In every respect, Silent Hill 2 stands alone: in its crowded genre, in its long-dormant series, even in the medium of video games in general. Widely considered one of the greatest horror games of all time, critics have championed James Sunderland's descent into madness as one of the high-water marks for video games as an artform.

Armchair enthusiasts and YouTube analysts have scrutinized every inch of Silent Hill 2's dismal lakeside town for clues and symbols, and subsequent generations of horror games have imitated (and even parodied) its twists and tiny touches in equal measure. But while the classic series isn't getting much in the way of love from Konami these days, a team of more than a dozen die-hard Silent Hill fans have developed an alternate version of Silent Hill 2 that is one of the most impressive fan restoration projects we've yet seen. This unofficial patch grants the buggy, broken PC port of the game the superior sound, control, and visual effects of the original PS2 version while also allowing the game to be played at modern resolutions.

"Silent Hill 2 is loved by many and considered the example of a horror game done right," says one of the project's key contributors, who goes by the online handle Ratiocinator. "For most who play it for the first time, they quickly realize what makes it so special: The visuals and art direction, the atmosphere, otherworldly audio, character stories, and more. This is what makes the game so special to me and important to revisit to allow others to experience it on modern displays/hardware."