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Silent Hill 2 remake has reached the late stage of production – development has been underway since 2019

The head of Bloober also revealed that Silent Hill 2’s budget is entirely covered by Konami. In addition, the Krakow team is already receiving funds for completing the following key milestones, and if successful, under the contract, will start earning extra money from the game.

Silent Hill 2 is being developed for PC and PlayStation 5 . Sony granted the game a one-year temporary console exclusivity.

If it's entirely funded by Konami why is it exclusive to PS?

That's BS.
 

Deerock71

Member
I'm not expecting Team Bloober to produce miraculous results, even after 3 years of development. I've played 3 games of theirs, and while they haven't been horrible, they've been a notch or two above acceptable. I suspect they're aiming for marginally better at best.
 

bender

What time is it?
I'm not expecting Team Bloober to produce miraculous results, even after 3 years of development. I've played 3 games of theirs, and while they haven't been horrible, they've been a notch or two above acceptable. I suspect they're aiming for marginally better at best.
yaaay-saturday-night-live.gif
 

EDMIX

Member
If it's entirely funded by Konami why is it exclusive to PS?

That's BS.

Its likely because the development is funded by Konami, the marketing is funded by Sony. So for all we know Konami was only willing to thru with the deal if one of those 2 where funded or something.

Keep in mind the marketing cost at times can even surpass the development cost.

During the development of the original Final Fantasy VII, Sony spent 100 million dollars to market it. That was wild back then, that is pretty normal today lol

Its not unusual for a COD to have 200 million to market. So its not for nothing if that makes any sense.
 

ABnormal

Member
That pretty much sums it up.
James is very self absorbed and oblivious to everything around him.
As for expressions..we can't really criticise them as the original lack them because how much effort was required just to do what was there.
It's not really a matter of expressions. Chararacterization and narration are simply different, in this version, and less significant and original. The initial scene shows a James who is frantic and nervous, agitated, bargin for some reasons in the bathroom. The original is depressed, weakened, resigned (not at all in a fighting or irately unaccepting disposition - that would not even have sense, knowing the story), and that is directly related to the truth beyond the story. This new overly emotional, trite movie characterization, shows trite and esplicit emotions because developers apparently are not able to convey the subtler and implicit emotions that the original was trying to convey with far more sensibility and ability, or developers simply didn't even understood the mood of the story. There seems to be the usual idea that "the more you show the richer the experience", an ignorant and superficial idea that makes everything trivial and forgettable. From and interview at the times of ps2, Team Silent told the interviewer that they were inspired more by Linch and King horror, with more introspection and silences rather than esplicit emotions and visible horror. And that was one of the aspects that brought SH2 to history as one of the best (the best in my opinion) console horror games of all times. The direction this one seems directed to, looks to be one that will be one of many others, much less original and impactful, memorable, different.
 
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dotnotbot

Member
Animations felt off for the entire teaser. Like it's a CGI movie from early 2000s but a little prettier and sharper. Even the splash screen with Marie's face looks a bit low budget.

They just don't have good enough talent at hand to make something outstanding.
 
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GenericUser

Member
....Its going to be Incredibly fascinating. SH2 is one of three games that made me appreciate Video games as an art form. I also have this condition that makes unable to feel nostalgia.

If you see SH2 just as a video game now a days (forget about the story) it would be relegated as a "walking simulator" with unispired, clunky gameplay.

The issue here is mysticism, legendary status around this game. That everything, and I am taking literally everything is there to make SH2 what it is.

Is not bad voice acting, is oneiric; reflects a world where their inhabitants live in a confused state struggling with their demons.

Clunky gameplay. James: a weak, vulnerable man, mentally destroyed, barely competent to fight these monsters

Pyramid Head = representation of James suffering; the other half of James.

Sexy Nurses: James's sexual repression.

And blah blah blah literary marathonic analysys and essays written about it.

As a I said:
rkG5r0b.jpg
Remaking Silent Hill 2 is like remaking the Mona Lisa. But as someone said, I have plenty of disposable income, so why not make a "financially irresponsible" decision. :messenger_beaming:
 
Its likely because the development is funded by Konami, the marketing is funded by Sony. So for all we know Konami was only willing to thru with the deal if one of those 2 where funded or something.

Keep in mind the marketing cost at times can even surpass the development cost.

During the development of the original Final Fantasy VII, Sony spent 100 million dollars to market it. That was wild back then, that is pretty normal today lol

Its not unusual for a COD to have 200 million to market. So its not for nothing if that makes any sense.

Yeah maybe they have a deal like that.

Sony is good at marketing and other Japanese companies don't know how to do it.

Still it's limiting market in big way for niche titles like this.

They should follow Yakuza lead and put it on gamepass like service for optimum exposure, if you are trying to build a long term franchise that is. Take a wad of cash instead, from MS.
 

ABnormal

Member
But I have never once heard of anyone call it a walking simulator until just now. There is more than enough combat.
Well, because at that time the term "walking simulator" didn't even exist. But it could be called one. Even developers themselves said that they were taking a bet on the very long introduction, where you only walk till the town. And even after that, action is quite scarce.
 

EDMIX

Member
Yeah maybe they have a deal like that.

Sony is good at marketing and other Japanese companies don't know how to do it.

Still it's limiting market in big way for niche titles like this.

They should follow Yakuza lead and put it on gamepass like service for optimum exposure, if you are trying to build a long term franchise that is. Take a wad of cash instead, from MS.
True, but this is also Konami, they are not known for making sense lol

All of last gen was completely wasted with that publisher so...who knows.
 
Yeah maybe they have a deal like that.

Sony is good at marketing and other Japanese companies don't know how to do it.

Still it's limiting market in big way for niche titles like this.

They should follow Yakuza lead and put it on gamepass like service for optimum exposure, if you are trying to build a long term franchise that is. Take a wad of cash instead, from MS.

It might have benefited more for them to go with Sony. With more of the Japanese Market on board with the brand and a higher install base going with Sony might have made more sense for them than Microsoft.

Also nothing is stopping this from coming to gamepass once the deal is up. It can also come to PlayStation Plus Extra as well.
 
It might have benefited more for them to go with Sony. With more of the Japanese Market on board with the brand and a higher install base going with Sony might have made more sense for them than Microsoft.

Also nothing is stopping this from coming to gamepass once the deal is up. It can also come to PlayStation Plus Extra as well.

I mean, there was no need to go exclusive just for marketing, when we have ways to market it heavily while reaching a broader audiance.

There is no reason for a title like this to remain niche and just release to your set audiance. Especially when development cost is rising.

Hopefully it will release day 1 on PS+ Extra so entire entire subscriber base will get to try it. A lot of people would hesitate to drop $70 if they are new to series for a short game.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Well, if it were to, if all the upcoming SH titles were to, then Konami would have even more tarnish on their name than they already do. Which, is already at insane levels.

That alone makes me feel like they know they can NOT fail, because if they do, everything fails and they may as well just give up on making games, period.

SH2 is one of my favorite games of all time, so of course I HOPE that it's good, hell, great even. But I'm not expecting anything.

I think that with a small studio who loves the genre it might be easier to keep them on a tight leash and guide them (look at Retro under Nintendo for example). The fact that Konami contracted both Ito and Yamaoka to work on this remake and supervise its development (and put their names in big bold fonts in the announcement) makes it clear to me they understand what is at stake.

My impression from The Medium is that they are a studio with fairly decent technical chops that are passionate for the supernatural and the psychological horror genres: with good funding, good supervision/direction, and without super rushed development schedules (three years for this remake should not be too rushed of a schedule).

Konami should have started from SH1 though and worked their way up though. SH2 is their most difficult game in the trilogy to remake as you are getting familiar with the series and trying to get a great understanding of what makes the entire thing tick: SH2 takes the town and it’s mysteries and layers on top of it a very personal, nuanced, complicated, and ultimately maddening personal descent of one person deeper and deeper in the pits of their madness and depression.

Starting from SH2 ties into the movie they want to launch next but SH1 —> SH2 —> SH3 would have been best. If they nail this though SH1 and SH3 remakes should be relatively quick for them to get right though as they are linked and more about the town itself and the cult.

I've always said that when a teaser is shown, it's probably 80% to 90% complete.

What I wonder is how they managed to develop it in the midst of a pandemic.
I think for teams that already had a good working relationship and functioned as a team well before the pandemic the shift to fully remote work was not as bad as some studios, which fought kicking and screaming against allowing remote work before and used the pandemic as an excuse to hide other issues (or to reduce costs), reported.

For experienced and dedicated artists and developers, modern collaborative tools and proper planning of the work, distribution of the work, and sync points for review still allowed development to go forward. I think timezone issues between Japan and Poland should have been the worst part of it to be fair.

I do wonder if without the pandemic this would have been a 2 or so years project that gained an extra year, but I want to put trust in Ito and Yamaoka’s direction here.
 
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Why Not? Konami was always manily Nintendo before they jumped ship to the PS and the SH series is for me seen more as a PS IP.

This makes no sense in this day and age.

When a lot of Japanese developers are seeing biggest success on Steam.

And their biggest issues are related to marketing and exposure in Western market.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I don't think anyone ever thought Silent Hill 2 was a walking simulator. I think that's what people fear Bloober will turn it into.
The term walking simulator is a BS term that has been way too overused. The best thing about it is perhaps that it spawned a classic such as Death Stranding which is actually a real simulator of walking and hiking lol, of the good kind.

People worried about janky combat and gameplay in a Silent Hill thread do make me laugh: have you ever played any of the Silent Hill classic games before? They are nothing BUT janky gameplay and combat, improving the combat would really not be the point of nailing these remakes but hey if they want to smooth it out sure… Harry, Heather, and James are NOT experienced fighters and it is not an action game.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
This makes no sense in this day and age.

When a lot of Japanese developers are seeing biggest success on Steam.

And their biggest issues are related to marketing and exposure in Western market.
The game is on PC too at launch so your comment is quite odd if you mention Steam. Also, in the western market PS is doing far more than ok.
 
The game is on PC too at launch so your comment is quite odd if you mention Steam. Also, in the western market PS is doing far more than ok.

Game is funded by Konami.

They likely went exclusive for marketing deal with Sony.

Which is counter productive and old school method. Niche ips like this should be as accessible as possible.
 
This makes no sense in this day and age.

When a lot of Japanese developers are seeing biggest success on Steam.

And their biggest issues are related to marketing and exposure in Western market.
Why Not?

SH2 was really one of the 1st games to show what the PS2 could do and a game where even DC owners would have say the system would have issue handling it. Konami always been a big supporter of SONY and so if they done a nice deal with the platform holder, that's fair enough.

And its also coming to the PC too, its only XBox owners who lose out for a year, but I'm sure XBox will have its own deals
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Game is funded by Konami.

They likely went exclusive for marketing deal with Sony.

Which is counter productive and old school method. Niche ips like this should be as accessible as possible.
Do not disagree, but it seems like something Konami pushed for to reduce RoI risks. It also reduces the amount of platform they are testing and releasing on which may make sense to them. The series has historically been associated with PS and likely what they are also banking on.

I am glad it is not a permanent exclusive as it is something I would not want others permanently excluded from. I can see your point, but from Konami’s perspective they likely got a good bargain higher than the sales on XSX|S and once the timed exclusivity period finishes they can negotiate a GamePass launch deal (expectations for niche titles is that they are free on GamePass maybe?).
 

Esppiral

Member
Yeah but that essentially means that Sony are funding it at some point.

I have zero confidence for the Bloober SH2 remake but I'll still play it because I've played every single Silent Hill game to this point
They are paying for a exclusivity time period, whatever Konami does with that money is irrelevant. The contract is not to fund the game but to lock it from other platforms.
 
I mean, there was no need to go exclusive just for marketing, when we have ways to market it heavily while reaching a broader audiance.

There is no reason for a title like this to remain niche and just release to your set audiance. Especially when development cost is rising.

Hopefully it will release day 1 on PS+ Extra so entire entire subscriber base will get to try it. A lot of people would hesitate to drop $70 if they are new to series for a short game.

But you yourself suggested they make a deal with Microsoft like they did with the medium.

How does that not make the game reach an even more narrow audience?

Anyways if Sony is paying a lot for the marketing then I don't see why it isn't a timed exclusive. It really depends on how much Sony is doing for them.
 
This makes no sense in this day and age.

When a lot of Japanese developers are seeing biggest success on Steam.

And their biggest issues are related to marketing and exposure in Western market.

It's coming to PC.

https://www.ign.com/articles/silent-hill-2-will-push-your-pc-to-its-limits

As reported by PC Gamer, Silent Hill 2 Remake's Steam page has revealed the recommended system specs demand a GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon 6800XT graphics card, as well as an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X equivalent processor with 16GB of RAM.
 
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I remember rumors that Sony bought the Silent Hill IP like three years ago. I think the only IP of Konami's that Sony would actually want to own is Metal Gear.
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
call me a resident evil/Capcom fanboy but there's no way this is gonna turn out well
Bloober team is an untalented, uninspired horrible studio who can't make a good game to save their life, look at the layers of fear duology and the medium



I'd only have hope if Sony had more involvement in the game besides funding it, otherwise just ignore this, the original Silent Hill 2 is still there on your PS2 and it ain't going anywhere
 
But you yourself suggested they make a deal with Microsoft like they did with the medium.

How does that not make the game reach an even more narrow audience?

Anyways if Sony is paying a lot for the marketing then I don't see why it isn't a timed exclusive. It really depends on how much Sony is doing for them.

Not like Medium, more like Back 4 Blood. Available everywhere including subscription services.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I am just talking from a marketing point of view.

It's like: Sony has shown the template of how to present Videogames (AAA Story Driven Ones):

An in-game mood/vibes video. Then gameplay.

The point that I am trying to make is that; people in charge of Marketing/PR (I bet my three hairy balls) they don't love bad PR/Marketing.

The game being bad or good at the end, is irrelevant.


This was a Silent Hill Presentation...you are about the reboot/re-introduce a dormant IP. You are going re-make a cult classic.
+ all the rumours and leaks = people knew what are you going to show already.

I don't really understand how these people don't get the importance of the first impressions.
That's what I mean. If you noticed, Sony switched up marketing strategies. Show a teaser, get everyone buzzing. They will release things slowly over time, then drop a gameplay writeup with the changes, then a more robust blowout a month out.

They know in the sea of 8 second memories, it can get lost in the sauce. So you do the major marketing blitz when the thing is ready to launch. Like they have been doing for almost all their first party and third part deals the past 4 years or so.

Some are okay with it, some hate it that were used to the old style. Either way, we all forget all about the quietness when they're pushing the marketing close to launch. Example, GoWR right now. Nobody is complaining any more about "where's the gameplay" since they're getting marketed to every week now up to launch.

Animations felt off for the entire teaser. Like it's a CGI movie from early 2000s but a little prettier and sharper. Even the splash screen with Marie's face looks a bit low budget.

They just don't have good enough talent at hand to make something outstanding.
So... it's closer to the original than people claim. ;)

And, it's a lot prettier.
 
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Marketing?
Sony was really interested because of it's history with Playstation?
Sony Pictures is making another Silent Hill as part of its revival.
Sony was probably heavily involved in all of it.
Which is why i think they could be saving “the big one” for a showcase.
 

Excoman

Banned
I feel sorry for those people who play Silent Hill 2 for the first time and playing this Remake version
Most people could care less about how much the original game was good, or not at the time.

SH2 may have meant something 20 years ago, and it is nice that franchise is revived, but compared to popular things nowadays, it's nothing special.
 

EDMIX

Member
Niche ips like this should be as accessible as possible.

Yea but....they are also "niche"...thus its more risky to do this type of AAA on several platforms at once, on top of paying for marketing. So...I think this makes sense for Konami to just have Sony pay for marketing and they'll just port later on or even better have MS pay for the port if they want it so bad.

Most of the fanbase is on PS anyway, so I doubt Konami is missing much, they'll get those sales the next year from some MS port deal or somethin.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Yea but....they are also "niche"...thus its more risky to do this type of AAA on several platforms at once, on top of paying for marketing. So...I think this makes sense for Konami to just have Sony pay for marketing and they'll just port later on or even better have MS pay for the port if they want it so bad.

Most of the fanbase is on PS anyway, so I doubt Konami is missing much, they'll get those sales the next year from some MS port deal or somethin.
They'll read the sales numbers continuing to decline over time and just accept Game Pass cash.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I feel sorry for those people who play Silent Hill 2 for the first time and playing this Remake version
I don't. Folks that missed out on it this long either don't care, or they're kiddos that just aren't interested, haha. So they're not sweating over it. However, they could play the originals if they really wanted to. I can't help but think the majority of those that weren't born when the originals released probably think the OGs are "dated and crappy" looking.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic about this remake either. Nor am I expecting it to be the holy grail. I just hope that it's decent, good, or great. But I'm not putting any hype into it until I know for sure.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I don't. Folks that missed out on it this long either don't care, or they're kiddos that just aren't interested, haha. So they're not sweating over it. However, they could play the originals if they really wanted to. I can't help but think the majority of those that weren't born when the originals released probably think the OGs are "dated and crappy" looking.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic about this remake either. Nor am I expecting it to be the holy grail. I just hope that it's decent, good, or great. But I'm not putting any hype into it until I know for sure.
Playing the original legally and at a decent quality is getting a bit difficult for many… the HD collection was a major screwup…
 
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