Tomm Hulett Explains Re-imagining Of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Friday 26 June 2009 @ 10:41 am | By Sol 4 CommentsIt’s no secret I hold a special place for the survival-horror genre, specifically the Silent Hill series. There have been some bastard children from the franchise, but it still maintains a good fright-fest with a reasonably developed storyline. So when it was reported Konami was going to remake the original, fans were expectantly up in arms with an arsenal of questions. Would it be a straight up remake? A re-living through a familiar character? Why do this to such a well established classic?
Thankfully, producer Tomm Hulett helped ease some fears pointing out that Shattered Memories will not be a remake, rather a re-imagining. The full interview is on Joystiq. Set for an ambiguous release, Fall 2009, for both Wii and PS2 (with a possible launch on the PSP); I’ll be interested to see how this actually plays out.
Some choice quotes from the interview:
Where do you draw the line between messing around with people’s expectations and completely jumping the shark? There’s a lot of differences, but I wouldn’t say we jumped the shark, because they’re all very calculated, they all serve the story and they’re all surprising.
He’s the guy that’s always there for Silent Hill [Akira Yamaoka]. Every single Silent Hill game, no matter whether it’s The Room, or Homecoming, Akira’s always there. Could you make a Silent Hill game without him? I wouldn’t like to, because I am a fan of the series and I do love his music. I think it adds a special element, it’s kind of the atmosphere of the town. If Akira’s music isn’t there, it just doesn’t sound quite right.
Is it more difficult to make something feel really scary on the Wii — just because I think survival horror games are very dependent on the production value and graphics and sound. …we’ve done some amazing things graphically here. Every object self-shadows with the flashlight that you’re moving around in real time, even the snow flakes. …What we’ve done with the Wii version is you’re interacting with the Wii remote. With puzzles, you’re not coming to a separate puzzle menu where you select options with the cursor, you’re reaching into the game so you’re immersed at all times.
[Joystiq]
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
This is the greatest news of today!
There was only one type of monsters? maybe they’re keeping the rest under wraps… It seems they are more cunning than ever, grabbing onto you and not letting you escape.
I wouldn’t call this a remake or a re-telling, it could easily pass as a new game, if it didn’t share the same names as with the first one.
I can’t wait for this. I need someone who plays this game for me, I’ll be too chicken to do so myself.
“There was only one type of monsters?”
It looks like the game builds a sort of psych profile of you as you play, and certain elements will change depending on that.
e.g. from Kotaku: “It pays attention to the things you look at and how long you look at them, building a profile based on your behavior. Stare at racy pictures often and soon the game’s artwork takes on a saucy bent. An NPC police woman I met a little later on featured a sexy cop in a tight, unbuttoned shirt, which the player next to me had a much more mousy looking police woman show up in the same spot.”
So I’d expect the enemies will change too, like a sex-focused player might get the nurse zombies showing up, while a violence-focused player would get nasty beasts.
I only read what was on this page, so I didn’t know that, thank you! (of the reading the rest of the interview)
I think that system is even better, because it varies depending on the gamer. This SH guys sure know their stuff.
Yes, but it might also decide what the enemies will do and how they react. If you are regularly running away, enemies might become faster or drive you into ambushes. Hiding might, like shown in the vid, only work a few times before the creatures start opening doors “just to be sure”.
That’s the part that would make the game truly scary, never knowing if where you go or where you hide will truly keep you safe. The world gradually contorting around your twisted Jung-ian symbolism every time it shifts, and creatures that will haunt your nightmares for days afterward chasing you down.
Don’t worry, yaku, I’ll play this game for you. Even if I am going to scream like a little girl every three seconds in terror…