Remaking an iconic game from the turn of the century is no easy task, but having spent close to four hours playing the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake at a recent media preview event in Tokyo, it’s clear that Japanese publisher Konami and Polish developer Bloober Team have rebuilt the 2001 survival horror game into something new to appeal to modern players, while still retaining the elements that made the game so iconic to behind with.
Accordingly to Bloober Team creative director Mateusz Lenart, his team did make attempts to modernise the game by updating the puzzles, in-game atmosphere and game controls to make it more immersive and engaging for today’s audiences, but the game still retains pretty much 95% of its original content, staying true to what made the original Silent Hill 2 so iconic in the first place, from the ominous score, to memorable creatures and immersive story-telling.
The game should take players 18 to 20 hours to complete on their first playthrough, and here are five things that the team has improved from the original.
#1. Fog-filled town recreated in 4K with additional areas to explore
Fans of the 2001 original will remember the creepy town of Silent Hill engulfed in fog. For the remake, the town, located somewhere in Maine, USA, has never looked more beautiful, and eerie. Every detail of the town has been painstakingly recreated in glorious 4K resolution, complete with ray-tracing and fog effects. As a nice little bonus, new buildings and locations have also been added that is sure to satisfy completists who love to explore every nook and cranny of the map, to pick up all story elements and items before proceeding to the next main objective.
There’s nothing more satisfying than smashing every car window along the streets to find some ammo or health drink. No way to get into a random store along the street? Just smash the window and vault or squeeze right in to explore. Not only that, but certain entry points throughout the town, both indoors and outdoors are subtly marked with white cloth and rags, indicating them as “traversal points” so players will have a slightly easier time spotting certain points of interest.
#2. Reworked soundtrack and emotional cutscenes
The remake utilises 3D audio to great success and when using a headset, we could hear exactly where the Creeper (large cockroach-like insect) is scurrying from, whether it was from the corner of the room floor on the left, or even on the wall behind the player, it allows for quick turns in the right direction and stomping on it with ease. It also never fails to send a chill down our spine when we hear the crackling sound of the Mannequin creature in the next room or around the corner.
Soundtrack-wise, all the game’s music has been reworked from the ground up by the original game’s music composer, Akira Yamaoka, who shared that he had composed over 9 hours of music for the game. The score changes with each location and switches up situationally, on the fly, which heightens the tension for the player when danger looms near, or when a new location is introduced.
The cutscenes are of course, completely reworked with state-of-the-art facial motion capture that not only delivers subtle eye and mouth movement but also brings across the details of every character’s emotions far beyond the original’s. Luke Roberts (Holby City, Black Sails) plays the game’s protagonist, James Sunderland, while Icelandic actress Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (Pennyworth, The Lazarus Project) plays his deceased wife, Mary/Maria.
Both actors not only possess the right level of skills to deliver the emotional performances Konami was gunning for, but according to Silent Hill series producer, Motoi Okamoto, the actors were selected partly due to their similarities (looks and mannerisms) to the game’s characters.
Check out the cast interview below for an insight into how the actors took on these new, yet familiar roles.
#3. Immersive over-the-shoulder camera & tense combat
The original’s fixed camera has been changed to a more immersive, over-the-shoulder approach, similar to those used in modern-day remakes of other recent survival horror game remakes, including Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space. This serves to not only create more blind spots that elevate the overall tension, but also significantly raise the fear levels for the player. Combat has also been improved, as melee attacks land with way more precision and impact, while dodging enemy attacks feels intuitive and responsive. Yes, James can finally dodge attacks too, and the addition of a quick 180-degree snap turn is handy in situations when he has to make a run for it.
For gunplay, the team has added the ability for James to aim at different parts of the enemies, even while moving (yes!). And yes, shooting at the enemy’s legs will slow them down and create the opening James needs to save some ammo and dash in to use melee to finish the job. Once the enemies are down on the ground, James can even stomp on them to finish them off. Dead Space fans will know just how satisfying that feeling is, to be able to constantly stomp on each enemy’s corpse, just to make extra sure they are not getting up again. This nice little feature is present in Silent Hill 2, complete with satisfying bloody squishy audio cues, minus the dismemberment. Unfortunately, there are no dismemberment mechanics in Silent Hill 2. Perhaps it’s something to be added in the next Silent Hill game?
#4. Creature updates & new Spider Mannequin
Although there are no new creatures introduced to the remake, iconic creatures such as the Mannequins, Nurses and Pyramid Head have all been remapped and upgraded to be way more menacing than ever before, keeping players on their toes. However, the team did add one new creature to the mix, which is more of an evolution of the existing Mannequin enemies.
Silent Hill fans will remember the creepy headless Mannequins with legs (without feet) for arms. This time, players will get to face off against a variant of it, known as the Spider Mannequin. It essentially looks the same, but with the added ability to climb up walls. Now that’s one way to up the fear factor of these menacing creatures and pose a whole new challenge for players!
#5. Improved puzzles & additional new endings
Solving puzzles in survival horror games has always been a key element and the Bloober Team has done an amazing job in improving on existing puzzles and coming up with new ones that are fun to solve. Remember that satisfaction you get when you solve a puzzle for the first time and love how cleverly hidden the clues are, without being too ridiculously random or overly complicated? Our 4-hour playthrough that us through various locations in the town of Silent Hill, and through the Wood Side Apartments did give us a good taste of the fun and engaging puzzles. Though our playthrough didn’t reach the Brookhaven Hospital stage, the developers did hint that there was a fun puzzle involving all the patients who had admitted to the hospital.
The original game featured multiple endings, three in total from the first playthrough, depending on how you played through the game. There were two other alternate endings that could be achieved only after the second playthrough, after having James find specific items in the game. These will be retained in the remake, but the developers did hint that there were additional endings that would be added to the remake.
Perhaps it would be in a similar vein as that radical black-and-white UFO alien abduction ending that was only available in the Greatest Hits and Director’s Cut versions of the original game, but we’re counting on a more serious alternate ending that could contribute to the Silent Hill canon. Whatever the new endings are, gamers would have to play through it when the game releases to uncover what they are.
Silent Hill 2 will be released on 8 October on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. All PS5 pre-orders made at select retailers in Southeast Asia will stand to receive Pyramid Head’s “The Great Knife” collectible ballpoint pen which makes for a nice addition to every Silent Hill fan’s collection.
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
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