At the announcement of the remake of Silent Hill 2 from Bloober Team, fans criticized the appearance of the main character – some thought he was too old. The developers even defended their decision, but it seems they followed the lead of the fans.
Image source: Konami
Let us remind you that in the original game, the protagonist of Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland, is only 29 years old, but in the debut trailer for the remake he looked noticeably older. According to producer Motoi Okamoto, the change was intentional.
“Part of the reason for this is that fans have aged over 20 years and the average age of gamers has also grown. We want to show a more mature James, who had to suffer even more in his life,” said Okamoto.
James Sunderland's face in the announcement trailer for the Silent Hill 2 remake
As noted by a Reddit forum user under the pseudonym Trem45, the Silent Hill 2 remake recently appeared in the unofficial Steam database with a new icon for the library – with a younger James.
In the comments to Trem45's post, fans agreed that the new version of James looks noticeably better than the previous one: “At the very least, this shows that they are studying and taking the feedback to heart, rather than ignoring it.”
Comparison with the new version of the hero
The appearance of the main character is not the only complaint about the remake. The February trailer collected a lot of negative comments (about the dominance of battles and QTEs, “wooden” animations, etc.), including from the developers themselves.
The release of the remake of Silent Hill 2 is expected in 2024 on PC (Steam) and PS5. The reimagining's release date is expected to be announced at Sony's yet-to-be-announced gaming presentation in May.