Silent Hill 2 Remake gets a facelift!

https://www.ign.com/articles/silent-hill-2-remakes-main-character-seemingly-redesigned-and-fans-are-actually-pretty-happy

It looks like publisher Konami and developer Bloober Team have redesigned the main character in their Silent Hill 2 remake, and fans are taking the news pretty well.

Some Silent Hill fans took notice of the change thanks to an update to the project’s Steam page (via SteamDB). It changed the Steam icon, revealing a look for its lead, James Sunderland, that lines up closer with his original 2001 design. Bloober hasn’t officially spoken about a change to the character’s looks, but this new image does appear to be completely new, signaling that this may indeed be what James looks like in the Silent Hill 2 remake.

Following the Silent Hill 2 remake’s reveal, some fans had criticized how Bloober chose to recreate James’ appearance. While some wondered about how the Layers of Fear developer might recreate the original experience’s gameplay mechanics, many were more concerned about how old the main character looked. If today’s new image sticks, it’s not only a sign that James has changed, but that Bloober is listening to what its fans want out of a modern retelling.

“My god, my expectations are going over the ROOF,” one comment said, “they heard us, they really did.”

“I like him more now,” another comment reads. “We still need to see it on a video and with different facial expressions, but this is definitely an improvement. Old remake face was awful, so glad they listened to feedback.”

Konami and Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 remake will give the foggy horror classic a fresh coat of paint when it comes to its gameplay and visuals, but its story will remain the same. One of the biggest changes will see players fighting their nightmares in an experience that Bloober says has no loading screens. While some fans still have their reservations after the project’s most recent gameplay trailer, Bloober says it's confident that their take on the classic horror game will stay true to the source material.

Silent Hill 2 will eventually launch as a PlayStation 5 console exclusive and on PC via Steam. For more, be sure to check out our interview with Series Producer Motoi Okamoto, Concept Artist Masahiro Ito, and Composer Akira Yamaoka.

As a fan of the original, I'm glad they went back and made his face more in line with the original. And hopefully they take more of the fan feedback on the latest trailer and make improvements there as well. Thoughts, SW? Are you hopeful Bloober can give us the Silent Hill 2 Remake we want? I'm optimistic.

He looks like a Leon Kennedys less attractive brother.

@uninspiredcup: hahaha spot on

Kay. I didn't even notice his face. Thought everything looked bad. Now that I look at the pic, I think I prefer the more detailed face on the left. But honestly, they look pretty much the same to me.

Doesn't look that way from what I've seen so far. Would be cool though.

Looks generic

original face was better.

I hope for Sony sake that this paid exclusive pays off.🤭

Am still very highly skeptical on the outcome of this game.

Silent Hill 2 was ahead of its time despite it came out in 2001, and to this day, Silent Hill 2 is the only game in the franchise considered on of the best for a reason. I would've liked it if it was getting remastered over remaking it but oh well.

Lmao this is gonna be such a bad remake. Picking Bloober was epic fail.

Different lighting and zoom level.. perhaps a different chin and age lines so he looks a couple years younger? Looks pretty similar. I was looking forward to this game at one point, but I'm getting bad vibes from what I've seen so far.

Love Silent Hill 2 but I don't think the remake will be good. Would love to be proved wrong as more good games is always better.

I think fundementally, above art style, is the convergence of controls and game genres in this era that would hold it back. Everything has to control like a streamlined 3rd person shooter with efficient camera controls. So much of what made specific genres work in the ps2 era was the specific controls and camera that put less emphasis on action and more on the games intent. These days I think people would fill a diaper if a game wasn't controlling exactly how they expected.