Konami’s resolution to entrust Silent Hill 2 Remake to Bloober Staff wasn’t a random choose. In a latest put up on X, producer Motoi Okamoto shared perception into why the indie horror studio was chosen for the challenge, emphasizing the significance of specialised information in sport improvement.
In keeping with Okamoto, sport studios looking for improvement companions usually prioritize deep experience in a selected style over normal sport design information. This precept guided Konami’s resolution to judge Bloober Staff’s previous work and decide whether or not their expertise aligned with the imaginative and prescient for Silent Hill 2 Remake.
Earlier than taking up the remake, Bloober Staff had already constructed a status in psychological horror with titles like Layers of Concern, Observer, and The Medium. Whereas their video games usually mix parts of journey and puzzle mechanics, their mastery of unsettling atmospheres and player-driven stress made them a super candidate for revitalizing Silent Hill 2’s psychological horror.
Nonetheless, Okamoto acknowledged one main hurdle: Bloober Staff had little expertise with motion gameplay. Since Silent Hill 2 depends on survival horror fight as a key gameplay ingredient, this raised issues. However Konami believed the studio may overcome this problem, and Bloober Staff rose to the event.
The remake introduces a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective and modernized fight mechanics whereas preserving the frantic, resource-scarce nature of the unique sport.
Okamoto additionally touched on the paradox of requiring extremely specialised expertise for outsourced tasks, mentioning that each studio has to begin someplace. He sees indie improvement as a manner for brand spanking new studios to realize the required experience and used Bloober Staff as a major instance of how smaller builders can break into high-profile tasks.
Regardless of how broad a sport design professional’s information is, they received’t be employed to work on a combating sport in the event that they haven’t any expertise growing combating video games. The identical goes for horror. However then, with corporations requiring such genre-specific expertise, you understand that everybody has to begin out as a novice for the given style sooner or later. These days, indie improvement has change into the best way to beat that.
With Silent Hill 2 now out there on PS5 and Steam — and one other Konami collaboration already within the works — Bloober Staff has confirmed its capacity to deal with basic horror franchises. Whether or not their subsequent challenge is one other remake or an authentic title, it’s clear they’ve earned their place within the style.
