If we go back two years to October 2022, when it was officially announced that Bloober Team was the studio that Konami had handed the challenge of remaking Silent Hill 2, we’d find a very skeptical response from players. And that’s being generous.
Not being generous, no one believed Bloober Team was the right choice. And that didn’t change through its development. They were doubted at every turn, right up until it released to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.
But in fairness to players and critics, Bloober Team hadn’t given people much reason to be confident that they could pull it off. Beyond Bloober Team’s Layers Of Fear series, which had previously been its best claim to horror game-dev fame, Bloober Team’s other horror attempts had all faltered in one big way or another.
Games like The Medium and The Blair Witch Project each had certain elements people might’ve liked, but neither really impressed. And Layers Of Fear wasn’t without fault.
After Silent Hill 2 Remake though, in a recent interview with GameSpot, Bloober Team’s Wojciech Piejko, director on its next game, Cronos: The New Dawn called it the proof that Bloober Team has what it takes to be a first-rate horror team.
Piejko also talked about how difficult it was for the Silent Hill team, and commended their toughness in being able to take the doubt and discontent from the internet on the chin, and rise above it by delivering an excellent game in Silent Hill 2 Remake.
“Nobody believed we could deliver, and we delivered. That was a big honor, that we, as Bloober, could work with Silent Hill and Konami. As horror creators, we love Silent Hill, like, I think, most horror fans [do.] It was tough for those couple of years before [Silent Hill 2’s] release.
…They [the Silent Hill team] made it. We made it. Bloober made it. And now, it’s very good spirits inside [the studio.] We want to show what we can do on our own, how we can evolve our ideas.
They recreated a legendary game. They made the impossible possible, and it was a bumpy road because of all the hate on the internet. The pressure was big on them, and they delivered, and for the company, it’s an amazing moment.”
Producer and director on Cronos: The New Dawn Jacek Zieba added “We want to be a horror company. We want to find our niche, and we think we found our niche, so now we just–let’s evolve with it. […] And how that happens is more complex, but it also happens organically in a way, like with [2016’s] Layers of Fear, people in the studio were like, ‘Okay, we made some shitty games before, but we [can] evolve.”
Piejko even adds that the success of Silent Hill 2 Remake has already seemingly helped in the reception to Cronos: The New Dawn. “We all felt relief. All the comments were like, ‘Yeah, this looks great. I love the design of the character.”
Hopefully for Bloober Team and horror fans everywhere, the studio can continue to evolve in this upwards trajectory.
Source – [GameSpot]