Silent Hill 2 (2024 video game)

Silent Hill 2 is an upcoming survival horror video game developed by Bloober Team and published by Konami. It is a remake of the 2001 game of the same name, originally developed by Team Silent, a group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET). It will be the first major installment in the Silent Hill series since Silent Hill: Downpour (2012). Like the original game, it follows James Sunderland (Luke Roberts), a widower who returns to the eponymous town of Silent Hill upon receiving a letter from his deceased wife Mary (Salóme Gunnarsdóttir), who claims to be waiting there for him.

The remake of the game was officially announced in October 2022 following months of speculation and leaks, and is the first game in an ongoing initiative by Konami to rejuvenate mainstream interest in the franchise, which had not seen a new major entry since the release of Silent Hill: Book of Memories (2012) and the subsequent cancellation of Silent Hills from former internal studio Kojima Productions. The remake is being led by Bloober Team creative director Mateusz Lenart, while it is being produced by Motoi Okamoto from Konami. Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka, who served as creature designer and composer for the original game respectively, have taken an active part in development according to Maciej Głomb, Masahiro Ito has provided concept art for locations and monsters while Akira Yamaoka will return as a composer.

The game is set to be released on October 8, 2024, for the PlayStation 5 and Windows.

Gameplay
Silent Hill 2 features a modernised third-person camera system. James is seen exploring environments seen in the original on a larger scale. Combat has been remade, enemies will react to gunfire, James can use melee weapons, as in the original, and stealth has been implemented.

Development
In June 2021, Polish developer Bloober Team announced that they had embarked on a "strategic co-operation agreement" with Konami that would involve "jointly developing selected contents and exchanging know-how" with the publisher. Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno commented on the deal, asserting that "The fact that such a renowned company as Konami has decided to strategically cooperate with the Bloober Team means that we [have] also joined the world leaders in gaming and become an equal partner for the leading players in this market". Konami issued a separate statement, with the publisher remarking, "We don't have any specifics to share at this time, but we can say while Bloober Team will continue to produce their own original content, we’re excited at the chance to collaborate with them on potential projects across our various IP".

In September 2022, a series of leaks revealed purported images sourced from a planned remake of Silent Hill 2 to be developed by Bloober Team, adding to substantiated reports that Konami was supervising an initiative to revive the series by outsourcing future games to collaborative developers. An internet leaker alleged that the images were taken from an internal test demo Bloober Team developed to pitch the project to Konami, and as a result did not represent the final title. The leaked images were subsequently taken down by Konami representatives. Another leak alluding to the game appeared the following month, through a YouTube description for a trailer accidentally made public by Konami themselves.

The game was officially announced by Konami during their Silent Hill Transmission presentation in October 2022, alongside the games Silent Hill f, Silent Hill: Townfall and Silent Hill: Ascension, as well as the film Return to Silent Hill. It was confirmed at the presentation that creature designer Masahiro Ito and original composer Akira Yamaoka would return to contribute to the remake. Bloober Team creative director and lead designer Mateusz Lenart cited the importance of "preserving the atmosphere that made Silent Hill 2 so exceptional, while modernizing many aspects of the game's overall gameplay" as a key factor in the decision to remake the game. Lenart additionally revealed that the original third-person combat system and certain story set pieces were completely rebuilt. In an interview with Famitsu, producer Motoi Okamoto said that Bloober Team refused changes suggested by the staff who worked on the original game. The changes are meant to present players with something new to experience; he also claimed that if the game was developed in Japan with the original game's devs, it could be "a completely different remake."

Release
Silent Hill 2 is set to be released in 2024 for Windows and as a timed console exclusive for the PlayStation 5 at launch, before being eligible for release on other platforms following one year. On May 30, 2024, a release date for October 8, 2024 was announced.