Silent Hill: Downpour's design director steps down months before release

Brian Gomez, design director at Silent Hill: Downpour developer Vatra Games, has left his position with the company according to the Silent Hill Historical Society. Gomez said that he reached the decision when it was was announced that Downpour was to be delayed until 2012, “my family and I came to the decision that I couldn’t keep making the commute between Los Angeles and Brno [in the Czech Republic, where Vatra is based] for another 4-6 months...”

Gomez promises that Downpour, originally intended for release last month, is “so close to completion, there’s not a lot more that I can personally do for the project that [Vatra's other members] cannot handle on their own.” His last day with the studio was October 31.

While Vatra's legacy originates in shooter specialists 2K Czech, Gomez says he's still interested in working within Silent Hill's genre. “You can rest assured that some of the projects I’m looking at are survival horror related.” He says he has a number of ideas for the genre that, within the confines of an established series like Silent Hill, “Konami simply didn’t let me do.”

The game's still on track for an early 2012 release.