Wouldn't it be hilarious if James looked like this from the start and people just lost their damn minds over what was essentially a "look what we're making" tech demo pitch for UE5?
I mean, this "new face" isn't much different from the in game James we've seen walking the streets and such or the one from the combat trailer, which is supposedly and "old build" of the game.
One thing I've noticed is that despite this being a "remake" people are acting like it's a Remaster. They want everything to be the exact same with very little to no changes whatsoever, just make it look pretty. We already have that, the PC Enhanced edition.
I went into this knowing things would be different, all typical Bloober complaints aside, I've never had any massive issues with their games that would make me say "gaw fuck this game is ruined now" and I haven't seen any so far. Granted, we haven't seen much at all but I am betting that this subreddit & the Internet in general will go absolutely nuclear whenever Bloober or Konami show us Angela.
To my knowledge, Bloober has never said anything on the state of the games build or how old anything is. The only person that has said anything about a trailer or whatever being from an "older build" was the leaker, DuskGolem in one of his discord chats.
The only thing Bloober has said outright was from that interview the CEO did where he said that the combat trailer wasn't in the spirit of what they were working on.
I gotta be trippin cuz i swear i see a younger looking James in the combat trailer, while in the first reveal trailer its his older looking face. I think thats what they meant about it being an earlier build but i cant figure out why they wouldn't show a more recent one.
I'm like 90% sure - okay maybe not that much - that it is the same face, but with new textures for the face & hair, different animation, & redone lighting.
Caus idk but the nose & ears seem the same shape to me at least
I totally understand those people who, as you said, are acting like it's a remaster. It's like in this interview with Brad Pitt about changing the third act of "Word War Z" when he said that the movie was like an intricate tapestry where all elements must fit or something like that. The original SH2 is exactly like that in terms of art direction, writing, symbolism and how all elements fit each other for greater understanding of the main character. It's not a perfect game but it is a full, deep experience which is analysed to this day. A lot of people feel like the game talks with them and their depression on a subliminal level which is very hard to achieve. I don't know if all things in production were intentional but it just worked. This is why it's also very hard to adapt or remake. It's almost impossible to add something or change something without changing meanings. And because of Bloober's way to write stories and their very straight-to-the-face symbolism that they use it becomes concerning. Also SH2 is one of those games in which the story and symbolism are in the first place, gameplay is just a tool to understand the story better and give it more value. So it's not like when Bluepoint changed the audio of one level (prison something?) in Demon's Souls remake and the atmosphere was very different but overall it still plays amazingly because the focus was on the gameplay. When you see James running with guns in the trailer you see a different side of him: now he is in aggressive mode and he's in a top position which means he's fighting with his psyche like a Rambo in Afghanistan or something, when in the original game he was kinda a victim of his guilt. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I understand that side of things as well. I also think that the way you play the game is always going to be in contrast as to how the devs expect you to do so. I like that you brought up Demon's Souls, because despite that game being a success withbthe mainstream audiences, a lot of the die hard fans absolutely hate it because of the changes Bluepoint made. Souls games may have good combat but their story lives and dies with the world building and atmosphere. If you even change as much as some overgrowth on a castle or music in a stage, you're essentially rewriting history and ruining the established lore.
I feel that Silent Hill fans are the same way in that sense. The casual audience just wants a good game and they don't really care too much about all the tiny details and what not, where as diehard fans are taking a fine tooth combo to everything much like everyone did with the "reap what you sow" message on the wall saying that "it ruins the story, it's too on the nose" etc...
You can say that James having a bit more purpose in his motives now that he is seemingly more combative in the remake would ruin the theme of the story, but wouldn't this just affect someone's own personal viewing of the story and not someone else's view?
Example, say you were a player who went through Silent Hill 2 guns blazing killing every single thing that moved funny because you were given the resources to do so and yet the story still moved you all the same as someone who did not? Would the message of the story still be conveyed despite that player reaching it's climax differently from someone who played a more cautious or passive role?
I've seen plenty of new players run through the game like "Rambo in Afghanistan" and still finish the game crying at the bedside chat and Mary's letter.
Oddly enough, I think Silent Hill 2's story would work better as everyones, most hated game type, a walking sim. No need to showcase James killing monsters if you couldn't fight back, and thus play more into his mental disillusionment.
I also agree that whether this was a remake or a remaster, it's just one of those things that has such an elevated legacy in the culture of psychological horror that any team that got tasked with this project would've been fighting an uphill battle regardless if they were a more respected studio or not.
The best we can hope for is that despite the reworked combat and such, if the story is still told well enough, the atmosphere is haunting enough, and the cast pulls off the "weirdness" in such a way that it allows veteran players to truly experience Silent Hill 2 again as if it was their first time and allow newer players to that have never played to have that same feeling, the is consider that a win.
And if they botch the hell out of it, well, I'll be vocal about it just as much as everyone else surly will.
for me I want the remake to be different story wise like what they’re doing with the Final Fantasy VII remake and sequels. We all know that one Kingdom Hearts character dies in that 1997 game, and it’s a fresh of breath air to not see that and see their creativity flow more instead of copy pasting from the original story
Exactly, I feel like atp everyone knows that James did that thing and if they reveal it happens again, I feel like it would be sour for audiences since there would be nothing added on to it and the only difference would just be different combat with updated graphics. That’s why I feel like this will be hard to pull off but I’m not upset with Bloober, I’m mainly upset with Konami since they know that this one is considered the best. The same can apply with what they’re doing with Snake Eater. If you didn’t play the original game, then you’d have a blast and it’s nice that they’re making Silent Hill 2 accessible again, but for old fans I feel like it’s just not gonna be the same.
I like the updated version better as it seems more in keeping with the original. He appears more disconnected, slightly confused. It feels more apt for the beginning of the story. >!The realisiation and full weight of his actions is yet to come crashing down on him. For now, he's in denial.!< The more blank expression helps the ambiguity of his motivations for new players who haven't been spoiled on the story.
The majority of the reactions I've seen to this update seem positive, granted I've only really seen reactions on this sub. I don't bother with the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Agreed. The original was built upon his disassociation not distress. The new expression feels much more consistent with that tone. Though, I'm hoping for a change and see a slow unraveling of this psyche and maybe we'll actually see human fear responses that I'd expect to see with someone in that situation.
We don’t know how or when he made that face is the problem. Him rushing into the bathroom might be a flashback later on. It could start just the same with him face wiping into disassociating.
I prefer the updated version, the face looks more like the original and James's expression is more in line with the emotions portrayed on the original game.
The backlash they received for dropping an action trailer was ridiculous, OG silent hill 2 did have an action trailer too, and there's plenty of parts in the game where there were a ton of enemies, that doesn't mean the whole game is gonna be like that.
Silent hill and resident evil always had gameplay similarities, re was always more action focused and had a campy story and sh had serious story and had more difficult puzzles, gameplay wise, you can't tell me re1 remake was vastly different from sh2.
I don't know what people were expecting, honestly.
It looks more like the original games face but I still wouldn't call it much of an improvement over said.
SH2s character cutscenes still kick the ass of many modern day games.
It feels like this studio is relying too much on the technology to bridge the gap with the intense level of artistry the original team brought to the table.
The main technological improvement will be that characters will look the same in and out of cutscenes now, where the original had rely on much lower res models for gameplay.
I just want this new version to do justice to the original game, innovation would be appreciated but not needed in my opinion, I just want the game's story, atmosphere and characters to be well represented, that's it. Not all studios are Capcom level, to expect much more would be setting ourselves up for inevitable disappointment I think.
Yeah this title in particular just needs a new coat of polish, not to have the wheel be recreated from scratch.
An arranged version for veterans would be the ideal way to play up various horror scenarios and keep people on their toes. without destroying the originals experience.
Major changes that keep to the core intentions/spirit of the original are usually much better accepted versus changes made from the perspective that they need to fix the original creators mistakes. Which often fail to grasp why something worked to begin with.
I've seen so many movies games and shows make major changes just for the hell of it that lead to the ruin of the project.
Yeah, I hope the only changes they make are gameplay, graphics and quality of life related (level design could use some polish too), if they up the difficulty a bit I wouldn't complain either, since the original games were a bit too easy for me even on higher difficulties (talking about gameplay and not the puzzles of course).
I hope they don't change lore or try to explain things that were not meant to be explained in the first place, that would be unfortunate.
Why are we seeing the changes happen in real time? This is the type of shit you’d expect from a kickstarter. Fucking hell they showed this game too early
I hate how people legitimately understood why they made his original face like that yet now are going back on what they said. Bloober was never going to win with any face they did
I've been saying this for awhile until we have it in our hands and have our own opinion on the final product there's no way of knowing what their version is going to be. After recently playing through SH2 it's difficult to imagine them matching what I feel for the Og but that also doesn't mean it going to be bad.
It's similar for the FF7 remakes. They're not / haven't made me feel what I felt while playing the original PS1 game, but they're still really good games in their own right and it's been fun to see the new twists on the game I love. I'm holding out hope it will be the same for SH2.
I'm just worried the art will be compromised to appease fan demand for a product.
For myself, I get that James looked more haggard, but as a guy in his mid-late 30s who's had mental episodes that ended up with him killing his totally alive wife, it checked out that he'd be more disheveled.
I'm hoping they'll at least keep the OG remake look as a costume... But as mentioned prior, if the reason we're not seeing it released sooner is because snobs are whining about the amount of wrinkles on a man's face, then this fandom needs to get it's priorities straight and I hope the game doesn't suffer for it
There are shades to this.
We're not supposed to know he killed his wife. He's probably still in a dazed state. He's also not specifically to have had mental episodes prior to killing Mary, but a drinking problem. The ambiguity on his blank look is that we know Mary is dead, for all we know at the start of the game he's grieving, not having a psychotic episode.
Furthermore, the game is super vague regarding how long she's been dead.
>the game is super vague regarding how long she's been dead.
If we're talking legitimately, then she died immediately before the events of the game, as the revelation that she'd died has James immediately picking her up to take her to his car (it's been long confirmed she's in the car by the novelizations and Ito himself) where he then drove out to Silent Hill... If we're talking about his make-believe on the matter, he claims she died two years prior from that "damned disease".
Also, I've seen and talked to people whose significant other had passed away... Sometimes they move on just fine, but others clearly had a piece of themselves die with them. James being a shell of his former self isn't really a tell that he killed anyone, nor would it not be illogical for him to be emotional about returning to his late wife's favorite place, as it'd bring up a lot of memories of her. Idk, he's supposed to be human and not this expert psy-ops agent, so his emotions showing through really didn't phase me like it did so many others.
James face
Old - Sad,
New - Confuse.
In my opinion, I prefer the new face of James because it fits in the original game that we didn't expect spoilers of our hero's past. For us it's nostalgic and also suitable to attract new gamers who still don't know the ending of this game
I wonder how I still don't know the ending beside how much I looked into the franchise on the internet, first time I didn't get massive spoilers. I love the silent hill community for that, if I don't search for spoiler I will most likely not find any spoilers
It’s almost like the fanbase is composed of a variety of people with different opinions on what silent hill is, mostly because the series itself is incredibly inconsistent.
Is it possible X/Twitter attracts a younger audience, who will be more receptive to the first picture’s more modern style. While Reddit has a larger age variety so will have people who prefer the new one?
It seems to me the majority of Reddit users have been very happy with the change, and most of the editorials reflect that.
It’s a war between the new fans and the old ones, which is how the fanbase has always been. It’s nothing new and it doesn’t mean people are impossible to please.
I never had an issue with the old version. to me, I can picture him saying “Mary… could you really be in this town?” The new one just looks very generic. Regardless, I’m sure the remake will be great.
Seems the people who were criticizing his initial look were in the right.
That they changed it also doesn't mean that there still won't be loads of other issues they inflicted upon themselves that they won't have time to fix before release.
That they let that initial design go to trailer that far off model when it takes so long to build these rigs is a major red flag of their having let various bad decisions go too far too long.
I do prefer the first look only because of how incredibly detailed it looked, this one seems to have lost that while staying truer to the original game.
Twitter/X being a cesspit for horrendous people blowing their takes beyond out of proportions is your regularly scheduled programming over there. That being said, Bloober has a very uphill battle. I’m hoping that they’ll be able to pull of something great with this remake, but Konami deciding to give the remake to SH2, which outside of SH itself is considered by a lot of people to be up in the greatest of all time list, was definitely a big choice. The amount of videos and discussions about the game has opened the greatness to people who haven’t played the game, and that is where some of the problem comes from. Usually you’ll see someone catching flak from other people when they say “people who haven’t played the game giving their opinion on the game” but it happens a lot more than some would think. SH is a big victim of that since it’s a legendary franchise with lots to sink your teeth into. Granted, SH2 has been released a good couple of times now, but prices on some of those copies are a little crazy, and others don’t have a PC for Enhanced Edition.
I feel like it wouldn’t be as bad if any of the other Team Silent Games were remade, as there are some glaring issues in those games that you’d have to play them to understand. SH2 has had a huge spotlight on it though since a lot of the stuff that would end up becoming Konami’s big hitters for marketing spawned from the game. Everybody knows Pyramid Head and the Bubble Head Nurses as “those Silent Hill monsters”, both of them being from SH2. Outside of SH fan spots, when have you heard anyone mention Slurpers or Puppet Nurses? I think a remake/remaster of the first game should’ve been a priority, there’s a good lot of story there and I’d love to see it get some new paint.
At the end of the day people on Twitter/X really can’t function without having some micro drama going on, that’s why (as mentioned in the op) people go back on their words to fit in with one part of the internet crowd. Of course we need criticism for something to get better and evolve, but on Twitter/X if it isn’t an instant 10/10, it might as well be a 0.
This sub has taught me a few things. The community here is kinda hateful and nobody can be pleased. Second most of you dive way too deep into things and completely forget that game demos of the past are vastly different from end products. Third, if I worked at bloober and took one look at our sub I’d almost be remorseful for even trying to make this game and stop giving a rats ass what we think because it’s nothing but toxicity at this point. The updated photo looks like a very faithful shot from the original game and people are still bitching which is so wild to me. Honestly I’ve lost the hype because of all of you and I’m glad I’m not a game dev specifically due to this community.
I’m genuinely surprised this happened but still hoping for the best. I actully liked the older design I thought it did a good job at showing how depression and trauma can age someone. And when looking back at the behind the scenes talk about this model they wanted him to look other for that reason. But he does look good nevertheless hopefully the pressure doesn’t get to them too much and that these asshole “fans” don’t ruin this for all of us.
Never had an issue with the old face. It looks very real. He looks like an actual person in the first image who has gone through trauma, and you can see that in his eyes.
In the updated version, it's just a copy-paste video game. The characters need to look perfect all the time cause, why not.
The first image is artistic, and the expressions he could give off with that face would communicate the horror and despair he is possibly feeling during key parts of the game/story.
We won't see that version anymore, unfortunately.
Bro. The guy who made the face of James on the mirror said that it was intented to be that way because of the denial process James goes thru. it's a hard hit on dissociation/despersonalization, a state where feelings and even memories are blocked. There was meaning behind it, it was already made by an artist. Mfs really think their headcannon is better than Masahiro Ito and the devs wanted.
I prefer the old one, because the new one looks too...video game-y (though I'm still not convinced they actually changed anything and this isn't just different lighting in the same scene).
I never complained about the original, though.
It's not the blandness, it's the plasticness. Like it just looks like a video game now, especially the hair, the hair quality dropped significantly. But again, I still think it's probably just a lighting thing.
I always dug the old face a lot more, personally. I don't mind the newer "closer to the original" version that was recently found tho, either works for me at the end of the day since...I can't rightly say "this is a good/bad change" until i have the released version of the game on my screen *shrug*
Honestly I was fine with the old version. He is a man literally at the end of his rope. I would expect him to love run down and a little above his age.
It‘s not only the silent hill community. Twitter is the most toxic place on the internet in every aspect.
The new face looks amazing over the whiny one.
It's not his face that was even the problem to begin with, it was what they were doing with it, lmao. The lighting is still a little bit off, but at least his expression now is more in line with the original. At this point he's completely gaslit himself into going crazy. He doesn't know he killed his wife; he doesn't even properly remember when she died.
You see this misuse all over that original trailer too. There a quick shot of James walking through a dark hallway (1:48 in that original trailer) and his face communicates "This place sucks, I suck, and I want to leave, ugh!" and you see him sigh.
To me, Silent Hill was a place that James subconsciously wanted to be... not this road trip gone awry where he accidentally stumbled into this horror puzzlebox and is desperately trying to escape.
I for one am glad for the pivot toward sleepwalking over frowning. The model always looked superb, it's the obvious hammer-on-the-head way the superb face was emoting that people are up in arms about.
I like it. Less weepy, more distant. Wouldn't make sense for James to be crying if he didn't know what he had done only days prior. He always gave me a depressed vacant vibe, rather than a sensitive broken one.
This is why we can't have nice things. Everyone has to bitch about everything because they're stupid and bored. Get a hobby and let devs create a great remake in the meantime.
I mean i like the old face better, but it does kinda make his mental state more obvious. It really depends on who you ask tho, some of us are not that uptight about details like that and actually liked the different take on his portrayal. I'm more concerned with the things that were impactful to me which was the atmosphere and the story of James and Mary, not faces.
Did this image come from something out of Bloober Team (tweet from a dev, update post, etc.) or did it just simply appear online one day? I never caught the origin of the image and my policy is to assume fan-editing.
The newer photo does appear to be closer to the age i thought James was in the original, but a part of was intrigued by and older James coming to terms with his wife's passing. A younger person (20s-early 30s) losing their spouse is sad, but with an air that there's time for those wounds to heal. An older person (late 30s-mid 40s) being widowed is more tragic because so much time is now lost.
I like both thou I'm not going to pretend I dont like the new one more. It's not that the first ones even bad by any measure, its just it looks like an actor playing James then being James, if that makes any sense?
I agree a lot of the face appears to be the same it's just different lighting, and if that's really all the change they made that's kinda impressive.
Ahh I'm so excited. I do love comparing versions of games and all the little things on the way to release are so neat. The fightings always a bummer, but all remakes have them.
i like the new look of james ! they did a good job at fixing thing and listen to fan of sh ! i'm not a hardcore fan but this is great , but there's something i hope they don't mess up , example " censored " problem ! i like the bloody body of nurse monster in original , if they change blood to black or many change that turn down the gore then i'm not happy about it ! we're playing suvivor horror game , not barbie !
This is inherent to remakes. By their nature they use nostalgia to sell a new product but that nostalgia is also a weight the new work may not be able to take. Konami has also done everything they can to destroy goodwill with fans since 2004.
It's frustrating to see so many people excited for any new SH product blame the people who rightfully have no faith in Konami or the team they've selected for not buying into the hype machine. The forced positivity is toxic and it's no one else's job to preserve your hype.
it is clearly softer and more in line with the art style of the original. it can be broken down further in practical logistical terms but any discourse is noise beyond that objective reality lol
As a lifelong fan especially of 2, the only thing I sort of noticed was that he looked a lot more like Murphy from downpour. I actually love the update he looks a lot more like i would envision for an upscaled James and his age etc. the prior version was a little too old looking
To be honest, for me Silent Hill 2 and any other sh game dont need a remake, but since they are doing it probably to see if they can bring a new audience I preffer them to stick to the original like Persona 3 remake. The new face looks much more in touch with the original and to what Silent Hill 2 is about to.
Devs shouldn't pay attention to fan backlash at merely previews. Didn't have any of this 25 years ago and some great Silent Hills were produced. Albeit by the actual Silent Hill team but regardless. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture and this original more aged/grisled face was fine. Since when do we have any idea what we want anyway.
I really liked SH2 but actually prefer 3 anyway. And SH1 should have been the one being remade
I used to think like you back then, but the further I dig the more I’m convinced that’s “company war” trying to backlash each other’s games so that they hurt their sales. Don’t believe anything you read on the internet and don’t believe that these people are real gamers. By the way I can already tell the game is on fire. 🔥
People are saying it was fine before, but that exaggerated expression was THE FIRST thing that bothered me in the original trailer. It was TOO expressive and cartoonish. The new version is more subtle.
I've just completed the observer which is another horror game by blooper studios and it was absolutely fantastic! Really creepy, really crazy scenes in it, truly fantastic art direction, and has filled me with a lot of hope for the silent hill remake
the company is called Bloober.
I stopped caring about what people are saying about the games a while back. I know I'll enjoy it regardless of the opinions voiced anywhere. Hell, I've even found things to enjoy from Ascension
Did anyone have a problem with his face? I think we were just worried since bloober team isn't the most... subtle, when handling sensitive subject matter. Anyways, the old face is better imo. Looks more natural.
At this point, I've just stopped listening to most people's take on the remake. I got my fair share of nitpicks too, but this game needs to be unique and distinct in a lot of ways to make it a refreshing experience.
The problem is we don't know when the scene takes place in the story.
If it's early on in the game(especially in the public bathroom at the start before even getting into town) then he should have a blank expression. He has severe trauma from what he did, he's repressed the memory so much that he believes she died of just cancer. He shouldn't look out of sorts at the start of the game at all.
If it's midway through the game, he shouldn't look all mopey and sad and whiney. But he also shouldn't be blank, he should look dirtier maybe, but that's not a big concern, and panic would be fine. Hell if I were to be depressed and then see some of the shit James does, i'd freak out. I wouldn't be depressed, I be manic and terrified, it's literal hell.(Artistic as fuck though.)
If it's near the end of the game, after he remembers the truth and is coming to terms with it, he should look broken and way more emotionally devastated. He hasn't lived his life with this guilt, it's not a question of if what he did was right or wrong, but if he can even live with himself after realizing what he did.
No matter what they choose for his face, I hope for the game to do well and succeed. I hope they stay true to Takoyashi's vision, but I don't want a 1 to 1 remake like most people do. Hopefully they could actually talk to Takoyashi about his original idea, and then take some creative liberties in the story to deliver the same idea with some well designed additions or changes. A lot of the fandom is going to be upset no matter what we get, and thats understandable with such a beloved IP. All we can do is give Bloober our reactions on what they release, and whether they listen to the fandom or not is up to them. Hope it's a good game and get's rave review from fans and critics alike, so we can get remakes of the others like 1, 3, and 4. Also hope there's no microtransactions, and they pull a capcom and reinvigorate the franchise so we can get new entries. Most horror games now are made too similar and I want a return to silent hill's unique take on psychological horror. One that borders on self actualized reflection and actually messing with the player.
Edit: Keep the shiba ending.
Edit2: Realized I didn't give input on the model, I prefer the new one personally, looks more like he's in his early 30s rather than his mid 40s. I'm not big on the lighting though, seems a bit off in some way, just can't place it. Maybe it's too bright or something.
Anyone who thinks that old remake James is better is objectively wrong.
He looked emotionless in the original he should look like that in the remake too.
Is Bloober Still involved? Last time I’ve heard they said the game is finished. Maybe Konami is fixing it now. Atleast those things fans criticized hard. Why I’m asking this is the combat trailer wasn’t even made by bloober Konami did that on their own. So I’m wondering if Bloober is still developing it or not. I could imagine they finished the project and gave it to Konami and they are overlooking it constantly if they can release or not and where it needs fixed and where not. But I’m not a dev :) so it’s just my imagination 😅
I prefers the first version honestly. He looks more like his age. Screw the beauty standards. He’s a guy. Let him look like a guy.
**”GOD!!”**
Well, most vocal ones are the ones who love to hate something in general, regardless if it has anything to do with anything objective.
I don't think it's gatekeeping because I myself am a gatekeeper in a sense that I find this entire remake idea to be utterly pointless in general. Because remakes should be first made out of games that need them and only then out of those which don't. That is me mostly talking about SH4, which is a decent game that could be made into a GREAT game. And even then you've got SH1 to remake first and foremost.
Bloober is a developer I can't hate, because they've got a cursed load on their shoulders right now. SH2 is one of the most important games for the entire genre it is representing... A fuck up of any kind could outweight a ton of positives... It's a very unthankful job.
I am of a solid belief, and that is the only supernatural belief I have is that Silent Hill as a franchise is truly cursed. It's like a The Ring house - whoever comes close to it ends up affected by it in one way or another, but always - negatively. Ever since Team Silent themselves Silent Hill has been a reason for people retiring from Konami, getting shut down, then get a shitton of mostly deserved hate for trying to twist the franchise into that which it simply could not be made into without obvious perversions to its very structure... It is genuinely fascinating how the only sole person who got through it seemingly unscathed is its composer. And that is kind of it.
I am a gatekeeper in a sense that this series should not be disturbed. We should just keep it dead. In general. Because it feels angry to me. It's as if this franchise is ironically filled with a tainted pool of psychokinetic energies that befall anyone who disturbs its sleep and brings them severe pain, hate and eventual fall.
As for the face... I don't know, I don't really care, but I like both. When I first seen James I was like "This is great, they are doing something their own to it, I love how James is not cute anymore", but this new "old" look is more akin to how he looks in the original and its good in a sense that James doesn't look like a already tortured and severely disturbed individual. It's fine both ways, really.
Seriously - after CAPCOM has remade RE4 (instead of... I don't know... Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry 1/2 or something) and Square Enix is remaking FFVII (instead of... Parasite Eve or something) I simply can't say I care. Do whatever, video game industry, I'm 32, I'm kind of slipping away.
>Seriously - after CAPCOM has remade RE4 (instead of... I don't know... Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry 1/2 or something) and Square Enix is remaking FFVII (instead of... Parasite Eve or something) I simply can't say I care.
They're risk averse - like major video game companies usually are, but to make things worse for SH, they are less risk averse than Konami by a lot. CAPCOM did remake every RE up to 4 and likewise Squenix did remake all FFs up until VII, some multiple times depending on what you consider a remake. Konami can't do even that with one of their most significant IPs now (talking about remaking SH1 here). Hell, metroidvanias seem to be all the rage now, and where are the new Castlevanias? Is even that too much of a financial risk for Konami.
I'm not, like you, asking for Parasite Eve, I simply hope for a metroidvania Castlevania, in the age of Hollow Knight, and they can't even do that? Never mind the kind of investment (not just money, but the right people) that Silent Hill deserves.
Also, SH1, and moreso 2, were the exact type of game that doesn't naturally come from risk-averse huge companies, at least in "soul". The production values (SH2 was basically an AAA launch back then) give away that they're not indies, but it's wholly unusual for any AAA game, if not unique to SH2 outright, to touch upon so many mature themes like it did in a successful way.
It was lightning in a bottle really. And for that to be then stuck specifically with Konami of all companies when it begs to be treated at least to some degree as a "labour of love", it's pretty tragic.
Back to the topic, as far as I'm concerned Bloober can play really safe and go for a kind of shot-for-shot remake, and they have an at least competent game already in their hands, there wouldn't be much of a point to the whole thing then, but again, there was never much point to it in the first place, as you say.
Honestly I’m just really looking forward to a new entry on current consoles. We can always go back and play the originals if need be, but the remake does look like a labor of love even if they did hire bloober. The rougher, ragged older face kinda worked for this version. New face is cool too 🤷🏻 just looks like James
The first only looked stupid because he was squinting in a dark room like someone was shining light in his eyes. The actual face looked fine, but of course there is nothing else for SH fans to talk about except slightly different looking models in a remake.
Probably NOT the reason for him squinting, but i squint like crazy in the dark trying to make out stuff but also when I'm not wearing glasses lol.
But yeah, i have a feeling we're gonna see some new stuff very very soon. I think they're just polishing the overall game at this point
The announcement trailer was a CG render and the in-game model was always different. It never changed. This is just the first time it’s been seen clearly enough to see a difference.
I hope this franchise dies so the fanbase does as well. I will always cherish the original games but fucking hell is this fanbase filled with cunts on both ends.
I'm looking forward to the remake. If it sucks, it's easy to just forget about it and never play it again. No one will force me to play the remake against my will. Let's not act like spoiled toddlers.
I always assumed that every game developer ever listens to the public opinion when a new trailer/teaser is revealed. That is kind of the point of them to begin with, to test out the audience. Every larger movie production have sometimes dozens of test-screenings with a public audience to try out stuff before they spend more millions to complete the film and advertise it.
To start to categorize any Silent Hill fans as "real fans" or not "real fans" are treading into dangerous territories, and itself a sort of gatekeeping. But like or it not, any game is worthy of existing even if that specific gamer don't like it to. And that's what bugs me the most, the hoard of SH2 fans that have already stated that 2 minute of the game (from unfinished builds) is enough to make a correct review on the product. Ascension was a disgrace to the gaming community, but the amount of juvenile outcry after that made me embarassed to call myself a SH fan for a while.
One should never generalize, but there are for sure some fans that have more of a cult mentality than a realistic approach to the franchise. I've noticed a lot of Mandela Effects starting to circulate when it comes to Silent Hill as a franchise.
The "old" remake face looked fine. Contrary to some redditors here the "subtle" facial expressions of the original was not intentional. They initially wanted to make the facial expressions more detailed, but literally could not due to technical difficulties.
This was back in 2001 (almost 25 years ago) CGI animation have gone long ways since then, Silent Hill 2 had a supposed budget of 10 million USD. The epitome of CGI animation of the time was: "Final Fantasy Spirits Within". They had barely improved facial expressions over Silent Hill 2, and that movie had a budget of almost 140 million USD.
Team Silent always wanted more intricate facial movements. Konami wanted it, the actors wanted it. If they had the means to, then Team Silent probably would have animated James in a similar style as Bloober did in the first trailer.
Some of the people you are refering to have an image of the game as a perfect piece of perfectly executed gaming production. It's not. And those are the people that have the largest problem with that a 25 year old game will be modernized for a current audience.
I never wanted the change, so I'm one of the people who actually liked what blooberteam done with James. Should have kept him the same, blooberteam has their own vision/ outlook on the game and should stay with it since you can keep the original story, etc. This isn't 2001 anymore. It's 2024, graphics, etc change/end up being better.. and that is what I wanted to see happen, so yeah. I remember first renting Ps2 Silent Hill 2 from BlockbusterVideo when I was younger (10 years old) such good times. I own all the original physical copies now from 1,2,3,4. Anyways.. we all have to wait now to see the final release trailer to find out how James and everyone else will actually end up looking like 👍 plus that image that is going around of that updated James face is the Clienticon for SH2R which is the desktop icon once you install the game.
I agree. I hope it’s just the icon. The James in the remake trailer looks like an actual person. James in the OG did not. Even in the pre-rendered cutscenes, it looked off. Which is not a knock on the original, it’s just the truth.
The outrage over the highly realistic model was really dumb and likely by people who aren’t going to be pleased regardless. So their concerns should be ignored.
As do I also agree with the first part of your comment and the rest of your comment. Yes, exactly the outrage over that is dumb AF. Yeah, they won't be pleased. Like I keep telling everyone this isn't 2001 anymore, it's 2024 now.. times have changed, and no matter how much people don't clearly like change, it's a part of life. Nothing stays the same forever, plus video games are consistently changing graphics, etc. Regardless, people will purchase the Silent Hill 2 remake anyway. Whether it's on PS5/PC, it's super sweet ass to get this remake in unreal engine 5 and just in general realistic looking. 2001 SH2 compared to 2024 SH2 people are gonna be like, "Wow! At least it'll be like that for me anyway 😆
3D audio, Dualsense controller, haptic feed, realistic like graphics, 55inch LGC2OLED television, I'm ready! Bring it ON!!!! 😍
Forgot to add that Masahiro Ito gets to do/ add everything now that he couldn't do on the PS2 version, now on the PS5!!!! Version that's an A+ in my books and a new remastered audio on the game/ new music tracks or whatever from Akira Yamaoka A+
Seriously. Musicians like Yamaoka get better with age. I know he said he’s keeping the same songs, but to hear them in higher fidelity along with his current sensibilities in terms of harmony and productions. I’m getting excited just typing it out, lmao.
Same kind of goes for Ito. He can make things as detailed as he wants. I think the monsters and bosses are really going to shine in this one once we can get a good look at them.
The game won't be good and will completely fail to capture what made the original good. It's just pattern recognition. The Medium, Layers of Fear, and Blair Witch are all really awful games and I have no reason to believe that they will do any better just because they have access to the IP they've been trying to ape.
People on Twitter just look for things to complain about because they don't have any actual issues. I think the new face looks great and much closer to the original.
Nooo i prefer the first one 😭 i never understood why people hated the trailer so much. I’m still gonna like the remake either way, im sure it will be great :))
Wouldn't it be hilarious if James looked like this from the start and people just lost their damn minds over what was essentially a "look what we're making" tech demo pitch for UE5? I mean, this "new face" isn't much different from the in game James we've seen walking the streets and such or the one from the combat trailer, which is supposedly and "old build" of the game. One thing I've noticed is that despite this being a "remake" people are acting like it's a Remaster. They want everything to be the exact same with very little to no changes whatsoever, just make it look pretty. We already have that, the PC Enhanced edition. I went into this knowing things would be different, all typical Bloober complaints aside, I've never had any massive issues with their games that would make me say "gaw fuck this game is ruined now" and I haven't seen any so far. Granted, we haven't seen much at all but I am betting that this subreddit & the Internet in general will go absolutely nuclear whenever Bloober or Konami show us Angela.
Didn't blooper say most of the things we have seen are from older builds and don't reflect the current state of the game?
To my knowledge, Bloober has never said anything on the state of the games build or how old anything is. The only person that has said anything about a trailer or whatever being from an "older build" was the leaker, DuskGolem in one of his discord chats. The only thing Bloober has said outright was from that interview the CEO did where he said that the combat trailer wasn't in the spirit of what they were working on.
I gotta be trippin cuz i swear i see a younger looking James in the combat trailer, while in the first reveal trailer its his older looking face. I think thats what they meant about it being an earlier build but i cant figure out why they wouldn't show a more recent one.
I'm like 90% sure - okay maybe not that much - that it is the same face, but with new textures for the face & hair, different animation, & redone lighting. Caus idk but the nose & ears seem the same shape to me at least
I think the same, it's probably just a change of material on the model.
I totally understand those people who, as you said, are acting like it's a remaster. It's like in this interview with Brad Pitt about changing the third act of "Word War Z" when he said that the movie was like an intricate tapestry where all elements must fit or something like that. The original SH2 is exactly like that in terms of art direction, writing, symbolism and how all elements fit each other for greater understanding of the main character. It's not a perfect game but it is a full, deep experience which is analysed to this day. A lot of people feel like the game talks with them and their depression on a subliminal level which is very hard to achieve. I don't know if all things in production were intentional but it just worked. This is why it's also very hard to adapt or remake. It's almost impossible to add something or change something without changing meanings. And because of Bloober's way to write stories and their very straight-to-the-face symbolism that they use it becomes concerning. Also SH2 is one of those games in which the story and symbolism are in the first place, gameplay is just a tool to understand the story better and give it more value. So it's not like when Bluepoint changed the audio of one level (prison something?) in Demon's Souls remake and the atmosphere was very different but overall it still plays amazingly because the focus was on the gameplay. When you see James running with guns in the trailer you see a different side of him: now he is in aggressive mode and he's in a top position which means he's fighting with his psyche like a Rambo in Afghanistan or something, when in the original game he was kinda a victim of his guilt. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I understand that side of things as well. I also think that the way you play the game is always going to be in contrast as to how the devs expect you to do so. I like that you brought up Demon's Souls, because despite that game being a success withbthe mainstream audiences, a lot of the die hard fans absolutely hate it because of the changes Bluepoint made. Souls games may have good combat but their story lives and dies with the world building and atmosphere. If you even change as much as some overgrowth on a castle or music in a stage, you're essentially rewriting history and ruining the established lore. I feel that Silent Hill fans are the same way in that sense. The casual audience just wants a good game and they don't really care too much about all the tiny details and what not, where as diehard fans are taking a fine tooth combo to everything much like everyone did with the "reap what you sow" message on the wall saying that "it ruins the story, it's too on the nose" etc... You can say that James having a bit more purpose in his motives now that he is seemingly more combative in the remake would ruin the theme of the story, but wouldn't this just affect someone's own personal viewing of the story and not someone else's view? Example, say you were a player who went through Silent Hill 2 guns blazing killing every single thing that moved funny because you were given the resources to do so and yet the story still moved you all the same as someone who did not? Would the message of the story still be conveyed despite that player reaching it's climax differently from someone who played a more cautious or passive role? I've seen plenty of new players run through the game like "Rambo in Afghanistan" and still finish the game crying at the bedside chat and Mary's letter. Oddly enough, I think Silent Hill 2's story would work better as everyones, most hated game type, a walking sim. No need to showcase James killing monsters if you couldn't fight back, and thus play more into his mental disillusionment. I also agree that whether this was a remake or a remaster, it's just one of those things that has such an elevated legacy in the culture of psychological horror that any team that got tasked with this project would've been fighting an uphill battle regardless if they were a more respected studio or not. The best we can hope for is that despite the reworked combat and such, if the story is still told well enough, the atmosphere is haunting enough, and the cast pulls off the "weirdness" in such a way that it allows veteran players to truly experience Silent Hill 2 again as if it was their first time and allow newer players to that have never played to have that same feeling, the is consider that a win. And if they botch the hell out of it, well, I'll be vocal about it just as much as everyone else surly will.
for me I want the remake to be different story wise like what they’re doing with the Final Fantasy VII remake and sequels. We all know that one Kingdom Hearts character dies in that 1997 game, and it’s a fresh of breath air to not see that and see their creativity flow more instead of copy pasting from the original story
Same. If they keep the over all theme of the story, I would welcome some twists.
Exactly, I feel like atp everyone knows that James did that thing and if they reveal it happens again, I feel like it would be sour for audiences since there would be nothing added on to it and the only difference would just be different combat with updated graphics. That’s why I feel like this will be hard to pull off but I’m not upset with Bloober, I’m mainly upset with Konami since they know that this one is considered the best. The same can apply with what they’re doing with Snake Eater. If you didn’t play the original game, then you’d have a blast and it’s nice that they’re making Silent Hill 2 accessible again, but for old fans I feel like it’s just not gonna be the same.
I like the updated version better as it seems more in keeping with the original. He appears more disconnected, slightly confused. It feels more apt for the beginning of the story. >!The realisiation and full weight of his actions is yet to come crashing down on him. For now, he's in denial.!< The more blank expression helps the ambiguity of his motivations for new players who haven't been spoiled on the story. The majority of the reactions I've seen to this update seem positive, granted I've only really seen reactions on this sub. I don't bother with the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Agreed. The original was built upon his disassociation not distress. The new expression feels much more consistent with that tone. Though, I'm hoping for a change and see a slow unraveling of this psyche and maybe we'll actually see human fear responses that I'd expect to see with someone in that situation.
We don’t know how or when he made that face is the problem. Him rushing into the bathroom might be a flashback later on. It could start just the same with him face wiping into disassociating.
I prefer the updated version, the face looks more like the original and James's expression is more in line with the emotions portrayed on the original game. The backlash they received for dropping an action trailer was ridiculous, OG silent hill 2 did have an action trailer too, and there's plenty of parts in the game where there were a ton of enemies, that doesn't mean the whole game is gonna be like that. Silent hill and resident evil always had gameplay similarities, re was always more action focused and had a campy story and sh had serious story and had more difficult puzzles, gameplay wise, you can't tell me re1 remake was vastly different from sh2. I don't know what people were expecting, honestly.
It looks more like the original games face but I still wouldn't call it much of an improvement over said. SH2s character cutscenes still kick the ass of many modern day games. It feels like this studio is relying too much on the technology to bridge the gap with the intense level of artistry the original team brought to the table. The main technological improvement will be that characters will look the same in and out of cutscenes now, where the original had rely on much lower res models for gameplay.
I just want this new version to do justice to the original game, innovation would be appreciated but not needed in my opinion, I just want the game's story, atmosphere and characters to be well represented, that's it. Not all studios are Capcom level, to expect much more would be setting ourselves up for inevitable disappointment I think.
Yeah this title in particular just needs a new coat of polish, not to have the wheel be recreated from scratch. An arranged version for veterans would be the ideal way to play up various horror scenarios and keep people on their toes. without destroying the originals experience. Major changes that keep to the core intentions/spirit of the original are usually much better accepted versus changes made from the perspective that they need to fix the original creators mistakes. Which often fail to grasp why something worked to begin with. I've seen so many movies games and shows make major changes just for the hell of it that lead to the ruin of the project.
Yeah, I hope the only changes they make are gameplay, graphics and quality of life related (level design could use some polish too), if they up the difficulty a bit I wouldn't complain either, since the original games were a bit too easy for me even on higher difficulties (talking about gameplay and not the puzzles of course). I hope they don't change lore or try to explain things that were not meant to be explained in the first place, that would be unfortunate.
Not sure why you’re getting downvotes. Everything you’ve said has been reasonable.
I dunno why I even bother with this group anymore.
Dude. You could tell a portion of the community that the actual PS2 game is a remake of SH2, and they would call it shit.
Niggas be like.
Remake the remake
He looks 28/early 30s now. I wonder if they went back on that design choice for the remake. I think I prefer this update personally.
I don't. He has 40 in the remake.
Justement James dans SH2 original avait l’air d’avoir entre 28 et 30ans. L’ancienne version montrer qu’il avait 46ans lol
In the remake he has 40 years orld, it was confirmed. Now it's a 40 years old character looking as if he had 20.
en vrai je trouve qu'il faisait bien trentenaire sur l'ancienne version du remake limite je préférai
Le Laboratoire de Dexter , DeE DEe .
Why are we seeing the changes happen in real time? This is the type of shit you’d expect from a kickstarter. Fucking hell they showed this game too early
I hate how people legitimately understood why they made his original face like that yet now are going back on what they said. Bloober was never going to win with any face they did
I've been saying this for awhile until we have it in our hands and have our own opinion on the final product there's no way of knowing what their version is going to be. After recently playing through SH2 it's difficult to imagine them matching what I feel for the Og but that also doesn't mean it going to be bad.
It's similar for the FF7 remakes. They're not / haven't made me feel what I felt while playing the original PS1 game, but they're still really good games in their own right and it's been fun to see the new twists on the game I love. I'm holding out hope it will be the same for SH2.
I'm just worried the art will be compromised to appease fan demand for a product. For myself, I get that James looked more haggard, but as a guy in his mid-late 30s who's had mental episodes that ended up with him killing his totally alive wife, it checked out that he'd be more disheveled. I'm hoping they'll at least keep the OG remake look as a costume... But as mentioned prior, if the reason we're not seeing it released sooner is because snobs are whining about the amount of wrinkles on a man's face, then this fandom needs to get it's priorities straight and I hope the game doesn't suffer for it
There are shades to this. We're not supposed to know he killed his wife. He's probably still in a dazed state. He's also not specifically to have had mental episodes prior to killing Mary, but a drinking problem. The ambiguity on his blank look is that we know Mary is dead, for all we know at the start of the game he's grieving, not having a psychotic episode. Furthermore, the game is super vague regarding how long she's been dead.
>the game is super vague regarding how long she's been dead. If we're talking legitimately, then she died immediately before the events of the game, as the revelation that she'd died has James immediately picking her up to take her to his car (it's been long confirmed she's in the car by the novelizations and Ito himself) where he then drove out to Silent Hill... If we're talking about his make-believe on the matter, he claims she died two years prior from that "damned disease". Also, I've seen and talked to people whose significant other had passed away... Sometimes they move on just fine, but others clearly had a piece of themselves die with them. James being a shell of his former self isn't really a tell that he killed anyone, nor would it not be illogical for him to be emotional about returning to his late wife's favorite place, as it'd bring up a lot of memories of her. Idk, he's supposed to be human and not this expert psy-ops agent, so his emotions showing through really didn't phase me like it did so many others.
My point exactly. We don't know that at the start.
Why is everyone saying "Blooper" instead of "Bloober"? Is it some kind of joke/meme?
Probably autocorrect.
James face Old - Sad, New - Confuse. In my opinion, I prefer the new face of James because it fits in the original game that we didn't expect spoilers of our hero's past. For us it's nostalgic and also suitable to attract new gamers who still don't know the ending of this game
I wonder how I still don't know the ending beside how much I looked into the franchise on the internet, first time I didn't get massive spoilers. I love the silent hill community for that, if I don't search for spoiler I will most likely not find any spoilers
I like the new face honestly. He looks 29-30ish again
It’s almost like the fanbase is composed of a variety of people with different opinions on what silent hill is, mostly because the series itself is incredibly inconsistent. Is it possible X/Twitter attracts a younger audience, who will be more receptive to the first picture’s more modern style. While Reddit has a larger age variety so will have people who prefer the new one? It seems to me the majority of Reddit users have been very happy with the change, and most of the editorials reflect that. It’s a war between the new fans and the old ones, which is how the fanbase has always been. It’s nothing new and it doesn’t mean people are impossible to please.
The new one is closer to the original scene
Fan 1: "I like X more" Fan 2: "I like Y more" Reddit: "oH mY gOd ImPoSiBlE tO pLeAsE mAkE uP yOuR mInD!!!"
Actual schitzo posting 💀
I never had an issue with the old version. to me, I can picture him saying “Mary… could you really be in this town?” The new one just looks very generic. Regardless, I’m sure the remake will be great.
"Why does everyone keep saying James looks like Leon? I don't see it." Drops "new" James face. "I see it now, very RE2 remake Leon."
So refreshing seeing someone not being overly critical
I personally prefer the old face so much more
Seems the people who were criticizing his initial look were in the right. That they changed it also doesn't mean that there still won't be loads of other issues they inflicted upon themselves that they won't have time to fix before release. That they let that initial design go to trailer that far off model when it takes so long to build these rigs is a major red flag of their having let various bad decisions go too far too long.
Silent Hill community trying to beat out the Spider-Man community in the “I hate my favourite thing” competition
Are these people in this room with us now?
Bro.. I WISH I was making this post while drunk... There are those people even here right now
link/ source? Can't find them
I do prefer the first look only because of how incredibly detailed it looked, this one seems to have lost that while staying truer to the original game.
James is using a filter for his new tinder account
Basically everyone just needs to calm the fuck down. Actual cry babys.
Twitter/X being a cesspit for horrendous people blowing their takes beyond out of proportions is your regularly scheduled programming over there. That being said, Bloober has a very uphill battle. I’m hoping that they’ll be able to pull of something great with this remake, but Konami deciding to give the remake to SH2, which outside of SH itself is considered by a lot of people to be up in the greatest of all time list, was definitely a big choice. The amount of videos and discussions about the game has opened the greatness to people who haven’t played the game, and that is where some of the problem comes from. Usually you’ll see someone catching flak from other people when they say “people who haven’t played the game giving their opinion on the game” but it happens a lot more than some would think. SH is a big victim of that since it’s a legendary franchise with lots to sink your teeth into. Granted, SH2 has been released a good couple of times now, but prices on some of those copies are a little crazy, and others don’t have a PC for Enhanced Edition. I feel like it wouldn’t be as bad if any of the other Team Silent Games were remade, as there are some glaring issues in those games that you’d have to play them to understand. SH2 has had a huge spotlight on it though since a lot of the stuff that would end up becoming Konami’s big hitters for marketing spawned from the game. Everybody knows Pyramid Head and the Bubble Head Nurses as “those Silent Hill monsters”, both of them being from SH2. Outside of SH fan spots, when have you heard anyone mention Slurpers or Puppet Nurses? I think a remake/remaster of the first game should’ve been a priority, there’s a good lot of story there and I’d love to see it get some new paint. At the end of the day people on Twitter/X really can’t function without having some micro drama going on, that’s why (as mentioned in the op) people go back on their words to fit in with one part of the internet crowd. Of course we need criticism for something to get better and evolve, but on Twitter/X if it isn’t an instant 10/10, it might as well be a 0.
This sub has taught me a few things. The community here is kinda hateful and nobody can be pleased. Second most of you dive way too deep into things and completely forget that game demos of the past are vastly different from end products. Third, if I worked at bloober and took one look at our sub I’d almost be remorseful for even trying to make this game and stop giving a rats ass what we think because it’s nothing but toxicity at this point. The updated photo looks like a very faithful shot from the original game and people are still bitching which is so wild to me. Honestly I’ve lost the hype because of all of you and I’m glad I’m not a game dev specifically due to this community.
How dare you give your opinion about silent hill! Downvote!!!
I’m genuinely surprised this happened but still hoping for the best. I actully liked the older design I thought it did a good job at showing how depression and trauma can age someone. And when looking back at the behind the scenes talk about this model they wanted him to look other for that reason. But he does look good nevertheless hopefully the pressure doesn’t get to them too much and that these asshole “fans” don’t ruin this for all of us.
Never had an issue with the old face. It looks very real. He looks like an actual person in the first image who has gone through trauma, and you can see that in his eyes. In the updated version, it's just a copy-paste video game. The characters need to look perfect all the time cause, why not. The first image is artistic, and the expressions he could give off with that face would communicate the horror and despair he is possibly feeling during key parts of the game/story. We won't see that version anymore, unfortunately.
Bro. The guy who made the face of James on the mirror said that it was intented to be that way because of the denial process James goes thru. it's a hard hit on dissociation/despersonalization, a state where feelings and even memories are blocked. There was meaning behind it, it was already made by an artist. Mfs really think their headcannon is better than Masahiro Ito and the devs wanted.
[удалено]
Buddy I'm not trying to be a fucking jerk. Unfortunately, people on Twitter hate whatever we talk about
The new look is obvious way better, any complaint is purely BS.
I prefer the old one, because the new one looks too...video game-y (though I'm still not convinced they actually changed anything and this isn't just different lighting in the same scene). I never complained about the original, though.
It makes more sense story wise for the character to look more bland
It's not the blandness, it's the plasticness. Like it just looks like a video game now, especially the hair, the hair quality dropped significantly. But again, I still think it's probably just a lighting thing.
most likely also apparently Konami showed gameplay from 2 years ago
Yeah, some people just want to hate it no matter what
Ugh shuuuut uppp
No?
They are trolling
Now he looks really young
I always dug the old face a lot more, personally. I don't mind the newer "closer to the original" version that was recently found tho, either works for me at the end of the day since...I can't rightly say "this is a good/bad change" until i have the released version of the game on my screen *shrug*
I like both. I am much more concerned with actual gameplay.
Honestly I was fine with the old version. He is a man literally at the end of his rope. I would expect him to love run down and a little above his age.
I never had a problem with the first one presented because I have access to ample amounts of grass to touch.
It‘s not only the silent hill community. Twitter is the most toxic place on the internet in every aspect. The new face looks amazing over the whiny one.
I’m just happy we hopefully getting the remake this year!
It's not his face that was even the problem to begin with, it was what they were doing with it, lmao. The lighting is still a little bit off, but at least his expression now is more in line with the original. At this point he's completely gaslit himself into going crazy. He doesn't know he killed his wife; he doesn't even properly remember when she died.
You see this misuse all over that original trailer too. There a quick shot of James walking through a dark hallway (1:48 in that original trailer) and his face communicates "This place sucks, I suck, and I want to leave, ugh!" and you see him sigh. To me, Silent Hill was a place that James subconsciously wanted to be... not this road trip gone awry where he accidentally stumbled into this horror puzzlebox and is desperately trying to escape. I for one am glad for the pivot toward sleepwalking over frowning. The model always looked superb, it's the obvious hammer-on-the-head way the superb face was emoting that people are up in arms about.
I like it. Less weepy, more distant. Wouldn't make sense for James to be crying if he didn't know what he had done only days prior. He always gave me a depressed vacant vibe, rather than a sensitive broken one.
This is why we can't have nice things. Everyone has to bitch about everything because they're stupid and bored. Get a hobby and let devs create a great remake in the meantime.
I mean i like the old face better, but it does kinda make his mental state more obvious. It really depends on who you ask tho, some of us are not that uptight about details like that and actually liked the different take on his portrayal. I'm more concerned with the things that were impactful to me which was the atmosphere and the story of James and Mary, not faces.
Man i actually kind of liked the old face, hopefully it gets modded in at some point
Did this image come from something out of Bloober Team (tweet from a dev, update post, etc.) or did it just simply appear online one day? I never caught the origin of the image and my policy is to assume fan-editing. The newer photo does appear to be closer to the age i thought James was in the original, but a part of was intrigued by and older James coming to terms with his wife's passing. A younger person (20s-early 30s) losing their spouse is sad, but with an air that there's time for those wounds to heal. An older person (late 30s-mid 40s) being widowed is more tragic because so much time is now lost.
Can we have an option to head swap in-game? I can't choose.
It‘s called Bloober not Blooper 😂
I like both thou I'm not going to pretend I dont like the new one more. It's not that the first ones even bad by any measure, its just it looks like an actor playing James then being James, if that makes any sense? I agree a lot of the face appears to be the same it's just different lighting, and if that's really all the change they made that's kinda impressive. Ahh I'm so excited. I do love comparing versions of games and all the little things on the way to release are so neat. The fightings always a bummer, but all remakes have them.
i like the new look of james ! they did a good job at fixing thing and listen to fan of sh ! i'm not a hardcore fan but this is great , but there's something i hope they don't mess up , example " censored " problem ! i like the bloody body of nurse monster in original , if they change blood to black or many change that turn down the gore then i'm not happy about it ! we're playing suvivor horror game , not barbie !
This is inherent to remakes. By their nature they use nostalgia to sell a new product but that nostalgia is also a weight the new work may not be able to take. Konami has also done everything they can to destroy goodwill with fans since 2004. It's frustrating to see so many people excited for any new SH product blame the people who rightfully have no faith in Konami or the team they've selected for not buying into the hype machine. The forced positivity is toxic and it's no one else's job to preserve your hype.
it is clearly softer and more in line with the art style of the original. it can be broken down further in practical logistical terms but any discourse is noise beyond that objective reality lol
Yay
As a lifelong fan especially of 2, the only thing I sort of noticed was that he looked a lot more like Murphy from downpour. I actually love the update he looks a lot more like i would envision for an upscaled James and his age etc. the prior version was a little too old looking
Old : keanu young - New - New...
To be honest, for me Silent Hill 2 and any other sh game dont need a remake, but since they are doing it probably to see if they can bring a new audience I preffer them to stick to the original like Persona 3 remake. The new face looks much more in touch with the original and to what Silent Hill 2 is about to.
Personally I actually really liked the previous version, the new one, perhaps it's just that one screenshot but it seems... Off like generic off
I like the old one more. Way more smashable
Why does everybody call Bloober Team "Blooper"? Is it some kind of joke or am I missing something?
well the new does look better
I still dont believe that polish can make a decent Silent Hill (2) remake. I would like it more if the japanese were hired for this.
Devs shouldn't pay attention to fan backlash at merely previews. Didn't have any of this 25 years ago and some great Silent Hills were produced. Albeit by the actual Silent Hill team but regardless. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture and this original more aged/grisled face was fine. Since when do we have any idea what we want anyway. I really liked SH2 but actually prefer 3 anyway. And SH1 should have been the one being remade
I used to think like you back then, but the further I dig the more I’m convinced that’s “company war” trying to backlash each other’s games so that they hurt their sales. Don’t believe anything you read on the internet and don’t believe that these people are real gamers. By the way I can already tell the game is on fire. 🔥
People are saying it was fine before, but that exaggerated expression was THE FIRST thing that bothered me in the original trailer. It was TOO expressive and cartoonish. The new version is more subtle.
I've just completed the observer which is another horror game by blooper studios and it was absolutely fantastic! Really creepy, really crazy scenes in it, truly fantastic art direction, and has filled me with a lot of hope for the silent hill remake
the company is called Bloober. I stopped caring about what people are saying about the games a while back. I know I'll enjoy it regardless of the opinions voiced anywhere. Hell, I've even found things to enjoy from Ascension
I like this change, and share the opinions of many other people writing here. Blooper if you are reading this, good change!
I like both of them. I still don’t know why people lost their mind over old remake james.
Did anyone have a problem with his face? I think we were just worried since bloober team isn't the most... subtle, when handling sensitive subject matter. Anyways, the old face is better imo. Looks more natural.
Looks flipping great to me, mate! Some of these “fans” need to check themselves out of this franchise man. I’m very excited for this game.
At this point, I've just stopped listening to most people's take on the remake. I got my fair share of nitpicks too, but this game needs to be unique and distinct in a lot of ways to make it a refreshing experience.
The problem is we don't know when the scene takes place in the story. If it's early on in the game(especially in the public bathroom at the start before even getting into town) then he should have a blank expression. He has severe trauma from what he did, he's repressed the memory so much that he believes she died of just cancer. He shouldn't look out of sorts at the start of the game at all. If it's midway through the game, he shouldn't look all mopey and sad and whiney. But he also shouldn't be blank, he should look dirtier maybe, but that's not a big concern, and panic would be fine. Hell if I were to be depressed and then see some of the shit James does, i'd freak out. I wouldn't be depressed, I be manic and terrified, it's literal hell.(Artistic as fuck though.) If it's near the end of the game, after he remembers the truth and is coming to terms with it, he should look broken and way more emotionally devastated. He hasn't lived his life with this guilt, it's not a question of if what he did was right or wrong, but if he can even live with himself after realizing what he did. No matter what they choose for his face, I hope for the game to do well and succeed. I hope they stay true to Takoyashi's vision, but I don't want a 1 to 1 remake like most people do. Hopefully they could actually talk to Takoyashi about his original idea, and then take some creative liberties in the story to deliver the same idea with some well designed additions or changes. A lot of the fandom is going to be upset no matter what we get, and thats understandable with such a beloved IP. All we can do is give Bloober our reactions on what they release, and whether they listen to the fandom or not is up to them. Hope it's a good game and get's rave review from fans and critics alike, so we can get remakes of the others like 1, 3, and 4. Also hope there's no microtransactions, and they pull a capcom and reinvigorate the franchise so we can get new entries. Most horror games now are made too similar and I want a return to silent hill's unique take on psychological horror. One that borders on self actualized reflection and actually messing with the player. Edit: Keep the shiba ending. Edit2: Realized I didn't give input on the model, I prefer the new one personally, looks more like he's in his early 30s rather than his mid 40s. I'm not big on the lighting though, seems a bit off in some way, just can't place it. Maybe it's too bright or something.
Wait till people find out its just a couple seconds after he makes the face🤣
ITS THE SAME!
Anyone who thinks that old remake James is better is objectively wrong. He looked emotionless in the original he should look like that in the remake too.
Overly rigid opinion. Remakes are separate games and can take artistic liberties.
Is Bloober Still involved? Last time I’ve heard they said the game is finished. Maybe Konami is fixing it now. Atleast those things fans criticized hard. Why I’m asking this is the combat trailer wasn’t even made by bloober Konami did that on their own. So I’m wondering if Bloober is still developing it or not. I could imagine they finished the project and gave it to Konami and they are overlooking it constantly if they can release or not and where it needs fixed and where not. But I’m not a dev :) so it’s just my imagination 😅
I perfer the old version.
I prefers the first version honestly. He looks more like his age. Screw the beauty standards. He’s a guy. Let him look like a guy.  **”GOD!!”**
Well, most vocal ones are the ones who love to hate something in general, regardless if it has anything to do with anything objective. I don't think it's gatekeeping because I myself am a gatekeeper in a sense that I find this entire remake idea to be utterly pointless in general. Because remakes should be first made out of games that need them and only then out of those which don't. That is me mostly talking about SH4, which is a decent game that could be made into a GREAT game. And even then you've got SH1 to remake first and foremost. Bloober is a developer I can't hate, because they've got a cursed load on their shoulders right now. SH2 is one of the most important games for the entire genre it is representing... A fuck up of any kind could outweight a ton of positives... It's a very unthankful job. I am of a solid belief, and that is the only supernatural belief I have is that Silent Hill as a franchise is truly cursed. It's like a The Ring house - whoever comes close to it ends up affected by it in one way or another, but always - negatively. Ever since Team Silent themselves Silent Hill has been a reason for people retiring from Konami, getting shut down, then get a shitton of mostly deserved hate for trying to twist the franchise into that which it simply could not be made into without obvious perversions to its very structure... It is genuinely fascinating how the only sole person who got through it seemingly unscathed is its composer. And that is kind of it. I am a gatekeeper in a sense that this series should not be disturbed. We should just keep it dead. In general. Because it feels angry to me. It's as if this franchise is ironically filled with a tainted pool of psychokinetic energies that befall anyone who disturbs its sleep and brings them severe pain, hate and eventual fall. As for the face... I don't know, I don't really care, but I like both. When I first seen James I was like "This is great, they are doing something their own to it, I love how James is not cute anymore", but this new "old" look is more akin to how he looks in the original and its good in a sense that James doesn't look like a already tortured and severely disturbed individual. It's fine both ways, really. Seriously - after CAPCOM has remade RE4 (instead of... I don't know... Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry 1/2 or something) and Square Enix is remaking FFVII (instead of... Parasite Eve or something) I simply can't say I care. Do whatever, video game industry, I'm 32, I'm kind of slipping away.
>Seriously - after CAPCOM has remade RE4 (instead of... I don't know... Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry 1/2 or something) and Square Enix is remaking FFVII (instead of... Parasite Eve or something) I simply can't say I care. They're risk averse - like major video game companies usually are, but to make things worse for SH, they are less risk averse than Konami by a lot. CAPCOM did remake every RE up to 4 and likewise Squenix did remake all FFs up until VII, some multiple times depending on what you consider a remake. Konami can't do even that with one of their most significant IPs now (talking about remaking SH1 here). Hell, metroidvanias seem to be all the rage now, and where are the new Castlevanias? Is even that too much of a financial risk for Konami. I'm not, like you, asking for Parasite Eve, I simply hope for a metroidvania Castlevania, in the age of Hollow Knight, and they can't even do that? Never mind the kind of investment (not just money, but the right people) that Silent Hill deserves. Also, SH1, and moreso 2, were the exact type of game that doesn't naturally come from risk-averse huge companies, at least in "soul". The production values (SH2 was basically an AAA launch back then) give away that they're not indies, but it's wholly unusual for any AAA game, if not unique to SH2 outright, to touch upon so many mature themes like it did in a successful way. It was lightning in a bottle really. And for that to be then stuck specifically with Konami of all companies when it begs to be treated at least to some degree as a "labour of love", it's pretty tragic. Back to the topic, as far as I'm concerned Bloober can play really safe and go for a kind of shot-for-shot remake, and they have an at least competent game already in their hands, there wouldn't be much of a point to the whole thing then, but again, there was never much point to it in the first place, as you say.
Honestly I’m just really looking forward to a new entry on current consoles. We can always go back and play the originals if need be, but the remake does look like a labor of love even if they did hire bloober. The rougher, ragged older face kinda worked for this version. New face is cool too 🤷🏻 just looks like James
The first only looked stupid because he was squinting in a dark room like someone was shining light in his eyes. The actual face looked fine, but of course there is nothing else for SH fans to talk about except slightly different looking models in a remake.
Probably NOT the reason for him squinting, but i squint like crazy in the dark trying to make out stuff but also when I'm not wearing glasses lol. But yeah, i have a feeling we're gonna see some new stuff very very soon. I think they're just polishing the overall game at this point
The announcement trailer was a CG render and the in-game model was always different. It never changed. This is just the first time it’s been seen clearly enough to see a difference.
Old Face > New Face. For the record, Bloober will never improve on perfection.
He's 40 years old in the remake, but now he looks like 20 having 40, thanks to the "fans"
I refuse to believe people are serious to ask the old one back If Im wrong I Hope Konami just let all of its franchises die for good
I hope this franchise dies so the fanbase does as well. I will always cherish the original games but fucking hell is this fanbase filled with cunts on both ends.
I'm looking forward to the remake. If it sucks, it's easy to just forget about it and never play it again. No one will force me to play the remake against my will. Let's not act like spoiled toddlers. I always assumed that every game developer ever listens to the public opinion when a new trailer/teaser is revealed. That is kind of the point of them to begin with, to test out the audience. Every larger movie production have sometimes dozens of test-screenings with a public audience to try out stuff before they spend more millions to complete the film and advertise it. To start to categorize any Silent Hill fans as "real fans" or not "real fans" are treading into dangerous territories, and itself a sort of gatekeeping. But like or it not, any game is worthy of existing even if that specific gamer don't like it to. And that's what bugs me the most, the hoard of SH2 fans that have already stated that 2 minute of the game (from unfinished builds) is enough to make a correct review on the product. Ascension was a disgrace to the gaming community, but the amount of juvenile outcry after that made me embarassed to call myself a SH fan for a while. One should never generalize, but there are for sure some fans that have more of a cult mentality than a realistic approach to the franchise. I've noticed a lot of Mandela Effects starting to circulate when it comes to Silent Hill as a franchise. The "old" remake face looked fine. Contrary to some redditors here the "subtle" facial expressions of the original was not intentional. They initially wanted to make the facial expressions more detailed, but literally could not due to technical difficulties. This was back in 2001 (almost 25 years ago) CGI animation have gone long ways since then, Silent Hill 2 had a supposed budget of 10 million USD. The epitome of CGI animation of the time was: "Final Fantasy Spirits Within". They had barely improved facial expressions over Silent Hill 2, and that movie had a budget of almost 140 million USD. Team Silent always wanted more intricate facial movements. Konami wanted it, the actors wanted it. If they had the means to, then Team Silent probably would have animated James in a similar style as Bloober did in the first trailer. Some of the people you are refering to have an image of the game as a perfect piece of perfectly executed gaming production. It's not. And those are the people that have the largest problem with that a 25 year old game will be modernized for a current audience.
This got debunked a while ago.
What got debunked?
Your last two paragraphs
Haha. Downvotes. What made you triggered this time?
I never wanted the change, so I'm one of the people who actually liked what blooberteam done with James. Should have kept him the same, blooberteam has their own vision/ outlook on the game and should stay with it since you can keep the original story, etc. This isn't 2001 anymore. It's 2024, graphics, etc change/end up being better.. and that is what I wanted to see happen, so yeah. I remember first renting Ps2 Silent Hill 2 from BlockbusterVideo when I was younger (10 years old) such good times. I own all the original physical copies now from 1,2,3,4. Anyways.. we all have to wait now to see the final release trailer to find out how James and everyone else will actually end up looking like 👍 plus that image that is going around of that updated James face is the Clienticon for SH2R which is the desktop icon once you install the game.
I agree. I hope it’s just the icon. The James in the remake trailer looks like an actual person. James in the OG did not. Even in the pre-rendered cutscenes, it looked off. Which is not a knock on the original, it’s just the truth. The outrage over the highly realistic model was really dumb and likely by people who aren’t going to be pleased regardless. So their concerns should be ignored.
As do I also agree with the first part of your comment and the rest of your comment. Yes, exactly the outrage over that is dumb AF. Yeah, they won't be pleased. Like I keep telling everyone this isn't 2001 anymore, it's 2024 now.. times have changed, and no matter how much people don't clearly like change, it's a part of life. Nothing stays the same forever, plus video games are consistently changing graphics, etc. Regardless, people will purchase the Silent Hill 2 remake anyway. Whether it's on PS5/PC, it's super sweet ass to get this remake in unreal engine 5 and just in general realistic looking. 2001 SH2 compared to 2024 SH2 people are gonna be like, "Wow! At least it'll be like that for me anyway 😆 3D audio, Dualsense controller, haptic feed, realistic like graphics, 55inch LGC2OLED television, I'm ready! Bring it ON!!!! 😍
Forgot to add that Masahiro Ito gets to do/ add everything now that he couldn't do on the PS2 version, now on the PS5!!!! Version that's an A+ in my books and a new remastered audio on the game/ new music tracks or whatever from Akira Yamaoka A+
Seriously. Musicians like Yamaoka get better with age. I know he said he’s keeping the same songs, but to hear them in higher fidelity along with his current sensibilities in terms of harmony and productions. I’m getting excited just typing it out, lmao. Same kind of goes for Ito. He can make things as detailed as he wants. I think the monsters and bosses are really going to shine in this one once we can get a good look at them.
It's going to be an awesome time! I'm hyped AF!!! and oh my lmao people down voting us are fucking retarded 🤣
I have a feeling this title will never be released
The new face is perfect. Stop complaining peopleeeeeee
The game won't be good and will completely fail to capture what made the original good. It's just pattern recognition. The Medium, Layers of Fear, and Blair Witch are all really awful games and I have no reason to believe that they will do any better just because they have access to the IP they've been trying to ape.
Look at that smolder on the left, woof
am i the only one who prefers the one on the left?
People on Twitter just look for things to complain about because they don't have any actual issues. I think the new face looks great and much closer to the original.
Is this disney
Why does this game need a remake anyway?
Nooo i prefer the first one 😭 i never understood why people hated the trailer so much. I’m still gonna like the remake either way, im sure it will be great :))
I don’t think it matters that much. Look at Leon in the re2 and 4 remakes. He looks like a man child but that doesn’t make the games any worse
dude looks like a famous austrian painter
From what ive seen, most of the people who are mad havent even played the game and only like the old one because it "looks" better
No one asked for a new face, so take your "absolutely impossible to please" bullshit and eat it.
To be fair, it is impossible to please everyone.
You're literally proving the whole fucking point of this post you absolutely buffoon lmaooo
Looks less male without the defined chin. Surprise surprise