It seems that the original developers of Silent Hill 2 wanted to introduce new elements into the remake, while Bloober Team preferred to stay closer to the 2001 original.
In a recent interview with Famitsu, Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto admitted that original Silent Hill 2 developers, such as art director Masahiro Ito and sound designer Akira Yamaoka, were keen to make changes to the original game for the new Silent Hill 2 remake.
However, Polish developer Bloober Team, which is the primary developer on the upcoming remake, was determined to stay true to the original game. Okamoto said that if the remake had been developed in Japan, the new game would have likely looked very different from the 2001 version.
Regarding the Japanese development team, Okamoto (as translated by Automaton Media) said:
Game creators don’t want to make the same thing twice. I think that as the original creators, they had many parts they wanted to change. It was thanks to the opinions of Bloober Team, who are huge fans of the original game, that the remake is highly faithful to the original.
Okamoto mentioned that during discussions between Konami veterans and Bloober Team’s developers, a suitable compromise was reached for the remake. According to Okamoto, Bloober Team has modernized certain aspects of the original horror game, so it’s evident that some things have been altered in the remake compared to the original Konami game.
He also confirmed that the remake wouldn’t use the tired ‘yellow paint’ to guide players around the environment gameplay mechanic. Instead, it would use visual cues such as the protagonist, James Sunderland, turning his head to look in certain directions and manipulating the lighting to draw the player’s attention.
Silent Hill 2 releases on PS5 and PC on October 8th, 2024. You can pre-order the game now via PSN and Steam. Digital Deluxe versions of the game are also available on both platforms.
