Konami has announced that Bloober Team’sSilent Hill 2 Remakehas already exceeded one million copies sold. The game was released last Tuesday, meaning that the feat was achieved in about a week. The publisher did not provide an exact number for the game’s total sales, but even without that, it seems clear that horror fans are pleased with the developer’s effort to recreate Team Silent’s psychological horror classic.
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Full remakes of beloved classics often need to walk a fine line in order to attain success and widespread acceptance by fans. If too much is changed or the changes are done too jarringly, many fans will find themselves rejecting it in favor of the original. Such has been the growing case with the 2016 remake of the originalRatchet and Clank(despite initial success when it first launched). However, changing too little tends to lead many to wonder why a remake was made at all, as could be argued forThe Last of Us: Part Iremake.
If too much is changed or the changes are done too jarringly, many fans will find themselves rejecting it in favor of the original.
The best thing a developer attempting to make a good remake can do is to either go theFinal Fantasy VII Remakeroute and make averydifferent game that nonetheless maintains the spirit of the originalormake small tweaks and changes in ways that allow fans to better explore and understand the original’s story, characters and/or setting. This latter approach seems to be the route Bloober Team took with the Silent Hill 2 remake.
Silent Hill 2 is not a one-for-one remake, but it seems to have recaptured what matters most.
The original Silent Hill 2 becamethe beloved classic that it is todaythanks to a combination of its atmosphere, intriguing characters, thought-provoking themes and leaving much of the story open to interpretation. Whether Bloober Team hasperfectlyrecreated all of these is absolutely debatable, but the team does appear to have captured the essentials while simultaneously paying homage to altered segments and enabling players to further explore James Sunderland’s version of the haunted town like so many fans have always wanted.
It’s also rather convenient for those of us who’ve only ever watched the original Silent Hill games from a distance until now. While emulating them on PC isn’t exactly difficult, it’s nice to have an official option on a modern console too.
Even if this retelling of James Sunderland’s descent into his own twisted psyche not as perfect as some fans would like, the fact remains that Silent Hill 2 is on track to be a true hit for Konami and Bloober Team. If indeed it’s able to reach that status, then perhaps Silent Hill fans will have more remakes, and have them done even better, to look forward to in the future. And, who knows? If this and the mysteriousSilent Hill fboth end up as hits, perhaps Konami will at last resurrect the series in earnest. Anyway, those who’ve yet to play this one, though, should ensure to check out our review below and see if it is indeed worth their time.
The Silent Hill 2 remake is available now on PC and PlayStation 5.
Review: Silent Hill 2 Remake
Return to Silent Hill to solve the mystery of a letter from the deceased in this remake of the celebrated survival horror classic
