Trying to copy SH2 isn’t a bad thing, but I think the attempts we have seen so far have been bad because they all had 2 major problems:
Konami forcing their input.
Copying the wrong things.
Konami forcing the developers to make changes to Silent Hill games is not new. As I mentioned before, this started with Silent Hill 3, and is why most of Team Silent left Konami after Silent Hill 4 (which was originally a spin off just called The Room or Room 302 that Konami forced Team Silent to make into a mainline game). Literally all of them cited creative restrictions as the reason for leaving Konami. Additionally, the developers at Climax stated that when they showed what eventually became Shattered Memories to Konami, there was a dart board in the bar which a Konami executive was trying to force the developers to change into a fully functional darts minigame. Fortunately the developers were able to convince Konami they didn’t have enough time to implement the “feature.” Literally all changes Konami have forced in Silent Hill games have been detrimental. The SH2 Remake was going to have an old James by the order of Konami. Fortunately they actually kind of listened to everyone complaining and backed off a little bit. Personally, I believe that until Konami leaves a Silent Hill development team mostly to their own choices, only stepping in to enforce that the lore and reputation of the series are not damaged, that Silent Hill games will continue to be mid-at-best. And in some cases, outright bad (Ascension and The Short Message).
As I said before, copying Silent Hill 2 is not a problem. It is narratively the best Silent Hill, so it makes sense to reuse the formula that worked so well. The problem is so many copy the wrong parts, almost ignoring things like the atmosphere and feeling the player gets. The player is never really in actual danger for most of the game on any difficulty below Hard, but the game makes the player constantly FEEL like they are in danger. The player is always nervous about what is up ahead, when realistically there is very little that can cause a game over in the game. The story being focused on a specific character, rather than on the town or a cult or any other outside factor also would benefit a new Silent Hill. Honestly the cult should have been left behind in SH1, the town operating as its own character to advance the plot silently (lol) is a much better idea that SH2 presented. Literally the only reason the cult appears in SH3 is because Konami forced Team Silent to add it to SH3 after they read some comments on Japanese forums that were angry about SH2 not being a direct sequel to SH1.
Origins was a good attempt, and honestly really good considering it started as an over the shoulder shooter. But since Konami forced it to be a prequel to SH1, we might never know how much better it could have been without needing to be tied to SH1.
I have a bad feeling that Townfall is not going to be good. Honestly Silent Hill f is the only project I have any interest in. At least f has a new unique setting and an actually really good writer. Them being Japanese means hopefully Konami will not meddle with ir as much, but I won’t hold my breath.
Trying to copy SH2 isn’t a bad thing, but I think the attempts we have seen so far have been bad because they all had 2 major problems:
Konami forcing the developers to make changes to Silent Hill games is not new. As I mentioned before, this started with Silent Hill 3, and is why most of Team Silent left Konami after Silent Hill 4 (which was originally a spin off just called The Room or Room 302 that Konami forced Team Silent to make into a mainline game). Literally all of them cited creative restrictions as the reason for leaving Konami. Additionally, the developers at Climax stated that when they showed what eventually became Shattered Memories to Konami, there was a dart board in the bar which a Konami executive was trying to force the developers to change into a fully functional darts minigame. Fortunately the developers were able to convince Konami they didn’t have enough time to implement the “feature.” Literally all changes Konami have forced in Silent Hill games have been detrimental. The SH2 Remake was going to have an old James by the order of Konami. Fortunately they actually kind of listened to everyone complaining and backed off a little bit. Personally, I believe that until Konami leaves a Silent Hill development team mostly to their own choices, only stepping in to enforce that the lore and reputation of the series are not damaged, that Silent Hill games will continue to be mid-at-best. And in some cases, outright bad (Ascension and The Short Message).
As I said before, copying Silent Hill 2 is not a problem. It is narratively the best Silent Hill, so it makes sense to reuse the formula that worked so well. The problem is so many copy the wrong parts, almost ignoring things like the atmosphere and feeling the player gets. The player is never really in actual danger for most of the game on any difficulty below Hard, but the game makes the player constantly FEEL like they are in danger. The player is always nervous about what is up ahead, when realistically there is very little that can cause a game over in the game. The story being focused on a specific character, rather than on the town or a cult or any other outside factor also would benefit a new Silent Hill. Honestly the cult should have been left behind in SH1, the town operating as its own character to advance the plot silently (lol) is a much better idea that SH2 presented. Literally the only reason the cult appears in SH3 is because Konami forced Team Silent to add it to SH3 after they read some comments on Japanese forums that were angry about SH2 not being a direct sequel to SH1.
Origins was a good attempt, and honestly really good considering it started as an over the shoulder shooter. But since Konami forced it to be a prequel to SH1, we might never know how much better it could have been without needing to be tied to SH1.
I have a bad feeling that Townfall is not going to be good. Honestly Silent Hill f is the only project I have any interest in. At least f has a new unique setting and an actually really good writer. Them being Japanese means hopefully Konami will not meddle with ir as much, but I won’t hold my breath.