Summary
- Silent Hill 2 Remake may be veering towards a more action-oriented gameplay, which was not the focus of the original game's narrative-driven experience.
- The remake's latest trailer showcased combat and action portions heavily, potentially raising concerns among longtime fans who appreciate the series for its unsettling atmosphere and psychological horror elements.
- Balancing the remake to live up to the original Silent Hill 2's reputation without alienating fans by emphasizing combat too much will be a challenge for Bloober Team.
Konami's Silent Hill series is a bedrock of survival horror games, reaching back to 1999 when it first entered the scene and more or less set the blueprint for terrifying and disturbing titles that explored mature themes via complex characters and nerve-rattling design. Side by side with Capcom's Resident Evil, Silent Hill was a codifier and pioneer of the genre, and created a lasting legacy that stretches decades across multiple titles, each adding to and iterating upon its foundations to varying degrees of success as well as fan and critical reception.
Among the entries in the franchise, 2001's Silent Hill 2 often tops fans' choice for its best and most memorable releases. Bloober Team, known for its psychological horror-flavored walking simulator Layers of Fear series, as well as titles like Observer and The Medium, revealed in 2022 that it was working with Konami to develop a complete remake of Silent Hill 2 for the current generation. And recently, at PlayStation's State of Play in January, Silent Hill 2 remake's latest trailer was revealed, showing off more gameplay and other details. The footage appeared to feature combat and action portions fairly heavily, which may ring some alarm bells for longtime fans, given that this aspect was never really the focus of SH, at least particularly not in the original version of Silent Hill 2.
Though still ostensibly on track, the recent Silent Hill 2 remake trailer did not provide a firm release window for it.
Silent Hill 2 Remake's Latest Trailer Contains Some Possible Red Flags
Silent Hill's Core Tenets
From its earliest onset, Silent Hill distinguished itself by focusing on surrealistic and psychologically based survival horror angles and presentation (especially compared to its contemporaries like Resident Evil and others.) Silent Hill's unsettling atmosphere and design along with its twisting story is incredibly iconic, and forms a major part of its core identity. As the first game laid the base and established many of the ingredients that comprised the sub-genre of psych/thriller survival, original developer Team Silent learned from and refined these elements for the followup a few years later with Silent Hill 2, which, as mentioned, is usually regarded as the pinnacle and defining SH experience. Subsequent entries, some by various other studios, attempted to recapture the heights of SH2, but in almost all cases were regarded as not quite able to match its heights.
Silent Hill 2 Remake Looks More Action-Oriented Than Ever
The original Silent Hill 2's focus was first and foremost on the mental state of protagonist James Sunderland, as his descent into the titular town and encounters with its terrifying manifestations became ever more disconcerting. Although players did acquire weapons along the way, SH2's core focus was not combat, as it served primarily as a tangential vehicle to deliver the narrative and reflect James' increasingly deteriorating disposition. From what was shown in the remake's latest trailer, though, James is frequently seen fending off various foes using both melee and firearms. Much of the footage can be said to closely resemble the action in the modern Resident Evil remakes, with a similar over-the-shoulder camera perspective and even quick-time prompts to escape grappling enemies. It seems striking, then, that this aspect was emphasized more over the other narrative components that SH2 is most well-known for.
While Bloober Team will likely and understandably be reimagining recognizable elements from the original Silent Hill 2 in the remake, given its lauded status in the series, veering too far away from SH2's previous design and shifting to deeper action-oriented gameplay and feel may risk diminishing what fans know and enjoy it most for. Bloober Team thus has a big balancing act in front of it to deliver a remake that lives up to the original's reputation without risking alienating audiences by adjusting too much in favor of heavier combat that threatens to sideline the story.
- Released
- January 31, 1999
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence
- Developer(s)
- Konami
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Engine
- Unreal Engine
- Franchise
- Silent Hill
WHERE TO PLAY
In Silent Hill, you assume the role of widower Harry Mason, who is trying to get away from the pain of his wife's loss by taking his daughter on a road trip. After a car accident on the outskirts of the resort town of Silent Hill, you regain consciousness to find that your daughter, who was previously asleep in the backseat, has left--or has been taken--from the scene. To find her, you must go into town and unlock the secrets that linger seven years after a tragic fire scarred the town.
The game features formidable monsters, perplexing puzzles, a realistic 3-D town, and, most of all, an acute sense of foreboding caused by Silent Hill's creative lighting and sound effects. The makers have included four different endings, based on performance throughout the game, so think, be quick on your feet, and hope for the best of all possible outcomes.
- Platform(s)
- PS1
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- How Long To Beat
- 7 Hours
- Metascore
- 86
