The more I see of the Silent Hill 2 remake, the more concerned I become

In the pantheon of most beloved and revered horror games, nothing comes close to the legacy that Silent Hill 2 has. While the first game certainly deserves its own praise, it was the sequel that felt like the perfect storm of people, technology, and scope. There’s a reason that fans still gush about this game over 20 years later. Silent Hill 3 was another great entry, and 4 has some defenders, but after that, the series took a sharp nosedive until 2012 when we got the last mainline entry in Downpour. There was a brief spark of hope for the series when Hideo Kojima released P.T and it was discovered that it was actually a demo for a new entry he would direct called Silent Hills. Of course, we all know how that story played out.

Konami has been dipping its toes back into gaming after all but abandoning it after Kojima’s departure. It has been playing it safe with many rereleases, however is now starting to get more ambitious by remaking two of its most beloved classic games: Metal Gear Solid 3 and Silent Hill 2. We haven’t seen anything but a CG trailer for the former, but Silent Hill 2 has now been shown off a handful of times and is scheduled for release on October 8. As much as I adore the original, I have changed my general outlook on remakes after Resident Evil and Final Fantasy showed that it could be done without breaking the spirit of the original. It isn’t the monsters hiding in the fog of the Silent Hill 2 remake that scares me, but how it seems to have undercut the true terror of the original.

Fight your inner demons

Clunky on purpose

Where else could I start but talking about the perspective change? Again, this isn’t automatically a bad choice. Resident Evil 2 remake also did what many thought was blasphemy in forgoing the fixed camera angles of the original for a traditional third-person perspective. Silent Hill 2 remake is attempting that same trick and looks nearly identical to the Resident Evil 2 remake. But that’s the problem. Leon Kennedy, the protagonist of RE 2, is a cop. Sure it’s his first day, but he’s been trained in firearms and combat to some extent. James Sunderland is a regular man who most likely never held or fired a gun before in his life. In the original, the way James holds, aims, and fires a gun isn’t proper form. Because you aren’t directly aiming it makes missing feel more natural and tense.

There also appears to be a loose stagger and combo system. We see James shoot an enemy in the legs to incapacitate them for a moment while he sprints up, switching to a melee weapon on the fly, and striking them in one fluid motion. He also now has a dodge move to juke enemy attacks, neither of which were present in the original. Again, James was never meant to feel capable in a fight. When you heard that radio crackle in the dark but couldn’t see what terror was nearby, it didn’t matter if you had a shotgun ready and loaded – you were scared. When you did have to fight, it was a stressful game of trying to stay out of an enemy’s range, close in when you could to swing, and pick your shots to not waste precious ammo. The Silent Hill 2 remake makes combat look fun, which is the antithesis of the original’s intent.

Facelift

A new look

Because of the way the trailers have been cut I don’t want to prematurely judge the cutscene direction or performances too harshly yet. It does appear to lack the stilted, raw feel of the original. Character faces have also seen a change, and I could go either way on that personally. The one thing that has raised a red flag, though, is Mary’s new outfit.

I know I’m going into dangerous waters talking about this subject, but this is one of the rare instances where dressing a character more modestly is a big deal. Mary’s original design was revealing, but not to an absurd level and was part of the point. She sports a short skirt, a red sweater that exposes her midriff, and a choker. In the remake, she has on a black dress and a red coat that appears like a completely normal outfit. The reason she wore what she did was because Maria wasn’t actually a real person but a reflection of James’s repressed desires after his wife fell ill. Just like the design of the monsters, Maria’s outfit says something about James’ mental state and foreshadows the ultimate reveal of the game.

Bloober team has stated it will be leaving the original game’s story untouched, but when everything surrounding the story has changed, it is no longer a cohesive piece of art. The gameplay, design, pacing, and performances all played a role in delivering a specific story so changing even one element lessens how effective it can be. I hope to be proven wrong this October, but I can’t shake the feeling that all these “minor” changes have added up to a game that will end up completely missing the point of the original.

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