As caught by Kotaku, you can already play the masterful remake of Silent Hill 2 without the series’ ever-present and all-engulfing fog. Behold, the marvel:
Though Team Silent originally came up with it just to circumvent the PS1’s hardware limitations, the fog present in Silent Hill ended up becoming the series’ most iconic element. I’d argue it’s even one of gaming’s most iconic visual elements, overall.
Removing the fog from any of the Silent Hill games seems like shooting yourself in the foot with a bazooka, especially since the volumetric fog in the new Silent Hill 2 is one of the most amazing visual effects ever seen in a game. Still, FrancisLouis immediately set out to create a mod that rids the town of fog, and the results are surprisingly neat.
The game sure does lose a lot of what makes it special because the remake’s unique fog is incredible to look at, but it also hides a lot of the graphical prowess of the remake. Another interesting thing you might notice is how the game doesn’t get less creepy, it just gets so in a different way. Silent Hill, in the state James visits it in, remains a desolate place filled with creepy crawlies and other inexplicable phenomena, and now they’re all in plain sight.
The mod is called “Silent Hill 2 HD Collection”, a cheeky reference to the Silent Hill 2 and 3 remasters from 2012 that accidentally did away with most of the games’ fog. Those were absolutely awful, but I’m glad they paved the way for this kind of experimenting.
I wouldn’t recommend this mod for a first playthrough, obviously. But, alongside the official no-UI mode and 90s filter, I think this is a pretty neat (and funny) way to experience SH2 and proof that the remake is more than just its spectacular environmental effects.
You can now enjoy Silent Hill 2 on PC and PS5.
