TheSilent Hill 2 Remakewas absolutely spectacular in every possible way – so much so that I double platinumed the game. Simply put, it’s incredible, full of hidden details andEaster Eggsthat are all the more delightful with each playthrough.
It was, without a doubt,the best horror game of 2024, so terrifyingly stellar that it madeSilent Hillfans completely forget about the disaster that released at the beginning of the same year:Silent Hill:The Short Message.
Then it sparked a question:why is it that the first goodSilent Hillgame that we’ve had in years is a remake?
10 Most Iconic Small Towns In Video Games
Despite being small and ordinary, these video game towns have had an iconic impact.
A damn good remake, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still a remake nonetheless. It doesn’t really give off the best impression of the franchise that nothing original in recent years has reached the same level, which, as a long-time fan, is such a shame.
It seems that it’s impossible for anyone to successfully make a newSilent Hillgame, which might be whyBloober Teamseems socontent with simply remaking Team Silent’s other works.
While I definitely won’t say no to that, it does make us wonder: will it even be possible to successfully make a brand-newSilent Hillgame in the modern era?
New Silent Hill Games Are Met With Anxiety
Games Like The Short Message Contribute to This
You ever notice a trend whenhorrorgames are announced? How fans hold their breath in anticipation? How, on the contrast,Silent Hillfans hold their breath in worry?
This isn’t a coincidence. Not even joking, the fandom is so scared of new games that they were outright melting whenSilent Hill 2was announced to get a remake. We all ended up being more than pleasantly surprised when we ended up playing the game.We were relieved.
Seriously,peek through reviews of the gameand notice how so many people (myself included) mention how they felt worried before going in. And, without fail, they were over the moon that they ended up loving the game instead of walking away disappointed.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure fans are supposed to be excited about upcoming games, not filled with dread over them.
It’s easy to see why so many feel so anxious, though. The past few releases weren’t necessarily met with thunderous applause. Unfortunately,Silent Hill: The Short Messagewas just the final nail in the coffin of anticipation.
10 Terrible Horror Games That Just Aren’t Scary
Unfortunately, not all horror games can be masterpieces (or scary, for that matter).
The Short Messageis aterrible horror game, and it makes no sense why that’s such a controversial thing to say in the fandom – especially since most also know it’s bad. Sure, it’s free, Akira Yamaoka’s soundtrack is wonderful as always, and Sakura Head’s design is cool.
That’s literally it, though. Everything else about the game is so painfully lacklustre that it’s insulting to even call it aSilent Hillgame.
What went so wrong? If you had told me two decades ago that there would be a freeSilent Hillgame and everybody hated it, I would have checked your temperature to make sure your brain wasn’t cooking in your skull. But now, I wouldn’t bat an eye.
At this point, it feels almost like an omen for anySilent Hillgame that wasn’t originally developed byTeam Silent– a curse that only a good new game could break free from.
Will Nothing Replicate Team Silent’s Masterpieces?
Appeal to Fears, Not Audiences
A huge way thatThe Short Messageended up falling apart was how it tried (and failed) to appeal to a newer, younger audience through themes of bullying, social media, and suicide. I’m a high school teacher, so these are themes that I am all too familiar with – andSilent Hill: The Short Messageis a caricature of these themes.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it feels like one of those corny anti-suicide campaigns that schools show at assemblies, the kind my students roll their eyes at because of how out-of-touch it actually is.
The thing with fear is that it’s deeply personal and different for every player, so appealing to an audience is already the wrong approach when making a horror game. Instead of trying to target a demographic, focus instead on targeting specific fears. Team Silent, when looking at previous entries, would find symbolism for the manifestation of these fears, rather than being so cut and dry like how it is inThe Short Message.
Silent Hill 2 Remake: 10 Most Nostalgic Glimpses of the Past
Glimpses of the Past are collectables in the Silent Hill 2 Remake that reference the original game. These are the 10 most nostalgic ones.
With this in mind, let’s take those same themes: bullying, social media, and suicide. Right off the bat, bullying and suicide are generational issues (and are issues that have been poignantly explored in the classic Team Silent games), so trying to frame it as a Gen Z problem already makes us roll our eyes. Now, social media is where fears can become incredibly unique, but you have to think creatively about the mental effects that it has on teenagers.
Instead of clunky and awful chase scenes, think of how different things would be if escaping felt like drowning – in doubts, insults, and emotions, alone in your own agony. And, when you’d normally find refuge and solace with other people as humans tend to crave, they’re now the very enemy that we’re running from. You’re faced with suffocation, isolation, societal pressure and the constant feeling of being watched, without a hint of privacy due to cameras everywhere you look.
Doesn’t that sound absolutely terrifying? Doesn’t that just make your hands sweat? Notice how that scenario is more likely to instill feelings of dread in players, rather than a frustrating chase sequence. It still works into those themes, but it genuinely explores them, rather than being a cheap tie-in. The key is the creative thought on how these fears could be implemented, which is something that the newer entries seem to be lacking.
The first everSilent Hillgame is a bit more straightforward in the fears that are explored, but they all stem from a literal child’s psyche; meanwhile, the other three Team Silent games are a lot more symbolic. However, as soon as theSilent Hillgames started being created in the west, notice how the fears don’t hold much metaphor, nor is there much nuance at all.
That’s the problem with the newer games: they’re trying to recreate the magic Team Silent had produced without any of the subtleties, details, or overall thought that had gone into the original four. Of course this won’t work well, but that’s not the only factor that influences the newer games. After all, Konami’s biggest threat to the franchise … isKonamiitself.
Konami Isn’t Innocent of Nonsense
P.T. Remains a Shining Example
It has been over a decade now sinceSilent Hills(also known asP.T.) was wrongfully canceled. This is a move that has essentially scarred theSilent Hillfandom, andthere’s no way in the world that they’re going to forget about thatanytime soon,no matter how many remakes they want to makewith Bloober Team.
Side note: why are so many fans manifesting that the teams are remakingSilent Hill 3? Where’s all the love for the firstSilent Hillgame? It’s constantly overlooked in the fandom (and honestly, also by developers), is the entire foundation for the third game, and it genuinely deserves more love as a whole. Jumping straight to 3 would not only make no sense and insult the first game, but be irresponsible on Konami’s part.
Rant aside, it’s clear thatKonami has an extensive history of bad decisions regarding theSilent Hillfranchise, and it all started with the complete dissolution of Team Silent. In order to save some yen, Konami tried to push out games through alternative developers, and have been met with a mixed bag of results.
10 Best Easter Eggs in the Silent Hill 2 Remake
The Silent Hill 2 Remake is littered with Easter Eggs and surprises, these are the best ones fans will love.
From there,Silent Hillgames ended up being developed by western studios, studios that prioritise audiences rather than fears, that pay attention to money rather than narrative details. The games ended up becoming cash-grabs, full of incomplete stories and fan service – seriously, there’s no reason forPyramid Headto be inSilent Hill: Homecoming. There are better ways to tell the world you’re creatively bankrupt.
Not to mention, their obsession with mobile games and pachinko machines ended up being a bad time for their IPs. Games likeMetal Gearalso fell victim to this, and it leaves players scratching their heads as to how such content would take priority over developing fully-fledged games that they’ve become known for in the first place.
Basically, when you lay it all out, about 90 percent of the bad things regarding the franchise can be traced back to a bad decision Konami made.
Fans Are Praying Silent Hill f Succeeds
It Will Have Many Questions to Answer
I am hoping and praying with every fibre of my being thatSilent Hill fwill be good. Thetrailer is promising, but given the franchise’s history, most of us are crossing our fingers thatRyukishi07 doesn’t mess this up.
While the game doesn’t have a release date,it recently received a rating in South Korea, which implies that the game will be dropping soon, either sometime this year or the next.Silent Hill fseems torevolve around Japanese horror, which is something that I personally find to be far more terrifying than western horror (most of the time, anyway).
10 Best Games Like Silent Hill
Fans of Silent Hill tend to be hungry for more horrifying games similar in style — maybe with the fog not included.
However, there’s already some worry, as there’s been zero word about it besides the trailer that was released years ago. There have been no interviews, discussions, showcases of any gameplay –nothing,and that is pretty worrisome in and of itself. Games with very little promotional material tend to do either really well, or really poorly. We just have to hope thatSilent Hill fends up being the former (or they start marketing it soon).
Since the game doesn’t take place in the titular town, it does leave many fans wondering how it’s going to fit in with the franchise, andthey’ve already begun theorisinghow it works with Alessa’s curse. We just hope that these questions will be answered in a way that makes sense, and still tell a proper story to put the franchise back on the map.
One thing is for sure, though,Silent Hill fis going to be a clear indicator of whether the series will resurge and thrive, or if it will crash and burn.
10 Silent Hill Fan Theories We Want To Believe
Silent Hill has notoriously complicated lore with a lot of theories, but we really hope these ones are true.
