Silent Hill 2 Remake’s Environmental Design Has My Hopes Up For The Game

Silent Hill 2, initially developed by Team Silent, was an instant classic; it is even considered the best psychological horror video game to date. The game was released on the PlayStation 2, amassing a large following and sales. The fans were amazed by the depth of the story, its immersive and eerie environment, and James Sunderland’s narrative.

When the first teaser trailer came out last year, it looked amazing as it was just a cinematic and took the world by storm. However, people were furious when the combat reveal trailer was released on the first of February. The gameplay and combat system looked janky and lackluster, and the environment did not even look faithful to the original, which caused an outburst of rage among the veterans and critics.

Konami came in clutch, listened to what the fans had to say, and worked on it. The PlayStation State of Play revealed a transmission of its release date and the gameplay. Watching this had my hopes up for the redone polished version of the game; here’s why.

The Environment Seems Faithful To The Original

With the new trailer out, Silent Hill 2 immediately took me back to my PS2 days as the town of Silent Hill, Maine, looked nostalgically familiar. An underlying tone of hollowness and loneliness follows the foggy and empty town. It seems to have retained the atmosphere of the original game while updating the fidelity of the title to modern-day standards.

Silent Hill 2 Original vs Remake Characters
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Bloober Team and Konami paid extra attention to detail, as the buildings looked decayed and run down. The hallways seemed frighteningly claustrophobic, and the weather and fog looked as good, or dare I say, even better than the original.

James Sunderland Caught Up In 4k

Let us talk about the remake’s graphics for a second. First, the game looks visually stunning, and the high fidelity adds another layer of immersion to the title. Imagine your favorite video game from your childhood in 4 K. This adds depth to the title, including modern textures, improved lighting, and character models. These critical elements showcased to me have me hoping that the game will be an instant success.

My Hopes From The Bloober Team

If you are not very into the gaming industry, you might not have heard about this studio. Bloober Team is a video game developer company based in Poland. However, they might not be as famous as Activision or Blizzard studios. They have hands-on experience in the horror genre. Bloober has made some great horror titles. Their arsenal includes titles like Blair Witch, Layers of Fear, and The Medium.

Silent hill 2 remake is gorgeous
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With a studio with hands-on experience in horror games, I think it’s a pretty safe bet for the remake of Silent Hill 2 to be good. Bloober is also known for its focus and emphasis on the narrative of the games they make, with this in mind we know that Silent Hill 2 is highly driven on its storyline and dwells on the themes of psychological horror that resonates with you, the player.

My Expectations From The Game

As we get closer and closer to the release date of Silent Hill 2, there are a few things that I hope to see in the game. With that being said, firstly, I would like the game to be utterly faithful to the original while expanding upon the areas where it lacked before. The combat, for instance, should be improved according to modern standards.

Look at Resident Evil 4’s remake, for example. It retained the original’s essence while improving the combat and expanding upon some side storylines. I also wish the game had more exploration than the original. The original game was so fun to walk around, not knowing when an enemy could appear out of thin air and catch you off guard. If they expand the game’s scale a little more, it will be much more exciting.

Akira Yamaoka composed the music for the original Silent Hill 2. It would be great to see a high-definition version of the original score with more roster additions. All in all, I hope that Konami is successful in remaking the original cult classic and does not fumble the bag. Here’s hoping for an excellent game for a greater community.