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Silent Hill 2 Remake aims to be faithful, will adjust scare factors for “contemporary audiences”?

https://nichegamer.com/silent-hill-2-remake-faithful-adjust-contemporary/

Chief Marketing Officer Anna Jasińska talked up the developers two games currently in the works: Layers of Fear and the Silent Hill 2 Remake. She was asked about how the team came to be the ones taking on the mantle of remaking such an influential game.

“The fact that we’re developing a Silent Hillgame is an honor and a dream come true. Silent Hill 2 is a classic that shaped how our studio works on psychological horrors,” Jasińska said to Dread XP.

She added, “The idea of working on this project stalked us for many years, and in 2019, we received an invitation from Konami to participate in the Tokyo Games Show. To our delight, Konami asked us to prepare a concept for a remake of the original game’s second installment in exchange for the opportunity of bringing the concept to life.”

While she couldn’t give more details due to the game still being in the middle of development, Jasińska did talk up their approach to recreating the classic horror game.

“Longtime fans shouldn’t worry about us ‘missing the point’ while we’re livening up the title. We faithfully stick to the traditional story canon while remaking the gameplay and updating the graphics from the ground up,” she said.

“As you see, we are not straying away from the original concept of making this cult classic; we just have some ideas on how to make the peculiar scare factors more appealing to the contemporary audience.”

So far, the changes made for the “contemporary audience” primarily seem to be targeted towards gameplay.

Instead of the fixed camera angles seen in the original Silent Hill 2, the game will be more akin to the Resident Evil Remakeswith an over-the-shoulder view instead.

Combat is also overhauled, which could be a concern as there was a reason for the jankiness in the original beyond just “hardware limitations”.

When it comes to story elements, Jasińska wouldn’t say as they still remain secret details, like the famous Pyramid Head kitchen scene. Though she does say Bloober Team are taking a “safe approach to any changes” and that they’ll apply adjustments to certain areas that “need modernizing due to the passage of time”.

Silent Hill 2 Remake is coming to Windows PC (via Steam) and PlayStation 5 (as a console exclusive, for a year).

Not sure how reliable the source is, but for some reason I definitely believe this based on what’s been going on in the industry with “modern audiences”. I highly doubt this is a good thing.

Not sure how reliable the source is, but based on the current trajectory of the gaming industry, I absolutely believe this. This probably isn’t a good thing, but we’ll see what happens.
 
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-Zelda-

Banned
Are modern feminst sjws going to ruin this game also? You think they would love it because SPOILERS BELOW






This game is about Silent Hill Punishing James for Murdering his wife, and also the fact the enemies have a theme of punishing James sexual views on women via the nurses design, and also Maria basically being his ideal woman that silent also uses to punish him.

This is a case of these people not paying attention to context, thus defeating their own argument.

James may be sympathetic, but that is not completely true on the whole. Even if he hates himself upon the big reveal, everything in this game basically calls James out for being a piece of shit.
 

ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
Bye bye Pyramid Head rape scene?
kas5FIT.jpg
 
I wonder how they will handle how Silent Hill 2 hints at Walter Sullivan. Will that be in the remake? Also, how will they handle Heaven's Night?
 
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ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
Are modern feminst sjws going to ruin this game also? You think they would love it because SPOILERS BELOW






This game is about Silent Hill Punishing James for Murdering his wife, and also the fact the enemies have a theme of punishing James sexual views on women via the nurses design, and also Maria basically being his ideal woman that silent also uses to punish him.

This is a case of these people not paying attention to context, thus defeating their own argument.

James may be sympathetic, but that is not completely true on the whole. Even if he hates himself upon the big reveal, everything in this game basically calls James out for being a piece of shit.
is quite nuance in fact.



Trigger Warning for fellows with purple sensibilities:



James is the real victim here.



with that clickbaity/inflammatory/"problematic" statement out of the way.




the real...heartbreaking, narattive achievement that Team Silent manage to do with this game (an specific irreplaceable moment in time in gaming history)

and something my virgin teenage brain didn't register at the time (until I listen to a Guy Cihi interview) and experience real relationships.


Guy Cihi was experiencing a tough divorce at the moment of portraying James. I quite not remember the specifics but he felt in james's shoes dealing with someone blaming him fot the failure.

So....being in that position of Mary blaming james, and this dude being mentallly destroyed for the entire game; both of them being pieces of shit to each other.

....oh...that later at the end.

James got reduced to the horny, pathetic, wife murdered.

when we are actually dealing with a broken man.
 
Pyramid Head will just be Andrew Tate telling James his wife couldn't drive better than him anyway. Seems to horrify people these days. In all seriousness, from the text in the OP, it seems like logical changes as far as gameplay is concerned since the original is definitely a janky mess by today's standards. The original themes might be a bit more difficult push, but they were obtuse enough back then. Now the game has been dissected to death and everyone knows what it all means, so you can't really get anything by as easily. Still interested, because I'm definitely never playing the original again.
 

TonyK

Member
I prefer Unreal 5 graphics without the kitchen scene than PS1 graphics with it, so I can live with a possible censorship meanwhile the gameplay is good.
 

Power Pro

Member
All we needed was a good HD collection.... Why couldn't you just go away, Bloober?
Why do I feel like I see this consensus a lot? Bloober may not have the best writers to come up with original material, but if they're working on a faithful remake of a beloved game, they might still be the perfect developer for this. The team is clearly fans of the original Silent Hill games, and have tried to come close to doing something similar. Mechanically, their games have always seemed sound, it's just the writing is kind of a miss. At least now they're working off of existing material, and I'm actually pretty optimistic about how this could turn out.
 
Why do I feel like I see this consensus a lot? Bloober may not have the best writers to come up with original material, but if they're working on a faithful remake of a beloved game, they might still be the perfect developer for this. The team is clearly fans of the original Silent Hill games, and have tried to come close to doing something similar. Mechanically, their games have always seemed sound, it's just the writing is kind of a miss. At least now they're working off of existing material, and I'm actually pretty optimistic about how this could turn out.
And I don't get this defense. Story and storytelling aren't the same thing. You can work with an established plot and still tell it poorly yourself. And the trailer doesn't inspire confidence that this won't be the case here.
 
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All we needed was a good HD collection.... Why couldn't you just go away, Bloober?
I think SH2 was one of my best game experiences to date, but there’s no way I’m going to play that game again.
Even back then the combat and controls were nothing to write home about (hah), but according to today’s standards it’s outright unplayable…

Bloober or not, I’ll give ‘m the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.
 

Power Pro

Member
And I don't get this defense. Story and storytelling aren't the same thing. You can work with an established plot and still tell it poorly yourself. And the trailer doesn't inspire confidence that this won't be the case here.
My defense comes from a place of just being tired of being outraged. People have been wanting a return of the Silent Hill franchise for a long time, and the fact that Konami came back in full force with multiple projects is something to be celebrated. I'm just tired of being angry and not being optimistic about something, and just want to wait and see how it turns out.

I personally never had a chance to play the original Silent Hill 2. I think the only games I've ever finished in the series was the original first when it came out, and Shattered Memories on the Wii. It's always been a series I could get into more, so I'm hoping the remake is a good way to experience it.
 
I think SH2 was one of my best game experiences to date, but there’s no way I’m going to play that game again.
Even back then the combat and controls were nothing to write home about (hah), but according to today’s standards it’s outright unplayable…

Bloober or not, I’ll give ‘m the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.
Something like the REmake port added analogue controls, this would seem like a standard thing for a good HD remaster. I know what some people say - the source code is gone, or whatever, so Konami couldn't have recreated SH2 either way. But when there's a HD fan version out there that made the original more accessible, surely there could've been a way to make a good port that preserves the original experience for a bigger audience.
 
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My defense comes from a place of just being tired of being outraged. People have been wanting a return of the Silent Hill franchise for a long time, and the fact that Konami came back in full force with multiple projects is something to be celebrated. I'm just tired of being angry and not being optimistic about something, and just want to wait and see how it turns out.

I personally never had a chance to play the original Silent Hill 2. I think the only games I've ever finished in the series was the original first when it came out, and Shattered Memories on the Wii. It's always been a series I could get into more, so I'm hoping the remake is a good way to experience it.
Well, you will only experience SH2 if you play the original SH2.This is not a "graphics and QOL"-remake like Ocarina of Time or Shadow of the Colossus. Even the latter, which were made by much more acclaimed developers, were called out by fans for atmospheric changes in the art direction. So this SH2 remake with entirely new game design and a retold plot will simply not give you the original experience. This is true even for great reimaginings like RE2 - it's completely different from the original.

And that's the problem. Let's pretend Bloober outdoes itself and creates an okay-ish new Silent Hill game. That would be fine. But the fact that it carries the SH2 name makes it blegh.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
I think Angela's story might be in danger of being altered or rewritten as that might be a tough pill to swallow for today's sensitive audience. Otherwise I just hope these changes they mention will be about gameplay, or possibly adding more cheap scares instead of the psychological torment that the characters experience.
 

dotnotbot

Member
Is this another fake rumor like the one with GTA Definitive Editions? My gut says yes.
 
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Put it like this. Would you rather it was like how Capcom treated their remakes of RE2 and 3? Cutting out stuff right up the arse, repeating boss fights, taken out notable weapons, areas, and enemy types, and making Leon into a soy boy? I don't get why that didn't seem to bother any of the RE fanboys.

Nah. That just ain't my idea of providing fan service. Bloober Team will hopefully not George Lucas the original material too deeply, though.
 

brian0057

Banned
Put it like this. Would you rather it was like how Capcom treated their remakes of RE2 and 3? Cutting out stuff right up the arse, repeating boss fights, taken out notable weapons, areas, and enemy types, and making Leon into a soy boy? I don't get why that didn't seem to bother any of the RE fanboys.

Nah. That just ain't my idea of providing fan service. Bloober Team will hopefully not George Lucas the original material too deeply, though.
If this is true (and given this is Bloober Team we're talking about, in all likelihood it is), then there's no reason to play this remake and not the superb Enhanced Edition community mod.
 
To be honest, I always consider Konami's fans to be more intelligent and understanding, as well as sympathetic than the people who support Capcom. I really cannot say the same about some Capcom fanboys. It's like they must know Capcom is doing us survival horror fans dirty by mucking up the original games and making these fairytale RE games like RE8, when they are not kept busy wrecking games via remakes. But I guess because it is something new, sequels are judged differently.

I also think sequels receive less criticism because you cannot say that like with remakes, there is going to be much cut content. But I do have to wonder if some games just intentionally use the name of an IP people love, while only having a minor link to that IP. RE8 had forced in connections so you know that a primary villain from the past knew the main villain in that game. Just because...

Concern is rampant with me. I don't want the SH franchise to be downgraded. I certainly feel like it had went that way before the long hiatus, but Capcom really did not impress me much after say, 2015. Despite what they pumped out, some games were a let down. RE7 was okay. But the remakes had an unacceptable amount of axed content, and the characters look odd with the new engine. Even James Sunderland looks pretty weird as well.
 

sachos

Member
"Scare factor for contemporary audiences", sounds like they will add loud non diegetic sound jump scares wich constitutes like 90% of "horror" in horror media be it games or movies.
 

Doom85

Member
Bye bye Pyramid Head rape scene?

You mean the ”not actually rape” scene? Masahiro Ito said the scene was meant to have the appearance of something sexual but without anything sexual actually occurring. I mean, James IS guilty of doing something horrible, and he (and certain fans) might try to deny that all he wishes, but I never saw any indication James had ever raped anyone or had the desire to. So fans claiming Pyramid Head raping something was always illogical anyway. Even if James is sexually frustrated, that doesn’t mean he’s automatically guilty of considering rape of all things.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Maria will be de-sexualised, of that I have little doubt.

James's mental illness will be softened and made more 'sympathetic'. Angela's will be as well.

The sexual assault elements will certainly be toned down.

This will end up being Silent Hill 2, with the grit removed.
And that will be a BIG mistake because the sexual nature of the character is not only part of what makes the game feel how it feels, it's also a key part of the whole story
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
This all a lie. They actually WILL adjust the story for contemporary audiences.

Spoiler for SH2
we find out James is actually a trans man we have been playing as the whole time and the "Mary" he killed was his cisgendered self before becoming trans.
You know, if it was an original game it wouldn't be so bad, I'd like to know how it follows from there (and I'm not being sarcastic), you have talent buddy!
 
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