5 key takeaways from the Silent Hill 2 remake gameplay showcase

Silent Hill 2 has finally released a new showcase trailer, giving a glimpse of the gameplay in the upcoming remaster of the classic horror game. The State of Play 2024 had a lot of expectations from Silent Hill 2 fans, and they have delivered with this trailer. This new 14-minute-long showcase is filled to the brim with various new reveals and crumbs for new theory crafting.

Silent Hill 2 was originally released way back in 2021. This new atmospheric horror game had redefined the horror genre, with its spine-chilling ambiance, brilliant soundtrack, and eerie yet hard-hitting story. This is why the upcoming remaster of this legendary title has a lot of expectations. Let’s dive into everything that we have noticed in the new gameplay trailer of Silent Hill 2.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.

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Five key takeaways from the Silent Hill 2 gameplay trailer

1) The fog is up to the mark

Don't get lost in the white screen (Image via Konami)

The previous reveal trailers had raised a lot of concerns among the players who were worried that the fog featured in the remaster wouldn’t be up to the mark. The fog wall of the original was one of the main components of its brilliantly crafted dreadful ambiance, so it was absolutely crucial for the remaster to get the fog right.

Fortunately, it seems the devs at Bloober Team have figured out the issue as the fog featured in the new trailer seems amazing so far.

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2) The visuals are as creepy as it should be

Nightmares to come (Image via Konami)

Talking about the fog, we also need to address one of the most important aspects of a Silent Hill game, the visuals and the atmosphere. Silent Hill is a horror franchise that doesn’t rely on jump scares, but slowly and carefully builds dread and feelings of loneliness in the hearts of players.

The ambiance plays a big role in this and analyzing the gameplay trailer; it seems Silent Hill 2 has improved a lot in that regard. Bloober teams are skillfully utilizing The Unreal Engine 5 features, such as Lumen for dynamic lighting and Nanite for detailed environmental immersion.

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3) Movements need work

The movements could be better (Image via Konami)

So far, I have pointed out mostly the positive aspects of the trailer, but there are some negatives that I have also noticed. Among them, the most notable negative that I and a lot of the other viewers had also noticed was the stiff movement animation of the main character.

In the gameplay segments, when the playable character was moving around the map, it seemed very rigid. The devs may have to update their walking and movement animations to fix this issue.

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4) The story is the same

All roads lead to Silent Hill (Image via Konami)

Other than the ambiance, the main aspect of a Silent Hill game has been its story and I can’t be more thankful to say that so far it seems the story of the remaster is almost the same as the original Silent Hill 2.

The game kicks off because the protagonist, James Sunderland, decides to visit the town of Silent Hill after receiving a mysterious letter from his deceased wife.

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5) Still no release date

We still have no idea when it will come out (Image via Konami)

And finally, ending it with disappointment, even though we have got glimpses of the gameplay, there is still no official release date. There have been some speculations that the game is slated for a late 2024 or early 2025 release, but without an official announcement, nothing can be said for sure.

PlayStation has also shadow-announced another game in the franchise with the code name, Silent Hill P. It is believed that the Silent Hill 2 remaster will be released before the launch of this new project.