The Silent Hill 2 creators wanted the remake to feature drastic changes over the original, while it was Bloober Team that insisted on delivering a faithful experience.
Speaking during an interview with Famitsu, Silent Hill series producer Hajime Okamoto was asked about the importance of maintaining a balance between retaining the good aspects of the original work while bringing certain changes for the Silent Hill 2 remake. In response, he mentioned that the Japanese staff, including Nobutatsu Ito, the designer who worked on the original title, and Akira Yamaoka, who composed the original’s music, said that they wanted to change certain things. On the other hand, members of the development team at Bloober Team weren’t fond of the idea.
According to Okamoto, while the original creators and the team at Bloober Team had conflicting opinions at times, they found common ground in the end. He said that the recent State of Play trailer shows how the Silent Hill 2 remake has been reborn in a modern way while retaining the good aspects of the original version.
Regarding Okamoto’s own thoughts on things he wanted to change, he stated that game creators don’t want to recreate what they have already created. He said that he doesn’t want players to enjoy the same thing over again. As such, he mentioned that there were a lot of things he wanted to change completely in the remake. However, in the end, thanks to the input from Bloober Team, who are big fans of the PS2 title, they were able to create a remake that highly respects the original work. He conceded that had the development team been formed entirely within Japan, the remake may have turned out completely different.
Some fans of the original Silent Hill 2 certainly aren’t happy with some of the changes seen in the remake. Read about it here.
