The State of Play on Wednesday January 31, 2024 will have allowed us to discover a new trailer for the highly anticipated remake of Silent Hill 2, the second since the title was made official. But things did not go as planned, since some players immediately reacted to the direction taken by this trailer entitled “Combat Trailer”. For them, it is a marketing error on the part of Konami which seems to want to show the public that this remake will have similarities with the latest Resident Evil and The Last of Us 2 in terms of proposition. Unacceptable choices for early fans who remind us that Silent Hill is a license known above all for its psychological atmosphere and not excessive action.
It must be said that with Silent Hill 2, we touch on the sacred, since it is considered to be one of the greatest horror games of all time, the one which allowed the genre to acquire its letters of nobility . Silent Hill 2 is known above all for its gloomy, anxiety-inducing atmosphere, its disgusting city, its mist and the transformations that result from it. Silent Hill 2 is also its plot, the character of James Sunderland, its main character, tortured, broken by the death of his wife Mary. Here, the complete opposite is shown. Crowbar shots, larigot shootings, point-blank shotgun shots in the nurses’ heads, there’s something to be disconcerted about, it’s true. It’s obviously too early to ask whether the game will favor action over atmosphere, but it’s obvious that the message sent targets a particular segment of players, those hungry for guns and non-stop action.
Visually, Resident Evil 2 Remake did not convince the crowds, especially in the animations of the characters and creatures, and the overall rendering which seems to confirm that the budget was not pushed well to bring Silent Hill 2 back to the forefront from the scene. It’s far from scandalous, but for many, this remake looks more like an AA production than a major AAA. But let’s not be surprised, because we must remember that it is the Polish studio Bloober Team who are in charge, and despite all the hype that the studio has enjoyed for several years, their games have never been technical thunderbolts. In absolute terms, nothing serious, if the AD and the atmosphere are there to mask the technical errors, and we will have to wait for the release of the game to be sure. That said, since the broadcast of this excerpt last night during State of Play, the hype around the game has disappeared, people have left disappointed, especially early fans and if there is indeed a category of people to do not offend for a license which has not been talked about for almost 15 years, these are its fans.
