The long road to the launch of the anticipated Silent Hill 2 remake is coming to an end, as the official release date was finally revealed last week (with the title, probably predictably, set to come out just weeks before Halloween). But there’s a bit of a stink in the air surrounding the game, and it seems like this modern take on one of the most influential horror releases ever is going to have to be pretty much perfect.
In the current era of remakes, remasters, and re-imaginings, it can be easy to feel a little bogged down by an industry that’s too eager to tick the nostalgia box rather than deliver something fresh. However, a quick look at games like Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Final Fantasy 7, and the work Nightdive Studios has been doing on classics like Quake 2 shows there’s still room for it in the market, it seems.
But despite the excitement that should be surrounding Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake, there are a number of doubts that are putting the whole project under a lot of pressure to succeed.
Reigniting the influence
There’s an argument to be made about not fixing something that isn’t broken. As one of the most influential horror games of all time, remaking it is surely a tall order. Silent Hill – especially the second one – has made its mark on the genre, preserved in the annals of gaming history as a staple of how to create something atmospheric with lashings of delicious psychological torment to go with it. To some, the second installment is the perfect horror game.
That’s not to say it can’t be done. You only have to look at Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 4 to see there’s scope for revitalizing older games to give them another go in more modern eras. Much like Silent Hill 2, the original RE4 has been hugely influential, which renders a potential remake a dangerous line to tread, but we know it can be done. However, there’s one thing that’s probably crossed people’s minds about it.
What’s the connection between these remade franchises: Resident Evil, The Last of Us, and Dead Space? They were all done by the developer who created the original. Maybe not the exact same people, but certainly the studio itself. With Silent Hill 2, it’s being made by a different team entirely; one that, although it has a reputation in the horror sphere – as well as being influenced by Team Silent’s work – was not even around when the original was released. Placing a remake of a beloved game into the hands of another is an exercise in trust.
What we’ve seen so far
The Silent Hill Transmission that took place in 2022 had a lot of people excited. Finally, after years of speculation and dormancy, Konami’s horror series was getting new games, a new film, and more attention than ever before. Would this be the triumphant return many of us had been hoping for?
But the outpouring since then has left much to be desired. The interactive Ascension has not stood as a bastion of achievement in terms of rejuvenating the Silent Hill name. Metacritic is currently showing a user score of 0.8 out of 67 reviews, with the likes of IGN giving it just 50 out of 100.
Perhaps less tragic – though still not really noteworthy – was this year’s A Short Message. Although it’s done better than Ascension, with a Metacritic review score of 53 and a user score of 6.3, it leaves the Silent Hill 2 remake with a lot of slack to pick up. SH2 is not a brand-new entry in the series, but it’s seemingly going to have to do more than coast on nostalgic reputation alone given what we’ve seen of the reemergence so far.
Bloober Team’s track record
Whatever your thoughts on Bloober Team, the studio has managed to make a name for itself in the horror genre, despite going up against the likes of Naughty Dog, Capcom, and even Frictional Games of Amnesia fame. But this esteem is not without its criticism. Bloober has a knack for visual quality and a disturbing aesthetic that has pricked up a few ears, but there are some problematic things about the developer that people can’t shake.
This TechRadar article from a couple of years ago laments the studio’s inability to represent mental health in any agreeable way. The troubled artist from Layers of Fear, the protagonist in The Medium who was abused as a child; there’s a sense that the developer uses these angles as a demonizing tactic, and it’s unclear whether Bloober has learned from this. The writer of that article does not appear to be alone in such criticisms.
Given that Silent Hill 2 deals quite heavily with trauma and psychological issues, there’s bound to be concern that a remake from the Layers of Fear studio could encounter similar backlash. However, if Bloober is aiming for a faithful recreation of the original, then such issues should not be a problem, right? But therein lies a further question: why remake something like-for-like (only with modern visuals and control schemes) without an injection of new sensibilities, mechanics, techniques, the developer’s own flavor, etc.? Answers on a postcard.
It’s not P.T.
We all miss it. We all wonder what the final product would have been like, especially with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s names attached. Although it’s been ten years since P.T. came and went, it still hangs in the air to some extent, and it’s likely the Silent Hill 2 remake will get compared to the canceled project. But maybe I’m doing Bloober a bit of a disservice.
A game with such recognition and high praise is going to be the subject of scrutiny when it comes to releasing an official remake of it. Taking a beloved franchise and handing the reigns over to a studio that’s not without its fair share of detractors is likely going to draw a bit of ire regardless. Everyone’s going to be watching Bloober Team on October 8, and I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that some may be scathing by default.
Personally, I think some of the current negativity surrounding the remake is a little unfair, likely down to a frustrated audience that wants to see this new era of Silent Hill succeed. But I think – judging by some of the YouTube comments posted on the video linked above – things are in danger of bordering on nasty, maybe even verbally aggressive, from a fan base that’s hungry for blood.
Maybe there’s some legitimate criticism of what we’ve seen in trailers and teasers so far. This article dives a little deeper into some of the design choices of the remake, with particular reference to how changing the clothes of Maria detracts from her significance as a duplicitous femme fatale who reminds James of his dead wife. How much of this is simply the wailing sound of “dudebros” upset that a female character has been modernized to look less sexual, as opposed to this new look missing the point of the original’s intent, is not clear.
At any rate, Bloober is under a lot of pressure to make sure Silent Hill 2 is pure and flawless; not one iota less. If it strays too far from the original, it’ll displease the older fans. Similarly, if it’s a 100% retelling of the 2001 release, it’ll feel a little pointless (see also: the 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Psycho). If it doesn’t straddle the line between freshness and nostalgia, but with a fair representation of the game’s themes, the backlash could be brutal. Honestly, it feels lose-lose at this point.
