The Problem with Silent Hill 2 - Modern Audiences and Censorship 

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Predicting the twist is not the deal breaker, it is how the whole story is told and presented what really matters

I think the new team might miss the influence of David Lynch, the off tone and odd behaviors of David Lynch’s movies/characters was a major influence on SH2, with some scenes directly inspired from Blue Velvet, the bloober team trailer comes off as melodramatic compared to odd and subdued/eerie like the original SH2 trailer

The fact is blooper should have started with remaking the first game. It would have been perfect for learning from any mistakes, because SH1 is not the most popular game. And it would have even benefited the story for SH2, establishing that standard of saving the missing girl. Remaking SH2 is only the way to make the most money the fastest.

This is a small detail, but it's been annoying me. The new James facial expression looks bad. He just looks sad all the time, like he's about to cry. That wasn't the point of his character in the beginning. The original James was seemingly emotionless, empty, disconnected as he touched his face in the rest stop to prove to himself that he's not dreaming. Like he's not caught in a nightmare. He buried those feelings of despair and guilt, which start to surface organically as the story evolved and became manifested in horrifying ways. The new James is looking like he is about to burst into tears or scream at the drop of a hat. I think it's giving too much away and missing the point of the original James and the original story of SH2.

Even negating the surprise factor, if the story is changed or censored to appease “modern sensibilities”, then the remake automatically fails. Though based on the complete lack of subtlety we’ve seen so far, I think it already has.

"A guy whose wife died three years ago should not look like this right now," puts it perfectly.

15:38 "You'd better do something about that cough" that's definitely a threat

“James..if that were true, then why do you look so sad?” This line always make me tear up. It summarizes exactly how I felt when I watched my father slowly die painfully. He was so difficult to deal with because he was still guilt tripping me for not achieving his expectations even though he had not provided any support for it. I felt like I was dealing with a bad boss and I wanted to get away. It was also awful seeing someone who is so vibrant shrink slowly into a bag of bones…Silent Hill 2’s accurate representation of this resentment developing between the patient and their loved ones as they realize that there is nothing but hopelessness ahead, is what makes this story so haunting, relatable, and timeless. That Kotaku article absolutely missed the point and it is an insult to the whole team who translated these complex yet inherent feelings into a work of art.

I’ve been paralyzed for 4 years, I’ve seen my family go through every emotion. They at first had no change to their emotions, then the got angry, then depressed, sad, and still to this day HAVENT come to complete acceptance but I don’t blame them. I can’t imagine my parents seeing their child almost die, hooked up to tubes, in constant agony. I can’t imagine how my cousins felt. And one of my closest friends thinks he could’ve stopped it somehow and it worsened his alcoholism. I saw him feel so much guilt and despair, it broke his mind for a long time. I wish I never got myself into the mess, for all the pain I feel, it’s worse seeing the ones you live in pain than yourself.

I think too much importance is placed on the 'twist' in SH2. The story isn't great BECAUSE of the twist. It's great because it's a detailed, complex character study. SH2's story can still work even if you know the 'twist', because the imagery and symbolism is actually the best part, along with the moments highlighting James and Mary's relationship. Big twists were a hot trend back in the early 2000's, but placing so much importance on a singular moment of reveal in a story will always have diminishing returns. Yet people always return to SH2, because even knowing the twist, the story is still full of amazing, nuanced character moments. The world is still full of strange imagery and metaphors. In that regard, I think a SH2 story retold today could still work. Just place less importance on the twist. Scrap the TV scene completely and just let the revelation happen through tiny moments in the environment and in dialogue. Like how Angela's story is told. Which is an amazing story that doesn't require an 'all is revealed' moment.

I'm pretty sure there were leaks about this game being adapted to "Modern Audiences" and Bloober Team saying that they gonna make Silent HIll 2 as they envisioned the game back when they played. These are the famous last words for any media in development. Let's just hope they will make a good survival horror game.

"You'd better do something about that cough" made me LOL.

if any ending would be the ''canon'' ending, it would be the leave ending for me. James killing himself doesn't make sense to me after his cutscene with the 2 pyramid heads, were he finally gains the courage to want to life and no longer wishes to be punished for his sins (thus the 2 pyramid heads kill themselves). plus he also fulfills Mary's last wish, and adopts laura. which seems like a much better way to atone for one sins, then simply killing themselves.

My biggest fear is that theyll water down or just ruin angela in the remake. The original handled the dark and sad undertones so perfectly. Its real life issues and real life situations and the game paid respect to that. If they ruin angela in the remake i will be legitimately heart broken. The modern audience thing is making me so nervous. Sh2 tackled a lot of uncomfortable dark stuff

Ito had was told that the nurse monsters showed to much skin... "Yeah the representation of james' repressed libido and guilt, in a game where sex and death are the central themes of monster design, is showing to much skin."

Psycho absolutely still works today. Having seen both Psycho and played SH2 for the first time a few years ago, of course I was able to predict what was really going on, but that didn't make it any less tense or engaging, because they are both subtle, masterfully crafted works of art with a lot more to their stories than just the reveal at the end. Bloober team is simply incapable of subtlety, and stories like Psycho and SH2 live and breathe in subtlety. That's why the remake is going to fail, because of misguided execution, not because the twist is dated.

My grandfather was recently in the hospital for a few months. Every single day my grandmother would ask if someone would drive her there. Seeing my grandpa in worse living conditions and in worse shape day after day was increasingly getting to her. Even snapping at my mother which never happened before. Now with James going through this for YEARS, I could only imagine the toll that takes on someone’s mind.

i have always thought all the sexual “frustration” stuff in the game is james just beating himself down for just having one thought about another woman while he was at the hospital. and he is just tormenting himself the entire game for just having that thought not that he was “horny” or something stupid

Modern audiences are not the people who will play it anyway

I think Silent Hill 2 also deserves praise for blurring the line between "it's all in the head" and "it happened for real" under the justification that the town itself was using his psyche to torture him. Most story and design elements can be justified as coming from James' mind, but if that were the only case, there was no way he would be able to gain access to places like Heaven's Night which are heavily locked up and which only Maria can open. Similarly, the roads have huge gaps and scaffolds (their origin is never explained) which James physically cannot go trough and force him to take specific routes to get to the hotel as a way to bring back the memories he has of his time with Mary to punish him. It's kind of similar to the part where Nicole opens the door in Dead Space, which forces you to consider that possibly it wasn't just "it was all in the head."

I thought I had understood SH2's story pretty well, but this video actually gave me some new insights.

This isn't an RE remake, SH2 is a work of art and can't be replicated.

It’s a shame that a game which came out when I was a teenager expected us to be more adult, but the remake and the media now pretend to be mature while imposing an infantile outlook.

The multiple endings of SH2 make it endlessly fascinating. More games need this open ended structure, however having only played the game once, I only knew of the multiple endings because of youtube videos. This isn't necessarily a criticism, but what it means is people probably experienced different endings randomly and without knowing that the others existed at the time the game released, so hypothetically you had large groups of people who had radically different final impressions of the game. I think this may have added to the games longevity and staying power, as its mysteries continue to be revealed to this day to players who didn't know "the whole story".

On December 28, 2015, Roland King, (87), shot Rita King, (81), his wife of 50 years, in the head with his father's WWII Enfield service revolver. Rita had spent the last 3 years with dementia and had reached the point were she did not have the ability to retain information and could only make simple decisions about eating and drinking. Roland told staff: "I've just shot my wife. She had suffered enough."

Considering that Konami confirmed there ditching the original design of the nurses because there to problematic for a "modern audience" the games story and themes are already worse off then the original.

I'm more concerned about Bloober saying that they are done making "psychological" horror games and that this Silent Hill 2 Remake is a taste of their first "mass-market horror" focus going forward. Yikes.

Simply put. This remake is failing to present the protagonist as an individual who has suppressed his mental and emotional struggle, with the facade tearing apart as the story unfolds.

15:37 "You'd better do something about that cough" I don't know man, the way James said it made it feel like it was a threat rather than him worrying for Maria's health.

Blooper Team aren’t known for subtlety.

They won't be able to pull it off. Recapturing that atmosphere in 2023 would take an extremely talented game director (of only a handful in the industry) and team to implement that vision. Bloober Team are not up to the task. They're B players. Good but not great. This isn't *just another* remake. This is a remake of the greatest horror game ever made. That's a standard they don't have the chops to live up to. They're from a different time and a different culture from those that made the original, and there's no fixing that.

Got my grandmother pass away in 2020 bcs of a hospital bacteria, I loved her, too kind of a person, I wanted her to recover, but I knew she didn't wanted to do something to try and recover, and while she suffered a little we where taking care of her till her last moments. You feel a ton of emotions bcs of "what if X happens" combined with the frustration of being tired and also bcs the person just want to let himself to dead but at the same time they still want to live, bcs the will to live is part of us. You also want them to go happy and loved before they pass. Also having no charge of conscience of not doing the right thing bcs of laziness. Has you said, the game has a "whole" doesn't matter if the story and the way is told is not even at the same level. Even if I not even played more that 2 SH I still feel the history even if is told by other ppl in videos. God job brother.

"We are done making psychological horror games and are focused on more "mass marketed" horror games" -bloober team

It seems to me that this remake is likely to be a make-or-break moment for Bloober. They don't exactly have a stellar reputation to begin with. While they do seem to have some fans, I don't think anyone regards them as a top-tier developer. If they somehow manage to get this right, and we get a remake that's as good as the RE2 or RE4 remakes, that could earn Blooper an enormous amount of respect and reframe them as a top-tier developer. On the other hand, if they screw this up and give us a turd of a remake, then I think they're finished. They would be forever remembered as the folks who botched one of the most beloved games ever. They would be seen as the Kathleen Kennedy of video games.

This video aged like fine wine, just found out that sweet baby inc will be involved in the remake, it's over, the game is DOA.

I'm so glad someone has finally spoken about the experience of a person who needs to take care of a terminally ill person, and the range of emotions they feel. The sick person often wants to die themselves due to how much of a burden they are to others, and they physical, mental anguish.

I feel like a bit of the tones in James are quite noticeably complex and layered. They're very subtle but once you know what to look for, there's a lot to read into its subtext. Beyond the directorial intent of not letting the players know of what he feels, I believe that there's also a strong component of him feeling very slightly off. He seems fine, but very slightly off. I feel like looking at it exclusively as being directorial intent removes a lot of the nuance of how much it adds to the story and the characters, though I understand why you said as much. I look at it far more in the role that it plays for the character of James rather than the storytelling of the plot mystery. I also feel like beyond the twist of the story, it is also the fact that the twist is not the whole meat of the story. The meat is thankfully denser than its breading. Another meat-based analogy would be that the mystery and twist are just connective tissue to a character story which provides the real meat and nutrients. I feel like Silent Hill 2 still works perfectly today. Its twist is not that important to me. The twist is a dot that helps connect everything. In a psychological story, something like that is plot, to me, doesn't matter nearly as much as the character writing and examinations. And those are complex and timeless in Silent Hill 2. I feel like almost all psychological character writing which is good is bound to be timeless. If it's not timeless, it's probably because it's made a mistake somewhere which reduced its inherent quality. Psycho is a thriller, a very plot-driven one. That's part of why it doesn't work so well today. The character writing and complexity is not the focus, the suspense and mystery is. The suspense and mystery of Psycho are its meat, its connective tissue, its center and mass. All of its parts and all of its filmmaking. That's everything it is built for, and that is what Hitchcock is known for. He is the master of suspense, not the master of character study. Plot and mystery are much more fragile to time. It doesn't mean it'll fall to time, it can be made timeless, but it is more likely to be fragile, depending on how they are written. Silent Hill 2 has that as a component for the first time, but after you're done with that, there's way more to chew on. Those other things are what keeps the game from being dated to me; It's not really about the mystery. The mystery is simply the vehicle which guides you through the complexities and traumas of the very well-defined characters, and the quality of which it achieves that makes it timeless. I see it as a good example of horror precisely for those same reasons, like how in a lot of good psychological horror, the more traditional horror ends up being a vehicle for a much more real, and more terrifyingly tangible human horror. It is off of that same quality that Silent Hill 2 works. To me, Silent Hill 2 captures a lot of what's great about psychological thrillers and psychological horror fiction; Kafkaesque tones and themes, Lynchian surrealism, Stephen King's adult horror and Crime And Punishment's character complexity and definition. Speaking of which; Crime and Punishment is a book from the 1800s, but a lot of it still applies today.

Everything you said makes sense to me and I agree with you. I honestly had doubts about remaking Silent Hill 2. I worry old and new fans will compare any possible Silent Hill games after this remake of SH2 to the detriment of those games just as the original SH2 did for SH3, SH4 and SH5 if the game really does make the franchise take off again. I never really understood why people seemed to not give credit or eagerly shit on any Silent Hill game that came out after 2. 3 and 4 seemed to have been hit with that hardest because they were always comparing them with 2. Feels like there's just no making older fans happy. I've always found 3 scary and I seemed to deeply connect with the fears and themes in it even though I couldn't explain why at the time. I was about 14-16 when I played SH3. I think that if they were to remake any Silent Hill games it might be better to remake 1 and 3. I can see the SH2 remake being hated by old fans though I wouldn't be one of the haters. I thought remaking 2 was a terrible way to inject new life into the franchise until I heard about Ascension, and it seems to be a decision based on its enduring popularity and that may be a mistake. But there's hope for more lenient fans and new fans who aren't familiar with SH if & when the SH2 remake releases. I'll enjoy the originals and installments for what they are, and I'll enjoy a remake even if it's very different from the original. I'm a little less forgiving of the films due to the reasons the director gave for the changes he did.

Maybe I'm a cynic but I really don't think this remake is gonna be worth a damn and it certainly isn't gonna compare to the original. Hell I don't expect it to even be shipped, it's probably gonna go the way of PT.

There are people that still have some sort of hope in this game? If it even gets made, that is. Anyway, they are changing a lot of things, the male protagonist killing his wife? Nope, the female protagonist being a whore? Nope, one of the other protagonists becoming a murderer because of "fat-shaming"? Nope. And I wouldnt be surprised of they completely remove Angela.

Me and a couple of friends played this game when it came out as teens and we did definitely didn't guessed the twist. Now 20 years later I let my 16 year old son play the game while I sat with him. He did guess the twist about half way through. While me and my friends was scared, creept out, confused and all out paranoid about what was around the next corner or a working door. My son attitude was very gen-z gamery. Like cracking jokes, speeding around or just went around blasting every enemy as soon as he got the pistol and shotgun. He got really frustrated by how the camera worked and so spent a bit too much energy on complaining about it instead of taking in the story. However when he got to the hotel, his tone became way more serious. Really taking in what happend and what was being said. We talked for about an hour afterwards about the games themes and message. Since this game is really heavy I wanted him to be old enough to understand what was going on. He did understand way more than what I as a 16 year old did. So in regards to the remake. I've said multiple times that I'm causatively optimistic about it. I really want it to do the original story justice, that it is well received by players and that my worries are all proven wrong.

23:22 As someone with BPD, and a lot of CSA related trauma I deeply related to Angela. She was presented well and I (and many others) headcanon her having borderline. Trauma victims aren’t people who just recover easily. I hope media outlets give her that, she’s an amazing representation of someone who has suffered through a lot. Good video all around!

I think of SH2 as a psychology test of sorts. The most satisfying ending for the player says a lot about the player. I prefer the Leave ending (unless you include the Dog ending) because I'm generally a forgiving sort, and honestly, killing Mary was marciful for both of them. Paradoxically, though, I do think that the In Water and the Ritual/Rebirth endings are better suited as canon for the franchise, given the somber, melancholy atmosphere that it's famous for, and Silent Hill 4 implies that one of those is in fact canon, because James's father is a character in that game, and it's stated that his son disappeared.

I recently found your channel and I love it, greetings from Brazil!

This remake will either end up elevating Bloober Team to a venerated developer status, or end up entirely destroying their studio's reputation. I feel there will be no in-between. They obviously campaigned hard with Konami to land this gig, but starting from the most beloved emotionally charged complex entry in the series was a huge mistake. They probably should have started from SH1 to get a feel for it first and then moved on to SH2 once they were confident and had sorted out the kinks

I’m so glad primal fear was shown in the beginning. Such an underrated film

Spot on as always Mayo, I don't think I'll play the remake. I think the media around it will be toxic and I just don't think you can recreate the nuance of that original story.

Excellent video Mayo. You said many things nicely, especially regarding the complexity of James' character and endings.

The main reason why modern remakes are an issue is because its taking games and stories that defined a generation of gamers, game creators, artists and story writers then crapping them out for a now 'safe space' audience. Its fitting because nearly all remake titles released in the past 10 years have mostly been duds or missed the mark entirely. Silent Hill 2 was a incredibly dark story that didn't explicitly tell you what was going on with the characters but HEAVILY implied it. I guarantee you that they are going to cut it out because SONY is involved with the remake. Look at the RE remake franchise, F.fantasy and more. All locked into their console.. $ Like RE4 was always a batsh*t classic of a game that made no sense. Now its laid on so thick its unappetizing. You can shoot someone in the face, but we couldn't get an explanation as to why ADA WONG doesn't have a dress or why it wasn't a DLC item. Anything Sony is involved in is dead on arrival. Now they are remaking the Metal Gear series without Kojima unrestrained at the helm. Without all the melodramatic story telling, adult humor and adult situations along with the action set pieces will it even be Metal Gear? No, its old classics remade as if to be presented to your parents in their mid to late 50s.

Controversially, I believe that the Rebirth ending is the most interesting one, as it is such a poetic conclusion to James’ character arc. While the three other endings represent him either forgiving himself (Leave), breaking under the feelings of guilt (In Water), or trying to justify his actions (Maria) - the fourth ending focuses on him not being able to draw any meaning from what happened. It is a beautiful cycle of regret, where a man desperately tries to fix what clearly cannot be fixed instead of owning up to the deed. Of course, when one is presented with such a complex dilemma - were his actions justified or not - it is much easier to try to avoid it completely by trying to get rid of the problem. No dead wife - nothing to own up to. This ending represents James being consumed by Silent Hill. Like Sisyphus, rolling a boulder up a hill for eternity, he will never find inner peace, instead just retracing his steps over and over again, hopelessly trying to fix what is clearly unfixable. This is by far the most likely outcome for someone in his position. And although it is perhaps the least satisfying finale to his story, it is the most brutal and uncompromising. For even over 20 years later, James is still there, in their special place, waiting for her.

This is why I bought a copy of SH2 for PS2 just recently, at a reasonable price at that. I have no faith in Bloober whatsoever.

You make an interesting point that we really don't know anything about James outside the plot and wondering about his marriage. He really is a hard to read character. He really is flat. While the new James in the Remake looks more somber and moppy, I still feel these emotions were present in the original. Now, I'm sure that's just subjective on my part. But when I played this game, I saw a guy who looked and expressed sadness because his wife died. At first glance, to me, he was sad because there's a part of him that misses her. And you could hear the emotion and sadness in his voice even though you couldn't see it fully expressed on the PS2. If he was flat, which let's be honest, he was, for me, it felt like he was trying to hold his feelings in and not show them. Like being depressed but still trying to smile that tells everyone, "I'm fine" so they don't dig deeper into his trauma. But he's really not fine. It's something that I could identify with but that could most likely be me projecting my own emotions onto the game. But that's also part of SH2's brilliance. The way it affects people through its storytelling and how it makes you feel. I'm very interested in seeing how they handle the Remake. Thanks for the video. I absolutely enjoyed it.

The thing that matters to me the most is that James clearly just committed this act and was so lost and filled with adrenaline after that he has no idea what's going on. And we get to experience what he went through having murdered someone he loved deep down but also stood in his way from having a normal life back. It's essentially the nightmares you have after a bad event, like a breakup or losing a loved one... running after them in your dreams, only remembering that they're gone when you wake up. "In my restless dreams..."

As I saw the trailer was hyped up because I never played SH2 and thought this was a way to enjoy it. But then I heard about Blooper's mishandling of mental illness, their statement that they won't go for psychological horror games, and the grim reminder that gamers/people, in general, are talking shit like that and have no nuances anymore. I am really more afraid of the game-changing its direction because of calls for cancellation. I hope not, because of that I am trying to get my hands on the SH2 PC copy and the SH2 EE mod.

Im glad you noticed this about James face. In the original his face gives somewhat a childish, wonderlike expression. I would even say a little amused and curious. Along with character dialogs and the soundtrack, the whole story gives very grotesque execution yet has dreamlike lightness to it. And the scene in the mirror is so iconic, only because, like you said, his face is seemless. The whole beauty of first SH games that they have this bizzarre akwardness to its charachters along side with a heavy storyline.

Honestly great video, summed up all my personal thoughts really well. Also nice act man cameo.

Love your channel. You put everything I felt into words. There is a reason for every camera angle, every 3d model, every face animation and cutscene to be the way it fucking is. Why can't more people see this? The same thing happened with Bluepoint remakes of shadow of the colossus and demon's souls. Technically impressive, sure. Continuously miss the damn point; also sure. It really frustrates me.

It's great to find a video where the person actually understands the complexity of the story instead of just going superficially on it and missing a lot of the deeper layers. Kudos! Great content.

"THE MESSAGE"

I think the story will definitely be predictable for a lot of people but that’s dependent on how many stories that person has experienced, whether it’s through books, movies, games etc. I remember watching Primal Fear at age 10 and having my mind blown by its story. Whereas watching Jacbob’s Ladder at 28 I found it to be completely uninteresting because I knew what the ending would be 5 minutes in and even understood the blatant way they announced it during his massage

Totally on point. Thats the issue with remakes - we already know how the story will play out. When i first played SH2 waaaay back then, i tought about a guy being stranded in a weird foggy place with monsters and weirdos and wanted to know "whats up with that place". Its a shame, really. They could have told a new story with a "bigger Silent Hill" - using modern tech to show an open world with puzzles, drama and being able to just morph the scenery and all.

Silent Hill is one of the few gamea I played twice. First I got the in water ending, then I did the secret Rebirth ending too which is also fascinating to experience.

Modern audiences and "fans" want the next thrill. If an old game, something new being added means it is something for them now and less being regurgitated the past constantly in entertainment they weren't around for. Was this ever a thing even in the 2000s or 90s and we just never realized it? I don't think so, never to this extreme as remakes were never intentionally butchered to promote a message or sanitized. In fact, things were unsanitized if not made edgy (we still see that, just now it's far more extreme in what's being pushed). Unless one is an eternal optimist that will watch anything and play anything, hardcore fan, most will be upset with this remake or possibly, reimagining. It's not easy to put together a clever and compelling story, much less psychological one. Bloober Team has never demonstrated such talent. There are no new ideas, only new methods of reaching that goal. That requires effort and storytelling ability, not just subversion or shock factor. Those are the least effective tools in the trade commonly run to when out of ideas. The point in a remake is to see the game remade from the ground up, not to try and reinvent it. That's entirely different. Who asks for a classic book to be changed because you read it before and no longer exciting, or do people keep re-reading it? Who keeps rewatching classic films or games and wants them changed because you watched it not just once, but twenty times already. This twisting of what fans want is just a means to change these games to meet ESG policy game companies are folding to or new generation of employees desire. How did we go from Resident Evil remake on Gamecube and Shadow of the Colossus remake to this new definition? To think a good story can be outdated is the most Progressive if not Presentist mindset one can hold. You don't value anything other than thinking reinventing the wheel is possible. To say Psycho doesn't work today...I've no idea where to even start. Konami has not show any care for their IP other than selling it off for profit, even to this day. Castlevania on Netflix shows how far they will let the material stray when they have no oversight, and the only person willing to do it was Iga, who had left the company by then. Don't expect Ito or Yamaoka in their minor roles to be stand-ins for the previous writers and directors. That was never the case for the films nor Western games. It won't change now.

I'm getting the feeling that because it was showcased on the playstation thing that Maria, a sexualized version of his homely and sickly wife Mary is going to be totally covered. that's going to be total bullshit because that is literally apart of the story and a important part of the plot. James is mentally twisted, guilty and several other things. His whole version of silent hill that he sees is based on this. they should stick to it.

One interesting thing they could try to do is give the player more obvious choices throughout the game that determine which ending you get. I think in the original game some of the things you had to do to influence the ending were a bit too ambiguous and if you are unaware of the mechanics behind it you could easily end up with any of the three main endings. Maybe there can be more dialogue options and choices along the way. I think that could make the game even more complex and let the players decide for themselves if they think that James deserves forgiveness or not.

the ambient music they use in the ending cutscenes is incredible. so beautiful.

Exactly. Movie and gaming audiences are so desensitized to plot twists and reveals due to the rapid explosion of such media during those twenty-and-counting years that it's going to be almost impossible to bring in the shock factor in the same fashion was it was done so many years ago.

To be honest,I don`t find an issue with the twist,since well...like it or not the majority of players ALREADY know the twist,whether they`d played the game or not. Numerous essays,videos etc. and their high viewership adds to this fact. I determine if a story had a good twist based on if that story works WITHOUT the twist itself. As in,if it can still be considered solid work. Psycho is great for that. I`ve seen Psycho for the first time 3 years ago and by then the twist had been hammered into many people`s brains. It wasn`t as shocking maybe,but it was still a great movie and had an enormous impact on me,especially the acting. The Psycho remake(?) didn`t work not because the audience got tired of it already,but mainly because it was BADLY acted. Had it been a separate movie(presuming the previous one didn`t exist) I reckon it`d STILL get flack because it`s just a bad movie. My biggest issue with this particular remake is that it`s done by Bloober Team and besides Observer, their work regarding mental health and game mechanics has been...well,less than stellar,let`s put it that way. It`s why I`m not worried about whether they`ll include `problematic` parts of the game,they probably will. But,given their track record,I`m afraid they`ll dumb it down a lot more. They never were subtle in any of their games. I`m miles more interested in the SH project done by Ryukishi07, Silent Hill f,than any of the other games they`ll release,this remake included.

I honestly cant wait for this game to drop and have the community be at war from each other. OG Fans who will heavily critique the game for not being faitfhful from the source material and questionable choices the devs made vs. the "modern audience" who will absolutely eat this game up and defend it to their graves. Much like how they did it with the RE 2, 3 and 4 remake. Its going to give me good drama so I'll make me some popcorn or a sandwich with MAYO on it while I watch the rest in chaos 😂

I've only played Silent Hill 2 as a grown up, so it can't be the nostalgia speaking when I say it's one of the best gaming experience I've ever had, and the game itself stood apart from everything else I've played, ever since. Though I remember that I HATED playing it, as I was very bad at it - I didn't know you can kick fallen monsters to death, so imagine how much I suffered trying to kill the straight-jackets with the downward melee attack: it was almost always a chore and a damage exchange between us. I also didn't know there was a health level above the green one (full health is almost blue, I think), so I've spent almost the entire game not completely healed up and always holding on to healing items (as Mayo pointed out, by the end I had way too much ammo and health). You can guess how lost I felt, and how frustrating it was to wander around with difficult enemies in every corner. Even though the gameplay felt a struggle, I felt it completely fit the tone, and an atmosphere such as that I've never felt again. My ending was "In Water", and the impact of Angel's Thanatos drumming n' riffing while I reflected on the whole experience, consolidated that ending as the canon, and the game in my heart. My younger brother never played the original, and I fear so much that the remake won't give to him a similar experience I had back then. Mayo's hope to be wrong resonates deep within.

As incredible and talented as capcom is, even they give into the twitter crowd. What separates capcom, is all their women isn't ugly.

He’s supposed to look normal because this man’s wife had just died and had been sick for three years so after she died (and the nurse gave James The Letter), He broke and associated when she got sick is when she died (to James she died his eyes, when she got sick) it’s a messed up story.

The Devs announced they doing a reimagination instead . Because they realized they not competent enough to mimic the original. Opting in pleasing the lowest common denominator instead for a quick buck .

What is the song that starts from 11:45? Please tell me, I would really like to know..

Great video! Couldn't have said it better myself! I'm excited to see the new game - and have high hopes.

The Problem is that today you can't write a character who is just one character. Just one particular character who happens to be the way they are. No matter what kind of character you write, people will always assume that you are making the political statement that EVERY person of that character's demographic is exactly like this. You write a character who suffers from trauma? Than that is a statement that EVERYONE who suffers from trauma is exactly like this character, as an example. Its annoying and drives me nuts.

23:26 Slight correction there, Angela is about 16 or 17, according to the making-of video.

If I do recall correctly, the film producers made Hitchcock add that silly ending that explained the plot twist in depth. Hitchcock was so baffled by the idea that he made it so long and tedious on purpouse (he used to do that kind of thing when he was pissed off). I think remakes often miss the point because they forget the context, like in the remake of Psycho directed by Gus Van Sant. He shot the movie almost frame by frame, with a new cast, but in color and with updated technology. That erases all the tiny details that made the original so fantastic and inmersive (it still works perfectly today). The whole point of Psycho was a certain combination: the way it was filmed (a remake in color probably won't replicate the same feel), the unsettling camera work, the cast, the way it was narrated (the movie changes the protagonist at the begining, so the murder is extra impactful in the plot; we saw it happen, now we need to see it resolved), the way suspense is conducted, etc. It's a combination of factors that worked in a time and a place, alter that balance without the proper attention and the film will change (Van Sant's remake it's "almost" the same movie, but it's considered only a shadow of the original). Also, a lot of later movies took that kind of plot twist and revamped so many times that it has lost most of it's charm. The remakes need to stop thinking in what the market wants RIGHT NOW and more in the context that made so unique (a modern Psycho would probably remove the peeping scene, but it's important because it helps to build the tension; but it's not just the creepy person, it's the room with the birds, the strange lightning, the tilted camera work, all working as one), taking the posibilities of exploring other points of view. But that requires the risk of taking the subsequent compromise (from the author, director, producer and / or the reader/spectator) with an otherness, like Jean-Paul Sartre used to said. Silent Hill 1 was awesome because it took seriously it's own particular wackyness: it's not an important message over the use of drugs, the menace of cults and murder, but a story that includes drugs, cults and murder to tell something else, to deploy a world that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the imagination and the compromise with it's intuition.

The fact is developing a Silent Hill title whether original or a remake, is like looking for life in the universe, while it makes perfect sense creatively and financially, we just have no reason to believe it can be done anymore. After Silent Hills was canceled you have to understand the mentality, remaking Silent Hill 2 comes with a real threat of danger, messing up Silent Hill 2 remake would not only likely produce death threats from crazed fans but it would rightfully be career ending for any developer taking up the task. It’s not something you want to fail if you took up the responsibility, it would require years of work from some of the most brilliant people in the industry, that are not afraid to go to those corners of human consciousness and scare people . While some will be appalled of your creation, the spoils in terms of artistic value, financial gain, the educational value, these games have always tried to push people into the world of psychology and more. There’s so much to gain on so many levels if we can find a team that can expand the Silent Hill IP. I know Bloober can do it if they keep re examining everything, and honoring the original game to the fullest, as well as their own ideas. It wouldn’t hurt to find and bring some old school passionate fans in just to juggle ideas

Silent Hill's 2 story is honestly very triggering for me based on personal experience - but it's one I do come back to. When James said "I want my life back" - that's how I felt when my dad was dying. Life changed, I was losing my only remaining parent, and I wanted things to go back how they were. There were many times I was woken up hearing him moaning out in pain as I watched him slowly die - and I even had thoughts of wanting to kill him to make his suffering stop. I love my dad. I miss him. Life feels like it stopped since he's been gone and I have not had familial support to help me through this loss. I did not want my dad to die, even if dark thoughts came into mind to stop that suffering and selfish thoughts of "I want my life back". Of course I did not kill him but that does not stop the anguish and grief that I felt strongly reinstating with a character like James - which is devoid of most personality so it's even easier to put oneself into that situation. The story is complicated and does trigger trauma I have not dealt with, but it draws me in because of it's familiarity to how complicated reality is. I can't even say Silent Hill 2 was ahead of its time but more perfect for its time because I cannot imagine any video game hitting this story in the open ended "you get to decide how you feel about it" way coming anywhere close. Everything feels safe and watered down and I don't feel the current gaming industry trusts its audience to think for themselves.

I found your channel through your discussion on Smudcast, this is the first video of yours I have watched. You echoed pretty much every concern I have with the remake in the works but put it better than I could. Frankly I don't have high hopes for it given the state of the industry over the past few years but I hope for the original game's sake it is done right. You got a sub from me.

... I basically looked at Silent Hill 2 and thought James was deserving of forgiveness when I was younger. I now realise how complex the endings actually are thanks to you. Thanks for sharing this perspective I didn't realise existed up until now. What a gem of a game.

Hmm, I don't think I ever got that "Maria" ending. I got the one where James and Laura are walking through the cemetery and the one where James drives into the lake. Not sure how to get the Maria ending?

Bloober Team is led by a bunch of idiots,everyone is worried about this remake then they say they will make this game for "modern audiences" something that will piss some people off just hearing this. I'm cautiously optimistic with this game since Silent Hill 2 is one of my favorite games of all time but i don't have much faith on Bloober making this game after The Medium.

"Pwobwematic" _shits self cutely_

Just found your channel…cheers to you and your deep, articulate, and personal interpretations of one of the best franchises in horror history. I’ll see ya when some new news pops up 🙏🏽🤙🏽💎🙌🏽 ✌🏽

Wow. You just made me realize there are even more aspects they can mess up than i thought, after i watched the Edward Norton trailer.

If only real people can see the whole picture instead of labeling and calling someone a "bad guy" or following the crowd via social media. Any of us can probably become a murder to much worse when we can't take it anymore. Or cannot bare the suffering.

Bloober Team must absolutely watch this video . Please send it to them.

Is the phootage used here from the HD version? Vocals seem off (not in the good way).

Great video KingK under a new name. I am not sufficiently terrified!

I can't get over how comical his face looks in the remake. It's so bad!

Ik some things are going to be cut but I really hope they keep the Maria ending in the game. It is by far my favorite bad ending in all of gaming because of the weight behind it. Not to mention that final line when James says "you better do something about that cough" still sends chills down my spine

You had me at "Kotaku". 😁

Its funny how you hit the mark but still missed it somehow. Most of the people who played it were kids or teenagers with very little literary experience. They didn't have the knowledge of similar stories that were already being told in other mediums. It doesn't say anything about Silent Hill 2, and says everything about the past knowledge of the player.

I feel like I’m going insane hearing responses from the fanbase. Like not only do I feel like barely anyone is making reasonable interpretations anymore, but also every side of every argument demonizes the other while barely even knowing how to type. I understand that SH fans were already kinda weird and could be pretentious but now with the new era of fans ushered in it feels like a warzone full of smart asses. The reasonable thing to do with this new game is to be reluctantly open to a reinterpretation. That being said it’s being done by a team that’s arguably not suited and already has aspects of their new product that don’t fit the important themes of the old product. People love to bash the voice acting of sh2 but they like to leave out that the main cast primarily consists of violent mentally ill criminals. Nobody ever says Maria or Mary has bad voice acting because she as a character is talking in right mind. James and Angela in their first scene just meet each other after committing very intimate murders. Like of course they are going to sound weird they are fucking weirdos. The best part about james(and Guy Cihi’s) voice acting is that he’s a pretty accurate representation of someone depersonalized and in a state of psychosis(which is a very reasonable interpretation of the events of the game). The sad boy face of new James puts a bad taste in my mouth, and just how emotive he is doesn’t seem in line with the character. I find it highly disrespectful not just to the game and the people who worked on it, but also to people who liked the voice acting to simply write it off as “bad voice acting due to limitations”. This game means a lot to a lot of people, and I’m not saying people can’t be going to far with their defense of the first game but it truly feels like the “fans” of silent hill 2 have lost what made me fall in love with the first game. Nuance

I feel like the best case scenario for the movie is that it takes the clue rout.

Really good content and breaking down of the issue

Naw the dog ending is the true canonical ending. Facts