Silent Hill 2 is a third-person survival-horror action-adventure game developed by Bloober Team on the Unreal Engine 5, based on the 2001 game of the same name developed by Team Silent. After receiving an enigmatic invitation from his late wife, listless widower James Sunderland embarks on a terrifying and tragic journey through the fog-suffocated town of Silent Hill in search of an impossible reunion.

What exactly is Silent Hill 2 (2024) (henceforth referred to as “SH2R”) within the broader Silent Hill franchise? Despite appearing like a simple question, the answer is surprisingly elusive. The original Silent Hill 2 was primarily a sequel. Players in 2001 would have expected from it an expansion on the gameplay and themes of 1999’s Silent Hill. Yet, SH2R is less clearly positioned. It is, of course, a remake of Silent Hill 2, but it would be highly unconventional to suggest that modern players are expected to finish the original Silent Hill directly prior to transitioning to its prospective successor: SH2R.

In a way, it carries the “2” in its title out of deference to its namesake, alone. One might be tempted to recommend it as a solely standalone experience, if not for the myriad of similarly conspicuous references, callbacks and allusions to its franchise of origin which carry no true significance of their own. Really, SH2R is a sequel to Silent Hill 2, itself, more than anything else.

In 1890, Ambrose Bierce penned “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, a short story wherein a Southern civilian narrowly flees certain death amid the American Civil War, only to realize—at the end of his trek back to the safety of home—that his escape was but a fragile dream, imagined right before his demise. Meanwhile, about a third of the way through SH2R, the player has a chance to find a jarring array of film posters advertising “Return to Owl Creek Bridge”, a nonexistent feature. The sardonic tagline nihilistically reads, “Back For A Happier Ending.”

At every turn, SH2R is morbidly self aware of its state as a “second run”. During his dreamlike sojourn, James is regularly haunted by insinuations that he is visiting these spaces, meeting these people, fighting these monsters, not for the first time. It lends the experience a uniquely cyclical, hopeless impression—like today is identical to yesterday—like tomorrow is a myth. These purgatorial “easter eggs” cumulatively embed the player in an existential riddle. Here is the true heart of SH2R: “Return to Silent Hill 2—Back For A Happier Ending”.

To answer that riddle will require a lot more bullets than it used to.

The combat of SH2R is like the platonic ideal of scarcity-based survival-horror gunplay, stripped to its barest essentials. It lacks extraneous systems (inventory management, alternate ammo types, item-crafting…) placing the focus solely on decision-making and alertness.

Its fluidity trumps the original’s unamenable “tank-controls”, allowing the developers to craft more demanding challenges. There are leagues more monsters to bash than there were in the original, every one of them more aggressive, able to actually stand their ground and pursue James for long stretches. The extra hostility makes players consider each option carefully before proceeding, adding a nerve-wracking suspense and chaos rare in the more taciturn original.

Efforts are made to sustain the player’s vulnerability. It is difficult to find a reliable routine or flow for each enemy type and combination, capping the player’s confidence. Meanwhile, uncertainty of what is out of sight weighs on their mind, due to the choked field of view and tight gaps and holes which wrest away camera control when traversed. SH2R is, by a wide margin, Bloober Team’s most tense and engrossing game to date.

Yet, despite (or perhaps because of) this work’s best efforts, it is ultimately unable to replicate the distant, smothered, illusive vibe of the original. Progress typically lacked expressively terrifying friction, opting for mystery and mood instead. The lack of intense combat allowed its quieter “hauntings” to stand out—untraceable horse-galloping, indecipherable whispering, and enduringly cryptic riddles. These moments, almost all intact in SH2R, hold less sway over the battle-weary player’s imagination. It is, after all, difficult to absorb the prominence of such unanswerable questions when recovering from (often expertly provoked) fight-or-flight-type anxiety.

In a sort of live-theater way, the actors of Silent Hill 2 originally offered bold, over-the-top performances that—while sometimes straining believability—ultimately gave impactful emotional catharsis. This approach of confident swings and dramatic, layered choices, has been substituted in the remake for a more nuanced, subtle manner of delivery. Yet, its more grounded, understated performances often lack the captivating energy and power of the original, and with an often restrained, muted tone, that crucial catharsis can be sorely missed.

To an extent, this was inevitable; vital, even, for the kind of game Bloober Team attempted to mold Silent Hill 2 into: a mass-appeal product. In an attempt to provide more realistic dialogue, the elegance and efficiency of the original is lost…In an attempt to display heightened sensitivity, certain figures are stripped of their messy agency and authenticity…In an attempt to make the characters more palatable, their sharper edges have been sanded down, resulting in more agreeable but less striking personalities…And the oft celebrated (and derided) camp, originally on show, has been toned down to make the experience more accommodating of modern audiences’ tastes.

But, it’s never quite a total loss. Much of the meaning, symbolism, and pressing drama found in the original is retained, and, at times, enriched by fresh perspectives. Additionally, the more relatable performances deliver a more classically Lynchian contrast between the familiar and the otherworldly, and make room for a deeper connection to form between certain characters and the player.

Today, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge still stands tall as a touchstone of American short fiction. But the form of the tale more popularly recognized nowadays is that of a 1962 short film by Robert Enrico, famously aired (years after its creation) as an episode of The Twilight Zone—not the Bierce original. Those aforementioned posters for Return to Owl Creek Bridge were, in all likelihood, intended to suggest a sequel to that film, rather than the short story bearing its title. This is often the way of touchstones in art. Many years from now, it may be the case that culture at large is better acquainted with Bloober Team’s tribute to Silent Hill 2 than the work it was assembled in honor of. Enrico himself, devoted to the 1890 tale as he must have been, might never have expected his creation to usurp it in the eyes of the public.

Yet, whether on the page or on screen, both depictions of Owl Creek Bridge are singular, monolithic, in a way that Return to Owl Creek Bridge could never be. That film, in such close conversation with its predecessor, would only fully cohere alongside its history.

Such is the case with Bloober Team’s “Return to Silent Hill 2”. It is not an operable replacement, but a companion piece to the 2001 original, because it operates, at every step, to acknowledge, converse with, and belove its source material. That isn’t to say SH2R is without its own merit. It is, from head to toe, radiating enthusiasm and effort. It manages to offer surprising new angles on an iconic story. Its presentation, craftsmanship, and care, are a joy and a nightmarish thrill to experience. Yet, at the end of the day, it is one lap in a race that will always terminate at the revolutionary original it owes its existence to.