Silent Hill 2's remake must hold future games to a golden standard

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Silent Hill Games have always been wildly disproportionate and varied across the board in all sorts of avenues of discussion. Each Silent Hill game has more or less a distinct feature in the gameplay that is unique to it, for example, such as Silent Hill: Origins' bottomless inventory of various melee weapons or Silent Hill: Shattered Memories' complete absence of combat in favor of labyrinthine chase sequences. Likewise not all Silent Hill the game has implemented its map system similarly.




The maps in Silent Hill 2 are wonderful in terms of how their red colored markings are analyzed. By doodling on maps that are immersive in how they look like real maps that players might find if they actually visited those areas, players can instantly discern whether an area is inaccessible, locked, or already entered—a quality-of-life treatment that few Silent Hill The games have been working fine ever since. Now in Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake, maps are somehow even better in terms of everything they graciously illustrate and detail for players, and there should hopefully be no reason for the future Silent Hill games cannot accomplish more of the same.

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Silent Hill 2 Remake's subtlest departure ensures that nowhere can be truly safe

Silent Hill 2's remake shapes the game differently than the original, making its moment-to-moment considerations more suspenseful.

Silent Hill 2's maps are the definition of quality of life


The Silent Hill 2 the remake's maps are a phenomenal achievement that should be trivial if not for how poorly maps in survival horror games tend to be designed. Sometimes maps can be scarcer or less detailed as a way to challenge players, but thankfully the remake is off Silent Hill 2 understand that its 15-20 hour length would be abysmal and laborious if players spent that much time in each location or dungeon due to inorganic barriers to progression.

Instead, when players complete a dungeon like Wood Side or Blue Creek Apartments, maps will be filled with red notes showing exactly how much players achieved there. The remake is also great for including more detail than is arguably necessary by having a line mark a particular point of interest, including the “rotating cube” and “strange wall” in the maze or the x-ray on the third floor of Brookhaven Hospital.


The remake then takes this further by having James write down codes and solutions that players have learned about puzzles and riddles. This allows Silent Hill 2s remake should be as intricate and lengthy as it is without tainting any of the clues that players have to remember along the way, especially when the dungeons are now twice the size they used to be and navigating them could have been much more taxing without maps whose extensive markings are a godsend.

When in doubt, trust Silent Hill 2's maps

Between question marks, circles and ticks Silent Hill 2 the remake's maps can do no wrong. Unlike newer ones Silent Hill game in the franchise that basically abandons the need to constantly return to menus, the series isn't the same without maps being central to the experience.


Part of the joy of exploring
Silent Hill 2
making their way through narrow corridors and interacting with each individual door to see if it's locked, unlocked, or otherwise barred, then checking back to see the progress they've made mapping that respective location so far.

Leaving a door unmarked can leave a key item or valuable resource undiscovered, and the map updating and noting everything players do is a wonderful way to know that nothing has been missed or that there are still rooms unexplored anyway, especially if players are at a loss as to what to do or where to go. If Silent Hills future aims to be successful, taking inspiration from Bloober's remake of Silent Hill 2 is crucial and there is no excuse for upcoming games to fall short in their possible approach to map design.

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