Silent Hill remake coming to Wii
The new Wii version of Silent Hill, subtitled as Shattered Memories, will have an entirely new game structure.
"This is a re-imagining of the first Silent Hill. It's not a remake or a port. That's an important distinction. It really feels like a new game," producer Tomm Hulett said.
The game, which is being subtitled as Shattered Memories and will be developed by Climax, will apparently have an entirely new structure and will seek to surprise gamers who are already very familiar with the original release. Hulett warned that the game is being designed to deliberately betray your expectations.
The new structure for the game will apparently be very non-linear, with players able to alter how the story unfolds by answering questions and solving puzzles in certain ways. There's also going to be the obligatory integration of Wii remote controls for puzzles and combat.
"Long-time fans of the series will also be delighted to learn that there's a way through every locked door; no more checking dozens of entrances only to find that 90 per cent of them are permanently barred shut," added Hulett.
The new control system will apparently map the movement of Harry Mason's torch to the Wii remote and Harry will respond vocally when the light passes over something interesting, to help alert players. The game will also be refocused on evading and fleeing enemies rather than fighting them, with Konami claiming zero loading times.
Excited about revisiting Silent Hill, or does Shattered Memories sound a bit too much for you? Let us know in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyGood, that Konami is at last making the first game available and system-forward (updated graphics, removed limitations and glitches). Good, that "the game will also be refocused on evading and fleeing enemies rather than fighting them," which might mean the American team won't be used this time and the feeling won't veer dangerously near that of Res Evil 4.
Bad, that the remake won't be available (so far as we know) for the PS3, 360 or PSP -- all havens for more somber gamers, and likelier places for fans of survival horror generally. Bad, that the game is being rethought, perhaps, by people other than the original creators.
Atmosphere is the sticking spot for Silent Hill denizens, and atmosphere is the most elusive and perishable thing to try to recreate. Who'd have thought the original Carnival of Souls would be prized for atmosphere as well as camp, and how likely is it that a remake would ever capture it? Look at The Haunting and The Uninvited -- the remakes we're stuck with shouldn't have been inflicted on audiences in the first place. Look at the 90s obsession with atmosphere as a substitute for violence in horror, and how what was thought to be atmosphere degenerated into sterile vagaries and a repertoire of mannerisms that made veterans beg for Dario Argento at his bloodiest. Let's hope whoever works on the remake of SH doesn't spoil, diminish or remove the atmosphere by accident. Let's hope there are no attempts to make the story and events clearer for Western gamers (read: numbingly obvious, corporeal and Green-Beret-formation-friendly).
After all, the evocative falling ash, which feels as chill and numbing to the user as a nuclear blizzard, was originally a way to give the PSOne time to redraw. Will that be one of the "limitations" we now forgo?
I've never wanted a Wii, but perhaps I'll have to buy one, if only for Silent Hill 1.2 well as Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Time will show whether Europeans and Americans will ever see release dates for these games.
By the way... Why is the picture for the article from SH4?
i wondered that too. although wasn't it from silent hill 2?