Does puzzle difficulty change the endings of Silent Hill 2 Remake?

Puzzles were an integral part of the original, but do puzzle difficulty changes impact the endings for the Silent Hill 2 remake?

In the PS2 era, perplexing puzzles were a staple mechanic across various genres; perhaps none moreso than survival horrors. With modern gaming rife with objective markers and waypoints, it’s sometimes refreshing to return to the labyrinthian roots of Silent Hill 2 with its vague puzzles and absurdist leaps of logic. Even so, there’s a method to the madness.

Each hint leads somewhere and Bloober Team wanted to retain that in the remake through puzzle difficulty settings. Depending on the player’s preferences, puzzles can be incredibly obvious or intentionally cryptic. However, do these difficult puzzles change Silent Hill 2 Remake’s potential endings?

Are the Silent Hill 2 remake endings different based on puzzle difficulty?

Puzzle difficulty does not affect the endings of the Silent Hill 2 remake, though it does change the game’s content.

When beginning a playthrough, players can set the difficulty of combat and puzzles. The puzzle difficulty setting specifies that it cannot be changed in the middle of a playthrough. That’s because while the puzzles don’t change the ending, changing the difficulty does change the gameplay itself.

At the hardest difficulty, players must make logical deductions, discover context clues, and thoroughly examine the environment to progress.

For example, on easy or normal, a puzzle may simply just be a note telling James exactly where to go. On hard mode, these puzzles are instead more vague, with the notes having certain keywords the player must tie together to uncover the mystery. Other times, the puzzle may add more elements that make the player feel like they’re on a wild goose chase. These new puzzles certainly add significant time to the remake’s completion.

Normally, it takes 16 to 20 hours to complete a playthrough of the Silent Hill 2 remake.

For comparison, players could beat the original Silent Hill 2 in 12 hours or less. With all the new puzzles and location expansions, it’s no wonder the remake takes longer to finish. Players can also find themselves in an awkward limbo if they can’t figure out what to do, adding even more time.

Still, the reception to these changes remains mostly positive. The puzzles remain an enigmatic part of Silent Hill’s history.