With the Silent Hill 2 remake still a long way off, former series developer and Immortality director Sam Barlow tells – Game News how he’s cautiously optimistic about Konami’s redesign led by the Bloober team, and why he has can’t wait to see how horror games grow with the new direction announced with Silent Hill 2 last year.
– Game News had the chance to speak with Half Mermaid’s Barlow, Natalie Watson, and Connor Carson during GDC 2023 in San Francisco, and while we received a cryptic response about the next Half Mermaid game after Immortality, Barlow was much more clear on what he thinks. the new direction Konami is taking in the Silent Hill series.
“Personally, I’m less excited about playing a remaster,” Barlow told – Game News. “It’s also like the biggest goblet of poison in video games, doing a remaster of Silent Hill 2. I mean, good luck to them because I don’t know how they can do that without disturbing people.”
Team Bloober, developers of Layers of Fear, The Medium, Blair Witch and Observer, are leading the remake of Silent Hill 2 for Konami, and while Barlow is less interested in the remake than new projects, it’s absolutely clear that he has no disdain for the remake. or its developers, understanding rather than remaking Silent Hill 2 is a tall order for one of the most beloved games of all time.
Konami issued a call for Silent Hill game releases earlier this year, after announcing all of its new horror games in the series. Barlow is in a unique position to comment on these games, having worked on Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and is actually very excited about the new direction of the series.
“The version of Silent Hill that I would love, which you seem to be promoting, is that ‘we’re using it as a platform to have a variety of interesting psychological horror games,’ right? And indeed can we see a breadth of play? You know, Twilight Zone, and those kind of anthologies give you an idea of what you’re getting into, but it’s also exciting to see the different ways that that can be explored.”
Barlow makes special mention of No Code’s upcoming Silent Hill Townfall, saying he’s a big fan of the studio and can’t wait to see what they’re teasing. In fact, we’ve posted a breakdown of the Silent Hill Townfall trailer, complete with hints at the enemy types and builds used in the spin-off series.
Along with the news, we also have a full interview with GDC 2023’s Half Mermaid about the art of game making, the gaming industry in general, and much more to come. In the meantime, we’ve got Silent Hill 2 system requirements for you to compare against your rig, plus a rundown of the best single-player games if you’re itching for Silent Hill.