Silent Hill 2 review roundup: 'a spectacular experience'

• ???? Silent Hill 2 has a Metacritic score of 87 after 49 critic reviews

• ???? The game has 86% positive reviews, 10% mixed and 0% negative

• ???? Silent Hill 2 is a remake of Konami’s classic horror game

• ???? The game is out on October 8 for PS5 and PC

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After a rather underwhelming first reveal, the remake of Silent Hill 2 has garnered the praise of the vast majority of critics.

Developer Bloober Team has successfully adapted the beloved PS2 classic survival horror game to modern systems, which is never easy.

Silent Hill 2 has achieved a Metacritic score of 87 after 49 critic reviews, which means it received generally favorable scores. Here’s what reviewers had to say about the game.

Eurogamer gave Silent Hill 2 a rare perfect score. “Against the odds, Bloober Team has delivered a remake that both expands Silent Hill 2 in just the right places, and gives careful attention to what it preserves.”

Push Square also enjoyed returning to Silent Hill. “Bloober Team has faithfully and respectfully recreated one of the survival horror genre’s all-time greats, modernising Silent Hill 2 in all the right ways. So much of what made the Konami classic a masterpiece in 2001 remains in this PS5 remake 23 years later, with the same unforgettable story, satisfying exploration, and weighty combat. There were concerns in the lead-up to release, but Silent Hill 2 speaks for itself: a spectacular experience that once again represents survival horror at its best.”

GameSpot noted the herculean task developer Bloober Team faced, but described Silent Hill 2 as “a restless dream come true”. The reviewer said, “The original Silent Hill 2 is one of the most beloved, culturally significant, and overall best horror games ever made. It appeared to be the case that trying to recapture the magic of that game was to misjudge how impactful its time and place were, and how its limitations helped shape it for the better.

“Any studio advancing on such a project should've had a Sisyphean task ahead of them, forever chasing its essence like a moth with a hole in your net. However, by staying true to the original game in extremely important ways and taking calculated risks born from an understanding of the source material, all while being supported further by some of the game's original brain trust, Bloober Team has done what was reasonably considered near-impossible.”

However, GamesRadar+ wasn’t as impressed with Silent Hill 2, saying: “However you approach it, Silent Hill 2 is an atmospheric and rewarding horror game up there with the Resident Evil remakes for reinventing a classic. While its strict adherence to the past can feel a little constrained at times, and a few things are lacking as a result, it nails the feel of the original well.

“Despite a scattering of minor issues, any negativity comes more from a place of believing the new Silent Hill 2 Remake could have been better, than it actually being bad. The whole thing ultimately delivers and does a good job of making the series feel meaningful and relevant in a way it hasn't for years.”

Silent Hill 2 is a timed exclusive on PS5 and should come to Xbox Series X|S in a year. The game is also available on PC and is out on October 8. It sounds like fans of the original PS2 game will have plenty to enjoy in the Silent Hill 2 remake.

Check out the upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games to see what’s next for Sony and Microsoft’s consoles.

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.