Some worries put to eternal rest in Silent Hill Homecoming interview

by Nick Doerr { Jun 2nd 2008 at 10:00PM }

An exclusive interview was snagged by SilentHill5.net with the game's lead designer over at Double Helix, Jason Allen. Since this is more of a fansite than anything else, the questions are actually geared toward easing the thoughts of longtime Silent Hill fans -- which means the questions are probably what you want to hear answers to. Our summary, naturally, will cover the answers as well.

While the game appears action-oriented, the developers have focused primarily on the signature atmosphere of the series. However, Double Helix was asked to create the game to appeal to a larger audience and they felt a revamped fighting system would assist in that regard. This change may also be felt with the puzzles -- they're a more seamless experience now, instead of moving to a static screen with a puzzle, they will be viewed in a more seamless manner (that's probably easier to see than explain).

The game is trying to remain true to its roots. The developers understand people's hesitations and have done several things to keep the game in-line with its roots: the text, map system, sounds, picking up notes and other items has remained the same as ever. Difficulty settings will exist for the game, but they will not have an option for puzzle difficulty. They hope people realize they've kept the heart of the game alive and the magic is still there. There are more questions to go over, like boss battles, objectives, and item management. However, they didn't really give any valuable answers to them, so we'll leave checking those out to you. We'll remain cautiously optimistic about this game, but our anticipation is growing.

Tags: double-helix, konami, silent-hill-5, silent-hill-homecoming, silent-hill-v

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Organic_Shadow @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:37PM

I still hope that SH6 is handed back to the game's founders, Team Silent, who technically aren't really disbanded. Even if SH5 is great (8/10 or higher metascore) I would still prefer the game be kept under the knife of TS- flaws and all.

Even if there were "problems" with the original series, they were some of the very reasons the series was special and memorable. If I could get a TRUE SH4 from Team Silent, ie: felt just as great as SH2/3 then sign me up. As soon as companies start saying "...to be more accessible" you can almost guarantee that they've handicapped a series in the eyes of original fans.

I'll go cry elsewhere. =\

willxcore @ Jun 3rd 2008 4:32PM

Yeah, once I read that the creative team was asked to make it more accessible I cringed. It definitely means thing are going to be a little sloppy but I'm still optimistic. Hopefully amping up the combat is the extent of increased accessibility that they've thrown in. I just wonder why the game needs to be more accessible when it already has a rather large cult following and has earned enough revenue for 5 iterations already and a handheld game.