SPOILERS Favorite/Least Favorite Changes from the Original

[leftshoe18]

What are some of the changes that worked for you? What are some of the changes that didn't?

I loved the removal of bonus Abstract Daddies throughout the hotel. It makes the one that you do fight in the Labyrinth that much more important and unique to Angela. On that same token, it also gave the Mandarins more time to shine with the hotel basement section. The non-destroyed version of the hotel had some of my favorite changes in the game.

Which brings me to my least favorite change - the destroyed version of the hotel. It's no longer an actual level like it was in the original, instead being a long hallway with one kinda sorta puzzle and that was it.

[Vixx]

Yeah, so pleased the AD fight was a unique enemy this time around.

As I think I've said elsewhere, I missed the hotel's teleporting doors a lot. It was a shame that was cut. Would've been super cool if the game had MADE you bump into further enemies and showed you that once the truth was known, the enemies had no interest in killing/fighting you. That would've been a complete head fuck, esp for newbies.

I didn't like the "anyway" cinematic - I thought it wasn't as strong.

I also have no idea why they cut the opening cinematic/movie that plays if you idle on the title screen. Was certain that would still be there.

[Jonipoon]

The Abstract Daddy fight reimagination was absolute master class. Enough said. Bloober Team also managed to turn my least favorite area from the original (Prison/Labyrinth) and turn it into my favorite!

Other revamps I enjoyed includes, but are not limited to:

- The expansion of the town
- Actual rain (!)
- Wall-crawling Mannequins
- The removal of multiple Abstract Daddies (their presence at the hotel didn't make sense in the original)
- Improved combat and being able to dodge

As for my least favorite changes... I found myself deeply missing James's commentaries that would pop up when examining objects in the original. Those provided much needed insight and interesting subtext to his psyche and the world around. Now we have this beautiful 4K world with lots of detailed objects - but James says nothing about it. A bit of shame, actually.

>I didn't like the "anyway" cinematic - I thought it wasn't as strong.
There was something off with the facial animation there as well. It looked stiff and unfinished, which is strange considering I thought basically every other cinematic in the whole game looked amazing and had great facial animations.

[Disrupticon]

As for my least favorite changes... I found myself deeply missing James's commentaries that would pop up when examining objects in the original. Those provided much needed insight and interesting subtext to his psyche and the world around. Now we have this beautiful 4K world with lots of detailed objects - but James says nothing about it. A bit of shame, actually.

I would disagree with this point a little. I think the remake charts a course into exploring James' alcoholism far better because you can't just walk up to a closet full of booze and have him tell you outright through a series of text scrolles that he drinks to numb himself. His cageyness in Heaven's Night, and his uncomfortable glances at the glass Maria poured for him say so much more by saying less.

Roping in a lot of the telling, and giving you a lot more showing is what I feel this remake excells at.

[Tuniko]

The new boss fights, the new puzzles, the new areas, everything was so great in the remake.

My only complain is the Mary’s letter from the end. The OG version were more “deep” for me. Not that the new one is bad, is that the OG makes me cry everytime I listen to it.

[jdnation]

Video here on cut content
https://youtu.be/ks_yIEXpvrI

[aj4x94]

As a whole, I loved how Bloober changed a few of the lines to make them less obvious. Instead of James vocally mourning the fact that he killed Eddie out loud, his facial expressions and body language say everything.

And pretty much all of the conversation between James and Angela post AD fight

[Skele]

All of the boss fight changes are a personal fave. I also really liked the changes to the puzzles, locations, dialogue, and where interactions with NPC's/Pyramid Head take place.

I guess my least favorite change would be how Mary's letter is read. I still liked how it's done in the remake, but the og is def better.

[Herr Shaun]

One of my favorite changes is the fact that more rooms/buildings are open to exploration. I wasn't sure how they were going to add more without it feeling empty and pointless, but the way that they peppered items and a fixed amount of ammo around to pick up was very clever.

I didn't like the "anyway" cinematic - I thought it wasn't as strong.

Hard agree. I liked about 50% of the Maria VA but this was definitely a stinker. I don't know if it's because it was stilted or because MTH played it way better, but it just didn't do it for me.

[Agent of God]

Ok finished the game last night. I had a great time playing more or less one hour every night throughout two weeks.
Really loved the game and it is evident it was made by real fans. There were a few specific moments I thought actually improved upon the original (other than combat etc) but also many that fell short.

Things I liked:
• The Pyramid Head "stretching" mannequins in the kitchen cutscene pleasantly surprised me. It was the first time I actually thought "this is what a good remake looks like". It was very well directed as a horror scene that bewilders you and makes your heart race.
• The coin puzzle. Made me smile. Simple but a great improvement.
• Eddie's boss fight. The fight itself is a great example of not changing anything and improving what was there in the original game.
• Final boss fight. Loved the 3 phases. Real improvement there gameplay wise and the horror was ramped up to the max.
• Some of James' lines/acting. The way he says "I killed her" to Laura and the "I'm ready" before fighting the Pyramid Heads are two moments that stood out to me.
• Exploration! I loved the expanded and new areas and I'm kicking myself for not finding all of the strange photos. I thought I scanned every corner of every area...



Things that disappointed me:
• Other than James and Laura who were great all the other voice acting felt significantly lesser when compared to the original and failed to move me in the same way the old ones did.
Examples: Basically anything by Maria and Mary but especially the "I'm not your Mary" scene and the final letter, Angela's mirror scene (flaming staircase was not too bad but kinda ruined by not letting us stay in the room after the cutscene), Eddie's "and a corpse can't laugh" was one of the creepiest lines in horror and the remake failed to capture that feeling.
• Some lines like "I killed a human being" and "I'd never kill myself" were unnecessarily removed. And the In Water ending missing the deathbed conversation (don't know about the other endings yet).
• I also missed reading James' thoughts when inspecting things.



Overall I enjoyed the game and, the gameplay bits, made me feel like I'm visiting that world for the first time. It's a good remake and definitely a great horror experience. Though I would still recommend the original over the remake to someone who wants to experience the SH2 story for the first time.

Now on to getting the rest of the endings

[Disrupticon]

After replaying the game, while it is unboubtedly terrifying in its initial otherworld sequences and looks absolutely phenomenal from a visual standpoint - I do wish they would have abstained a bit from pursuing the whole rust and blood motif with some of the Otherworld sections.

Not only was that motif more of Alessa's thing, but I feel like the game is at its most terrifying when it isn't super in your face like that. I actually found the regular hospital much scarier than the Otherworld hospital for that reason (as menacing an environment as it was), precisely because of how toned down the regular hospital was. It's dark, and it's gloomy and you never really know what's around each corner.

Given that a lot of the Otherworld motifs in the original revolved around mold, decay, and sickness - a more subdued approach would have done wonders. There's a few rooms in the apartments and the labyrinth that I feel encapsulated that same feeling wonderfully.

But I'd consider that more of a nitpick regardless because I have never felt more stressed playing a Silent Hill game than this one.

[Utherworld]

I wish they'd kept the Great Knife as an actual weapon. I was super pumped when I was able to grab it and a little let down when I had to discard it.

I understand why they did it, but I was looking forward to using it....

[leftshoe18]

I kind of wish there were more weapons in general on the melee front. You effectively have one melee weapon since the plank and pipe function identically.

[aj4x94]

I definitely think the elevator scene in the original was a lot more powerful. There was a greater sense in urgency in how James and Maria call out to each other as the doors fail to open. Not to mention after it happens, James slumps down the door which conveyed a lot better how crushing it was to witness that.

In the remake, he seems to brush it off a lot quicker and he just gets up and goes his way.

[Utherworld]

I definitely think the elevator scene in the original was a lot more powerful. There was a greater sense in urgency in how James and Maria call out to each other as the doors fail to open. Not to mention after it happens, James slumps down the door which conveyed a lot better how crushing it was to witness that.

In the remake, he seems to brush it off a lot quicker and he just gets up and goes his way.

I agree. The elevator ride while Magdalene plays and James slowly slumps to the floor. The door opens and he's still sitting there. It much more somber. The OG scene is better .

[phantomess]

There were plenty of changes I thought were great. One that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is the gallows puzzle and the fact that this time, you're choosing which hanged man was "justified" rather than innocent. Seems more appropriate and adds a new layer of meaning to the puzzle, in my opinion, since it can now be better related to James and the question of whether he could be considered justified in what he did.

I LOVED playing through Blue Creek Apartments in the remake, so you could say that entire section was a big improvement for me. It was just so well designed the way progressing through it all came together, and it was also the scariest segment for me. The overall labyrinth section was also a lot better.
The Abstract Daddy boss battle was a huge improvement. The spider-mannequins were a terrifying and genius twist. Added exploration was nice. I enjoyed most of the extra little lines they gave Maria relating to the environment an such.

Some things I wasn't a big fan of were Maria's voice acting a lot of the time and the (in my opinion) overly enhanced combat just with common enemies. It did feel more action-focused to me and was by far the most challenging melee combat for me in any SH title. I reduced it to easy difficulty when I was a little over halfway through (I don't normally ever play on easy).
I also wasn't a big fan of the parts of the prison where you acquire things for the gallows puzzle and then basically get swarmed by enemies. Ehm, not exactly what I'm looking for in a SH game and pretty annoying to deal with, but it was all right since it's not like they made a habit of that happening throughout the entire game.

I thought it was odd how much some things reminded me of Homecoming and Downpour (Homecoming with combat, constantly squeezing through narrow openings, and turning valves that pulled on things to open doors, and Downpour with all the rain and the waves of intensified weather [wind] accompanied by onslaughts of enemies). Not necessarily a con for it to feel reminiscent of those games, but not exactly a pro either since it's SH2.

I also wasn't expecting so much of the blood-and-rust-style otherside, since that wasn't so much SH2's thing before. It's not really a con for me since I love that style of the otherside, but I could see it being a con for some since that's not exactly holding to the style of the original.

But overall, I was extremely pleased with the atmosphere, environments/locations, soundtrack, characters, handling of the story. It was fantastic.