Besides their obvious and myriad differences,Silent HillandResident Evilgo hand-in-hand in a lot of ways and that’s probably only going to become truer as time passes andSilent Hill’s franchise steps back into the limelight. By some miracle,Silent Hillhas managed to remain popular with a decent following even though even its most die-hard loyalists would agree that the franchise’s best games were its original trilogy. Still, with a slate of highly maligned or unmemorable games being released in the years since, adoration forSilent Hillseemingly hasn’t died down at all.
Iffis a main course andTownfallis a dessert, thenBloober’sSilent Hill 2remake could be the amuse-bouchemeant to whet appetites. Konami might have plans for more remakes to be developed afterward, but there are so fewSilent Hillgames compared to the abundant catalogResident Evilhas fostered. Therefore, its remake lifespan would only be so long, especially if Konami dodging the originalSilent Hillis evidence of not every game in the series being considered for a remake.
Resident Evil’s Laundry List of Games Makes for Endless Remake Potential
Because Capcom has now remadeResident Evil(albeit for GameCube),Resident Evil 2,Resident Evil 3, andResident Evil 4, there’s no reason for it to slow down or halt production on future remakes now.Resident Evilstill has prime real estate for remakes that could even reposition the series positively with reimaginings that excel beyond what the originals achieved.
Resident Evil 0,Resident Evil 5, andResident Evil 6alone would be excellent candidates, for example, as they all have points of contention that have left them as divisive entries in the franchise among their contemporaries. It’s been long-rumored thatResident Evil 0andCode: Veronicaare supposedly next in line for remakesand, if so, that would suggest any and all games are on the table for potential remakes as it would veer the remake continuity away from the beaten path of mainline games.
Resident Evilhas this luxury with so many games in its storied catalog to pull from out of a hat, and continuing to do so after a handful of successful remakes would bea fitting roadmap for Capcom to pursuewhile also developing original mainline titles.
Silent Hill’s Pool of Possible Remakes Would and Could Run Dry Quick
Silent Hillremakes, if nothing else, could be a way to ingratiate new and old audiences because Konami must know how lucrative remakes can be and how badly fans would love to see remakes of nearly every game in the series to date. However, if the remake ofSilent Hill 2is meant to introduce a brand-new playerbase to the survival-horror franchise before diving into future remakes, beginning with the sequel is arguably the most vexing choice that could be made.
If Konami followsSilent Hill 2’s remake with aSilent Hill 3remake, for instance, the latter’s story would be dumbfounding to anyone going from one to the other without prior knowledge of the continuity or lore.
By this logic, Konami might’ve already written off aSilent Hill 3remake unless a remake of the originalSilent Hillis put in place to preemptively connect those dots, and consequently aShattered Memoriesremake wouldn’t make sense narratively without theoriginalSilent Hill’s contextual backdrop, either. This creates an incredibly muddy tightrope of lore the games all balance on and ensures that remakes will be difficult to parse regardless, but ifSilent Hillputs a greater emphasis on new games likefandTownfallit can hopefully wash a bitter taste from its mouth and reinvent itself in a better image independent of remakes.
