How Maria Has (& Hasn’t) Changed In Silent Hill 2

The remake of Silent Hill 2 has remained largely faithful to the original game, but that doesn’t mean that some changes haven’t been made in the process. However, the cast of characters James encounters during his time in Silent Hill should be rather familiar to players who played the original game. Those same characters might look a bit different, though, as Bloober Team gave them revamped appearances and new voice actors.

Silent Hill 2 makes changes to the original, but most of those improve the game overall, especially the ones that make the gameplay mechanics a bit more modern. Some of the biggest concerns that players had when trailers and content from the remake first came out involved James and Maria, who are the most important characters in Silent Hill 2. Because of this, any changes made to these two were under the most scrutiny, especially when it came to their appearances and outfits that were shown in early trailers and image reveals.

How Maria Is Different In Silent Hill 2 Remake

Has She Changed Beyond Her Appearance?

The most controversial Maria change in Silent Hill 2’s remake is her outfit, which is no longer modeled after Christina Aguilera’s Teen Choice Awards outfit. Instead, her new outfit is designed to have a more modern look, which some players feel sacrifices the original symbolism of her character. However, both outfits accomplish their basic goal, and that’s to make her a more sexualized version of Mary to reflect James’ repressed desires that led to Maria coming into existence in Silent Hill.

The second big change to Maria was a change that the entire main cast of Silent Hill 2 received: a new voice actor. While this makes her sound different, it doesn’t necessarily make her sound better or worse. Both voice actors gave a performance that is somewhat unsettling, which is ideal for the game’s atmosphere.

Most characters sound uncertain or confused when talking about Silent Hill, which makes perfect sense. In terms of sound design overall, the new voiceover has higher quality. However, that’s expected with the quality of equipment going up over the decades between each version.

How Maria Is The Same In Silent Hill 2 Remake

A Woman Born From A Wish

Maria’s general role and personality in Silent Hill 2 remain unchanged in the remake, meaning that she’s still familiar to players who played the original game. She’s one of the primary antagonists, although it could be argued that James is a villain in Silent Hill 2. Manifested by James’ guilt and desires, Maria is his idealized version of Mary in a location full of creatures who exist to give him the punishment he feels he deserves. Maria might not attack him directly for the most part, but her resemblance to Mary torments him in different ways.

Additionally, Maria still appears as a boss fight in almost all ending routes. The exception to this is the same as the original game, where her role swaps with Mary if James is pursuing the Maria Ending. Since these endings have received more details in the remake, it’s easier to notice important hints about what will likely happen after the screen fades to black, and one of the most important hints is found in the Maria Ending, which is – on the surface – one of the happier endings James can get after his adventure in Silent Hill.

Which Maria Is Actually Better?

Can These Versions Really Be Compared?

Maria is a core element in Silent Hill 2 who brings a lot of symbolism and mystery to the game, so it’s natural that the original and new variations of her are being compared. In the end, both versions are well done and important for James’ journey. While the original Maria has the benefit of nostalgia, the remake’s Maria is more polished and designed to better resonate with a modern audience. Because of this, the version that’s better will depend a lot on personal preference.

Silent Hill 2 is the fan favorite entry of the Silent Hill franchise, and it’s not hard to see how this eerie game that blends survival horror with psychological thriller became beloved. It’s also understandable that players would end up making comparisons between the original and the remake, especially when it was handed to a new team to create instead of being done internally at Konami. However, Maria, even with her slight changes in the remake, keeps the elements that made her intriguing in the original game with her new version in the remake of Silent Hill 2.

Source: Bloober Team/YouTube

The Silent Hill 2 Remake is an upcoming Survival Horror release from Bloober Team, the same creative squad behind Layers of Fear and Observer. Developers are reimagining James Sunderland’s adventure through Silent Hill, with updated graphics and gameplay.