Silent Hill 2's remake stars a slightly older James Sunderland for a pretty good reason.
Earlier today, the video below outlined a conversation with Silent Hill 2 producer Motoi Okamoto, concept artist Masahiro Ito, and composer Akira Yamaoka. Producer Okamoto revealed that after consulting former Silent Hill series art director Ito, it was decided to age protagonist James Sunderland slightly for the Silent Hill 2 remake.
"This is in part because fans from 20 years ago are older now," Okamoto said. "The average age of people who play video games has risen too. We want to depict a James who has had to suffer through more in his life as an adult. So yes, we did raise his age, though only by a bit."
- Silent Hill 2 remake dev says he was "afraid there might be no good way" to rebuild the classic game without "archaic solutions and mechanics"
- Silent Hill 2 Remake devs spent many hours "watching, reading, discussing" fan theories about the iconic Labyrinth level and wanted to "incorporate as many" of them as possible
James' face was something immediately picked up on by long-time Silent Hill 2 fans when the remake was finally announced late last year. The protagonist's new face proved pretty divisive at the time, although we only saw fleeting glimpses of James looking visibly older in the trailer for the remake.
"I personally feel like it's also our way of emphasizing that this is a remake," Ito added. Okamoto actually continued to say that nowadays, in the age of the PS5 in particular, it's possible to depict characters as looking "somewhat older," whereas this nuance was possible in previous console generations, with the PS2 in particular.
Earlier this month, Silent Hill 2 remake developer Bloober Team revealed they had to beat out other studios to work on the remake. In the same interview, the developer said it was feeling the pressure to deliver the remake of such a prestigious horror title.
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