The long-awaited remake of Silent Hill 2 is finally out and, aside from a few shortcomings, provides more than enough to shut up even its most cynical skeptic: me. The new Silent Hill 2 is gorgeously faithful to the original and more than honors its beautifully harrowing story. With so much reverence at play, it should come as no surprise that it even pays homage to the most accidentally iconic moment in the series.
If you’re into the franchise, you’ll know about the infamous Silent Hill HD Collection from 2012. Long story short, it featured Silent Hill 2 and 3, but the remasters were based on an incomplete beta build, not on the game’s incredible final versions. The resulting games were ugly at best and downright unplayable at their worst. One of the funniest aspects of this remaster was the inexplicable “remastering” of the lettering of the Silent Hill Ranch sign that we see at the start of the game.
As you can see below, the remaster replaced the original font with the dreaded comic sans font. It’s a small change, but one that caused the remaster to fall even deeper into the neverending pit of Internet ridicule.
I doubt anyone in their right mind would’ve picked that font to make their location feel more appealing, let alone the people trying to make a game you’re not supposed to laugh at. Unless this was a clever ruse by the townsfolk to lure in unwitting travelers looking for a wacky town, this was just both bad game design and town marketing.
Many wondered what the sign would look like in the remake, and we now know that the comic sans font is nowhere to be found.
…or is it?
Many were happy with the decision to fix that reminder of bad reworks past, but others couldn’t help but to feel a bit sad for the erasure of such an unintentionally great joke. The Gamer even wrote an obituary mourning the loss of the comic sans sign, only to amend it as a brave wondered discovered that the cursed sign actually remains there for those brave enough to look for it.
Bloober Team asked fans to give it a chance with Silent Hill 2, and this (plus the rest of the remake) is all the proof I needed to confirm that this monumental task landed in the right hands.
You can now play the Silent Hill 2 remake on PS5 and PC.
