Differences: Silent Hill HD Collection vs Originals

Below are the differences between the HD Collection and the original versions of Silent Hill, the result of a careful comparison of video walkthroughs. The document does not pretend to be comprehensive, but covers most of the notable changes.

Note: the comparison screenshots show the HD Collection image on the left and the original on the right.

Silent Hill 2

1. Toluca Lake at the beginning of the game is now flowing. This may have occurred before, but was not visible due to fog.
2. The composition known as Letters (played while Mary's letter is being read out) has undergone a rearrangement.
3. The angle of view when approaching James's car is changed:

4. The image of the interior of the car is enlarged:

5. "Cleaned up" the texture of the asphalt:

6. Distance to settlements on road signs are changed:

7. "Cleaned-up" textures again:

8. Retexturing the well:

Moving forward, only the most notable cases of retexturing will be marked.

9. New background image of the well:

10. You can clearly see how bad the new foliage is:

11. James has had his eyes tweaked. You can also see shading in the neck area (this is a good thing):

12. The Forest track is unsuccessfully looped.
13. The font on the sign is changed to Comic Sans:

14. In the scene with the first creature, the sound problems reach new heights: echoes like from a well, and voices from the radio can't be heard at all.
15. The sounds produced by the Lying Figure are changed.
16. Different sound accompanying the game save.
17. Changed the sound of the gate opening in Woodside.
18. Cleaned the floor so as not to traumatize players:

19. Laura's first appearance. Shadows: there are none:

20. Oh, no, here they are. Not in the best shape, though:

21. But already in the next room it has rehabilitated itself:

22. A cry at the intersection of corridors: it is gone.
23. A small problem in the Pyramid Head scene: the screen brightens too late, so the first close up on the PC with the mannequins changes about a second after appearing.
24. Very important and necessary change:

25. Trash chute. The top of one bag was sawed off:

26. Widescreen safe:

27. Angela and the mirror. The track is looped crookedly. The mirror in one of the angles has no texture.
28. HD commode:

29. No glass on the floor:

30. Completely reprogrammed the shadows. In some places, it's a good thing. And in some places...

31. Meeting Maria. Null Moon re-arranged. You can see the border of the level due to the almost absent fog.

32. The flashback with Mary now has a black halo:

33. The bowling alley scene took 10 seconds to load.
34. The stickers on the doors of the bowling club are changed:

35. Heaven's Night. Some of the posters on the walls are missing. The neon sign above the door is off:

36. New shadows are more detailed. The cross has been redrawn:

37. With the same difficulty level, an extra box of ammo is found in the re-release:

38. On the first-aid kit the cross is redrawn in the same manner:

39. Floor drain:

40. Various glitches are noticeable: sounds jam, sometimes there is no message that the door is closed, etc.
41. When James falls from the roof now there is a blur.
42. Password on the bloody wall:

43. Laura has a hair problem:

44. Just a telling moment:

45. After killing Flesh Lips there is no blur, although in the original there was.
46. There is some white spot on the ceiling, apparently to symbolize a switched-on flashlight:

47. The rain in the garden is considerably brighter:

48. Another example of a glitchy shadow:

49. In the original, a nasty squeak that sounded like a cat squealing randomly appeared on the stairs of the alternate hospital. It played once. In HD-edition it is repeated like ten times.
50. Trick or Treat in the elevator is devoid of any radio broadcast processing.
51. In the original, James was amusingly saying "Hm, thanks!" when Maria gave him a ring. Now it's not funny. :(
52. In the original James stepped on enemies, here he kicks them like Harry in SH1.
53. Another scream after inserting the plates into the gallows. Earlier it was dirty, with noise, but now it is clean and clear.
54. In prison, in the women's toilet, if you knocked on the closed stall and then came out - there was a scream. Now it is none.
55. The scene with Mary behind bars loads 10 seconds.
56. The first place where increasing the angle of view revealed something that should not be. On PC with the widescreen hack is the same, but it is a hack, and here - the official version:

57. After Angela drops the TV on Abstract Daddy, a cloud of dust appears in the original. It is not present here.
58. In the original, this place is darkened, but in HDC it's not. And you can see this oval... thing:

59. Logically, there should be bars on the left, but in the extended version there are none, which makes the whole image a bit meaningless. In the original there is a bar. In addition, you can see the unscratched remains of the handcuffs near the handle. Everything is OK in the original:

60. Blood under Maria is absent:

61. On the other hand, the hair is fixed:

62. The scene with Eddie took 12 seconds to load.
63. Not to point out the obvious once again, but still:

64. There's something going on with the fog in the second part of the battle. See at 4:10. You can also listen to the new Eddie trying his best to sound sinister.
65. The water during the boat ride looks terrible:

66. "Laura Plays the Piano" is re-arranged. The fair, high quality piano now sounds like midi.
67. Laura's hair glitches again in this scene.
68. Suitcase. On the right is a copy of the black sticker that is present on the left:

69. Watching a videotape on TV now takes place in a small square framed by the TV itself:

70. "True" is cropped.
71. The fire is recolored. In some angles part of it is missing:

72. "The Theme of Laura (Reprise)" is cut off in the middle of the scene, then starts again in five seconds. In the original, everything is clearly looped.
73. The sound of the shell casing ALWAYS sticks.
74. The last location is killed by the lack of fog, cheesy lighting and too bright rain. The rain really sucks:

75. There is no divine ambient in the scene after the bossfight. The conversation takes place in sepulchral silence.
76. The tree at the end of the Leave ending looks... bad:

Silent Hill 3

1. Intro. No fog. No blur. Colors are killed.
2. "Cleansing" of textures continues here as well:

3. Another sound of footsteps on metal.
4. The sound Heather makes when she is attacked is laughable.
5. There are no Pendulums at the beginning for some reason.
6. There is virtually no light from the trolley car:

7. When Heather falls off the rails of the roller coaster, you can hear her old scream. Along with the new one.
8. The shadows are rewritten. They are perhaps more honest, but cut with an axe:

9. ...and glitchy:

10. "End of Small Sanctuary" in the original was wisely mixed so that after the entrance to the toilet the main part would start, where all the instruments had already entered. No wisdom was applied here.
11. The texture of asphalt in the alley is changed:

12. Mindless frame enlargement continues to strike back:

13. The combat ambient in the mall was changed. I don't get it - either it sticks, or they redesigned it that way. Either way it sounds dumb.
14. Changed the sounds produced by the Closers (I thought it would be redundant to point out every time that the new sounds sound worse than the old ones. Consider it implied unless stated otherwise).
15. On the left lies a wooden money tray. Here it is:

The guys didn't manage to match the picture and what was modeled, and turned it into an incomprehensible thing with a smudge.

16. Bookstore. The doors used to reflect the interior of the store, now you can see what's outside behind them. And yes, they couldn't resist the subtle easter-eggs:

17. Some of the book covers are changed. It's impossible to make out what's there. Unless the textures are taken out of the collection:

18. In Heather's first meeting with Claudia, the line is changed. It was: "The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind", it became: "The rebirth of Paradise, unspoiled by mankind". At the same time in the sub is still "despoiled".
19. There's a different ambient in this conversation.
20. The image in front of Heather's eyes is no longer "floating".
21. On the Xbox, the screen fills with white instead of red when saving.
22. When using the TV (where Cheryl is) for some reason the save sound plays.
23. The fan sound (which needs to be turned off) is obnoxiously looped.
24. There is NO sound of the stairs, which Heather looks back at, breaking. Also NO sound of her looking back because of which afterward.
25. Heather is missing a pair of curls. Or not missing, but not visible from some angles - I couldn't understand:

26. Monsters are not shiny anymore.
27. "Walk on Vanity Ruins" is interrupted in the middle of a cutscene and starts over.
28. The scream when the head falls off the dummy is changed.
29. The phrase "It's been invaded by the otherworld..." is now voiced in a male voice.
30. Problems with textures in the office building. This occurs throughout the level, not just in this room:

31. "She was totally brainwashed by that crazy old hag" - "new" Vincent missed the word "totally".
32. "She is your mother after all" - "new" Vincent replaced "is" with "was".
33. "You don't know even that?" - "new" Vincent swapped "even" and "know".
34. In this dialog, Heather slams her hand on the door. There is no sound.
35. Harry's murder. Dance with night wind in the original did not start at the beginning of this scene, so that the main part with piano and violin enters just when Heather is mourning her father in his lap. Here's... well, you get it.
36. Unlike the original, you can see Harry's face:

37. In the original, the mourning scene was followed by the fading of both track and image. And then the revenge scene. Here the track continues to play until Heather climbs up to the roof.
38. Subtitles: "I'll get you for this!". "New" Heather: "I'll kill you, you bitch!". Bold! Fashionable! Youthful!
39. The split between the end and the beginning of "Please love me... once more" is too small, which breaks the rhythm.
40. For a second, a shadow of unknown origin appears on the car:

41. There is no ambient in this scene.
42. There is no water on the windshield in some angles.
43. Due to the much clearer water or mirror texture, the wall on the right, with the forest painted on it, is perfectly visible:

44. And of course, at the most heartbreaking moment, some shit looms before our eyes:

45. In the scene in the Jack's Inn motel, it's like a light turns on and off in front of Douglas. See for yourself.
46. That's a pretty weird glitch. Repeats at 3:51.
47. They moved the book away from the doll for some reason:

48. Extended version of the wall with a sticky substance:

49. Something's been done to the paper:

50 Changed the sound of the alarm clock.
51. The floor in the hospital rooms looks like this:

There is tile floor. However, in the image background the floor turns to wood:

52. The sound in the flashback with Lisa is completely changed. And Lisa is voiced. In the original, only the subs.
53. There are no shaders. And in the alternative hospital there are a lot of them:

54. By the time you can get out of the storage, it looks cleaner than the original:

55. The sound starts to glitch sometimes. It sounds like it's under distortion.
56. Flying flame:

57. "Heads No. 2" doesn't fade out at the previous cutscene, but continues to play right up to the start of the battle with Leonard. But there's no gurgling at close shots with him.
58. Vincent and Claudia's subsequent conversation lacks the original ambient.
59. Blatant "flying" of the camera out of level:

60. There are no Pendulums in the "real" amusement park either. As well as no cacophony of sounds. It's all quiet, peaceful and gray. Literally gray, because there's no red mist either.
61. "Lost Carol" starts disgustingly crookedly from the second second.
62. Douglas, like Heather, doesn't do well with his hair:

63. "Lost Carol" cuts off where the album version ends. The funny thing is that on the Silent Hill Sounds Box released a year ago, the original version is present. As you can see, the porters aren't really on board.
64. In this cutscene, in one of the angles, there are some anomalous streaks:

65. They changed the texture of the floor:

66. The voice in the haunted house, like all the other voices in this game, is completely devoid of any processing.
67. In the room with the man in the chair, the camera is very close up. Including the standard one behind Heather's back.
68. The sound accompanying the red fog lasts for about five seconds and is fucking looped. It's fine in the original.
69. I was wrong - there are some Pendulums. Though in incomparably smaller quantities.
70. Skillfully simulated depth of field pleases the eye.
71. "I guess that's the problem with older guys, huh?" - Heather says to Douglas in the original. She says the same thing here, but the subtitles say "with older guy."
72. Those highlights or whatever it is, they're gone:

73. In the final camera maneuver in this clip, the camera flies through Heather's leg:

74. "You can stay in your own little dream world. But you can't keep hurting other people" - "new" Heather missed "other".
75. "I'm just looking out for myself. Everyone does it. Huh." - This "huh" is not in the subtitles, but Vincent says it. In the original. Here, the "huh" part is voiced by Heather.
76. The inside of the lamp:

77. A typo in Dahlia's name:

78. Skillfully redrawn desk:

79. In one of the corridors of the church, a fog appeared inexplicably:

80. How red does the wall around the door look to you?

81. Skillful imitation of depth of field:

82. "If this really is the work of God, then i'd say She has lousy taste" - the "new" Vincent replaced "lousy" with "terrible".
83. Heather slams the door and scares Vincent with it. There is no sound.
84. At the moment, when Claudia stabs Vincent with the knife, the ambient goes silent. In the original. Only in it.
85. The ambient is suddenly joined by "Maternal Heart" and they start playing together. In the original, a modified version of "Innocent Moon" starts in this place. Naturally, the whole complex sound design in the scene is wasted.
86. Vincent is there but no blood or shadows.

87. In general, a bunch of nuances of intonation are not sustained in this and many other dialogs.
88. Original: "Shut your stinking mouth, bitch". Current: "Shut your mouth, you stinkin bitch".
89. God's fetus is considerably bloodier:

90. In the HD version, Vincent's body appears in some angles in the second half of the church scene. In the original, it is not present in this scene.

91. During the boss battle, the track ends and after a couple seconds of silence starts again.
92. The sound of the automatic rifle glitches like hell. In addition, the game slows down if you shoot from it for a long time.
93. Black tears:

94. I think they took Douglas's model from the Possessed ending and stuck him in a normal one: