Steam

Warning: this article contains mild thematic and environment spoilers for Silent Hill 2. The Silent Hill 2 remake is the most ********** experience I’ve had with a game in recent memory. With an opening sentence like that, you’re probably expecting to read a very negative critique of developer Bloober Team’s recreation of Konami and Team Silent’s survival horror classic. But, in this very rare occurrence, complete and unrelenting misery is actually a positive. The original Silent Hill 2 is perhaps the bleakest, most sombre game ever made and Bloober Team has successfully preserved its ********** magic, ensuring this remake is a deeply effective descent into genuinely uncomfortable *******. That journey begins with sound and vision. The thick, opaque fog that conceals the town of Silent Hill is part of the story’s instantly recognisable iconography, and the remake’s impressive modern volumetric effects mean it feels thicker and more isolating than ever. Moving away from the monster-infested streets should feel like an escape, but instead you’re forced to find shelter in some of the dankest, most depressingly disgusting residences you’ve ever seen. Much of Silent Hill 2 is themed around a descent, and there’s a clear gradient in the visual texture of each area that communicates that downward spiral. Locations initially feel unkempt and abandoned, such as apartment blocks with peeling wallpaper and empty cupboards. But push onwards and the architecture becomes increasingly oppressive. Recognisable shapes and textures are replaced with rougher, broken alternatives, and eventually the entire area becomes a rusting, decayed husk. What starts as unnerving transforms into truly nightmarish the further you dare to press on. Contributing to all this, as horror tradition demands, is minimal lighting. You are locked inside dark buildings for the majority of the game’s lengthy runtime (anything from 12 to 18 hours, depending on your playstyle). This becomes increasingly distressing, particularly during exploration of Toluca Prison – the facility’s lights can only be turned on for a few seconds at a time, forcing you to sprint between breaker switches in a mostly doomed attempt to hold back the darkness. Being starved of the sun for such long stretches means that the mere sight of daylight is like gasping for air after spending what feels like days beneath water. It’s deeply, unpleasantly effective. That visual palette is accompanied not so much by a musical score, but by the most oppressive collection of noises your ears have ever suffered, provided once again by original Silent Hill 2 composer Akira Yamaoka. It’s particularly effective in the late game, when what sounds like an approaching ****** is dynamically woven into the orchestration during times of high tension. It makes you second guess every sound you hear, and over time it grinds away at your sense of reality. It’s not easy to simulate insanity, but this soundscape is as close as you can (un)comfortably get. The most impressive, unsettling achievement is inflicting empathy through gameplay design. Effective art and sound design has been the flagship feature of many horror games, but these disciplines are the surface of the experience. I don’t mean that disparagingly – the surface is vital – but it’s what’s beneath that truly cements the *******. Games like Resident Evil 4 and ***** Space are, in reality, action games with horror masks, and so are rarely ever truly scary. Silent Hill 2, on the other hand, is a horror game right down to its nerve endings and bone marrow. Its environment and objective design pull on similar threads to the art and sound, constantly seeking new ways to unnerve you. Each location visited is an obtuse puzzle to be solved. You’re forced to walk circuits of each floor, backtracking to find keys or hidden entrances to rooms that will once again send you backwards to progress. This almost spiral-shaped route through the apartments, hospital, hotel and more forces you to endure increasing mental exhaustion. This fatigue, combined with the seemingly relentless length of each area, robs you of hope. It’s particularly horrible in the final third, when you’re forced to navigate the prison and the subsequent labyrinth back-to-back with absolutely no respite. These locations feature long stretches of near-impenetrable darkness, thematically grim puzzle work, and the most aggressive, grotesque enemies in the entire game. The resulting emotional toll effectively communicates the mental space that the protagonist James Sunderland finds himself in. And that’s Bloober’s, and by extension Team Silent’s, most impressive, unsettling achievement: the ability to inflict empathy through gameplay design. The ********** tone of Silent Hill 2 is maintained through a number of other gameplay tricks. As mentioned earlier, the story revolves around James’ descent into horror, and that’s represented both metaphorically through the visual design, and literally through a frequent need to jump into pitch-****** holes. Each leap requires you to press the action button a couple of times, replicating his hesitancy and reluctance to leap into the unknown. As the atmosphere becomes increasingly unbearable, there’s nothing built into the campaign to offer any levity or security. In the Resident Evil series, for instance, you gradually collect an increasingly powerful arsenal, allowing the late-game to be an exciting, explosive romp through blood and guts. It also toys with its dialogue and monster design, often opting for goofy characterisation that secures the series its beloved ‘cheesy horror’ credentials. Last year’s Alan Wake 2, despite clearly being inspired by Team Silent’s work, features absurdist humour and Lynchian direction to lean into the weird instead of horrifying, allowing for laughs to cut through the tension. Silent Hill 2, though, has none of this. For the most part your weapons are a broken pipe and a *******, and even when you do get access to something a little more hard-hitting it’s nothing more than a simple shotgun or rifle with a long reload time and limited ammo. Alongside a difficulty curve that sees familiar enemies become erratic, wall-crawling freaks, Silent Hill 2’s atmosphere consistently finds ways to suffocate you. Silent Hill 2 isn’t about having fun, it’s about exploring parts of the human experience we traditionally avoid. It’s not usual for an assessment to use terms like ‘suffocate,’ ‘oppressive,’ and ‘**********’ as positives, but horror is not a usual genre. It’s one of only two entertainment categories built around eliciting an uncontrollable response from the audience (the other being comedy). Horror is an emotion-manipulating machine, and the genre’s most effective stories can force us to experience feelings we typically don't encounter in our everyday lives. Horror films spend their entire runtimes exerting different levels of pressure in order to achieve that manipulation, and the most effective etch images in our mind that continually reappear when the lights go out. Video games are a very different medium, though, and their experiential nature enables them to manipulate us in more intense ways. Rather than ask us to observe, they demand that we interact, typically for four, five, sometimes even 10 times longer than an average scary movie. This can force us to experience a very different reality. While there’s a frequent insistence from some parts of the player community that games are only about fun or escapist entertainment, that’s often not the goal of many developers. Sometimes that goal is communicating uncomfortable ideas, and the path to that is through exposing us to a reality that’s deeply unpleasant. Silent Hill 2 isn’t about having fun, it’s about exploring grief and guilt – parts of the human experience that we traditionally avoid. Strangely, there’s an uncomfortable thrill in actively exploring those ideas via a video game. The 2001 original’s technical limitations helped contribute a few thorns to that painful experience; the semi-fixed camera made environments feel restrictive and claustrophobic, and the awkward aiming installed each encounter with a sense of desperation. Bloober Team’s remake prunes those thorns, replacing them with modern third-person controls that make the experience a little friendlier to play. But those are the only significant concessions provided, so while combat sequences are perhaps a little less panicked than they once were, Team Silent’s nightmarish vision is preserved. It means the remake is a modern reminder not just of an era where Konami was a master of survival horror, but also the significant power of Silent Hill 2’s unrelenting misery. Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. View the full article

Throne and Liberty is a massive MMORPG with tons of unique features and items. However, the game’s Western launch brought along some new and confusing differences from its older version. One of these differences can be seen through the in-game item Rare Enchanted Ink. The item has been puzzling several players due to how hard it now is to acquire. Here’s the answer to how to get the Rare Enchanted Ink in Throne and Liberty. View the full article

The increase will be brought about by some advanced new recording innovations, including energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) technologies such as HAMR: Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording, which was pioneered by Seagate, is expected to be a game-changer in supercharging areal densities on spinning disk platters. Read Entire Article View the full article

Have you ever had a ****** eye infection? Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue, “Eyelid irritation,” asks you to decipher what might be affecting your eyelids. If today’s NYT Mini Crossword clues have you stumped, then you can use our hints and answers below to easily solve your word game. View the full article

The Guardian Statues protect the Emerald Grove in Baldurs Gate 3. They are a ***** elemental trap situated along the groves Underground Passage. Going to this location isnt required to complete the main scenario. But, if you want to explore everywhere, it can be very useful to disable the Guardians. That way, they will no longer ******* and allow you an additional means of going in and out of the zone. View the full article

Do you enjoy learning about quotes from famous personalities? Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue “One of Franklin’s certainties in life,” asks you to name one of the things that you can’t avoid in life while having a steady income. If today’s NYT Mini Crossword clues are proving to be difficult, then you can use our hints and answers below to breeze through the puzzle. View the full article

Even if Fallout 5 is just a mere twinkle in Todd Howard's eye, the series is still the biggest it's ever been. Between the ongoing resurgence of 76, the Amazon TV show, and the excellent Fallout London, there's more than enough to keep us busy ahead of Bethesda's official return. While we wait, though, there's no better place to look than the Fallout New Vegas modding community. After initially being put on hold earlier this year the expansive, DLC-sized total conversion mod Fallout: Nuevo Mexico is back, and it has a packed trailer to show for it. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The best apocalypse games on PC 2024 Get some of the best strategy games, RPGs, and FPS games for $3 each The best Fallout New Vegas mods View the full article

Mouthwashing, the brand-new horror game from developer Wrong Organ and publisher CRITICAL REFLEX, has debuted to "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam. The game first launched on Steam on September 26, but Mouthwashing has already had a big impact on gamers. View the full article

For better or for worse, gamers have a reputation of being unproductive and disengaged from society – traits that are not valued in most business environments. This reputation is not only unfair, according to Jesse Olsen, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, but it also hurts businesses that... Read Entire Article View the full article

Shattered Space is the first expansion DLC for Starfield, adding powerful new weapons alongside various other content. Once you arrive at the Va'ruun'kai planet, you can start exploring the home of House Va'ruun and its many mysteries. Six powerful new Va'ruun weapons can be found in this world full of Great Serpent worshipers to improve your character's arsenal. View the full article

Larian recently introduced official mod support to Baldur's Gate 3, and it turns out a huge number of players are using them. Read more View the full article

Thrustmaster has announced a new HEART controller for Xbox consoles and PC that promises to completely eliminate stick drift. To that end, this Xbox-licensed gamepad utilizes Hall effect technology. View the full article

Following the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in the US, Games Done Quick is rounding up some speedrunners to raise some money to help out. Read more View the full article

Starfield design director Emil Pagliarulo has put the sci-fi RPG up there with the Elder Scrolls and Fallout, though I'm not sure he gets to make that call. Read more View the full article

Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced over two years ago, but apparently no one took the time to tell Sora's English voice Haley Joel Osment. Read more View the full article

Playground Games has announced the Back to the 90s update coming to Forza Horizon 5 this month. The upcoming nostalgia-invoking content addition brings with it four new reward cars from the 90s, themed events and races, a bevy of bug fixes and improvements, a returning fan-favorite feature, and more to Forza Horizon 5. View the full article

In this episode, James returns from Tokyo Game Show, and the crew prepares for a very busy October. View the full article

A Tekken 8 player has added the Origin characters from Baldur's Gate 3 through a series of mods. Tekken 8 hit the shelves earlier this year and brought a new chapter to the iconic fighting game franchise. With Bandai Namco's title being available for PC, the community has set about creating diverse modifications. View the full article

While We Wait Here released a launch trailer with an October 23 release date. Bad Vices Games' While We Wait Here is a story-driven title that appears poised to blend aspects that psychological horror and thriller movie fans love about the genre with the perspective of a kitchen management game. The game will additionally feature various dialogue choices and multiple endings. View the full article

Fallout: New Vegas may not be the first game one thinks of when Halloween approaches, but with this fun new mod the Mojave Wasteland can be turned into a playground for the spooky season. There's no denying that the Fallout franchise has its fair share of horror influences; The Feral Ghouls that roam around the Capital Wasteland and the terrifying Cazadors that plague the perimeter of New Vegas are certainly scary for some fans. Having said that, the series' tone and aesthetic aren't generally associated with pure *******, so a little helping hand is needed to complete the vision. View the full article

McGinnis is an underrated hero in Deadlock, and the right build can bring out her best. Able to quite literally wall opponents in with Spectral Wall, her Mini Turret and Medicinal Specter can be used in combination to keep herself and allies up to the task while trapping foes within range and taking them out one by one. With this in mind, a balanced itemization approach can work exceptionally well here. View the full article

Starfield: Shattered Space's early marketing teased a true delight for horror fans, and while it wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be, it does draw inspiration from some of the best sci-fi and horror franchises ever made. The first mission of the Shattered Space DLC, dubbed "What ********," is a defining example of taking an underrated classic and restyling it for the Starfield universe. View the full article

Frostpunk 2 is one of the most brutal citybuilders, and survival in its frosted wastelands is no simple feat. To survive, you'll need to ensure that not only are the basic needs of your citizens met but also that creature comforts are provided for them lest you anger them and they stop working. On top of keeping your citizens happy, you must also cater to the desires of the factions that make up your Council by passing favorable legislature, as these groups can upset the balance of power if ignored. View the full article

Theres no doubt that Five Nights at Freddys made a splash within the horror genre with the release of the first game back in 2014, and now its many games, books, and the movie, have cemented the franchise as a household name. Its impact is so strong that mascot horror has become its own video game genre, with plenty of games following in FNAF's footsteps in hopes of a glimpse of the series success. View the full article

The Save a Horse Challenge in Bitlife allows you to become an animal’s best friend and live your life happily on a ranch with many horses. Unlike the previous weekly Bitlife challenge, you don’t need to have a premium job pack to complete this challenge. However, you’ll need a lot of money, which is easy to get with the right planning and you can easily complete the quest to get your free cosmetic. View the full article