The Silent Hill 2 devs explain why you won't need to use UI in the remake: Instead, James will just glare at things devilishly

Silent Hill 2 character James Sunderland standing in the city and looking to the left
(Image credit: Konami)

As we approach the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, the developers, Bloober Team, are disclosing a couple of must-know facts about the horror game as a way to get players excited for its release. 

Recently, Bloober revealed the "most immersive way to play Silent Hill 2," in a Twitter post. "You'll have an option to turn off all UI elements! We've also created a "90s filter" with grain effect, color correction, and screen adjustments to complete the old-school experience." 

The picture that Bloober Team attached to this does look pretty spectacular without all the UI cluttering up the screen. But all the pretty pictures aside, players will still need plenty of hints so they don't completely stray off the path and get lost in Silent Hill. 

Luckily, the devs have already thought about this small issue. Instead of relying on the UI to get your hints as to where the next objective is, you'll apparently be able to figure it out just by looking at James: "Without UI, player guidance will naturally be directed by the game's visuals, sound effects, and James' behaviour," Bloober Team explains in a Twitter post. "He will glance towards important spots and have different animations and facial expressions during wounded states." 

The idea that James will get more frustrated and sad the further I drift from the objective is quite funny to me. But in all seriousness, although it definitely seems like more of a hassle getting rid of the UI and relying solely on cues from James and the environment, it does sound like a fun way to make Silent Hill 2 even scarier. 

Plenty of others also seem to think the same thing, as the replies are full of eager players who sound really excited about this feature and the game in general. "This is definitely 100% the way to play Silent Hill 2, no UI and being directed by visuals," one player says. "I am so pumped to play this game."

The mood around Silent Hill 2 has changed significantly in the past month. Initially, fans of the horror game were quite apprehensive at the idea of Bloober Team taking on the remake, something that the developers are keenly aware of. But ever since the preview went out, players have put their worries aside and are now quite excited for the remake. 

Our own news writer, Joshua Wolens, was actually pleasantly surprised by the preview and, after three hours with it, decided that it doesn't seem like Bloober Team has massacred this classic after all. 

Elie Gould
News Writer

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

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