Silent Hill 2 Art Director Masahiro Ito Almost Said No To Returning For Remake

Silent Hill 2 art director Masahiro Ito has revealed that he almost turned down the offer to work on Konami's upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. Considering Ito's pivotal role in the creation of Silent Hill 2 and its iconic monsters, such as Pyramid Head, the news came as quite a surprise when he shared it during a recent Silent Hill 2 preview event. According to Ito, he initially felt there was simply "no need" for a remake.

"Back in late 2019 or 2020, [Silent Hill 2 composer Akira] Yamaoka-san reached out to me via Twitter, as it was called at the time, and asked me whether I'd be willing to cooperate in a Silent Hill 2 remake. I felt there was no need to do such a thing, so my original plan was to reject the idea."

As for why Ito ultimately decided to return, the art director said he realized that Konami could move forward with the project even if he rejected the offer to join. Ito then came to the conclusion that it was better for him to "cooperate," as it was the best way to preserve the spirit of the original game.

"I felt that rather than let the project go on without me, it was best to cooperate and do my best to make sure that the core of what makes Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 2, was preserved in the best way possible."

One of the ways Ito did this was by ensuring that no "absolutely-brand-new" monsters were added into the Silent Hill 2 remake. Instead, he focused on making improvements to creatures that didn't live up to the vision he had of them 25 years ago, be it due to time or technological restraints.

In addition to discussing the remake with Ito, GameSpot had the chance to play about three hours of the Silent Hill 2 remake at the title's Tokyo preview. Though the trailers for the upcoming psychological horror game might be slightly underwhelming, we walked away extremely impressed by the game's opening hours. We were also able to catch up with Akira Yamaoka, the composer behind both Silent Hill 2 and its upcoming remake, who told us more about the game's all new soundtrack. The Silent Hill 2 remake--titled Silent Hill 2--is scheduled to release on October 8 for PC and PlayStation 5.