bloober Team's remake of the legendary second game can save the f??ranchise's renewal.

Given that Silent Hill 2 previews suggest the full game is going to be worth the wait, it's tempting to, once again, get excited about the future of this iconic horror series. In anticipation of the upcoming remake �scheduled to release October 8 �I've put together a list of the best Silent Hill games as noted by their Metacritic scores. You can also check out similar articles I've done for Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, and Quake.

As always, this one will list the mainline Silent Hill entries only. When doing a bit of research, it seemed there was some debate about which games in the series would count as "main" ones. With that in-mind, I'll be using this Wiki page for help, so anything that's classed as a port or spin-off according to the site won't be included. Now that? that's out of the way, let's crack on.

Silent Hill: Downpour (2012) - 64%

Downpour forms the latter part of Silent Hill's original run. At this point, Konami's IP had been scaring the pants off us for about 13 years, give or take. The survival horror genre had been through peaks and troughs over the years, with the likes of Resident Evil gearing more towards action rather than scares in the later games. However, there was still plenty to enjoy, and the indie scene was making strides thanks in part to Frictional Games' terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which came out in 2010.

With horror offering so much, it sort of felt like Silent Hill: Downpour would always struggle to make an impact, despite it coming from such highly regarded stock. As a result, it ended with a 64% Metacritic score on PS3 (68% on Xbox 360), which is not exactly terrible, but it perhaps showed that the series?? wasn't able to keep up with what was happ??ening in modern horror.

Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008) - 70%

I have a pretty vivid memory of buying Homecoming when it first came out. Aside from it being a new Silent Hill installment, one of the big draws for me was the bundle pack, which came with the game itself and an Xbox 360 controller. A red one, as well. I absolutely loved that controller. I kept it for years to come, long after I finally gave up on Homecoming.

I don't know what it was about it, but it just didn't resonate with me the way the classics had previously. I couldn't tell you much about it. I think there was a Pyramid Head-esque monster in there. Although, according to Wikipedia, this version was known as the "Bogeyman." If memory serves me well, the game also didn't allow for an inverted control scheme. That's a big no-no for me, but it is probably not the main reason it got just an okay Metacritic score of 70% on the system. Some people probably liked it, but again, it felt like Silent Hill was on a downward trajectory at this point.

Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) - 76%

Developing a fourth game in a beloved horror franchise is never an easy feat. The three games that had come before it have gone down as classics in the genre, inspiring others since. But The Room is still a solid entry, one that's able to dole out the scares with its twisted and psychologically creepy mood. A score of 76% on Xbox and PS2 means Silent Hill 4 stands firm with its predecessors.

Although I never completed the game, I have fond memories of it. While still capturing some of the elements that made the previous games instant hits, The Room's main bargaining chip was those moments in the apartment itself. The fact that these sections were entirely in first-person was quite the appeal for me back then, especially as it just wasn't something?? horror was doing at the time. I remember looking through the spyhole, peeping through the hole at the neighbor's place, and seeing the disembodied, ghostly head floating past my window. It definitely had an eeriness to it that was evidently missing from my gaming life.

Silent Hill: Origins (2007) - 78%

Beginning life on the long-defunct PlayStation Portable, Silent Hill: Origins is the first mainline entry in the series that wasn't developed by Team Silent. Instead, the project was helmed by Climax Studios, which would go on to do ports for the likes of Assassin's Creed Chronicles, as well as assist in the development of Returnal. So, not a bad career, overall.

However, because Origins only came to the PSP and eventually the PS2, it would have been easy to miss this one. As the name suggests, it's very much a prequel, beginning before the events of the first game. Everyone loves an origin story and this game is no different, putting us in the shoes of trucker Travis Grady as he comes face-to-face with some familiar characters. Earning a Metacritic score of 78% on PSP �just beating The Room �suggest?s this entry had a lot going for it. I'm sad that I missed out, truth be known.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009) - 79%

Another one from Climax Studios, the developer obviously had something about it that meant it was more than capable of creating a high-quality Silent Hill game. I think I'm also right in saying that this is the first and only installment in the series that was released on the Wii. The hugely successful Nintendo system wasn't really known for boasting a lot of horror games, though it did get a port of Resident Evil 4, which may be what prompted Konami to release Shattered Memories on the console.

This is one of those entries I wasn't sure about, in terms of adding it to the list. You see, Shattered Memories is considered more of a reimagining. It retells the premise of the first Silent Hill entry, but with a twist in the narrative, as well as changing some of the characters. Having said t?hat, the fact that it does change the story somewhat means you could also consider it a new game. So, here it shall stay.

Silent Hill 3 (2003) - 85%

Now we're into what I would label the classic Silent Hill era, which means we'll be seeing some big scores. The third game is one that I was very much late to. I only managed to get around to playing it a few years ago, not for any reason other than I didn't have the system to play it at the time of its release. I bought it as part of the much-maligned Silent Hill HD Collection, but that didn't detract from my experience.

With its themes of birth and pregnancy, not to mention the fact that you literally get to fight a god (spoilers!), Silent Hill 3 hit almost as hard as the previous two games. The fact that it came out just two years after what many regard as one of the greatest survival horror releases of all time (more on that soon) means the studio was able to keep that momentum going. Although perhaps overshadowed by the previous installment, the third game was still a remarkable achievement for Team Silent, with a Metacritic score of 85%. Just don't compare it to the PC version.

Silent Hill (1999) - 86%

During the mid-to-late 1990s, there was only really one word when it came to survival horror: Resident Evil. Okay, that's technically two words, but? you know what I mean. Capcom's iconic franchise has been a huge part of the gamin?g world for almost 30 years. Just before the new millennium �with a third entry about to hit shelves �it seemed nothing could stack up alongside it.

Then Silent Hill arrived, and we haven't felt the same since. Although to an outsider it looks like a Resident Evil clone, it offered so much more. Instead of zombies and biotech conspiracies, we had grotesque monstrosities, a creepy cult, and a foggy locale that, in itself, was part of the antagonism. The first game had its limits, sure, but it used those limits to full effect, such as the aforementioned fog which initially was a cover to make the game run smoother, but eventually became a staple of the series. It just wouldn't be a Silent Hill game without it.

Silent Hill 2 (2001) - 89%

I'm hoping many of you are familiar with Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw, the acerbic critic who brought us humorous (though serious) reviews via The Escapist on a weekly basis. I distinctly recall one of his videos in which he envisioned a world without video game sequels, forcing studios to be original every time they started a new project. A nice idea, for sure, but in this utopia of Croshaw's, we would have missed out on such important hits like Thief 2, Half-Life 2, and, of course, Silent Hill 2.

The second entry in the newly arrived Silent Hill series didn't just bring us more horror for the sake of it. Of course, it had plenty of scary moments, but its story was deep with symbolism; enemies that were representations of protagonist James Sunderland's anxieties and fears. It was mature enough to be taken seriously by critics and gamers alike. It's obviously aged at this point, but there's a very good reason it has an 89% score on Metacritic, typically sitting high on lists of the best horror games of all time. Team Silent wasn't just banging rocks together when it made t?his one.

The post Ranking the mainline Silent Hill games by Metac?ritic score appeared first on Destructoid.

The much-anticipated Silent Hill 2 Remake will be getting a "reworked" soundtrack ??from the game's reprising composer Akira Yamaoka. Announced at a preview event, Yamaoka confirms that the songs hav??e been made from the "ground up."

"There are segments and bits and pieces of the original tracks that you can hear, but all of the tracks have been reworked from the ground up," explained Yamaoka to GameSpot. "I unders??tand that the soundt??rack is very much beloved, but ultimately I composed over nine hours worth of music and I'm still wondering how in the world we are going to fit all of that into a soundtrack."

GameSpot's coverage of the Silent Hill 2 Remake preview was pretty positive, which should be reassuring for those holding out hope for the Remake. As the site reports in its preview?: "While tracks I heard felt similar to what already existed, everything feels a bit deeper now, a bit darker. And it works incredibly we??ll."

Yamaoka said during the press event that it took a lot of self-counselling to create the new version of the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack as he previously worked on the original 25 ?years ago. He told reporters that he wasn't financially stable while working on the original, so he tuned down his guitar to record bass rather than getting a completely new instrument.

Despite some awful Silent Hill 2 Remake trailers, the game has previewed well with critics. It's a good thing too as the game's under a lot of pressure to succeed.

"As with any Silent Hill game, atmosphere is king, and Silent Hill 2 immediately and consistently puts you into a state of unease," said IGN's preview. "A thick fog surrounds the town like the original, now benefiting from modern lighting and volume thanks to today’s technical improvements." For the HD remasters of the Silent Hill games on PS3 and Xbox 360, the lack of fog was a huge issue, so adding it back is a huge improvement in the r?emake.

The Silent Hill 2 Remake launches on October 8 for the PS5 and PC.

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There have been quite a few doubts about Bloober Team's ability to remake Silent Hill 2 in a way that keeps the spirit of the original while breathing new life into the legendary horror game. I've been guilty of perpetuating some of this cynicism myself, but there's a chance the game could actually turn? out to be good.

A number of journalists have been treated to a preview of the Silent Hill 2 remake lately, and feedback suggests Bloober might actually have nailed it. With the?? release date just a few weeks away, early opinions seem to be positive.

Eurogamer's Thomas Morgan says they're excited about what the full game will bring, praising the developer for daring to make a few changes. Jasmine Gould-Wilson, over on GamesRadar, said they went into the preview "cautiously," but was "pleasantly surprised," adding that they're "more than ready to give Silent Hill 2 Remake the chance it deserves," while the Metro refers to the game as "far better than w?e expected."

Silent no longer

From just these three opinions, it seems many of us may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Bloober Team has often been criticized for its mishandling of delicate subjects in its games, such as mental health. Given that the original Silent Hill 2 is wholly a psychological game, concerns were raised over whether the same studio that made The Medium could do?? one of the most influenti??al survival horror games any justice.

Alongside these early indications of its potential, we've also been treated to a new story trailer. The teaser gives us a good look at some of the titular foggy town's inhabitants, including Eddie, Laura, Angela, a??nd, of course, Maria.

With a modern control scheme not too far removed from the remake of Resident Evil 2, new puzzles, fresh visuals, and, above all, respect for the source material, we could be looking at one hell of a return for Silent Hill 2.

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The team behind Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition, a mod that's widely regarded as the best way to play the original game on PC, has announced that it will launch the mod's final update on August 30, 2024, leaving plenty of time to play and prep??are for the upcoming remake.

The final update for Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is being touted as the biggest that it's ever received. While we don't have all the details on every change and upgrade it adds just yet; we do know that among them is improved water physics. It might sound trivial for a survival horror game, but water physics was the hallmark of a good video game back when Silent Hill 2 was initially released ??in 2001, so it's nice to see it finally catching? up with its modern-day competition.

The best survival horror experience forever preserved and infinitely replayable

The mod team announced the final upcoming update on Twitter, where fans thanked them profusely for the hard work they've put in over the years to?? ensure survival horror fans can play this iconic title in the best way possible for as long as they have the game and mod installed.

Of course, you can pick up a physical copy of the original Silent Hill 2 for PS2 if you want to play it without using mods, but you'll likely have to spend $100+ to get it. Even the HD Collection goes for a pretty penny despite signage being written in Comi?c Sans and a few other issues fans have with changes from?? the original.

The Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition is the result of the efforts of many people working to make the original game compatible with as many modern PCs as possible. Game upgrades are one thing, but the group is also doing Konami's ?work for it by allowing anyone with any rig today to download the original game and enjoy it as Team Silent intended.

Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 Remake launches on October 8, 2024, and is under a fair bit of pressure to succeed with fans and newcomers. After all, the original is regarded as one of the best survival horror games ever made, so the remake needs to at least l??ive up to the same level of quality and define itself separately from the original's legacy.

With the remake's release, Konami's focus will be on getting the game into as many players' hands as possible, meaning it'll want eyes off of the original. While that means Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition won't make a splash with new updates any longer, it's ready and waiting for when you want to experience the masterpiece and landmark release that's the reason so many of us love the Silent Hill franchise.

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The long road to the launch of the anticipated Silent Hill 2 remake is coming to an end, as the official release date was finally revealed last week (with the title, probably predictably, set to come out just weeks before Halloween). But there's a bit of a stink in the air surrounding the game, and it seems like this modern take on one of the most influential horror ?releases ever is going to have to be pretty much p??erfect.

In the current era of remakes, remasters, and re-imaginings, it can be easy to feel a little bogged down by an industry that's too eager to tick the nostalgia box rather than deliver something fresh. However, a quick look at games like Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Final Fantasy 7, and the work Nightdive Studios has been doing on classics like Quake 2 shows there's still room for it in the market, it se??ems.

But despite the excitement that should be surrounding Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake, there are a number of dou?bts that are putting the whole project under a lot of pressure to succeed.

Reigniting the influence

There's an argument to be made about not fixing something that isn't broken. As one of the most influential horror games of all time, remaking it is surely a tall order. Silent Hill �especial?ly the second one �has made its mark on the genre, preserved in the annals of gaming history as a staple of how to create something atmospheric with lashings of delicious psychological torment to go with it. To some, the second installment is the perfect horror game.

That's not to say it can't be done. You only have to look at Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 4 to see there's scope for revitalizing older games to give them another go in more modern eras. Much like Silent Hill 2, the original RE4 has been hugely influential, which renders a potential remake a dangerous line to tread, but we know it can be done. However, there's one thing that's probably crossed people's ?minds about it.

What's the connection between these remade franchises: Resident Evil, The Last of Us, and Dead Space? They were all done by the developer who created the original. Maybe not the exact same people, but certainly the studio itself. With Silent Hill 2, it's being made by a different team entirely; one that, although it has a r?eputation in the horror sphere �as well as being influenced by Team Silent's work �was not even a??round when the original was released. Placing a remake of a beloved game into the hands of another is an exercise in trust.

What we've seen so far

The Silent Hill Transmission that took place in 2022 had a lot of people excited. Finally, after years of speculation and dormancy, Konami's horror series was g??etting new games, a new film, and more attention than ever before. Would this be the triumphant return many of us had been hoping for?

But the outpouring since then has left much to be desired. The interactive Ascension has not stood as a bastion of achievement in terms of rejuvenating the Silent Hill name. Metacritic is currently showing a user score of 0.?8 out of 67 reviews, with the likes of IGN giving it just 50 out of 100.

Perhaps less tragic �though still not really noteworthy �was this year's A Short Message. Although it's done better than Ascension, with a Metacritic review score of 53 and a user score of 6.3, it leaves the Silent Hill 2 remake with a lot of slack to pick up. SH2 is not a brand-?new entry in the series, but it's seemingly going to have to do more than coast on nosta?lgic reputation alone given what we've seen of the reemergence so far.

Bloober Team's track record

Whatever your thoughts on Bloober Team, the studio has managed to make a name for itself in the horror genre, despite going up against the likes of Naughty Dog, Capcom, and even Frictional Games of Amnesia fame. But this esteem is not without its criticism. B??loober has a knack for visual quality and a disturbing aesthetic that has pricked up a few ears, but there are some problematic thing?s about the developer that people can't shake.

This TechRadar article from a couple of years ago laments the studio's inability to represent mental health in any agreeable way. The troubled artist from Layers of Fear, the protagonist in The Medium who was abused as a child; there's a sense that the developer uses these angles as a demonizing tactic, and it's unclear whether Bloober has learned from this. The writer of that article does not appear to be alone in such criticisms.

Given that Silent Hill 2 deals quite heavily with trauma and psychological issues, there's bound to be concern that a remake from the Layers of Fear studio could encounter similar backlash. However, if Bloober is aiming for a faithful recreation of the original, then such issue??s should not be a problem, right? But therein lies a further question: why remake something like-for-like (only with modern vis??uals and control schemes) without an injection of new sensibilities, mechanics, techniques, the developer's own flavor, etc.? Answers on a postcard.

It's not P.T.

We all miss it. We all wonder what the final product would have been like, especially with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's names attached. Although it's been ten years since P.T. came and went, it still hangs in the air to some extent, and it's likely the Silent Hill 2 remake will? get compared to the canceled project. But maybe I'm doing Bloober a bit o??f a disservice.

A game with such recognition and high praise is going to be the subject of scrutiny when it comes to releasing an official remake of it. Taking a beloved franchise and handing the reigns over to a studio that's not without its fair share of detractors is likely going to draw a bit of ire regardless. Everyone's going to be watching Bloober Team on October 8, and I don't t?hink it's beyond the realms of possibility that some may be scathing by default?.

Personally, I think some of the current negativity surrounding the remake is a little unfair, likely down to a frustrated audience that wants to see this new era of Silent Hill succeed. But I think �judging by some of the YouTube comments posted on the video linked above �things are in danger of bord?ering on nasty, ??maybe even verbally aggressive, from a fan base that's hungry for blood.

Maybe there's some legitimate criticism of what we've seen in trailers and teasers so far. This article dives a little deeper into some of?? the design choices of the remake, with particular reference to how changing the clothes of Maria detracts from her significance as a duplicitous femme fatale who reminds James of his dead wife. How muc?h of this is simply the wailing sound of "dudebros" upset that a female character has been modernized to look less sexual, as opposed to this new look missing the point of the original's intent, is not clear.

At any rate, Bloober is under a lot of pressure to make sure Silent Hill 2 is pure and flawless; not one iota less. If it strays too far from the original, it'll displease the older fans. Similarly, if it's a 100% retelling of the 2001 release, it'll feel a little pointless (see also: the 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Psycho). If it doesn't straddle the ??line between freshness and nostalgia, but with a fair representation of the game's themes, the backlash could be brutal. Honestly, it f?eels lose-lose at this point.

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As part of the PlayStation State of Play stream, Konami and Bloober Team have given us a deeper look at the remake of Silent Hill 2. It focuses mostly on Angela Orosco, as well as some pretty familiar-looking scenes from the game. More importa??ntly, we have a release date of October 8, 2024.

I? think it looks decent. What do you think? Here’s the trailer:

There’s a lot that’s really familiar being shown off. It looks to me like Bloober Team are trying very hard to keep it as close to the original as they can while making modern changes. However, it doesn’t really matter how careful they are; they’re working on an extremely be?loved game, and not everyone is going to love it.

Frankly, I think Silent Hill 2 is a great game, but I’m not huge on it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic, I’m just not totally enthusiastic. I don’t think a remake is really going to change that, but I’m open to the po?ssibility.

Silent Hill 2 (the remake?) is out on October 8, 2024 for PS5 and PC.

The post Fill your eye??s with a Silent ??Hill 2 remake trailer and its release date appeared first on Destructoid.

Silent Hill 2 is often considered one of the best horror games of all time, sometimes even stretching its praise to one of the best games ev??er made. Remaking it is a tall order, but Konami and Bloober?? Team are giving it the old College try. So here’s what we know about the upcoming remake.

What is the release date for the Silent Hill 2 remake?

There is no solid date set for the release of the remake of Silent Hill 2. It was announced back in October of 2022, and ??currently has a release window set for 2024.

Neither Konami nor Bloober Team have been more specific than that, and chances are we won’t really get a solid release date until the game is almost ready to ship. Konami itself has been rather restrictive on what information about the game it puts out.

What platforms is the Silent Hill 2 remake releasing on?

Currently, the Silent Hill 2 remake is only coming to Windows and PlayStation 5. Sony has secured temporary console exclusivity for the title. The per??iod of exclusivity is re?ported to be one year.

After that year is up, it’s possible that the Silent Hill 2 remake will be made available on other platforms, but like the release date, this hasn’t been solidly confirmed by the publisher or developer. If you want to play the game at launch, y?ou’ll need to get it on Windows or PlayStatio??n 5.

What are the system requirements for Silent Hill 2 on PC?

Here are the system requirements for the Silent Hill 2 remake, as posted on Steam. Note that these are subject to change, and are most likely based on the Unreal? Engine 5’s usual requi?rements.

MINIMUM:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50 GB available space
• Sound Card: Windows Compatible Audio Device.
• Additional Notes: Playing on minimum requirements should enable to play on Low/Medium quality settings in FullHD (1080p) in stable 30 FPS.

RECOMMENDED:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 11 x64
• Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 2080RTX or AMD Radeon 6800XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50 GB available space
• Sound Card: Windows Compatible Audio Device.
• Additional Notes: Playing on recommended requirements should enable to play on Medium quality settings in 60 FPS or High quality settings in 30 FPS, in FullHD (or 4k using DLSS or similar technology).

Is Silent Hill 2 a remake or remaster?

Unless things change during development, Silent Hill 2 will be a faithful remake of the original. That is to say, it isn’t just the same game with updated graphics.?? Much of it has changed, but Bloober Team seems to be keeping much of the game’s story,? world, and even puzzles intact.

In particular, the camera, controls, and combat have all been updated. I’d argue that Silent Hill 2 is still great to play today, if the combat was simply lifted and transferred into Unreal Engine 5, it would look rather janky alongside its contemporaries. It’s unlikely that Bloober Team would change Silent Hill 2 into a more action-oriented game, but it could?? always be more comfortable to play.

Any other major deviations have yet to be seen. Some locations will likely be changed to better suit the updated controls, but if there are any added locations or story beats, they haven’t been shown. For now, we know it’s going further than being a simple remaster. However, how much of Silent Hill 2 is being remade has yet to be measured.

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It was recently revealed that Return to Silent Hill - a new movie based on Silent Hill 2 - has finished filming. Yeah, even though it has flown a bit under the radar, a new Silent Hill movie based on the events of Silent Hill 2 has been in the works for ??a while, and I'm cautiously optimistic about i?t.

I know that getting two re-tellings of Silent Hill 2 in such a short timespan will probably strike many as weird, but the good news here is that they've brought back Christophe Gans, the French director responsible for the original Silent Hill film �the one that kinda owns, not the awful 3D one.

On top of my belief that Gans is a talented director with a strong artistic vision, I also trust him to helm the project because, well, he's had a good influence on gaming even without knowing it. You see, back in 2001, Gans directed Le Pacte Des Loups, which came out in the West as Brotherhood Of The Wolf.

The film tells the story of two hunters trying to track down the beast of Gévaudan, a supposedly supernatural predator that stalked the French province of Gévaudan and killed over one ?hundred people in the eightee??nth century.

Even though its story is somehow based on actual historical accounts, you can probably tell by now that Brotherhood Of The Wolf sounds a bit like Bloodborne. And, wouldn't you know it, it also looks a lot like Bloodborne.

That's not even mere hearsay. Elden Ring and Bloodborne director Hidetaka Miyazaki had no problem admitting that he based a lot of the looks of Bloodborne on this film in a long-lost interview with IGN Brazil. The interview is naturally in Portugues??e, and? that's how not too many people know about the direct influence.

Still, those curious can use a translator, check out this accurate translation on Resetera, which we first discussed all the way back in 2019.

Another thing you sh?ould trust me on is regarding the film itself. Even though it's maybe just a bit too long, it still absolutely rocks.

Neither Return to Silent Hill nor the Silent Hill 2 remake have an official release? date, but they're both set to come out this year.

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Like a lot of other horror fans, I'm holding out that Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 won't b?e a major letdown. While we wait to find that out, however, we can treat ourselves to the new "c??ombat trailer" shown at the most recent State of Play.

There are no prizes for guessing what the footage shows. While we get some of the cinematic goodness of the new Silent Hill 2, we also get to see Jam??es Sunderland and his guns making friends ?with enemies. Ha ha! Their heads ago a-splatter!

But in all seriousness, it seems the remake is doing a revamp of the combat to make it more modern. It makes sense. The original SH2 �?as magnificent as it was �wouldn't work in thi??s era with its rather outdated control scheme.

New Silent Hill when?

Of course, the question on everyone's lips is: when's it coming out? Well, we don't know ?that I'm afraid. The trailer doesn't give a release date or even a release window. We can "wishlist now" and it's being m?ade exclusively for PS5.

On a personal note, I'm slightly bitter that it's only coming to PlayStation. Sure, I could ??get it for PC, but there's no way on this �or any other �p??lanet my laptop would be able to run it (my laptop says hi, by the way).

From what we've seen, it looks like Bloober's take on what is considered a masterpiece has potential. Unless the stud?io deviates massively from everything that made the original so iconic, it's going to take a lot to really fumble ??an up-to-date reimagining of this horror classic.

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A lot of people have been quite keen to know when they can get their hands on the remake of Silent Hill 2. So much so that developer Bloober Team urged for a bit more patience, and w??e still have no idea when it's releasing. B??ut we're getting closer.

In a recent video on the PlayStation YouTube channel, we're treated to a brief teaser showing what we can expect to launch this year on Sony's system. Among other things (something called "Tek-en," not sure if you've heard of it), we're now told that Silent Hill 2 will be available this year.

Of course, we could probably have ascertained that 2024 was likely the rele??ase window. But it's comforting to see PlayStation officially acknowledge this. Howe??ver, we don't have an actual date yet, so that's surely the next port of call.

We must be nearly there, then

Many of us had been hoping to see the remake by the end of 2023 a??t the latest. For some time, it's been suggested that Bloober was just putting the f?inishing touches to the game, and this teaser sort of confirms that the team must be at the final hurdle now.

After the disappointment that was the interactive experience Silent Hill: Ascension, the legendary series could do with a win. Ko?nami's horror franchise has been dormant ?for far too long, some might say. Me. I would say that.

However, there's a lot to live up to. Bloober Team has its critics, and bringing back Silent Hill 2 �with the original being largely cons?idered one of the most influential horror games ?of all time �is a tall order, indeed.

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Rumors and speculations have led many to believe that the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake is imminent. However, we're all still dreaming, and developer Bloober ?Team is asking that people chill out for a little bit longer.

In a statement posted to the studio's Twitter, Bloober has said it's "diligently working to ensure the Silent Hill 2 remake attains the highest quality." Work is ??also said to?? be "progressing smoothly," and the team understands that fans are waiting patiently for any updates.

However, in the meantime, the developer is kindly asking for "a bit more patience" from the fan base. The statement ends by assuring people that as and when publisher Konami does share information, the "wait will be worthwhile??."

Commence thumb-twiddling

Understandably, fans are keen to know what's happening with the much-anticipated remake. Silent Hill 2 is generally regarded as one of the most influential survival horror games of all time. Of course, with that comes a small amount of uncertainty and maybe a little pe?ssimism.

Despite their visual quality, Bloober Team games have been criticized in the past. Most notably, 2021's The Medium drew notes of disapproval for its depictions of mental health. That's ?not to say the game wasn't goo?d, but some felt its representation of mental issues was lacking somewhat.

As a result, a few may be a little wary about how Bloober will handle Silent Hill 2, particularly in terms of its ps??ychological themes. In any case, the studio is going to have to put a lot of effort in to keep new and?? old fans happy.

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Silent Hill's Pyramid Head is, without a doubt, the franchise's most infamous and mysterious creature. But thanks to a Best Buy store listing for Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill?? 2, the strange pointy-h?eaded revenant has caused quite a stir.

UPDATE: After this story was initially published, Konami sent a statement to Eurogamer expla??ining that the Best Buy store listing featured "incorrect information." Furthermore, the line "fan favourite character, Pyramid Head, makes a return along with a special origin story for fans ??to play through" has been removed. The original story follows.

As spotted by Reddit user dpanim [Editor's note: amended to include the original source], Best Buy's Silent Hill 2 remake store page claims that the "fan favourite character, Pyramid Head, makes a return along with a special origin story for fans to play through." Obviously, a mere store listing isn't going to go into any meaningful depth on the nitty-gritty of its claims, but this was more than enough to worry Silent Hill fans such as bobvids himself.

Is Pyramid Head getting an origin story in Silent Hill 2 remake?

Franchises such as Silent Hill live and die by their mysteries and lore, and Pyramid Head has become a crucial aspect of Konami's flagship horror IP. Even though the original designer of the creature, Masahiro Ito, has come to seemingly despise the monster, it's clear th?at it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and the implication that it's getting an origin story all of its own isn't necessarily good ??news.

That being what it is, Best Buy's store page could certainly be interpreted in several different ways. For one, it might not even be Pyramid Head that's getting an origin story all of its own here. The way the text is written could be taken to mean that the monster would simply be an integral part of some other character's origin story. Furthermore, as bobvids himself pointed out, Best Buy might simply be referring to the Born From a Wish side story from the various special editions of the original Silent Hill 2.

In Born From a Wish, players take control over Maria just before she meets James in the town of Silent ?Hill, and she ends up witnessing the manifestation of Pyramid Head as a side-effect of James's own guilt. Whether this is what Best Buy is referring to? or not is anyone's guess at this point, of course, but it's not impossible that either Konami or Bloober might chime on this before fans simply assume the worst.

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