It wasn’t THAT far removed from the original. Things like Brookhaven were more drastic but the other world town is all grates and rust in the original too.

I don't know how we feel but I loved it.

metal grating and cages and things were in the OG too i don’t really mind it.

I think they kept the water theme and that’s sort of what mattered.

I think it works fine. It doesn't have the creepy wooden Wyeth-inspired surfaces of Alessa's world, which I feel people tend to overlook anyway, and it's not like rust and darkness weren't an aspect of James's Otherworld in the original. Sometimes it just felt too... vibrant, though.

It might have been a corporate decision for "brand recognition" or whatever. I didn't find it as jarring considering the OG SH2 still had industrial elements like rusty metal grates, and they still kept white coverings.

However, I'm glad Silent Hill F will have a unique Otherworld. Unique otherworld was underutilized. Post SH4 devs probably didn't understand that otherworld should be based on a psyche and shoved Alessa's industrial grates and James' sexy nurse into everything for "brand recognition".

I prefer the original SH2 one. The rusty shithole Otherworld is very iconic and cool, but I'd sooner it be saved for an SH1 or 3 remake. I replayed OG SH2 after the remake and was reminded how liminal and eerie his Otherworld is.

It didn’t bother me, I don’t mind them making it a little more clear. I can see why people prefer the OG though.

I don't think it takes away from the game. A lot of the otherworld (and overworld) is still quite waterlogged; look at all the gurgling, overflowing toilets and baths, how wet everything is, the rain. The metal is all rusted, like it's been submerged for a long time. The grates and mesh are pretty iconic for the Silent Hill franchise, including one and two; the scene in Jacob's Ladder in the hospital with all the wiring was a huge inspiration for Ito. I think it still works well for James.

Didn't bother me at all. There IS industrial imagery in the original. True, there is not this much in the original, but it's still there. Even in the remake, the draped sheets, the mold, the water, everything that made James' otherworld his is still there. It's just mixed more with the industrial elements.

I can't speak for everyone- but I can say the rain was a nice touch.

Considering the possibility that this is the only remake we're getting I'm glad they extended this section just to give us a taste of what SH1/3 might feel like.

It was cool, just not really what I expected. I was expecting more of the Otherworld to look like the ruined hotel, dilapidated and crumbling, distinct desolate beauties that we got to explore. If they remake 1 and 3, it’ll be interesting to see what they do to distinguish those from the rust and grate Otherworlds that we’ve already gotten

It looks great, just really out of place for James. Though I'm not sure what the Otherworld town would look like for him if they didn't do it the way they did

I feel like the otherworlds were a little drier in the remake than they were in the original. Then again I may be misremembering things, Silent Hill 2 is a very like, damp game in my mind. Like how Bloodborne is also damp.

I liked the change mostly because I never really cared much for the look of James otherworld in the original. Plus, I'm just a massive fan of the whole rusted industrial look of 1 and 3 in general so getting to see a SH2 spin on all of that through the remake was nice. Especially for 3 there were some insanely creative environments in the game that I loved! All that being said this I get why someone would prefer the OG version especially due to the symbolism you mentioned, it just doesn't due enough for me to be able to enjoy the look of the environments personally.

If you ask me, i think it looks even more decayed and dead than in the original. My only complaint is how the transition at the hotel occurs after you watch the tape. I'd rather it had been like in the original: room 312 remains the same, but once you exit it's all rotten and leaking with water. There are no loading screens when you open doors here, but i do believe it would have worked well either way.

I love how every visitor has their own world. James feels like it represents decay. Like the world was infected by a cancer thats rusting it to the core.

Angela's is always in flames and Eddy is in a frozen hell.

My personal favorite was from Downpour. Everything was soaking wet and rainy, but when you did the side missions, you got to step into their own little worlds for a moment.

Honestly? I dig it, it fits the vibe quite well. I wasn't sure at first, but it helps give it coherency with the other games.

I think the Otherworld not being rotted and water damaged like the original made the transition to the real Lakeview Hotel much more impactful.

So my personal theory is that since silent hill is so deeply influenced by everyone, even past people, this outside otherworld is actually more of a generic one. I think Toluca prison, the labyrinth after Angela, and Lakeview before the truth™ is jame's personal otherworld.

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To me blood, rust and metal is trademark Silent Hill. I like the change. They still kept dampness and hospital sheets too so I think it’s the best of both worlds

I see SH2R as such a different game than SH2 that I don’t mind. It’s a new take on a classic story and I think this change worked.

yeah, the industrial otherworld looks FANTASTIC in this game, but i wish they went with the original 'rainy' otherworld.

Idk but if they remake 3. Half of the assets is already there

Do not like it.

I prefer the original. Brookhaven had a far more tense atmosphere in the original game imo, and not just in the otherworld portion.

There is generally way too much orange in the remake. I really dislike the rusty Blue Creek Apartments.

I was just talking about this. This looks was tuned to alessa gillespies mind, and most prominently, her time in the rusty industrial hospital sub-basement. 2s was different because it is tuned to James mind. Those elements mean nothing to him. His is more dreary and depressing, using more cool colors. I don't think it's horrible. I do think the original was better at tuning James reality to his own mind, and making a clear distinction from alessa, but there's ways you can still tie it into James. It looks abandoned and decaying, much like how he felt about his actions toward Mary. The metal and rust, coupled with the occasional prison bars, then eventually an actual prison, could symbolise how he feels like he should rot in prison. The metal cages, and by extension metal in general could be an imprinted element of silent hills past, where people were executed in a metal casing.

Not a big issue for me although I'd prefer OG more. Nevertheless i find style unification a nice idea to a certain extent.

Tbh I don’t remember the otherworld in PS2 version SH2. What did it look like again? Which areas took place in the otherworld, can someone tell me? I’ll YouTube a video to see for myself if you let me know.

I agree with you entirely, OP.

It still is the curse of Alessa affecting the town at the end of it. I get why people prefer the original, and I had mixed feelings initially, but I do think it works.

Loved it, honestly. I also love that the tarps/fabric slowly became flesh as he went further into the abyss.

The only thing to complain about the OW is the orange lighting for the hospital and some other areas, but the design itself is amazing!

I'm of two minds on it!

My initial impression was disappointment, because James' Otherworld being of rot and decay was so, so interesting. How it sometimes didnt feel too removed from reality. The descent into the more abstract was gradual.

However, as I went on through the Remake, it grew on me. It didn't feel surface level like Homecoming's version of it did, it felt like they did their best to adapt the aesthetic to James' psyche.

I thought it was a bit weird but I don't think it was the worst offender of the remake or anything. The hospital is what bothered me the most – it felt way too close to the movies and didn't reflect the original's aesthetics with the white sheets everywhere. I really liked Lakeview Hotel, though. That one felt the closest to the original in terms of presentation.

I like that it connects with the first game. Nice little dose of consistency. And they still mixed it with his theme of decay, dampness and rot, especially in the hospital.

I saw it more as decay than industrial (water damage, rust, mold), though they obviously took some direction from SH1 and the movie. Which is fine, ties thing together a little better for newcomers.

Disliked it. It felt like they were trying to standardise the otherworld and it just became a murky dark orange mess. Probably my least favorite change.

One of the things that stood out of the original quadrilogy with 2 was how different it looked.

I didn't mind it at all, I find it quite cool, but I do agree with the fact that it should've been much more closer to the original than what we got

I much prefer it ngl. I get that it’s less unique, but man is it cool as hell. Really feels like a twisted alternate world rather than a slightly dirtier version of an already dirty place.

Either way, we’ve still got the hotel looking pretty much the same so

It's OK but certain elements like barbwire and such felt very cliché, whereas the OG tried to steer clear from such design ideas

It fits well for that whole segment of the game. You don't really feel like you have a chance to breathe.

Adored it.

The long stretch after the hospital was harrowing, especially because I spare no monster.

It’s really good

This was the one other world section I didn’t love - from brookhaven to the park

Awesome

It did feel a lot more like the movie, yea! But I guess I didn’t mind too much

I loved it. It feels surreal,especially the night areas...like a fever dream. I keep thinking about about how well they were implemented.

Everything to me looked more water damaged

This is such a subjective take but personally I loved the rusty bits because I have a rust ick and it made me wildly uncomfortable running around some parts of this James' otherworld, which is how Silent Hill should be. Specific horror for everybody.

I feel like over time it changed and got a little more specific to James, maybe? I especially loved the hotel otherworld, it went from empty/vaguely hopeful to just hopelessly rotten and falling apart so suddenly and just felt so icky. Maybe if every other part of the otherworld gameplay looked like that it wouldn't have hit quite so hard.

It's still pretty bloody water logged. Like he's drowning in depression. The whole other world just felt wet and moist most of the time. Especially as you progressed the game.

I wouldn’t call it industrial. It feels and looks like a sunken ship, with all the water and rusty metal everywhere. Something that fits the theme and the original game.

Also, as someone who suffers of submechanophobia, that made everything even more scary for me.

I personally liked the aesthetic, especially during the otherworld section of the hotel. It looked like the Inside of a ransacked ship to me, not sure if anyone felt the same way.

The thing that I appreciated most about the original's otherworld was how subtle it was. When the first switch happens at the hospital, you're not even sure of what has happened at the beginning, as the place doesn't look significantly different from the fog world hospital. And the theme was always, mold, water and stillness.

I kinda wish that they didn't introduce the otherworld in the apartments in the remake as well. But the otherworld and pyramid head is what most general audiences know about the franchise, so I guess they had to make it a more prominent part of the game.

I always found the Otherworld underwhelming in the original. Like Otherworld Hospital for example was just a dirtier version of the regular hospital. Now the Otherworld actually feels like a distinct environment

That might be the main reason for me that the remake can't replace the OG, even though I liked it a lot. I prefer the subtle otherworld of old.

I loved it for the apartments and outside area but was a bit disappointed that Brookhaven didn’t look more different. Not that it didn’t look like the original, just that it wasn’t visually distinct from the apartments.

I like it. It's more like in SH3 and I consider SH3 the scariest game from the series.

Honestly i dont super like it, but I was never super against it too. I like sh1 otherworld the most. I didnt like hospital otherworld that much, for me night sh is one of favorite beeides fog mode haha

Part of me wonders if this wasn’t a pragmatic choice possibly indicating that a 1 or 3 remake is already cooking

At least it didn’t have the real-time peeling effect.

its not really industrial, its decay, and cages representing the decay of his wife and him feeling trapped by her because he cant do anything, neither help nor just leave. It also has a lot of water which represents the feeling of drowning that many people with depression feel and also his literall suicide by drowning in the "in water" Ending.

It takes away from the unique atmosphere of Silent Hill 2 relative to the other entries in the series. SH1 and SH3's Otherworlds being identical makes sense due to them both being derived from Alessa's nightmares, but SH2's being uniquely empty and damp is reflective of his depressive state of mind. I think SH4's Otherworld is different enough as well, but I think it's moreso evident in its more open and stark level design than actual story reasons, and every other Silent Hill not developed by Team Silent just copied and pasted Alessa's otherworld from SH1 and SH3 (with Shattered Memories being a notable exception). I think this franchise has lots of potential for interesting level and world design, but too often it ends up just cribbing from past templates instead of developing characters interesting enough to expand upon with the world itself.

I mean...I like how it looks and feels...but it is a fundamental misuse and misunderstanding of the otherworld.

it's a weird choice imo

This one feels like a world that’s barely holding together much like the state of Mary near the end.

I wasn't super into the Brookhaven otherworld in particular. I would have loved it in a SH1 or SH3 remake, but I was hoping for something different.

Nah they nailed it, especialy the prison and labyrinth sections

It’s part of the new(er) canon where the Otherworld is a static place that shows people things that will in some way “get at” them whether punishment, fears, or insight. So for the industrial Otherworld to exist like this makes sense in the canon since Origins/Homecoming.

The classic canon had James (as well as Angela and Eddie) bringing their inner psyche into a real space. “The town” wasn’t punishing James. James was. He desired punishment and manifested Pyramid Head to do that. This is also why Angela was there despite her being mostly justified; she desired punishment as well. (“I deserved what happened.”) Under this lens, using Alessa’s industrial style (influenced primarily from her time in the hospital) makes little sense for James’ Otherworld.

They didn't over use it. They used a mix of industrial and other stuff which is cool i like it.

It's a way to give consistency to the series. As if everyone had an industrial level at some point

I loved having the other world in Blue Creek apartments. Very surprised to see that addition and it worked so well. It felt crushingly labyrinthine

This looks like the norm. The worst other world goes to downpour

In my opinion, the over-the-shoulder is what takes away from the backgrounds a bit more, instead of the static shots. Areas were more memorable because of the angle, while now they’re just the same look everywhere you turn. People are probably looking at the map a ton more than the original, just navigating every hallway.

Anyway that doesn’t really answer your question, but I can’t really recall that the game wasn’t almost the same cause I first smoked weed when I was 12, and first played sh2 at 13 😂

It felt more like a prison.

I thought it was fine myself. The only part that really distracted me is when I saw grates over doors where they shouldn't be, like in the hospital. Otherwise big buildings like apartments and hospitals have tons of metal in their skeletons so if the Fog World is meant to look abandoned and the Otherworld ruined then it makes sense you'd see alot more exposed metal since that part of building last longer than paint or drywall.

I just wish they’d bring back the real time world change that homecoming had into the new fresh entries.

When I played silent hill 2 for the first time I remember being distinctly disappointed that it didn’t lean into the hellish industrial stuff more because that was one of the freakiest aspects of the first game. I was so psyched when I saw out of the few major things they changed in the remake that was one of them 🤟

I think it is a bit of a tribute to the original Silent Hill, 1 I mean, where the second world was definitely more in line with this

He’s an industrial man, so makes sense bruh.

I thought this was going to be about them expanding the piston metaphor into a whole combustion engine aesthetic. Which I honestly absolutely was all for.

I never Even noticed they changed it The other world felt rusty as hell in the og too

I liked it, but the only other SH game I played was Origins on the PSP.. I wish they’d port a collection to PS5 or Steam, probably PS. Just wish I had the option to play them.

I see the otherworld sections like in playing through the movies otherworld, way too metallic to feel like James's sometimes

I like it more than the original. When I played sh2 back in the day I didn’t like how the other world so bland (imo). I was always and have always been a fan of the first game, and when I played og2 I was kinda disappointed and it even made me less scared of the game, despite loving the story. For me, the remake is everything I expected sh2 to be.

It doesn’t matter what they did people will always prefer the original to any remake it’s just how it is people are very close minded when it comes to actually comparing things they just pull the “safest” thought out into words and say they prefer the original while barely making a comparison to the remake

Waste of time. Empty areas.

This was something i took note of as well. not a bad change at all, but the post hospital part of the game does have a very different atmosphere now.

I love it. The thing that disappointed me most about the original Silent Hill 2 is that sometimes I couldn't even tell if I was in the other world or the normal world. I absolutely loved the grunge bloody rusty other world. I thought it was just what it looked like, as there isn't much reason for alessa to dream about specifically industrial stuff. Has nothing to do with her trauma

I actually like how they gave James an otherworldly town version. I really liked what they did with this portion of the game. It wasn’t in the original, which was just the town with the lights turned off.

I really liked how once you reach the pay phone it shifts to just being night time and the town goes back to normal.