SH2 Remake does most of the original stuff slightly worse (graphics are good though) but all of its new stuff is really good. New endings are good, new details are good, new cutscenes with Angela are good, etc. Most of the changes are neutral for me; Maria being less sexy is annoying since it's such an obvious "woke" change for a character that's SUPPOSED to be objectified, but they really tried to make Maria an actual character this time and make the Maria ending way more logical.

My main issue with the game is how padded and long it is WITHOUT adding enough story and extra content to make up for it. Like I would expect at least one new scene for Eddie & Laura to flesh them out more and justify the longer run time. Enemy variety and the combat is also greatly improved from the original; but the problem is you're kinda forced to do it. In OG Silent Hill 2 you can run past almost every enemy and are encouraged to do so since it's almost totally pointless. In the remake you're encouraged to fight every enemy because of the camera angle and increased control/combat ability of James. The combat has replaced the slow and measured exploration aspect of the original as the main "meat" of the content. It isn't even that bad, but anyone who says the original has better combat is trolling.

They added new enemy types in the games as variants (because adding whole new monster designs would probably be sacrilegious and just not fly), but they kinda did with the Mandolin and it mostly worked. I really liked the variant numb bodies and mannequins, and the nurses are fun even if a little samey and too tanky. I think a lot of the issue comes with how often you fight the same enemies over and over; like they didn't know how to space them out across the game properly.

To keep it fresh, I would have cut enemy encounters down by like at least 10% to 20%. Then, give each area a unique roster of enemies to deal with.