Silent Hill 2 tells the story of James Sunderland (there must have been a Mackem on the writing team), travelling to the titular town of Silent Hill in search of his dead wife, only to find it occupied by horrors beyond comprehension. He meets others, all searching for something, along the way.
The game's remake received immediate critical acclaim. IGN, who rated it an 8/10, called the game "exceptionally grim" - a compliment when it comes to horror. The game was nominated for Game of the Year at the 2024 Golden Joystick awards, but lost out to Game Science's Black Myth: Wukong.
A minority of reviews (…) had the tendency to fundamentally misunderstand Silent Hill.
Undercutting the euphoria of the release, was some mild criticism; some justified, such as initial complaints of performance issues on the PS5 version of the game. A minority of reviews, on the other hand, had the tendency to fundamentally misunderstand Silent Hill.
It is a horror game set in a monster-infested abandoned village, it isn't meant to be pretty.
One particularly controversial review came from UK broadsheet The Guardian, who rated the Silent Hill 2 remake a shocking 2/5 stars. Rich Wordsworth's review misses the point of the game entirely. It argues that "Silent Hill 2 isn’t a graphically pretty game" - comments that will immediately provoke hysterical laughter from anyone who has even read the Wikipedia page for Silent Hill. It is a horror game set in a monster-infested abandoned village, Rich, it isn't meant to be pretty.
Wordsworth further complains about the "long and slogging" gameplay, as though he expects main character James Sunderland to embark on a Master Chief-style rampage through the town in a tank: run-and-gunning all of the spooky scary monsters down. His article even hilariously criticizes James for looking sad during his journey through the town of Silent Hill. The comedy writes itself.
However poor this review may be, it is at least a genuine attempt to express an honest opinion, although entirely mislead. Meanwhile, some criticism emerged from the darkest, saddest corners of internet discourse - places that even Pyramid Head would turn its nose up at (if it had one, that is).
The complaint is... reminiscent of the misogyny that dominated so-called "gamergate" discourse.
Former game developer Mark Kern, known for his work on the original World of Warcraft and Diablo 2, complained numerous times on Twitter that Maria and Angela - Silent Hill 2's supporting characters - weren't pretty enough for him in the remake, calling it "uglification". The complaint is idiotic on it's own, and is reminiscent of the misogyny that dominated so-called "gamergate" discourse. However, when looking into the story and context behind the two - and Angela in particular - it becomes ever more apparent just how unnecessary Kern's whining is.
The Silent Hill games portray Angela as a victim of repeated sexual abuse from her father and brother - who she later killed. She is scarred, suicidal and left with extreme self-image issues as a result. Angela is a brilliant, and poignant representation of trauma. This is the character that Kern and his gaggle of incel fans complain has been 'uglified'. I'm sorry that the suicidal abuse victim in the dark horror game isn't hot enough for you, Mark. I'd recommend going outside and touching grass but you might see a woman whilst doing it.
Expecting... any woman in media to be moulded around his personal desires is nothing short of bigoted, creepy nonsene.
As with Silent Hill's "Lying Figure" monsters, or Fallout: New Vegas' "Red Lucy", sexualisation in video games isn't remotely a problem when it makes narrative sense and is done ethically. However, expecting, as Kern evidently does, any woman in media to be moulded around his personal desires is nothing short of bigoted, creepy nonsense.
Of course, any game is going to have subjective opinions around it, and that's part of what makes gaming such a competitive field. It's absolutely fine to not like Silent Hill, unless the root of your disliking is that Angela doesn't perfectly resemble Margot Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - get a grip Mark. However, when criticism of a game is based on misunderstanding the point of said game, or alternatively based on incel bullsh*t, it just isn't worth the effort to consider.