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Silent Hill 2 veteran says the survival horror classic would have featured David Lynch-inspired multiple protagonists if it didn't make the story 'too complicated'

Silent Hill 2's art director reveals an alternate concept where the game featured multiple protagonists, inspired by David Lynch's 'Lost Highway,' but it was ultimately rejected due to potential complexity.

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The devs behind Silent Hill have made no secret of how much David Lynch's filmography has influenced the series, but one veteran of the team has only recently revealed that one particular movie's influence could have made Silent Hill 2 a much different game.

"Some accounts have asked me if David Lynch's films were the references for Silent Hill 2," veteran Team Silent art director Masahiro Ito says on Twitter. "Yes, of course, some of them were. When we were building the outline of the story, there was an idea that two or three guys were the main protagonists like Lost Highway's story. But, if we had chosen the plan, the story would have become too complicated. And then the plan was rejected." 

2/2)But, if we had chosen the plan, the story would have become too complicated.And then the plan was rejected.August 23, 2024

We've long known how much Lynch and other experimental filmmakers influenced Silent Hill 2 in particular, going all the way back to interviews with outlets like IGN prior to the game's original release in 2001. But if the devs have ever spoken about the possibility of it featuring multiple protagonists before, those comments are well buried - and now that the game has been cemented as a survival horror classic, it's tough to imagine it taking a majorly different form.

With the Silent Hill 2 Remake on the way, we'll need to get used to seeing the game in a new light, however. The remake aims to stay faithful to the original in many ways - the shot-for-shot "love letter" to the old 2001 trailer is evidence of that - but we know it's going to feature some very new stuff as well. Our recent hands-on preview of the Silent Hill 2 Remake noted that there are new endings this time around, and the devs have recently suggested that the remake will take around 20 hours to complete, which is much, much longer than the original.

Monsters, melancholy, and myth – here's why Silent Hill 2's legacy endures.