• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Silent Hill 2 Remake Announced | PS5 & PC

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Glad it's a PS5 console exclusive as the devs will focus on a single console configuration to maximize its potential and features.

I get the criticisms that it's team Bloober, however, its a remake of an existing game that has the story and settings already established so it doesn't take rocket science to remake the game, just some technical prowess development-wise to bring it up to date to the current gen hardware. And the game is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 which is easy to develop on as per other anecdotes from developers.

from the 60 FPS trailer it looks like they are more targeting the PC than the ps5...but yeah, we will see.
 

nowhat

Member
To me this is like a Pink Floyd cover band doing Dark side of the moon.
Heh, I remember seeing a cover band playing Pink Floyd (not Dark Side of the Moon fully, but many tracks from it), and what ruined it for me is they didn't fully replicate the guitar solo in Time. Some things can be improvised/reinterpreted, but such iconic parts just no. Whether that applies to this game remains to be seen.
 

tommib

Member
I'll be damn amazed if this doesn't turn out to be a total letdown for us people who played it when it was released. To me this is like a Pink Floyd cover band doing Dark side of the moon.
I think playing The Medium will give you a good taste of what you can expect, really. That game in retrospect looks like a pitch to Konami. It even has Yamaoka doing the soundtrack. They were always competent imitators and now they’re actually remaking a classic. It’s a big burden. Best of luck to them.

I just wish James had the same hunky design.
 
Last edited:

SnapShot

Member
Pyramid-Head-GIF-pyramid-head-silent-hill-30412097-300-220.gif


he's back to biz
 

Cock of War

Member
Looks very meh and in some aspects wrong... like Im getting a very eastern europe vibe from the characters. But Ill give it a try.
Silent Hill 2 is one of my all time best/most horrifying experiences.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Really terrible :(. Konami and Japanese studios in general were so good in creating faces that look much beter than anything western studios did (especially in examples like Silent Hill cinematics), but what is this...
It's what the poor actor looks like playing James 🤣
 

Ivan

Member
the model looks so fucking ugly.
why are character models so hard to get right on most (not all ofcourse, ND's models are amazing) western studios?
is it just bad taste or what?

iu


Even SH3 in engine models look better to me than the ones shown on the trailer, aesthetically ofcourse, there is no question that tech has come a long way since.
If anything, i think the DMCV character models look more in line with the aesthetics needed here.

This is so true...I really don't know what it is, but just a glance over that picture tells a lot...
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Really terrible :(. Konami and Japanese studios in general were so good in creating faces that look much beter than anything western studios did (especially in examples like Silent Hill cinematics), but what is this...
I don't think there is anything wrong with his face. I actually like seeing the pain and anguish in his eyes.
 

SilentUser

Member
Finally had some free time to watch the trailer. I'm fairly impressed! Overall, I think Bloober is doing a good job with the graphics, sound and atmosphere. Hopefully they will add the grainy filter to the game. One thing I dislike is the enemies designs, they are too "clean"... or something like that. They are not bad per se, but the grittier look of the original title is better, imo.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Finally had some free time to watch the trailer. I'm fairly impressed! Overall, I think Bloober is doing a good job with the graphics, sound and atmosphere. Hopefully they will add the grainy filter to the game. One thing I dislike is the enemies designs, they are too "clean"... or something like that. They are not bad per se, but the grittier look of the original title is better, imo.
I am thinking you will see the grittiness over time. Shader effects, etc..
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
from the 60 FPS trailer it looks like they are more targeting the PC than the ps5...but yeah, we will see.
Yeah, they didnt even release the trailer running on a PS5. No CAPTURED ON PS5 message before this trailer. It will be downported from PC.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Cool thing about the trailer is it gave me the same feels I felt when they revealed the original silent hill 2

I remember the facial models being the cream of the crop on ps2, anyone else remember the old man pics?

This trailer reminded me of that
That was Silent Hill 3. Got a big visual upgrade over SH2. SH2 used CG cutscenes. SH3 was realtime and had some of the best character models at the time.

QRPP.gif


Qexh.gif


tumblr_nt580nWiEl1qcsioio2_500.gif
 
Wow, a generation where we get remakes of some of the best games ever made, new stuff like Starfield and long-awaited sequels like GTA6. My favorite gen so far, can't wait to see what happens next.
 
Last edited:

Mr Hyde

Member
Cautiously optimistic about this one. Character model for James didn't look good and they didn't show Maria, but the other stuff looked promising with some amazing graphics to boot. I'm smelling a downgrade for PS5 but if it can retain that level of fidelity in gameplay and cut scenes. Holy shit. Silent Hill 2 is a bonafide cult classic so I guess the pressure is high for Bloober to deliver. If they fuck this up the fans will show no mercy. They are done as a studio as far as I'm concerned.
 
Last edited:
I very easily predicted Bloober Team doing this in the old "Blue Box/Silent Hill" thread.

Metacritic score aside, The Medium was/is right up the alley of all the supposed Silent Hill fans..but all people did was bash it either because of the timed Xbox/Gamepass exclusivity or because it wasn't Japanese enough (yeah i said it).

Props to Konami for recognizing Bloober was an absolute no-brainer choice for this project.
 

Arachnid

Member
Mixed feelings, honestly.

James looks like the most generic character ever seen. Not a fan of his face at all and same for the body type, as those tiny shoulders under that big head look like shit.. and this matters considering it's going to be in front of the player for the entire experience.
Visuals look great, even faithful, but as others have said something's off and it's probably due to the art direction.

My biggest issue with it is that at the moment it's missing the subtle, but extremely powerful, disturbing feeling the OG had that made it special and immortal, the ability to convey heavy dread in every single frame.
Some could say it's a matter of dated graphics helping, but it's not as SH2 was known for this even at launch when it was the best looking game ever, and especially because P.T. managed to perfectly capture and even improve on that same exact feeling while looking photorealistic.
Quite a troublesome issue as it's not easy to identify and improve on, just something you feel and register almost subconsciously.

But still, let's hope for the best.
We consistently have the exact same takes. Elite.

You’re 100% right but I don’t think anyone else would do it better. Being subtle and lynchian is a producer’s nightmare. Just look at Netflix. It’s all narrative exposition being spoon-fed through constant melodrama. Everything needs to be served pristine and clear and understandable. It’s a bigger problem. It’s an audience problem.
This is also a thought I've had. I'm not sure it's possible to replicate SH2s subtleties today (not without making it 1:1, anyway).

At the very least though, they could have just translated the cutscenes. IDK. They've got plenty of time to clean it up, so we'll see.

They made him like look more human and less like a plastic doll? I like the older design more though
I wouldn't say more human. He looks stylized now, like a Dishonored character. More cartoony.
 
Last edited:

vpance

Member
Honestly apart from the main story beats and themes I hope they change it up. Like new scenes, fleshing out the characters more, etc.

Doesn't need to be 1:1. Played SH2 and seen it being played many times now. It's a pretty short experience.
 
Last edited:

tommib

Member
I very easily predicted Bloober Team doing this in the old "Blue Box/Silent Hill" thread.

Metacritic score aside, The Medium was/is right up the alley of all the supposed Silent Hill fans..but all people did was bash it either because of the timed Xbox/Gamepass exclusivity or because it wasn't Japanese enough (yeah i said it).

Props to Konami for recognizing Bloober was an absolute no-brainer choice for this project.
The Medium was Bloober’s pitch to Konami, I bet. Game is an excellent point and click adventure and was the first game, when I played on series S during release, that gave me that next-gen feeling because of the density in the outdoor forest environments. I think it was cool to bash it because of the fixed camera angles and controls - and the Xbox timed-exclusivity, of course.
 
Last edited:

Dr Kaneda

Member
Really terrible :(. Konami and Japanese studios in general were so good in creating faces that look much beter than anything western studios did (especially in examples like Silent Hill cinematics), but what is this...
It's a face scan of an actor that's why. It's not hand designed/drawn by an artist/animator.

Regardless of that, I think he looks fine. There's always way too much of an overreaction when a remake changes the way a character model looks.

Also by now I'd think people would have known what to expect from remakes, they're going to be significantly different. People should always prepare themselves for that inevitability. I've come to peace with the fact all the old games that I dearly love were made the way they were because of the fact they were released during a specific time, on specific hardware and using specific trends/design practices. Remakes of said games years later are simply NOT going to be able to replicate a lot of the elements that combined to make the games what the originally were. It might surprise people to hear but a lot of things we happen to like about these old games might not have been concerted design choices but instead limitations that were forced on to developers, if they had total free reign then the games might not have turned out the way they did even when they were originally released. And another thing to take not is that a certain type of gamer exists today that didn't exist 15-20 years ago, the jaded bitter neurotic that overreacts to everything. REmake is held up as THE perfect example of how to do a remake, and yet it significantly changed so many crucial elements of RE1 that if a remake tried to that today these certain people would rip it to shreds.

The only legitimate issue people should have regards to remakes vs original games is if they can't play the original on modern hardware. Then I'd be sympathetic and say you have just right to demand a 1:1 remaster that essentially just a port to a new system. But then that's not really an issue with developing remakes so much as it is about backwards compatibility and studios makes use of their back catalogue/porting/remastering them.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
The Medium was Bloober’s pitch to Konami, I bet. Game is an excellent point and click adventure and was the first game, when I played on series S during release, that gave me that next-gen feeling because of the density in the outdoor forest environments. I think it was cool to bash it because of the fixed camera angles and controls - and the Xbox timed-exclusivity, of course.
I'm playing it now and it's not as bad as I thought it would be due to the divisive nature. It has all the beats that "purists" are fond of the old RE/SH games, down to the jank. It should have been right up their ally.

The first demon I seen so far (moth man) reminds me of something I would see in the SH universe and a cross between Hellraiser's cenobites and Pan's Labyrinth. Story has it's hooks in me so far (just got to Niwa, snuck past that moth man demon, will continue more this evening) and the little girl Sadness is creepy to look at.

The atmosphere and sound design/music are both well done.
 
It's not about the film grain . The art direction lost alot of grunginess that defines Silent Hill . Creatures are supposed to be bloody and rusty , but they aren't now which made them looks more human-like

I mean have you even play the original Silent Hill trilogy before ? And does this even remotely looks like a Silent Hill creature ? It just looks like someone took a brief and cover it on the head .

71869bd4b0979e01d6750ea4622cd76a13a599cc-scaled.jpg
And Pyramid Head looks like a cosplay.
 

Arachnid

Member
You can barely even see it to judge this completely man.

Zealots always say the most wild shit, telling us how the buttons on the jacket are not 100% exact lol So you didn't fucking complete this remake to then tell us what it is and isn't or something.

Lets wait till its actually out man..

Hit with classic gatekeep zealot cry "have you even play da original" and so forth.
I never really agree with the "lets wait until it's out to say anything" take. IMO it's good for fans to voice things that could potentially be tweaked prior to launch. Especially in SH2's case. We've have been fans for decades, after all. Use the fans experience and keen eye to spruce things up a bit.

IDK about buttons, but I do want them to add James patches to his jacket. I'm pretty sure they will, and that what we saw was an earlier build though. The official statue is based of his remake version (you can tell from his undershirt), so they likely just haven't gotten around to adding a few smaller details:
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Day 2 of sitting on this - and the character models are just god awful. Horrible.
Even the way James quickly blasts into the beginning restroom is just wrong.
SH2 is too important to get shit on by this jank ass developer.
At the end of the day it’s still just a remake

Other Sony studios have enough in their plate

Bloober is good enough for this kind of project, in fact I’m glad Sony isn’t using their own studios for this
So a studio who has made only mediocre titles in its short existence is 'good enough' to remake one of the best videogames in history?
Doesn't check out. At all.
 

Alebrije

Member
Hope we get gameplay on a few months. Played the original for nostalgia and the controls felt robotic, slow, like the old RE games.
Do not know why prople are bitching about the developer and models, they just need to improve gameplay ( and it seems they are focusing on it) an do an average graphical upgrade , I don not expect something at Demons Souls level but also sure will be better than others remasters like Vice City by example.

Now we need the same show but for MGS....
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Hope we get gameplay on a few months. Played the original for nostalgia and the controls felt robotic, slow, like the old RE games.
Do not know why prople are bitching about the developer and models, they just need to improve gameplay ( and it seems they are focusing on it) an do an average graphical upgrade , I don not expect something at Demons Souls level but also sure will be better than others remasters like Vice City by example.

Now we need the same show but for MGS....
You do realize that in SH you play a regular person - not some Marvel action hero - right?
Yeah lets add a combo meter and weapon crafting to SH - right?
It was never meant to have perfect, tight precision action gameplay - the sluggish clumsiness is intentionally part of all real Silent Hills.

SH is all about atmosphere - a literal simulation of a dream - a nightmare. SH1-3 are still truly the only games that have achieved this.
The art direction looks completely off here - so theyve already swung and missed.
 
Last edited:
To be honest, it doesn't look scary whatsoever. The atmosphere is all wrong. There was no creepy background music either. That nicely set up James going down the long road to the streets in the original, before he relocated the radio. And sure, the graphics are swell, yeah. But these are games, not movies.

We need to see gameplay too, you know.
 
Top Bottom