Fans of Konami's original Silent Hill 2 were skeptical about Bloober Team's upcoming remake, but its CEO Piotr Babieno urged fans to trust the studio.
Bloober is known for developing psychological horror games, but despite his confidence in the remake, fans have been less forgiving in their criticism of the trailers shown so far.
“I dream that the players trust us,” Babieno told Rolling Stone, “but I realize that trust is earned by actions, not words. That's why we have a no-comment policy. [on the specifics of the game] and raise hopes. We want to show our ambitions through our work, so all we can ask is: “Give us a chance.”
SILENT HILL 2 | Release Date Trailer (4K:EN/ESRB) | KONAMI
Babieno is aware of the importance of the game for fans of the series. He is also a fan and says that playing the game has “the [his] Life”.
“Despite technological progress [in video games]”, he said, “so many of us remember [visiting] the town of Silent Hill as one of the most important points in our lives.”
The original game was released on the PS2 in 2001 and has become iconic due to its enemies Pyramid Head and Nurse.
Thanks to the discussions between Bloober and Konami, “we found a great balance between what we and our partner had in mind,” Babieno said. “It took a long time to get there, with a lot of creative discussions and hard work, but we are very happy with the result.”
Constructive criticism from fans has been taken into account, which has so far been “invaluable in refining our project before its release”, although the studio's developers have also been able to “focus on their creative work in peace” by excluding other voices.
“We tried to make as many fans happy as possible, but at the same time stay true to ourselves,” Babieno said. “I really hope that when people play for the first time, they understand that we made the best decisions possible.”
Additionally, work on Silent Hill 2 marks a new era for the studio as it moves toward horror through action rather than just the psychological horror and environmental storytelling it has become known for.
Silent Hill 2 will therefore be “the culmination of my work, but at the same time a gateway to the new,” said Babieno.
The remake of Silent Hill 2 is set to release in October for PS5 and PC, as revealed in May at Sony's State of Play with a new trailer (see above).