“We did the best job that we could” Silent Hill 2 devs on the challenges of remaking beloved horror classic

The upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 isn’t all that far away, with its release date set for October 8. As such, previews have been well underway as the game goes through the final stages of development and receives a final layer of polish.

While I talk about this at length in my preview, I didn’t have high expectations for a Silent Hill 2 remake. I was dreading it, to be frank. Much to my delight, though, Bloober Team has poured its heart, soul, and a lot of resources into the massive undertaking.

In conversation with lead producer, Maciej Glomb, and creative director, Mateusz Lenart, I asked a few questions about how they managed to achieve such an authentic portrayal of the original game while enhancing it for modern audiences, and what difficulties they may have faced.

“The biggest challenge is retaining the gameplay authenticity, since we've changed so much. But we knew we had to,” Glomb told me. “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.”

When you first hear of changes to Silent Hill 2, your heart might sink - 'isn't this supposed to be a 1:1 remake?!', you cry incredulously. But rest assured, Bloober Team has ensured the story remains untouched. Instead, the studio has enhanced it, adding notes, puzzles, and expanded locations to make exploration fruitful for both new and returning fans of the series.

Glomb continues: “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, but we never had any intention of changing anything.”

Lenart agrees, sharing one of the changes the developer made to illustrate their point. “For example, layouts for the apartment were just one corridor. 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.”

I later asked if the duo could expand on how Bloober Team may have changed dialogue to offer more nuance, and while specific examples could not be shared, Lenart did explain that it was very important to the developer that it hired professional actors to breathe life and emotion into Silent Hill 2’s characters. “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,” the developer told me.

Finding those actors who had the whole package was no easy task either, according to Bloober Team, but it managed to do just that in an attempt to make the backstories of those other than James Sunderland even stronger than before. This is certainly something I welcome with open arms, and while I only briefly met Angela and Laura in previews, they sound and look great. The chilling feel to the initial encounter between James and Angela in the graveyard is still there, but facial expressions go a long way in adding to the scene.

I wanted to touch upon that combat trailer from Konami, and what Bloober Team thought of it, and how it might have switched up combat since. “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,” detailed Glomb.

Glomb then went on to explain that “at its core, [combat] is probably similar to what was portrayed. 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.”

But of course, you can’t show off too much of the puzzles and exploration in a Silent Hill 2 trailer, or you run the risk of spoiling the experience for players. Glomb continues: “What we can focus more on during the marketing period is, for example, combat or cutscenes or selling the feel of the game — the atmosphere — but not that much of the actual exploration and puzzles,” and that’s why the combat trailer didn’t quite portray what fans may have expected.

“It'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,” Lenart adds.

Last, but not least, I asked Glomb and Lenart what’s next. Bloober Team is working on a second project alongside Silent Hill 2 right now, but has said that internally, it simply can’t wait for launch. “We are quite confident that we did the best job that we could,” says Maciej at the end of our interview, and so far, I have to agree.