As we’ve established time and time again, remasters and remakes of classic games and franchises have been “all the rage” recently, as many developers and publishers are trying to cash in on the “nostalgia wave” that many have. They WANT to play all-time classic titles on modern platforms, especially since they can’t reasonably get them anywhere else. Thus, there is a demand for them, so long as they’re quality. With the Silent Hill 2 Remake that Bloober Team did, many were uncertain if the game would hold up, even with the visual overhaul and the improved gameplay elements the team added.
However, not only did it do well, it’s already sold over a million units, which is impressive for a remake of a game that came out in the PS2 era and hasn’t been topped since. Naturally, this raises all sorts of questions about what might come next for not just the franchise, but Bloober Team. In a chat with IGN, Wojciech Piejko, Bloober Team director and designer, noted that he and the team would be more than willing to either remake another entry in the series or, perhaps, make an entirely new entry:
“I think we are always open. If we like the opportunity, we’ll take it. There are opportunities that you have to seize Like Silent Hill 2, you can remake the legend. So yeah, I do believe that everything’s possible.”
While it’s nice to know that “everything’s possible,” if you were to ask longtime franchise fans about what they would want them to do next, it’s more than likely that they’ll ask to steer clear of everything that came the second entry. You see, the franchise hasn’t had the best track record. In fact, despite getting to legendary heights with just its second title, all the other entries in the series have been mixed in reception or considered quite terrible. Some of the games don’t even go to the titular location, which made people wonder why it was even called that in the first place.
We know that Konami has a desire to reboot/remake things, as they did a spread of titles across multiple platforms, including the new remake, to try and get people interested in it. However, just like the series itself, the reception has been quite mixed.
Thus, if Bloober Team were to go the creative route and just make something new, that might be the “shot in the arm” that the horror franchise needs to really get back on its feet, versus just revisiting the past.