What the success of Silent Hill 2 could mean for the future

Konami has announced that Silent Hill 2 has sold over a million copies in just three days, making the Bloober Team remake an undeniable success. It is by far the best-selling title in the series’ history, as despite its cult status, Silent Hill did not enjoy financial success for most of its existence. At the time of writing, Silent Hill has achieved less than ten million sales across all of its games. Nevertheless, it is a name that is considered a titan of the genre alongside Resident Evil.

After the original quartet of titles were released on the PlayStation 2, Team Silent was suddenly disbanded and most future titles were developed by Western studios. We’ve had a few worthwhile entries in the coming years like “Origins” and “Shattered Memories,” but stinkers like “Downpour” and “Homecoming” misunderstand typical psychological horror with characters and settings that just aren’t very interesting. Combine that with the mediocre HD collection, and it was only a matter of time before Silent Hill faded into obscurity.

After Silent Hill 2, we’ll probably get more remakes

I started to think the series would never make a comeback, and then I became sick with worry when it was announced that Bloober Team would be remaking the excellent second installment. Things got even worse with The Short Message, a ridiculous online social experiment in Ascension, as it seems like Konami is throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. But with Silent Hill 2 all but blowing the doors off, Konami may now be looking to the future with very different ideas.

It’s refreshing to see that a million copies sold is a sign of success, rather than falling short of expectations because it didn’t sell five times as much.

The first thing that comes to mind is a remake of Silent Hill 3. It’s similarly well-regarded, with its focus on survival horror and a slew of iconic characters, and would benefit enormously from the same remake treatment. I can close my eyes and imagine it, and it would be fascinating if one of Team Silent’s more underrated entries got a second chance.

Speaking of which, The Room is a spectacularly disturbing experience that could be wonderfully expanded upon in this new era, not to mention that hardly anyone has played it on the PS2. But after that, I worry that Silent Hill may be focusing too much on reviving old victories rather than evoking new stories, because for so long the series has mindlessly relied on the images, enemies and motifs it introduced in Silent Hill 2 has about how to expand on these ideas.

Millions of people who have never played the original game know Pyramid Head, Nebula, and characters like James Sunderland and Heather Mason. They’ve overshadowed both games for a reason, and I’m not sure whether Konami is right or wrong to recognize that appeal.

Do I want to see new games in the series, or would they just be pale imitations of what came before, or do I feel obligated to recreate the same enemies, images and themes, knowing full well that fans will be outraged if they don’t did? Bloober Team has said it’s open to new remakes and ready and willing to prove itself, but I’d rather carry that sentiment over to new games than remakes of older games.

Yes, you would be offering these stories to a new audience for the first time, but wouldn’t it be better to spend that time completely reimagining that experience, or better yet, a new story? At some point we will run out of road, and for Silent Hill to continue to exist in any form, it will have no choice but to evolve and leave the past behind. Drag them over the coals as you like, but Ascension and Short Message at least tried something new. We can also look forward to games like Silent Hill f and Townfall, but who knows if plans for that will change now that Silent Hill 2 has proven to be a success.

But in the end we could also get more than just games

Silent Hill has received two feature films over the years, neither of which are particularly good. The first came out in 2006 and was a relatively faithful adaptation of the first game with more than a few visual elements from Silent Hill 2. It also went harder on the lore and twisted the city’s background to one that revolved around certain historical figures and an obsession revolved around witchcraft rather than reflecting the mental psyche of its characters.

It walked and talked exactly like Silent Hill, but it didn’t really do that feel like Silent Hill. I remember being obsessed with it as a child and being immediately disappointed when I saw it for myself. But compared to the film we got over half a decade later, it’s a masterpiece.

Revelations is a disastrous film starring the baby-faced Kit Harington that is more of a silly and schlocky monster movie than a serious attempt at horror. The Pyramid Head is seen as a good guy, much like the Predator in Alien vs. Predator, while the action – quite literally at some points – is more like a slow-motion roller coaster ride that is, frankly, hilarious to watch. Released as the series was on its last breath, it represented a final kick in the teeth for fans in a sea of ​​pachinko machines. So what would future adaptations look like if Konami decided to make this one after Silent Hill 2 path to take? Probably much better. Well, hopefully…

After the success of shows like Arcane, The Last of Us, Fallout and many others, it feels like the curse has long since been broken. If Silent Hill were ever given another chance, it would probably be taken more seriously. Horror has evolved as a genre and we live in a world where there is room for serious psychological thrillers and schlocky nonsense. We’ve come to expect more, while creators have greater respect for a source material that we once viewed as cheesy. If the future of Silent Hill lies in adaptation, I think everything will be fine.

Whatever we end up with, Silent Hill is back

Just a few months ago, I was convinced that Silent Hill would continue to have problems in modern times. That the Bloober Team remake would fundamentally misunderstand the original works so well and fails in a landscape where there’s no desire for it. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and with this masterful revival set in stone, Konami has the chance to take some serious creative risks with Silent Hill, and I hope that’s the case. It offers horror like no other game, and it would be foolish not to take advantage of that fact.