10 Silent Hill 2 Remake tips and tricks to master the basics

My Silent Hill 2 Remake tips and tricks have all the advice you'll need to survive in danger town, and keep James Sunderland alive. The Remake is a modern take on the classic, using current mechanics to create a spiritually loyal update to the original while still having its own ideas and gameplay. With that in mind, I've scouted ahead in to collate the most essential help a player could need when undead nurses and scuttling mannequins come at you.

1. Killing enemies won't do anything but make the area safer

Killing enemies in Silent Hill 2 gets you nothing, it just makes the area safe. So you'll likely have to kill everything in confined areas otherwise you'll just attacked constantly as you try to solve puzzles. But, when you're exploring the town, it's far easier to creep or sprint past everything. Because you get nothing for a kill you only ever go into fights with everything to lose and nothing to gain, so don't risk it if you don't have to. If you are going to take everything on however, make sure you have all the Silent Hill 2 Remake weapons to make things easier. There's even a chainsaw on NG+!

2. The radio noise is not a guaranteed warning 

The radio you find at the beginning is a Silent Hill staple and generates static whenever enemies are nearby, but, importantly, not every time. Some enemies specifically hide under objects or around corners in ambush mode ready to jump out and your radio won't alert you them.

It means you can't take the noise warning as a guaranteed. Especially later when certain creatures start getting more cunning, and the number of ambushes starts going up. Check your corners as a general habit, and learn the obvious hiding spots that enemies might be using to spring on you.

3. Attack enemies from behind if you can

Stealth is possible in Silent Hill and while it's not easy, it can be devastating by dealing loads more damage. The general rules to achieving it are:

1. Hold back and watch from a distance to work out an enemies' route.
2. When their back is to you, turn your torch off and walk - don't run - towards them.
3. As you get directly behind them, hit them with your melee attack to knock them down.
4. Kick them several times to finish them off.

Stealth is pretty finicky, but even if you don't get the special stealth hit that does massive damage and knock them down, this approach can reliably get you close enough to start a melee combo before they can react, a big advantage in the fight to follow.

4. Look out for low attacks and make sure things stay dead

Silent Hill 2 loves having enemies below your sightline. That can come in a variety of different forms - sometimes it's a crawler pushing itself towards you, sometimes it's a beetle that needs to be stepped on, sometimes it's an enemy on the underside of a metal grill you're walking on. Or, sometimes, it's an enemy you thought was dead.

Generally, when a monster goes down make sure that you hit it at least twice to confirm it's dead and not likely to get back up any time soon. Otherwise it might leap back up and attack you again a short while later, when you're not expecting it.

5. A single pistol shot to the head is a great opener for any fight

While you eventually get more powerful firearms like the Silent Hill 2 Remake shotgun, you start with a pistol. That doesn't do a huge amount of damage so can eat through precious ammo. However, a good approach is to use a single head shot to start a fight. That tends to stun enemies and cause them to reel back, giving you a moment to sprint forward and press the advantage by battering them with a board or a pipe. The stealth kill above is better, but this is a good second option for fighting most enemies.

6. Get ready to dodge after an attack

James' standard melee combo is a three-strike sequence, and it generally stuns most enemies while it's happening (with the exception of bosses). However, the moment it's over is the most likely time for for something to attack back, and exactly the time you need to back up or dive to the side by using the dodge button. So get into the habit of attacking and dodging as one combo.

7. Look for a map the moment you enter a new area

Navigating Silent Hill 2 Remake's fog-drenched streets, Apartment blocks, hospitals and so on can be tough without a frame of reference and it's easy to get lost. So the moment you enter a new area, check the first few rooms or the opening area for a map. There's usually one for most places (with a few exceptions) and if there is one, it'll be close to the entrance. You really can't afford to miss it so check notice boards, tables, anything like that. If you want some help, we've actually got all the Silent Hill 2 Remake maps and their locations here.

8. Most locations focus on a single puzzle you'll be working towards the whole time you're there

Once you enter a new area you'll likely find a puzzle or device early on that you'll spend the whole time you're there trying to solve. Things like the Silent Hill 2 Remake coin cabinet in Woodside Apartments, or the Silent Hill 2 Remake jukebox puzzle in Neely's Bar are essentially final objectives where you'll end up solving lots of other puzzles to get what you need to complete them.

For that reason, don't ignore one puzzle you find just because you haven't solved a previous one yet - more often than not they're all interlinked, and solving one will help you with another.

9. Examine objects as well as notes for puzzle hints

There are various notes and documents to find as you explore, and while some are world building some are tied to puzzles, and some can be both. The important thing here that it's not always obvious when a document is telling you something that will be important later. This even applies to objects and puzzle pieces - examining a key item in your inventory can provide you with fresh information about how or where it's used.

For example, notes detailing grizzly patient incidents at Brookhaven Hospital are actually linked to the Silent Hill 2 Remake Director's Office hand puzzle, even though at first glance they just appear to be setting the horror mood and they information they contain doesn't become relevant until hours later. If you find yourself stuck, go back through the documents and items in your inventory to see if there's any extra information there.

10. The ending can be affected by things you do over the whole game

There are multiple Silent Hill 2 endings - and more that unlock in NG+ - but while some games make actions that influence the ending obvious, Silent Hill 2 uses a behind-the-scenes equation that determines the finale. This equation is constantly changing based on a myriad of factors that players are still working out. These include how far away you walk from NPCs, how often they get hurt, examining certain items in your inventory or ignoring them, how frequently you heal, whether you listen to certain sections of dialogue or whether you return to certain areas and locations without needing to, among many other things.

As a rule, think about what you want to see from James - does he really want to live? Does he care about Maria, the character he meets along the way? Does he fixate even more on Mary than the game claims? Taking - or not taking - actions in accordance with those ideas will let you keep some control over the ending of the game.

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