Silent Hill Wii on the Horizon

So Nintendo Power has a big front-page splash for a new Silent Hill game that’s coming out for the Wii. GoNintendo elaborates;

“This is a reimagining of the first Silent Hill,” explains producer Tomm Hulett. “It’s not a remake or a port. That’s an important distinction. It really feels like a new game.”

Apparently the story is the same, concerning Harry Mason as the main protagonist and him searching for his daughter Cheryl after she gets lost in the surreal town of Silent Hill. However, certain things have changed. On top of challenging puzzles, you now can find ways to access every room presented to you, rather than some rooms being locked in one phase of Silent Hill and others being unlocked in another phase. No load times have been announced, the Wii control stick and remote are used for separate actions, such as walking and using the flashlight respectively. We’re also told there will be no combat in this new game, and that you can only run from your enemies.

Ok, no load times and more in-depth controls seem like a good deal to me. The issue concerning the locked doors is nice, but takes away a bit of what made the other Silent Hill games different, even if in a frustrating way. However having no combat whatsoever and only being able to flee? How does that make the game any better? “Survival” isn’t just about running away from the threat; it’s about keeping yourself safe from harm. Sometimes you can’t always run and need to defend yourself, even with a crappy knife or wrench you picked up. I hardly see how removing combat makes this game more “survival horror”, but that’s me. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it in the near future.