Sam Barlow, the video game designer who worked on Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, as well as the more recent release of Immortality on Netflix, PC, and Xbox Series X/S, has said that the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 is a "poison chalice." The job of remaking the horror classic has fallen upon Bloober Team, and it's bound to launch after two other hugely successful horror game remakes, making the whole shindig that much more challenging.
Notably, though the Silent Hill 2 remake is almost finished by now, the remakes of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 have already come out to substantial critical acclaim, putting pressure on Bloober Team to continue the trend. According to Barlow, however, this isn't the only problem that the game is facing.
In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Sam Barlow said that the remake of Silent Hill 2 is "the biggest poison chalice in video games," because he doesn't see a way for any developer to pull it off without upsetting people over something. The fact that the Silent Hill 2 dev needs to tread carefully is well established by now, but it's curious that Barlow, who has had ample experience with the franchise in the past, would underline this notion further still.
While Barlow wished luck to Bloober Team, he also mentioned that he's more excited about the all-new Silent Hill games than he is about the upcoming remake. Specifically, Barlow is a big fan of No Code, the studio working on the mysterious Silent Hill: Townfall. Some of the team's previous work includes Alien: Isolation, which was developed in conjunction with Creative Assembly. This type of experience could help No Code deliver a fresh, yet authentic Silent Hill experience.
Bloober Team defended Konami earlier this year, taking the opportunity to reassure Silent Hill 2 fans that the remake is in good hands and that the publisher knows what it's doing with the IP. Bloober's previous output includes Layers of Fear, The Medium, and Blair Witch, as the studio specializes in horror productions. Though these titles haven't received universal acclaim from critics, they show a degree of expertise that is necessary to pull off a remake such as that of Silent Hill 2.
Silent Hill has inspired many horror games over the years, and it's only natural that fans of the franchise would be anxious over this remake. Barlow's argument does resonate, however, and it's entirely possible that Bloober Team may be dealing with an unwinnable situation, depending on how the community reacts to the title once it's out.
Silent Hill 2 is in development for PC and PS5.
Source: PCGamesN
