Following rumors that horror game developer Bloober Team is remaking the legendary Silent Hill 2, CEO Piotr Babieno has said he cannot comment, but hopes to make an announcement about the company’s future projects “as soon as we can”. He added that its unannounced project will “still be a Bloober Team title”, even if it’s made in partnership with another company. Babieno also explained that future Bloober games will be bigger and more gameplay-focused than in the past, and will not be “walking sim”-type experiences.
Speaking to IGN at Polish games conference Digital Dragons, Babieno responded to rumors (first reported by influencer Nate the Hate and subsequently journalist Jeff Grubb) about a Silent Hill 2 Remake by saying:
“We can’t comment on anything we are doing because we appreciate our relationship with our partners, of course. So we can’t [say] anything. We will make an announcement about our future projects as soon as we can. So then you will know much more.” Chuckling, he added, “Officially.”
Bloober Team entered into a partnership with Konami — owner of the Silent Hill series — last year. Since then, multiple reports have linked the developer (which developed horror games Layers of Fear, Observer, Blair Witch, and The Medium) with a Silent Hill project. It was even forced to deny that some of its unused game concepts were planned Silent Hill titles. Bloober confirmed previously that it’s simultaneously working on two titles, one with Konami, while another, due to be published by Private Division, is a new IP. Babieno tells me a third title is in pre-production.
Later in the interview, I asked Babieno about the company’s experience working with a license holder in the case of Blair Witch, and the CEO briefly referenced one of Bloober’s upcoming projects, making clear that his company’s approach is to make games on its own terms, even if it’s within someone else’s franchise.
“I would say that it’s hard to work with someone who [owns an IP you’re working on], but we are always talking with those licensors, [saying] ‘Guys we would like to use your license, but we would like to tell our own story.’ If we are not able to tell our own story, if we will not have creative freedom, it doesn’t make sense, because Bloober Team will not make a great game,” Babieno said. “If you are in a prison, you will not be able to fly. So that’s why we are trying to only [make] those titles in which we are feeling, ‘OK, it will be a Bloober Team game, not someone [else’s].’ So even on the project we can’t talk [about], it will still be a Bloober Team title.”
Babieno didn’t make clear that this was a reference to the Konami title, but it feels likely given that Bloober’s Private Division game is a new IP. If that is the case, and Bloober is working on Silent Hill, Babieno’s words could be taken to mean that the company is applying its own ideas to Silent Hill 2, or alternatively that its Silent Hill game is actually a new story in the series entirely. The CEO did not provide any further comment on those lines.
Speaking more generally about Bloober Team’s future, Babieno said that the company was aiming to change the kinds of games it makes, while sticking with the dark, psychologically focused subject areas it has specialised in.
“There are a lot of people in our team who would like to do bigger games, with more gameplay, with some game mechanics [we haven’t used before] because mostly our past titles were experience-like, right? It was more about the mood, about the story, not necessarily about gameplay. […] We would like to do games which will tell our stories based on the game mechanics. So you could expect that each of our future titles will have a lot of gameplay mechanics. Those titles will be bigger.”
He added that Bloober’s games would continue to transition away from the “walking simulator” approach of its early successes, such as Layers of Fear.
“It’s not a huge jump, it’s rather evolution, but right now we are well-prepared to make games similar to Hellblade, to name [one example]. But I would say that we will still have our DNA – those games will still belong to Bloober Team’s legacy, and they will be bigger. We will tell stories [through gameplay], it will not be walking sim kinds of experience in the future, but still, the subject, those feelings which we would [we would like our fans to feel], they will remain,” Babieno said.
Aside from the rumors about a Silent Hill 2 remake, images from what is rumored to be a brand new Silent Hill were revealed last week — and swiftly deleted after a copyright claim. The deletion seems to lend credence to their authenticity, although Konami has not commented.
Silent Hill 2 remains one of the most beloved games ever released. We named the PS2 psychological horror one of the best games of all time, calling it “an exploration of the depths of human depravity and the effects it has on the people and places around us that few video games have handled with such a disturbing grace and maturity.”
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
