Silent Hill 2 Remake day one impressions from an old fan of the franchise

I'm in my mid-40's, I played the original when it launched. Got every ending, did some 2-3 hour speed runs. Was obsessed with the franchise during the PS1/PS2 era's. Played every other SH game to come afterwards, even the isometric VITA one, except for the crap PS3 remasters which I never touched. (SH1 is my official favorite, SH2 may be 3rd place for me honestly behind SH3.) My memories are pure PS2 memories.

So I have extremely fond memories of the original game. But those memories are from 15+ years ago when I would have last played it. And yesterday I put in 8 hours into this Remake. I absolutely did not want to stop... but you know, family responsibilities and stuff. It is absolutely remarkable. It's one of the greatest gaming experiences I've had in the past 5+ years at least. It's similar to the Final Fantasy VII Remakes in how excited I am to play them, but different in that it's much more of a 1-1 to the original game than the FF7R's are, which you know are vastly different from original as you play them. While SH2R gives that "this is how I remember it in my mind" effect, especially for me after 15+ years.

I must assume that my comparison of the two experiences would be very different from someone who last played SH2 within the last 10 years on PC, which I suspect would be the case for a LOT of people who will be commenting on the game in the coming days. Not people my age who played it as an adult at PS2 launch. If you fell in love with SH2 "recently", then this game may give off an "imposter" feeling. But I can't relate with anything like that. I've learned about myself that I don't get hung up on "original vision" of things. But I can say this game absolutely aims to stick with the original vision of SH2, not change it.

The visuals in this game are simply remarkable. The Town and the Fog are two of the central CHARACTERS in this game. As you walk through the streets the fog simply enshrouds buildings and cars in a very natural way. The buildings tower above you which is a very nice addition to the experience which the original game never had with its fixed cameras. Some absolutely incredible lighting a little later in the game as well.

The combat is frustrating me a little bit not because it's "hard" but because I suck at not getting hit. The reason the game gives SO MANY health potions is for people like me. I use one after almost every monster kill. I hope to figure out combat eventually and how to dodge attacks better. This version is much more combat heavy. But that's also adding to the fun factor imo.

The true star of gameplay is the exploration loop. Checking doors and watching your map get marked up as you check off solved puzzles and open locks. It was always what made early Silent Hill games so addicting to play, and it's even better here. It's great how James will pull the map out of his pocket and mark on it when there is something important to note, as a visual queue that you should open it and take a look. Walking around he turns his head and looks at points of interest, which help guide you along. No big flashy markers to follow in this game. No yellow paint but instead white cloth which looks more naturally part of the environment. Really great stuff.

Ok I need to stop typing now. This game is really a dream come true for me. I can't see how it won't be my personal GOTY at this point.