Former Silent Hill writer Sam Barlow has commented on the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 and shared his belief that the game could end up disappointing the fan base.
Speaking to PCGamesN, Barlow offered support for developer Bloober Team but noted that such a high-profile remake is bound to be divisive when it is eventually released and will cause at least some degree of uproar in the fandom:
Personally, I’m less excited about playing a remaster. It’s also like the biggest poison chalice in videogames, doing a remaster of Silent Hill 2. I mean, good luck to them because I don’t know how you can do that without upsetting people
Sam Baker via PCGamesN
Barlow is best known for his narrative-heavy interactive films Her Story and Telling Lies which were both released to acclaim. Prior to this, he took on the roles of Lead Designer and Writer for both Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. The latter was a reimaging of the original Silent Hill game released in 1999 so Barlow will be all too familiar with the pressure that comes with remaking a quintessential classic.
Despite his reservations surrounding the remake of Silent Hill 2, Barlow expressed his excitement for the direction the series is taking which will allow them to experiment with the series and different styles of gameplay in each title. One future title he’s particularly optimistic about is Silent Hill: Townfall which is being developed by No Code who are best known for their horror anthology game StoriesUntold and the sci-fi adventure, Observation.
It’s clear that Konami is once again looking to put Silent Hill back on the map in a big way following a fairly rocky period for both the franchise and the studio. There’s no release date as of yet for either Silent Hill 2 or Silent Hill: Townfall. A third game Silent Hill: F is also in development and will take the series outside the town for the first time to focus on 1960s rural Japan.
What are your thoughts on the Silent Hill 2 remake?
For more Insider Gaming check out our report on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay.
If anything this 2 Remake will be a thousand times better then Shattered Memories. What fun is running the whole time not being able to use combat on the monsters chasing you? Even Origins was better then Shattered Memories in my oppinion
His involvement in the worst Silent Hill games should be an indication that his comments are probably a result of his ineptitude and disappointment…
…and that they should have been ignored anyway, as it’s meaningless.
“Some fans won’t be happy with remake”. Wow. Such insight. Much prediction.
For one thing, the phrase is “poisoned chalice”…
“Sam Barlow? That lunatic? Where is he? I’ve got a couple questions I’d like to ask him about what’s been going on around here.”
(From 10:39 of The Real Silent Hill Experience Episode 8A by Twin Perfect)
Ah, yes, the man who wrote the..less critically acclaimed Silent Hill games.
Except Silent Hill F won’t be the first time the series has gone outside of the actual town. It will be at least the third time. Great job.