The highly anticipated PC release of Silent Hill 2 has left many players frustrated due to pervasive performance issues, especially stuttering, a problem that continues to plague Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) titles. While Bloober Team has made some commendable efforts in bringing this classic horror game to modern hardware, the game’s inconsistent performance has overshadowed much of its potential.
Many recent Unreal Engine 5 games, including Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, have suffered from similar stuttering problems, and unfortunately, Silent Hill 2 is no exception. While shader compilation stuttering—a common issue in other games—has been mitigated, traversal stutter remains a significant challenge. This kind of stuttering occurs when moving through the game world, causing momentary but highly disruptive hitches in frame-time, breaking the game’s immersion. Even top-tier hardware, such as the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, struggles to maintain a smooth experience, with noticeable frame-time spikes even when running at over 100fps.
On the positive side, Silent Hill 2‘s PC version does offer some impressive graphical features, many of which go beyond what’s available on the PlayStation 5. For instance, the PC port includes hardware-accelerated Lumen for superior global illumination and reflections, making the lighting and reflective surfaces far more realistic than the software-based solution found on consoles. However, these visual improvements come at a cost, as there are numerous graphical glitches, such as flickering grass and “boiling” reflection artifacts.
Adding to the frustration is that some visual elements seem hard-locked at 30fps, including cutscenes and animations like fluttering cloth. While this doesn’t affect the overall frame-rate of the game, it introduces awkward visual inconsistencies, especially for players with higher-end rigs who expect smoother performance across the board. The use of v-sync also contributes to inconsistent frame pacing, particularly noticeable when aiming for higher refresh rates.
Despite these technical hiccups, the PC modding community has stepped in to alleviate some of the issues. Mods that swap in DLSS ray reconstruction help resolve the denoising issues with Lumen reflections, while other tweaks enhance the rendering of glass and transparency. However, these fan-made fixes only address part of the problem and can’t resolve the core performance challenges inherent to Unreal Engine 5.
The real culprit appears to be traversal stutter, and it’s an issue deeply rooted in UE5 itself. While some users have attempted to fix the problem by capping the frame-rate to 30fps, this only masks the issue rather than solving it. What’s more concerning is the presence of animation stutter—an even more perplexing issue. Even when performance is artificially stabilized at a lower frame-rate, stuttering can still occur due to how the engine handles game updates. This problem is evident not only in Silent Hill 2, but also in other UE5 titles like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
The root cause of these issues remains unclear. Is it a problem with Unreal Engine 5, Windows, or perhaps a combination of both? While developers and modders have done what they can, these performance problems need to be addressed at a fundamental level, ideally by Epic Games, the creators of the engine.
As it stands, Silent Hill 2 on PC is a visually striking but deeply flawed experience. The game’s atmosphere and graphical prowess are undeniable, but until the performance issues are resolved, a smooth and immersive experience remains out of reach for many players. For now, the game offers glimpses of what it could be, but the ongoing stuttering problems—particularly traversal and animation-related—prevent it from realizing its full potential.
