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The hot topic in the horror community over the last few days has been the Silent Hill 2 remake's redesigned character models, but some fans are rightly pointing out that the redesigns appear to be based on the drawings of original Silent Hill character designer Takayoshi Sato.
Pretty much as soon as Konami and developer Bloober Team revealed the new Silent Hill 2 remake trailer and October 8 release date, fans were debating about the new character designs, particularly Maria and Angela's. Amongst the chatter, some fans were learning for the first time, thanks to the redesign, that Angela is only 19 in the original Silent Hill 2 and not in her 30s or 40s as they'd assumed due to the dated graphics. There was also some noise about Maria being less overtly sexy in the remake, but I'm frankly too tired to dig too much into that discourse so late in the day.
The reason we're here is because of Sato and his early sketches of Maria and Angela, in which there's an obvious resemblance to the remake's new character models. In the below Reddit thread, fans are comparing the original sketches to Angela's new design, and the resemblance is undeniable, particularly in the shape of the face.
It seems like the remake’s Angela, is based on Sato’s sketches. from r/silenthill
In a separate conversation on Twitter, horror streamer @Chemi_Ro shared side-by-side images of the original Maria sketches and the remake's character model, and again, it is hard to deny the latter seems to have been inspired by the former. Here, the difference mostly comes down to Maria's outfit, which is made up of a low cut top and a blazer combo instead of the button-up shirt we see in the original.
Seeing a lot of complaints about Maria's redesign in Silent Hill 2 Remake. It actually reminds me a bit of one of Sato's initial character sketches! Surprised they didn't at least put some pink leopard print *somewhere* but at least she still has her butterfly tat & a choker! pic.twitter.com/qoGDxzMgGSMay 31, 2024
None of this is likely to move the needle much when it comes to the debate around Maria and Angel's redesigns, but it does strongly suggest Bloober Team didn't change the way the characters look on a whim. If anything, it's proof the studio is studying the source material closely, which is a good thing! We'll see if the remake can live up to the original's legacy in October.
There's a reason Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror games ever made.
