The premise of aSilent Hill 2remake has obviously been highly controversial as the original is one of the most revered horror games of all time. It doesn’t help, then, that consumers are fairly desensitized to the idea of remakes in general now that they’re so prolific. Nevertheless, it’s great thatSilent Hill 2is being remade for the sake of accessibility on modern platforms without the use of emulators or modded editions, and even if it was to underperform by whatever measure it would be hugely disappointing if no otherSilent Hillremake is endeavored afterward.
EA Motive’sDead Spaceremake can be perceived as a tragic omen of sorts and might even play a role in foreshadowing what could happen with theSilent Hillfranchise if Bloober’s remake doesn’t meet the standards set before it.Silent Hill 2’s remake went from being criticized to praised in a short amount of timeand it’ll be interesting to see if it can sustain that momentum going into its release next month; however, players hoping for remakes of otherSilent Hillgames shouldn’t hold their breath.
To be fair, it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed one way or anotherif Motive is getting a chance to remakeDead Space 2and/orDead Space 3, but with the developer’s focus shifted to an Iron Man game andBattlefieldit is incredibly unlikely, at least for the time being.
InDead Space’s case, it wouldn’t be wholly devastating if remakes of the second and third games aren’t greenlit in the future because enough time has passed and the series itself is so small that it’s already more or less compartmentalized and neatly shelved.Silent Hill, on the other hand, has a handful of games that could improve drastically via remakes and the franchise is ongoing with main installments such asfandTownfallon the way, meaning the series is by no means dead and hoping to be exhumed.
These titles will be in development whether Bloober’s remake ofSilent Hill 2does well or not, but if future remakes are rejected due to this one not meeting the expectations Bloober and Konami have it would be disappointing to seeotherSilent Hillgames not earn the same opportunitySilent Hill 2has been givenwhen they certainly need it more.
Silent Hill 2 Shouldn’t Be the End-All Be-All for Remakes
Plus, what’s concerning all the more is thatMotive’sDead Spaceremake is a phenomenal reimaginingthat expands meaningfully on the original through astonishing audiovisual reworks, the USG Ishimura being entirely rebuilt with exploration and optional content in mind, brand-new content such as a whole side quest following Nicole Brennan’s exploits, and full voice lines and dialogue interactions with Gunner Wright reprising Isaac Clarke.
Ifa remake ofDead Space’s caliber couldn’t perform to commercial standards, it is unclear what bar needs to be met to do so. There’s no telling if poor sales or reception could truly condemnSilent Hillremakes altogether, especially since Konami might believe it can scrape that barrel regardless.
But, withDead Spacepresumably on ice once more aside from Isaac Clarke’s continued enslavement to crossover content, it’s always going to be a little disconcerting not knowing if one game’s misfortune could cause an internal collapse with a domino effect impacting hypothetical remakes. It would be outstanding ifSilent Hillcould matchResident Evil’s output by producing a remake continuity alongside its mainline one, and the remake ofSilent Hill 2hopefully won’t get in the way of that happening regardless of whether it does well or not because Konami needs to look at the bigger picture and what’s possible within that framework.
