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The Bloober Team’s remake of the classic 2001 survival horror game Silent Hill 2 is finally here and, to the relief of many, has more than honored the legacy of the celebrated source material. More than just rebuilding Silent Hill 2 from the ground up using modern hardware, the remake is faithful recreation and enhancement of the game’s story and environment, including Silent Hill’s most iconic antagonist of all: Pyramid Head. The geometric-domed villain is the most terrifying he’s ever been in the Silent Hill 2 remake and, like the original, menaces protagonist James Sunderland several times over the course of the game.
Like the town of Silent Hill itself, Pyramid Head is a deadly metaphor as much as he is a merciless adversary for James to overcome in Silent Hill 2, something foundationally true to the enemy in both versions of the game. But more than just an embodiment of the game’s narrative themes, Pyramid Head becomes something that really emphasizes what the Silent Hill 2 remake does so well, both in terms of technical presentation and deeper exploration of its underlying concepts. Silent Hill 2 leveled up its game considerably for the remake, so too does its blood-soaked antagonist.
Designed for the original Silent Hill 2 by Masahiro Ito, Pyramid Head is the personification of James’ guilt and subconscious desire to be severely punished for murdering his wife Mary before the events of the game. To fulfill that twisted purpose, Pyramid Head relentlessly pursues James through the town of Silent Hill, usually dragging behind him a large sword that he intends to kill the wayward James with. Like many of the monsters in Silent Hill, Pyramid Head has an unnatural, stilted movement, with his limbs occasionally jerking and spasming as he walks around town.
At the game’s climax, James acknowledges what he subconsciously created Pyramid Head to do and why, with a pair of Pyramid Heads confronting him armed with spears. In comparison to the original game, Silent Hill 2 remake makes it clear that the metal Pyramid Head look is a helmet worn by James’ tormentors when they briefly lift them up to kill themselves, though their faces are obscured in shadows and cannot be seen by the player.
James first encounters Pyramid Head in the Wood Side Apartments where it brutalizes two mannequin monsters in a hint at its psychological connection to James through its pent-up sexual frustration. James hides in a closet to initially avoid detection and learns the hard way that Pyramid Head is bulletproof when he repeatedly shoots the monster point blank with his pistol when the hulking swordsman approaches the closet. However, it’s when James reaches the adjacent Blue Creek Apartments that he finds himself in a fight to the death with Pyramid Head, with no hope of physically overpowering his opponent.
It’s here where the quality of life improvements and all-around modernized technical presentation for Silent Hill 2 remake compared to the original version really shines. Even with the improved movement and camera controls, this is a tense showdown; easily one of the most intense in the game and the most harrowing the player has endured at this point in the story. Pyramid Head comes barrelling at James, smashing through metal cages strewn around the room, not just relying on his signature blade but punching James if he gets too close. And this version of Pyramid Head is quick, marching steadily towards James and bursting through the twisted cages around him, filling the air with the sound of shrieking metal as James tries to stay one step ahead just to stay alive.
Comparatively, the first showdown with Pyramid Head in the original Silent Hill 2 took place in a relatively bare room, making it easier for players to navigate around the enemy and easier to anticipate his movements. Taking advantage of the PlayStation 5’s technical capabilities, the confrontation in the remake is in a darkened room where the player has to rely on James’ very dim flashlight, the noise Pyramid Head makes dragging his sword, and the sparks it emits scraping the ground to keep track of where the villain is, keeping the player nailed to the action if they hope to survive. Plug in the headphones for this one and stay frosty, because you need to really pay attention for this fight.
In both versions of Silent Hill 2, the goal isn’t so much to defeat Pyramid Head as it is to stay alive long enough for the helmeted henchman to give up the fight, at least for now. The more damage James inflicts on Pyramid Head, the shorter amount of time the encounter lasts, concluding with Pyramid Head hearing an air raid siren and departing from the room, taking one last glare at James before resurfacing later in the game.
Pyramid Head is the concept of self-flagellation made tangible in the purgatory that is Silent Hill, the ephemeral given a terrifying physical form. Right from that introductory moment, when James catches a glimpse of the villain from between the wooden slats of a musty apartment closet to the duel against the two Pyramid Heads in the lobby of the Lakeview Hotel, Pyramid Head is the most striking antagonist in any version of Silent Hill 2. And though Pyramid Head’s core role remains relatively the same in both versions, the remake does make the executioner more representative of the 2024 game’s wider ethos.
The Silent Hill 2 remake is an elevation of the original source material; everything feels heightened. The experience is scarier, more atmospheric, more tense, and more ambitious given the technical possibilities on the PS5 hardware and the benefit of hindsight in seeing how the original Silent Hill 2 was received and reevaluated in the 23 years since its launch. Pyramid Head is a big part of that, designed and rendered in an immediately recognizable way but less of the plodding baddie and more of a legitimately frightening and overwhelming foe. The Silent Hill 2 remake never quite gets as intense as that first fight against Pyramid Head, though the memory of it will have you on the edge of your seat whenever you encounter him again. And rest assured, you will see plenty of Pyramid Head. Punishment is here to stay in Silent Hill and James Sunderland is about to learn all about it.
Silent Hill 2 Remake is out now for PlayStation 5 and PC.
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