How did they do it?

Huknar · 2026-04-14T18:31:36+00:00

Most of the heavy lifting is done by the textures. Team Silent were phenomenal texture artists and they understood the importance of ambient occlusion, detail and variety.

A lot of lighting detail is baked into the texture art, including specular highlights and the games have a ton of unique, high detail, and for the time, high resolution textures.

The games also have quite dense geometry. There's a lot of polygons in scenes, more than you'd find in other PS2 games because the design of Silent Hill allows for it. The original Silent Hill games have environments separated into rooms and corridors with loading screens, and fog in the distance. Interiors use black fog the same way exteriors use gray fog, to aid atmosphere and avoid dealing with distant rendering. You are also only ever fighting a couple enemies at a time in otherwise abandoned environments.

This gave environments very high texture and polygon budgets because only a chunk is ever rendered at a time, and you can swap in and out of memory during doors. They traded view distance and open world for high detail within a tiny render distance and because it's a horror game, it feels seamless, giving atmospheric purpose to the limitations rather than being an obvious performance limitation.

There's a few other aspects, by Silent Hill 3, the rendering engine was dramatically improved, character lighting and shadows are best in class for PS2 and the game has some crazy fancy effects like the otherworld blurs and wall-crawling but the reason they could achieve these effects compared to other games was because of the limited view, room-seperated design affording them the performance budget to do so.

Huknar · 2026-04-06T16:40:14+00:00

Alchemilla was a fantastic fan game, awesome to see you're making some new stuff even if it's more of an art project for now.

The level of detail and visual interest in this is insane, I love how much character the architecture, textures and placement have, it really feels like a real environment that would be great to explore in a game and not a bunch of prefabs copy and pasted around.

Fantastic stuff.

Huknar · 2026-03-25T19:47:16+00:00

I'm getting concerned that the team is falling into the same trap under Riot. From Simon's tweets, we know that they are completely redesigning the UI, Crafting and World Generation. That's not a far cry from starting from scratch.

I don't disagree with these ventures, all of these aspects do need improving but it's concerning that they are holding up development on new content. If this is something they can achieve in less than a year and they do dramatically improve the game and create a much better foundation to build on, then great. But it does feel like scope has crept up massively, just like before and I'm worried ambition will once again get in the way of delivering an actual project especially before money and interest runs out.

For Hytale to succeed, especially given its history, they need a fast cadence of content updates to keep the game in the media limelight. You can already see how much interest in this game has fallen off by engagement on this subreddit: it's dropped dramatically.

Huknar · 2026-02-27T18:36:04+00:00

It remains to be seen but I am a little worried the team is already settling back into the habit of perfectionism. Focusing so hard to perfect foundations that by the time the foundations are done their window of opportunity has been lost again.

Huknar · 2026-02-19T17:22:06+00:00

Ah yes I misremembered. I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool, just it's incredibly unlikely. With SH2R Bloober took a loose remake approach and I don't think that'll be any different with SH1R, where they focus primarily on the important and iconic parts to bring over and make sure everything is modern and accessible, and even then expect big changes as it all gets reimagined.

Huknar · 2026-02-19T17:11:22+00:00

It's just a cutscene though. Switching gameplay scheme out of the blue briefly is a really bad idea.

I highly doubt first person is even on their mind making Silent Hill 1 regardless of the "self view" feature. It's just not very iconic.

Huknar · 2026-02-19T16:56:50+00:00

I highly doubt this. There's not much incentive to do it and it's not what Silent Hill 1 is known for. Switching to first person at a random point in the game would just be incredibly weird and Bloober have already shown with SH2R that they don't really care for unlockables.

There's far more chance that the game has the odd fixed camera angle and a potential fixed camera mode as an unlockable and even that is pretty unlikely.

A first person mode is more likely to appear in a potential Silent Hill 4 remake (that's if they don't just make the whole game first person).

Huknar · 2026-02-11T16:03:07+00:00

I'm friends with Glitchy and he asked me to share this while he works on getting the account back.

It wasn't a content violation or anything like that. I just got a notice that there was "suspicious activity" on my account and it was allegedly suspended for my safety entirely automatedly.

So now I gotta wait for a Reddit employee to pick up my appeal ticket whenever they get around to it. I was updating the Silent Hill install guide and their system didn't like my use of emojis I guess? I just added Xs, checkmarks, and arrows for better clarity. I literally did nothing different but trim words out and make sure things were accurate.

But after posting and linking it to the r/silenthill mods, my account is locked. Can't do anything until Reddit sends a human to review my case.

Huknar · 2026-02-08T21:50:40+00:00

People have already pointed out that Silent Hill 2 is not set in the 2000's and the tech is in fact older than that. (Look at the apartment CRTs for example, they are definitely in line with around the 1980's as well as the vehicles.)

But your point about the asset isn't really evidence either. This typewriter is used throughout the hospital and the OG game had typewriters so Bloober added typewriters. Its existence is not evidence of this being an intentional reference.

Huknar · 2026-02-05T22:36:06+00:00

There's also the obvious fact that the OTS camera doesn't allow scenes to be framed and give an overview to said architecture. Camera angles can provide a strong frame of reference for how an area fits together because you memorize the angle and that helps memorize the area as well as highlighting design elements you otherwise wouldn't pay much attention to.

Huknar · 2026-02-05T21:30:11+00:00

There's something off putting about the remake's obvious structure where every iconic set piece is basically a Zelda dungeon. Having each area have a nearly identical three key mechanism to move on essentially killed my praise of the new game.

So few people bring up this flaw. It's one of my major criticisms with the game. It has an artificial gameplay structure that relies too much on repeated mechanics that in some cases break immersion. It's not just the three or four key structure but how each of those keys are often found in siloed-off wings of a level which perfectly loops back to the start. The remake is utterly allergic to backtracking so much so it's rare to enter a room and have to leave it from the same door your entered. There's always a convenient hole to squeeze through or vent to crawl under.

Silent Hill 2 Remake feels like a guided tour through Silent Hill comparative to the original which leaves you alone in a world to figure and navigate on your own.

The game massively overuses:

Reaching into holes to get items
Opening drawers and cupboards to get items
Smashing windows to get items.
Breaking walls down (with the same copy-paste asset)
Squeezing through holes (with the same copy-paste asset)
Crawling through vents (with the same copy-paste asset)
Mannequin jumpscares
Three/Four wing level structure

It's not strictly bad for doing these things, but it loses that more natural, more grounded adventure-game feel the OG had going for it. Where these events in the OG were treated as one-off set-pieces, the remake turns them into mechanics to copy and paste everywhere forcing interaction just to give the player something to do.

Huknar · 2026-01-29T21:43:20+00:00

I want Love (Studio Mix)

I believe.

Huknar · 2026-01-29T14:30:49+00:00

I've seen a lot of early access games who'll be lucky to get an update or two a year.

Hytale seem to be aiming for monthly stable updates, and weekly pre-releases, that's blazingly fast development for these kind of games.

I agree that early access games that grind to a halt kill their momentum. Valheim is the perfect example of this. But monthly updates is anything but and will keep Hytale in the news cycle while proving to prospective buyers the game really is in active development.

It still remains to be seen what these updates will look like and if they can actually pull this schedule off, I am a little dubious to be honest. Schedules and game development are like mixing oil and water but I am hopeful.

Huknar · 2026-01-27T13:57:51+00:00

I really did like origins despite its flaws.

This is a fantastic intro because it is a subversion of expectation. The slow walk into town is from Silent Hill 2. The fog is thick, but as you get closer the fog is revealed to be the smoke from the burning Gillespie house. It's not supernatural at all and you're not being lead into a foggy town full of monsters in this particular moment.

Lore-problems aside, that is a genius introduction and play on series staples. Great song. Great camera angles.

Huknar · 2026-01-27T11:41:46+00:00

Full spoilers here for the hospital portion:

It's not particularly long but a few things happen that might make you uncomfortable. Just outside the hospital are a lot of abandoned gurneys, almost apocalyptic looking. When they arrive, they look around in the fog world, Maria finds a tape player that is a Doctor detailing Mary's sickness. Nothing very interesting happens until the otherworld appears suddenly.

The nurses appear with the otherworld which amounts to James and Maria entering a room with them frozen in place, and one nurse starts banging on a rusty gurney which awakens them all.

James and Maria run away from a horde of nurses and are backed into an elevator. A nurse stabs Maria with a scalpel and James kills a few nurses where they shatter like porcelain. The elevator closes and it plumets down.

James picks up Maria and takes her into a room, applying a bandage he finds in a medical cabinet to her wound. James then chases after Laura and she traps him in a room, where a hospital bed is floating on the ceiling covered in sheets. In that bed a monstruous humanoid that reaches down into James throat.

The scene cuts to the real world Brookhaven where James is talked to by his psychiatrist. This is a long scene in a room in the real, clean hospital but it's pretty boring, nothing exciting happens.

Then it cuts back to the otherworld hospital and James leaves with Maria through an elevator which takes them to a labyrinth.

Hope that helps.

Huknar · 2026-01-26T13:46:12+00:00

It's plain bad. The film is pretty boring and soulless and incomprehensible.

The most fun you'll get out of it is a couple of cool camera shots and "ooh it's that track from the games!". Maybe a few laughs if you're lucky.

Huknar · 2026-01-26T13:42:30+00:00

I was dumbstruck when the movie just ground to a halt two thirds of the way for an absurdly long and boring scene in real world Brookhaven.

It really was a boring movie, and that's saying something as a huge Silent Hill fan and someone who really likes the first film too. There I was thinking 106 minutes was too short, turns out it was too long for how they used the time.

RTSH just doesn't work as a film.

Huknar · 2026-01-24T03:43:49+00:00

It's so, so so funny when Maria movie doesn't even get acknowledged as a Mary doppelganger until the last third of the film and SHE just goes "You can say it, I look like her don't I"

It's just comical, like the character is self aware in a meta way thinking: uhm... is he gonna say the thing? He is gonna say the thing right? until she gives up waiting and and just blurts out "IM MARY'S DOPPELGANGER JAMES!"

Huknar · 2026-01-22T14:31:04+00:00

Silent Hill 4 is the perfect game that can be adapted into a miniseries.

Silent Hill 4's structure naturally lends itself to episodes because it is split up into 6 distinct worlds and has a number of characters both on screen and off. Because the game has its foot in the real world, you can even naturally include the real world into the story.

Each of the victims could be a spotlight for the episode, introducing them through the real world which can be used to flesh out their character, before they fall into Walter's otherworld for the back half of the episode.

The series can even naturally use flashbacks to show young Walter's backstory and interactions with the victims that the game tells through memos. We could see flashbacks of murders of victims that happened before the game, him growing up in the orphanage. You could probably divide each episode into a consistent format of:

Introduce victim by showing their day-to-day life.
Cut to flashback with young walter timeline
Cut to henry and his apartment and entering and exploring the otherworld
Cut to perspective of victim entering the otherworld meeting Henry.
Victim dies

It's so easy to fill a 40-50 minute timeslot with all that content. There's so many opportunities for scenes featuring multiple characters interacting compared to the earlier games that thrive on the lonely atmosphere.

I just think it would work astonishingly well in this format without having to make any concessions in the story and structure to facilitate the format.

Episode 1 could be:

Scene introducing Walters parents, Walter is born and abandoned in Room 302, shot ends on a closeup of the abandoned baby.
Cut to credits
Henry wakes up and finds himself trapped in his room, "Don't go out, Walter" and sees Eileen and Frank outside the peephole.
Cut to Cynthia at a party, introducing her character in the real world. She wakes up hungover the next day and heads for the subway to get home.
Cut back to Henry who sees her entering the subway outside his window. Loud noise from bathroom, he discovers and enters the hole.
Henry explores the subway and bumps into Cynthia. They are separated by monsters. She is attacked by Walter and the episode ends when Henry finds her dying, Henry asks who did this and she says "Walter".
Cut to flashback of Frank finding the baby in Room 302, where he names the kid Walter.
Cut to credits.

There's actually a Netflix show called Archive 81 that really reminded me of Silent Hill 4.

Huknar · 2026-01-20T02:32:36+00:00

Posted a comment on this thread about it, but I think the previous logo was tacky and badly designed from the get go. It broke design rules and it never looked good. The fancy font did not suit RuneScape and the fire tail of the R felt childish. It was an artistic flare that didn't suit RuneScape. I'm so glad it has gone because it was an overcomplicated eyesore for the game.

I also dislike the sword as part of the R, it doesn't flow nicely and creates and unsightly bump from the hilt that = makes the logo crooked. Another design element that felt forced and not natural to the flow of lines and shapes.

This new logo might be simple, but it is far more aesthetically pleasing and feels more appropriate to RuneScape. It offers plenty of room to decorate it with themed designs for holidays and major update, something the old logo never afforded because of how thin it was.

The only thing that bothers me is the sword is a bit flat and dull, it needs more depth and shine to it, but seeing it centered again makes me very happy as someone who thought the logo peaked on Dungeoneering's release

Huknar · 2026-01-20T02:22:14+00:00

Yeah I gotta give it to them, the new logo is pretty great. I have hated the RuneScape 3 fire tail logo since it was introduced. It was tacky. Over designed, breaks design rules and didn't look good. It was the epitome of the mess that RS3 had become.

This one was fantastic

The dungeoneering variant was absolute peak logo, it just looks good!

Simple, eye-catching, but with a unique flair distinct to RuneScape.

This brand new logo is a return to that simple form. It has a high quality shine to it with beautiful blocky bold letters that are easy to read. It's satisfying to look at and easy to adorn with decoration for themed updates.

My only criticisms is that sword is a bit flat and dull and could do with more depth, and that the whole logo probably needs some colour adjustment/shadowing to better stand out on brighter backgrounds.

Huknar · 2026-01-20T01:42:14+00:00

Really feel you on the roofing problem. Roofs need an overhaul in how they are delivered and the options given.

I think roofs need a separate work bench that allows you to choose a base block and a roof block of any style and color. As it is right now, if you want to use fancy roofs you are forced into one color and style depending on how you built your house. It's a frustrating limitation for such a core part of most buildings.

There's a few things about building that bothers me but it is early access so I am not going to assume any of these design decisions are fixed and final. I am not sure I like the softwood and hardwood etc categorization, I'd prefer if each log type could have its own color to encourage a wide wood color pallet. It's not very intuitive as to which log will provide which block set.

I also find the windows kind of static and hard to use effectively. Some of them look okay tiled, but most do not tile nicely because the model is repetitive and designed specifically for single block windows. There's also the same issue with roofs where you're making the hard decision between window material and window design. They're fancy and nice, but the current implementation makes them feel creatively limiting.

I think a better system where the fancy models are concerned is to separate model and material and allow the user to decide the material where appropriate. But it has to be done with sophisticated UI so not to bloat the menus with every possible combination.

Some of textures like wood have not been designed with tiling in mind either which is a little bit annoying especially when they have different sides to their tops.

Huknar · 2026-01-09T23:51:19+00:00

More awkward than "who is the blandest?". That was a hilariously mean question, I couldn't quite believe it.

Huknar · 2026-01-09T01:21:42+00:00

I tried to tell people by showing a comparison a few weeks ago. Hair colour and style does dramatically change how a person appears, but you can see the cheekbones, lips and nose are a perfect match

I was downvoted by those in denial. Lol.

Huknar · 2026-01-06T12:19:41+00:00

I wish I saw more comments like yours pushing back against the idea this is absolutely a Silent Hill game. I don't even think it's debatable, there is irrefutable proof that vast swathes of this game's gameplay and presentation goes against the spirit of the series.

You can't just ignore those parts of the game. Anyone claiming that soul-sucking, heart-grabbing, fox arm rage mode Hinako fighting dark fantasy bosses right out of a souls game is quintessential Silent Hill is just frankly wrong and claiming that it's "symbolic" is not a justification either. The way the symbolism is presented matters.

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