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Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama thinks a remake would ‘need a rethink’

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

In a new interview posted today, we asked Keiichiro Toyama if he’d be interested to see Konami possibly remake a Silent Hill game, given Capcom‘s success with its Resident Evil (aka Biohazard) remakes.

“I think it would be harder to remake than Biohazard, because the gameplay as a concept is a little older,” Toyama replied.

“It’s not an action game where you can just refine the action as in Biohazard. To bring Silent Hill up to current standards or to polish up the graphics, the fans wouldn’t be satisfied.

“That’s not what it was about – how beautiful it was. I think you’d have to rethink the concept to make it interesting to fans.”

Toyama went on to discuss how he felt about remakes in general, and whether he thought it was good to see classics being repurposed for a new audience, or a cynical process lacking in originality.

“Unlike movies, games are difficult to enjoy as in the original state,” Toyama said. “Obviously because of the platform, but as time goes by game mechanics, especially in usability, lack rationality and sophistication.

“Visually speaking it’s clearly not made for modern equipment, so I absolutely don’t have any objection to modifying an original essence to fit the modern era which we live in today.”
 

laynelane

Member
He raises some good points. I do have some doubts as to whether Konami could do justice to a SH remake, though.
 

bender

What time is it?
Visuals and sound aside, I'd be disappointed if it were tweaked mechanically with the only exception being tweaks to the UI. While it is true that there are elements of the game that are outdated, those aren't the primary focus of the experience.
 
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What? Shut up. Just remake Silent Hill like RE: Remake. Make it look beautiful, tighten up the animations (running, combat), and add a couple new areas/stories. Done.

Or make a new one and end up with another shitty Downpour. Whatever.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
If anyone would know about a remake or anything Silent Hill related it would be Keiichiro Toyama, because I'm sure he would be informed even if he wasn't involved.
Which pretty much confirms it's none existence
 

Dr Bass

Member
He gets it.

You can't go home again. We should just all remember Silent Hill for what it was, and let the series lay. Make something new if you want a new horror game, there is nothing to add to the SH "mythos." I do think it should still be available to play in a BC manner, but seriously, let's all move on. A new one will not capture what the originals did.
 

hybrid_birth

Gold Member
If anyone would know about a remake or anything Silent Hill related it would be Keiichiro Toyama, because I'm sure he would be informed even if he wasn't involved.
Which pretty much confirms it's none existence

hopes and dreams GIF
 
I'm not the biggest fan of most entries in the series, but he makes a ton of sense. It's thought processes such as this that most people don't take into consideration.

Shattered Memories exists and it's good.

This is very true. The ice world, psych evals, cell phone, etc were an very nicely done. It has a few issues, but it was definitely a good entry felt like an evolution of sorts.
 

bender

What time is it?
This is very true. The ice world, psych evals, cell phone, etc were an very nicely done. It has a few issues, but it was definitely a good entry felt like an evolution of sorts.

It was way too formulaic which removed any and all tension from the game.
 

Ebidramon

Banned
I don't think anyone actually expects of remake to repeat the magic of the original, but simply to have a story of the first game made in a modern way.
 

Winter John

Gold Member
He's probably right. The ideas they came up with have been copied so many times that a rethink would be necessary. Konami sure as fuck ain't going to be the ones to do it though. I wish they'd sell the license to someone who could do the game justice
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
It would take a particular mindset to do it justice. I for one am ok with it staying where it is. It was butchered in the hands of people attempting to reproduce the source material, multiple attempts at movies are long forgotten about, and the later entries copy the idea while failing to deliver something remotely close to the original idea. I almost feel like the franchise has a curse to it. Everyone wanted a piece of it because they were inspired from it. I’m inspired by it and I’m not a developer whatsoever. Kojima tried his best, but that was one of the biggest disappointments in years. Silent Hills was like the nail in the coffin. Imagine any other developer touching this franchise. We already see games get watered down because they believe they need to tone down the horror. I think someone could ruin their career by running this series into the ground. It’s best to keep the memories alive on the inside than to exploit Silent Hill into something that can’t come close to what it is/was.
 
It was way too formulaic which removed any and all tension from the game.
I'd agree with that, though I'd say that about the series in general. It stands out more in Shattered Memories since it's less of a "horror" inspired one. It's been so long since I've played it. Has it aged well at all?
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
I'd agree with that, though I'd say that about the series in general. It stands out more in Shattered Memories since it's less of a "horror" inspired one. It's been so long since I've played it. Has it aged well at all?
I was playing a little of it last week after finishing RE: DC. Not really. It's like scary Shenmue.
 
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Ragnarok

Member
They’d probably just turn up the action in a remake anyway. Not like the REs pre-4 were action games either.
 

bender

What time is it?
I'd agree with that, though I'd say that about the series in general. It stands out more in Shattered Memories since it's less of a "horror" inspired one. It's been so long since I've played it. Has it aged well at all?

I played it on the Wii within a year of release and I didn't really enjoy it in the first place.
 

Nickolaidas

Member
I don't know ... Slitterhead looks interesting but in no way does it seem like a horror game - it looks like Devil May Cry with a Dead Space skin. A hack and slash with a creepy atmosphere.

Did they try to go for Survival Horror, thought it wasn't scary enough and decided to go 'fuck it, let's make it a horror power fantasy instead?' (kind of what Capcom *insinuates* RE9 is going to be)

Did they never intend to make a Survival Horror game and wanted to make an action game with horror aesthetics all along? Who knows.
 
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