Konami returns to the game-making industry after turning to Pachinko machines during the early 2000s, revealing more information about the much anticipated Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team, alongside some new merchandise based around other Silent Hill properties in a 40-minute presentation made today via Youtube and other streaming platforms.
Things kicked off earlier in the evening with a new Silent Hill 2 trailer that revealed the game’s release date, October 8th 2024, during the PlayStation State of Play event (Read more about that here).
The official Silent Hill Transmission started not too long after the PlayStation State of Play event ended, going straight into what everyone wanted to see: the gameplay of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake.
The gameplay (as seen in the video above), started off showing clips from the cutscenes that will be present in the games, mostly from the opening of Silent Hill 2. This footage sees James Sunderland return as he makes his way back to Silent Hill, after getting a letter from his wife Mary asking him to go back to their “special place”.
Most Silent Hill fans will know the story of Silent Hill 2, with James going through the town looking for his wife, only to encounter other characters along the way, including a look-alike of his wife Mary who goes by the name Maria, and Laura, a little girl who spent time in hospital with Mary before Mary’s passing.
The gameplay starts with James wandering through the back alleyways of the town as he looks for something that is just out of sight. We get to see some interesting small bits during this time. We see that James will mark off things on his map (which we use to navigate through the game) in real-time, a great small addition to the world that makes us feel like we are James.
We also see one of the encounters with the Patient Demons (Otherwise known as “Straightjackets” or “Nobodies”), a faceless, armless creature that attacks by spewing bile at you or butting you with its “head”. We see James taking one of these out with a piece of wood that he rips from the window, assumably during the apartment section of the game.
It turns out that James was chasing down Laura, the child who spent time in the hospital with Mary previously. Laura heads off to the hospital where James meets up with Maria (This would be after James meets Maria at the amusement park if the sequences from the original game are still the same).
Inside the hospital, we get to see some of the new graphical improvements shine, with some amazing ray-tracking light work happening as James walks down the hospital hallways as he searches for Laura. This section also introduces the idea of the Nurse Demons through a very well-placed image on the wall, as well as showing some of the puzzle pieces and clues that you’ll have to find/read/work out during this section of the game.
We see James’ first encounter with the Nurse Demon as it shuffles its way down a hallway. James gets into a fight with the Nurse Demon and defeats it by bashing it to death with a lead pipe, a staple weapon for the Silent Hill series ever since this game.
The demo ends with James finding Laura, who locks him in one of the hallways after the two get into a verbal encounter. James notices something behind him as a cage bursts through the ceiling to cut everything to the Silent Hill 2 title screen and once again lets us know the game will be released on October 4th, 2024.
Rounding out the information for the Silent Hill 2 remake are the pre-order bonuses and deluxe editions that will be available for purchase. Depending on your pre-order or edition, you’ll get access to special headpieces that you can wear in-game, as well as the digital artbook and soundtrack. The soundtrack announced the return of Akira Yamaoka as the composer for Silent Hill 2.
Next up, was a clip from Bloober Team, who talked about their involvement in the remake. This was the usual thing of how they enjoy the game series, how they want to make the game accessible for newcomers, and the redesigns required to modernize the game while keeping the feel and spirit of the original intact.
We got an interview with the actors who play James and Mary/Maria. They outline the challenges that they faced with acting out their roles as their iconic characters.
Then we got a preview of the upcoming Behind-the-scenes featurette called “Return to Silent Hill”, which outlines what the whole development process was by the Bloober Team from taking over and remaking this classic game, the use of people for all the motion capture, and other processes that went into making this game what it will be.
But what would a video game release be without MERCHANISE? Well, the guys at Good Smile Company start things out with a Nendoroid of the Red Pyramid Head creature, the iconic monster of the Silent Hill franchise. As someone who owns some Nendoroid products, I can confirm that this will be a release worth buying.
The next product is THE one that Silent Hill fans will be clamoring for: A statue/coin bank of the secret ending to the original Silent Hill 2, which saw James stumble onto the real controlling figure of the Silent Hill franchise, Mira the Shiba Inu. This statue/coin bank displays that iconic moment for you to enjoy… For the right price.
We also get some products from Fanattik, starting off with the three-coin set as seen above. These coins were used for a puzzle in the original Silent Hill 2 and will be released in a puzzle box to keep things as puzzling as possible. For coin collectors, this might be something that you want to add to your collection.
The Purple Bull keycard is an interesting item. I do not remember this from Silent Hill 2 at all, but it has been a long time since I played the game and I do tend to miss things from time to time. As for this being an actual product, you might want to skip this one.
Rounding out the products from Fanattik are some smaller items like Medallions, coins, badges, key rings, and coasters. For the most hardcore Silent Hill fan these will be must-have items, but for most people there is little appeal. I’m sure I have one friend who would like that Robbie the Rabbit pin.
Some Konami shop exclusives were up next, with the headline product being this 1:1 replica of James’ jacket form the game. This replica has all the patches that you see in the beginning of Silent Hill 2, complete with the flannel inner layer in order to keep you warm as you walk those foggy streets.
There was also the reveal of a very good-looking shadowbox for the key art for the game. For those of you who do not have or have seen a shadowbox before, this multi-layered image creates a 3D image from a 2D image that looks really good when you look at it from different angles. This would be a great addition to a gamers’ room.
Finally, we got to see the rest of the products from Konami in regards to Silent Hill 2, ranging from shirts to coasters, glasses, and more. There are a lot of items to take a look at in the Official Konami Shop.
We got an update on Silent Hill: The Short Message, the free game that was released on PlayStation 5 back in Janurary. To date, the game has had over 2.5 million downloads and is still available. This game will be the only content, game wise, for this title. But there is more…
From Gecco, the people behind the Mira the Shiba Inu statue/coin bank, we will be getting a statue of the Sakura Head monster from Silent Hill: The Short Message. This creature that chased you through the game looks somewhat beautiful for something that was so frightening in the game.
We also had the announcement of the original soundtrack for Silent Hill: The Short Message being made available via all sorts of music streaming platforms. Much like the upcoming Silent Hill 2 soundtrack, The Short Message was composed by Akira Yamaoka.
And that is everything from the Silent Hill Transmission. Silent Hill 2 remake will be released on PlayStation 5 and Steam on October 8th, 2024. You can pre-order the game now through those platforms to secure some exclusive in-game items.
