I have two and three on the PS2 and went through two several years back. I thought it was okay (I actually liked the first SH more, although... I didn't actually finish it), and played only a few hours of three and really liked it, but moved on. I remember the HD remaster got a lot of flak for glitches and changes from the original. Does anyone know how it is now, and furthermore, as a backward compatible game? I'd be playing it on the X if that matters at all. I'm also curious about Homecoming and Downpour, which has been backward compatible for a while now. Lastly, do think we'll see another Silent Hill game, and would you even have confidence in it being any good?

I am a Silent Hill 2 fanatic.

From everything I saw and heard of the 360/PS3 release, they sounded like trash, unfortunately.

360 Silent Hill 2 is not a great way to experience the game. The fog that is so important to the atmosphere is all messed up, it's really just a crippled version. Silent Hill 2 is a tricky one overall, the ps2 Greatest Hits version has the best sound, the Xbox version is the best looking (except for fmv), the PC version is buggy as hell and not worth it. That said, if you're going to play the Xbox version, you have to do it on an Original Xbox with component cables because it doesn't run well anywhere else. If that's an option, go for that, otherwise I'd say try the PS2 version since it's probably the easiest to get up and running through a couple different means. Make sure it's the Greatest Hits release, it has extra content.

Silent Hill 3 is in a similar boat, but the PC version is actually pretty great, so that would be my recommendation. The HD Collection version's graphics are without issue, but it has completely different voices, some are ok, some aren't. It's not the ideal way to experience the game, but it's certainly the cheapest and easiest legal way to experience the game in an acceptable state.

Homecoming is fine as a game, it's not a great Silent Hill game, but it's a serviceable survival horror game. It has a worse reputation than it deserves (like all games outside the first 3). Downpour is pretty much in the same situation. A fine game, a better Silent Hill game than Homecoming, but it just can't live up to the first 3. I'd recommend it over Homecoming, Homecoming is basically the Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game but for Silent Hill, whereas Downpour at least feels like it's own unique thing and has some really great ideas.

You didn't mention Silent Hill 4, but I'll talk about it anyway. It also gets a bad rap for no good reason other than it's different from the first 3 games. It's a unique and interesting game, definitely worth checking out. No HD Collection release, so it's back to the Xbox vs PS2 vs PC debate, where it's the same conversation as Silent Hill 3: thumbs up to PS2 and PC versions, Xbox if you actually have the original console with component cables.

Haven't played them on the Xbox One, but I did play them on the 360 after the came out, and unfortunately most of the issues with both games aren't things that will be improved by being emulated(like framerate). In the case of Silent Hill 2, the biggest issue is the fog effects are completely messed up, for example what's supposed to be your first vague glimpse of a monster down the street is now...just seeing that monster completely before it wanders away. Another one is when you are in an area near the lake you can just see the edge of the game world and some pretty awful looking water. Some other issues are lighting and rain effects, wrong music, and some weird texture errors(I'm pretty sure I saw teeth instead of an eye on one of Maria's eyes in a cutscene...). Silent Hill 3 I don't remember having quite as many issues, but it did have some very particularly spots where the framerate went to utter shit, and it's only got a new dub(2 has the choice of new or original). As for Homecoming and Downpour, never played Downpour but Homecoming isn't great, it's not god awful but I wouldn't recommend it over 2 or 3 even in their broken HD collection states. And yeah...Silent Hill is totally dead, i'm just hoping we get a decent steam release of 2 and 3 at some point.

@brackstone: I didn't mention The Room because it's not backward compatible. I played it back when I rented games, around the time of its release. I didn't beat it but thought it was fine. Although it's not the first Silent Hill I've seen played, it was the first one I personally played. I played it when I was 14 and wasn't that into its controls, and I probably got lost somewhere in the playthrough so I quit. It was also super depressing to me which was unique I thought, but not necessarily what I wanted at the time. I don't plan on playing any of the versions other than the remaster if I ever replay two (or three for that matter). If I really, really want to replay it and I don't play the remaster, I'll just play the original PS2 version. Digital Foundry says, and it shows, that the PS2 version actually looks the best.

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I just watched Digital Foundry's comparison, and they only played the PS3 version because 'it was the only version patched', and said it was the absolute worst way to play Silent Hill 2 at least. It looked bad. I guess the answer is simple, don't play the HD Collection, especially the Xbox 360 version considering they didn't patch it.

Hard pass on the collection.

Huh, never realized digital Foundry had a look at all versions of Silent Hill 2. It's weird they he mentions the flashlight as the only visual improvement when you can tell even in his footage that the Xbox version runs at a higher resolution. Even just the trees at the beginning of the game are a pretty stark difference.

Also man my reading comprehension is bad when I'm sleepy, didn't even register than you already had the ps2 ones. My bad.

Big No to both games. Homecoming is bad fanfiction with bad trying-to-be-RE4 combat. The HD collection is overall a poorer version of the PS2 games, which you already have. I never played Downpour but I've never heard anything good about it.

If you haven't played Shattered Memories, that's definitely worth checking out. It is at least interesting and weird, not just another generic action horror game like Silent Hill games have been since Homecoming. It was on the Wii and PS2.

I have 0 faith in Konami to do anything good with the Silent Hill franchise after Silent Hills cancellation. I'm sure they continue milking the brand to make generic action games and pachinko machines though. I kinda wish they would just retire the IP but I know that makes no business sense.

I never played Silent Hill 2 before playing the remaster and can say I still had a fantastic time with it, regardless of the bad changes. For anyone who has never played them before and needs a legal way to play it on a modern platform, I'd still say it's worth a try just to see a really fantastic horror game. I played it on easy, just to be clear.

EDIT: Obviously OP has played them before and would have a worse experience, but this is advice aimed at people who will maybe go to this topic and would like to see a point of view from someone who hadn't played it previously. Sounds like it's a bad one to revisit, but I had a great first-time with it.

Silent Hill 2 is one of my all time favourite games so the remaster still hurts! I like to imagine some alternate universe where Konami gave the job to Bluepoint just like the Metal Gear HD collection and they didn’t lose the original source code and we got fantastic remasters.

Man, I’m bummed out now.

They are not worth it, track down the original PS2 Director's Cut Copies of the games. SH2 is probably the only one that got a DC edition. But anyway, track down the originals as they are far better than that awful HD Collection.

Heck, the collection doesn't even include the heavily underrated Silent Hill 4.

@pompouspizza: Yeah, this thread made me angry all over again.

Usually, a bad game or port comes out and I just don’t spend time on it. No harm. With the Silent Hill collection, I was actually angry that the opportunity to spend time with those games (outside of repurchasing old hardware and discs) was taken from me.

It was a huge bummer.

Do not play homecoming.

Do not play homecoming.

Do not play homecoming.

As someone who really likes silent hill, i would recomend you avoid the hd collection. Bugs aside, there were some extremely questionable design choices made there like a change and direction of the voicing cast, fog, and general atmosphere, that impacted the gamea' feel.

But homecoming should be fine, its far from the best in the series but its fine if you want a taste of SH.

If you have tbe originals and a PS2 i would recomend hunting down the room and Shattered Memories.

I am a Downpour apologist. The game isn't great, but it's more than mediocre. It retains classic Silent Hill while not surpassing it.