James Sunderland makes more questionable decisions as we explore Brookhaven Hospital in Silent Hill 2! Hope to see you there!

Art by @teamCATPLE

I've been thinking a little bit about remakes and I just can't think of any reason that Silent Hill 2 remake justifies its existence over the original. Like, it doesn't take any artistic liberties that are substantially different from the original, it doesn't change the thesis statement or the overall plot in any meaningful way, and it doesn't adapt the original faithfully enough to not change the way the original's themes are conveyed.

Like, Silent Hill 2 isn't a fun game to play and you can argue whether or not that was intentional but the fact that it wasn't fun made it easier to make the player feel uncomfortable. I don't know maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon about this, but I just don't like anything I've seen of it.

still putting together my thoughts on the showing of bloooby's silent hill 2 remake from today, but one scene in particular jumped out to me that i wanted to comment on, not so much to deride the remake's effort but more to compliment the ways the original got things right well ahead of its time

in the 14 minute gameplay footage released today, one of my favourite small scenes appeared... but not in the way i expected. early into the brookhaven hospital section, james finds a cute but haggard stuffed bear in the nurse's station. he approaches the doll with a detached curiosity, pricks himself on a small needle protruding from its head, and takes it upon himself to slip the needle into his pocket. it's not a bad scene, but it isn't quite as interesting as the 2001 original's take

a major element missing from blooper's version of the scene is maria's presence, which i worry may have been a sacrifice made to reduce how messy escort sections can still be. within a brief, 30 second exchange, james audibly exclaims in shock when his finger is pricked by the needle. maria comes over to investigate, and asks, "what's wrong? are you okay?" which james tries to play off with an awkward coolness

within the wider context of james and maria's relationship, what may read like a simple bit of chat carries a little more weight. maria is a very liquid entity, shifting between warmly emotional, coldly distant, and outright hostile, but each of her moods follows a pretty consistent logic that james struggles with constantly. there is a huge disconnect between them, which frustrates james as he is unable to get himself close to someone who mirrors his wife who he has some heavily internalised codependency with. her capacity to taunt him at her own whim strikes another sore point for james, prodding at his masculinity when she knows it's going to hurt. and here, he's slipped his mask to reveal his more cowardly side, and maria wastes no time offering him comfort, if only to intrude into his space and silently add a little salt to the papercut. the more we learn about him, the more obvious it is when something may embitter him and add to the resentment he has for others, even when he doesn't say so directly to the player

bloopo likely didn't completely smooth-out maria's biting tendencies as it is key for her character to do so to keep james estranged as part of his ongoing punishment the town imposes on him. and now with the scene absent in the remake, it makes these little conversations all the more significant when analysing maria as a complicated person, how the town wields her like a weapon against james, and how important her role is in reinforcing the games themes which cast a heavily critical eye on james. and most especially right now, as misogyny and toxic masculinity have become such a crushing and overbearing part of modern culture, we need the remake to hold steady to making james and people who identify with him a bit uncomfortable, and possibly get them asking themselves the right questions about their connections to themselves and the women who they share the world with

Silent Hill 2 (Team Silent, 2001)