In ostensibly seeking to do what they can to assuage fan fears regarding the upcoming title, the devs at Bloober Team are seeking to reassure fans that not only are they handling the Silent Hill 2 Remake with the utmost care and respect, but that they’ve done “the best job that we could” in doing so.
This latest word from Bloober Team was given by Silent Hill 2 Remake lead producer Maciej Glomb and creative director Mateusz Lenart during an interview given to VG24/7‘s Kelsey Raynor while on-site to promote the game at the currently ongoing 2024 Gamescom expo.
Asked if they could provide any insight into the difficulties they may have faced in bringing the horror classic to modern audiences (Raynor’s words, not ours), Glomb asserted, “The biggest challenge is retaining the gameplay authenticity, since we’ve changed so much.”
“But we knew we had to,” he added. “Obviously, the change from fixed cameras to front-facing cameras impacted a lot of our decisions when it came to creating monster AI, and when it came to creating levels, and making those levels interesting for players to explore.”
Continuing in his thoughts, Glomb then opined, “We were always fans of the original story, and we did not feel at any point that it needed any significant changes. We added a few things here and there, mainly to flesh out the story even more, to give a bit more exposure to some characters, which was not maybe given as much in the original.”
“We might enhance a thing or two,” he noted, “but we never had any intention of changing anything.”
However, in light of the fact that the game does in fact provide make numerous changes to James’ adventure in the titular town – namely to its level layouts, combat gameplay, character design, and even dialogue – Lenart clarified that while Silent Hill 2 Remake will not be a 1:1 copy of the PS1 release, any and all modifications are being made in service of preserving the original game experience.
“For example, layouts for the apartment were just one corridor,” he explained. “Creating the gameplay in such an environment; it’s just impossible. So, that was definitely a challenge to keep the memory of the original location, and I hope we did that. So, the feeling is the same, but the structure of the latter is much more complicated.”
On this topic of ‘enhancing’ Silent Hill 2, Lenart then spoke to the decision to use professional actors to portray the game’s cast, admitting “We knew from the beginning that we wanted to use professional actors to play the roles because the game is about emotions, the game is about characters, and their stories. A crucial part of it. Taking that approach, we’ve been able to expand on the very cinematic feeling of the game.”
Likewise, in addressing the aforementioned combat changes, Glomb asserted, “Obviously, the combat changed. Mostly in terms of the balance, because this is usually the thing that comes last, right? You first focus on fleshing out all of the monsters, all of the AI, and making sure all the mechanics are in place. Then you start playtesting.
“At its core, [combat] is probably similar to what was portrayed,” he said. “What I mean by that is, it feels the same, but the amount is not the same as was portrayed. That particular trailer had a lot of combat, and even though Silent Hill 2 is not a combat game, the combat is still an integral part. In my opinion, it is way more about exploration and puzzles.”
Adding to his colleague’s point, Lenart further pointed out, “I’s definitely not about combat, like Glomb said, but everything can be shown in a way that has these misinterpretations. And especially, again, showing this specific part of the game without context can be tricky.”
As their time together drew to a close, Glomb closed out his and Lenart’s talk with Raynor by affirming, ““We are quite confident that we did the best job that we could.”
Ultimately, fans will get to be the judge of just how good Bloober Team’s best efforts are when the Silent Hill 2 Remake hits the Playstation 5 and PC platforms on October 8th.
