It’s hard to explain some of the narrative and visual changes in the remake being developed by the Bloober team.

Silent Hill 2 was originally a groundbreaking game, ahead of the rest of the genre. Slowly, scene by scene, over time, it unfolds what Team Silent was thinking beneath the surface. The game was fantastic, and perhaps the best in the psychological horror genre. To remake it is not easy, and in good quality may be impossible. Bloober’s task is difficult, but perhaps so much so that the Polish developers did not seem to understand what Team Silent had created over twenty years ago.

For example, the conversation with Laura has no impact and the scene seems rushed. It’s like taking David Lynch out of Twin Peaks. Silent Hill 2 leans on the weird, both visually and narratively, to evoke real fear, and it makes symbolic sense. Bloober Team may slip on this, as the studio prefers simple, transparent things rather than symbolism, and the result could be a disposable game that you play once and throw away. A one-night adventure in video game format. That’s not what Konami made the game for.

Maria’s appearance was originally sexually heated, and that had a symbolic meaning at the time. (The game is not defined as a psychological horror by chance; to avoid spoilers, we can see some “results” of the protagonist’s mind here and there…) If this is changed by the Bloober team, then they do not know why the character is the way she is, and thus have no respect for the game. This is what makes the Silent Hill 2 Remake a huge disappointment.

And yet there is the Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition on the PC. The base game has not been available on PC for a long time. (And that raises questions about game preservation…) It’s an excellent remaster that would have been more than enough for the game. Sometimes less is more. And in the case of Silent Hill 2, that’s definitely the case.