After Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team Can Tackle the IP’s Most Infamous Entry

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 28, 2024 7 Views 7 Min Read
After Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team Can Tackle the IP's Most Infamous Entry



With the recent success of Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake, speculation about what the studio could tackle next within Konami’s iconic horror franchise has been building. While the first and third entries are obvious choices as the other most popular SH titles, the overall limited catalog of the series also includes one game that could be a far more compelling choice to breathe new life into following the Silent Hill 2 remake.




Released in 2012, Silent Hill: Downpour remains one of the franchise’s most polarizing and downright poorly-received entries. With reception paling in comparison to its beloved predecessors due to narrative inconsistency and a lackluster feel to gameplay, it has largely fallen into obscurity over the years. Regardless of its shortcomings, however, Downpour‘s unique premise highlights the opportunity it presents for Bloober Team’s next Silent Hill remake to capitalize on a mostly clean slate through revisiting the title.

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Silent Hill: Downpour Marked a Promising but Disappointing Chapter in the Franchise’s History


The Story of Murphy Pendleton Had Unfulfilled Potential

As a spontaneously-freed convict who finds himself in Silent Hill after a prison transport crash, Murphy Pendleton is a character with a strong foundation that wasn’t fully utilized compared to other protagonists of the series. His arc might also hinge on a major reveal and uncovering the darker side of his humanity, but Murphy’s psychological journey fails to resonate on the same level as that of Silent Hill 2‘s James Sunderland. While the connection to the atmosphere of the town was key to amplifying the tension of James’ experiences, Murphy never navigates the same level of well-crafted symbolism across instances like mediocre chase sequences.

A Clunky Entry by Survival Horror Standards

Even in a genre where less responsive controls have been used as a stylistic way to heighten tension, Silent Hill: Downpour‘s gameplay struggles to meet the standard of previous entries when it comes to combat. When paired with upfront technical issues like frame rate drops and at-times murky visuals, repetitive enemy encounters and a lack of fluidity can make combat a slog that fails to inspire fear.

Bloober Team Could Be Ideal for Giving Silent Hill: Downpour a Second Chance


A Studio with a Varied and Divisive History in Survival Horror

With a solidified reputation following its success in revamping Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team has shown a knack for creating a classic survival horror experience in an updated context. However, the studio is also no stranger to less universally acclaimed projects, as Layers of Fear and The Medium are examples of releases with mixed reception. These less-praised titles honed Bloober’s understanding of horror leading up to SH2, but also gave it insight into honing flawed horror games. Aspects like weaker monster designs leave far more room for experimentation and innovation, from which some of the Silent Hill 2 remake’s best changes have come. Due to there being far less hype and nostalgia around the creative choices in Downpour, Bloober could end up essentially free to alter as much as it desires.


The upgrades to the combat mechanics of the Silent Hill 2 remake have managed to hit a sweet spot between challenge and tension in a horror scenario, making James’ encounters manageable but more intense. A similar approach would be even more appropriate for Silent Hill: Downpour‘s Murphy Pendleton, a convict with a violent past that doesn’t contradict the game’s more thoughtful psychological themes. It might not entirely make sense for an “everyman” like James or Harry Mason to be so adept at combat, but elevating Murphy’s journey through a new vision could leave the most room for thematically fitting, engaging action in Silent Hill history.

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