Silent Hill 2 Remake: Extended Footage

You could be forgiven for missing it, so let me tell you that Konami had more to show of the Silent Hill 2 Remake than what was a part of the recent Playstation showcase.

Indeed, Konami had a rather more substantial showing of the SH2 remake than what was shown for Playstation’s event. The trailer showed some of the remake’s combat (something that developer Blooper Team isn’t known for), some of the creepy brookhaven hospital and a strangely redesigned Angela, the tortured teenager—that last point has caused a stir on the internet, with plenty left scratching their heads. But what about the game itself? Well, it’s still hard to tell to be honest. I won’t say that I have no hope of a return to form for the venerable survival-horror franchise – the footage from Konami certainly wasn’t egregious in any negative aspects (although Angela, and to a lesser extant Maria redesigns are giving recollections of the insipid Claire Redfield redesign for the Resident Evil 2 remake). However, the thing felt a little bit flat somehow. It’s hard to put my finger on quite what it was, but the Silent Hill 2 trailer just felt a little dull to me, as if I was looking at Silent Hill 2 but it had lost some of it’s character. It doesn’t help that I didn’t have much fun with Blooper Team’s Medium game on the PS5, or that Silent Hill: The Short Message (which I still commend Konami and Blooper Team for as an impressive attempt to drum up interest for SH2 Remake) was, at best, a lead-heavy attempt at storytelling, and a boring one at that.

All that said – written, I should say, or write – one thing I think it is fair to say is that Blooper Team are competent developers; I just hope that this remake of an excellent game from 2001 isn’t distorted while chasing that mythical ‘modern audience’.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’m probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it. Something I’m doing at the moment? Returning to the black hole that is Football Manager.