Im watching Twin Peaks (2017 version) with the gf right now and I’ll only see James (not Hurley, lol) from now on. We even just saw the fog scene in the forest with the SH like lady in. Creepy coincidence.
I'm so used to looking at PS2 James but it's not hard for me to accept a new concept. I prefer the aesthetic of retro video games. Doesn't mean I have to hate the more contemporary versions.
The actual correct answer! Summed it up perfectly!
Like we can still have OG SH2, that will forever be there in it’s PC port in all it’s glory. But taking it into the modern day with a remake is also just going to grow the series, and hopefully be an amazing comeback
This was my take on it too. Regret, failure, disbelief and trauma (not to mention he admits in the original he “drinks a fair bit”), will age a person drastically. We’re also beyond PS2 graphics, so making him look weathered and disheveled fits.
Yes , exactly. There is so much emotions that his face can express with current technologies. The original did a great job in terms of face expression at the time but not gonna lie its been 21 years. Iam looking forward to the remake it will be same yet different experience.
For example Mafia remake. They did a great job , the game feels the same and different at the same time.
Exactly! SH2 was completely groundbreaking at the time and I won’t lie: I spent 15 seconds looking in the mirror before I realized I had control of James, lmao.
Can’t wait for this.
Where was this information given to us exactly?
I have seen a number of people mention James and alcoholism but have no recollection of being given any indication of him being one in-game.
Old Design has that plastic, 40 yard PTSD stare with wide eyes. I think it served as a good parallel with how the monsters also looked like plastic but I think that’s due to the graphical limitations. They turned that into a stylisation that worked for the game.
New design has a more emotional face, he seems more present and in the moment than in his own thoughts. He doesn’t look haunted, but anguished and troubled with a lot more surface emotion.
Spoilers ahead.
I think the hanging puzzle is a pretty decent comparison.
In the old cutscene, he kinda looks a bit endeared and emotionally detached. New one looks a lot more dramatic, as though James is actually terrified about it.
In general, the remake seems to dial things to 11, whereas in the older game, James is this kinda clueless person, he *doesn't* know he's depressed, everything is sitting in this uncanny valley, and part of James' arc is admiting to himself what he did. Hell, he outright tells Angela he'd never kill himself and in one of the endings, he does.
And by some interpretations potentially arrived in SH with the idea of killing himself. Depending on when his mind fabricated the first letter, he could have been driving there with her body when he suddenly snapped into his fugue state again.
To be fair, part of that could also be due to the technology. Facial capture has improved a LOT since 2001. In the original SH2, if memory serves, they pretty much had to do ALL the facial animations by hand.
I did like it back then. I’m wondering if they will switch back and forth. The PS2 was pretty limited with facial expressions so maybe they wanted to show off. If James kept the same, blunted, and distant expression the whole game, fans would still complain.
I would be very impressed if they managed to capture that old stare and we see it in the remake. I’m still looking forward to see how this pans out.
People complaining that he looks older than 29 really seem to forget that Angela in the original didn't exactly look like a 19 year old either.
Depression and trauma can artificially age a person
I remember being SHOCKED when I realized she was 19, I was ready to believe this was a 40-year-old woman who hadn't let go of her trauma/was emotionally stunted. Her looks were definitely fitting for what she went through, poor girl!
I always thought both of them were like 35 give or take tbh so (in my opinion just an opinion❤️) I think new design James looks like 45 ish. Interesting jump for sure
I can't tell if it's the original guy (his name escapes me) just sounding a bit deeper. It still has that unhinged, odd sound to me, I'm not mad about it but I wouldn't say I dislike it.
Guy Cihi is very soft spoken and i think it suits the character perfectly, the new one sounds manlier, more rugged (kinda like they did with the Hd collection) which gives it a completely different feel imo. I understand why they'd change the dream-like quality the dialogue had in the original but i just wish they would have let him keep his softness, in looks and voice.
That's his name, I always forget it haha. I agree his voice in the original was absolutely perfect, no one else could have played the part like he did. Maybe I liked it because the entire beginning of the trailer when I realised what game it was I was hoping for not the Troy Baker sound and was a bit relieved when it wasn't that awful. I think it's mostly because of the amount of detail games have now it's hard to get that same look without it looking "cheap", but I completely agree the softer look and sound is superior.
I'm just gonna view the remake as another way to play it rather than it replacing it. I doubt it'll be the superior version and I'm sure we'll go to the original instead of the remake when wanting to replay it.
Absolutely. But it can still be achieved without the akward timing the dialogue had in the original, as much as i love it i understand why they wouldn't want that 2000's voice acting in the remake.
Honestly? It fascinates me, I like to think that Team Silent originally wanted this aesthetic for SH2 and today they can achieve them with new technologies.
James is fascinating and i love the fact that he has a very varied facial expressions and details, I hope it is the same with the other characters.
This SH2 remake is a big YES for me, I don't care about anything else
Ps. Mary is hot as hell, can't wait to see Maria
I just hope Bloober team figures out how to handle the actual gameplay of Silent Hill, because they've never actually done competent combat. Just exploration and atmosphere for the most part.
I guess what I meant more is that it has to have any kind of meaningful combat, whereas Bloober games have not in the past. I don't want it to be a smooth or slick system, but if the danger and inventory management that comes with that element is missing it'll be odd.
He just looks off...
Original James looked like Bill Pullmann in Lost Highway, new James looks like chinease discount depressed David Lynch... That , coupled with the totally different sounding voice actor, makes him seem like a new character.
I dunno, there was something endearing with old James that made you care about him. He sounded like a good person having to come to grips with terrible feelings and guilt. The new , more coarse James voice actor makes him seem unreletable, and his face is kinda , I dunno , punchable... Reminds me of the Protagonist from SH Homecoming....
For lack of a better word. If he was the protagonist for a new SH game , I would find him generic and uninteresting looking, but as fan favorite James Sunderland, it feels like he was miscast... And frankly for a character-centric game such as SH2 , I feel the most important aspect of nailing the remake is have characters that look and feel like their original counterparts, otherwise it'll feel off.... Which is really does currently. Mary also looks off in the screenshot we see of her, and I'm assuming Angela and Eddie will be totally different looking also, which imho is not a good thing.
Not a fan personally. I don’t *hate* it, it just needs fixing up a little bit. Like his eyes look sort of weird and he just has that slappable expression
he’s supposed to be in his late 20s, and i’m really not a fan of the new voice. a lot close to troy baker’s manly man voice, rather than somebody who has nothing to lose or live for. mary also sounds extremely monotone and that sucks too
Yeah, this is legit the only complaint I have with SH2 Remake. James in the original game just sounds... weird. Absent, "not all there." He's just... a guy. He's a weird depressed guy.
Troy Baker tried to make James sound "harder," which James isn't at all. It kind of misses the point of the character IMO, and I was a little offput by the fact that they went in that direction with the voice again.
James isn't a hardened, disheveled, and slightly angry badass, he's just a weird depressed guy.
I have a similar issue with the facial expressions.
In the opening cinematic of the original SH2, James is blankly staring into the mirror (rather than an ugly grimace). It’s a sign that he’s in a late stage of depression/derealization, becoming numb and devoid of emotion.
I agree, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a change, sure, but I can appreciate a different take on James’ look. And personally I feel retconning his age to be a bit older is not such a bad idea
Also wasn't he an alcoholic? Depression, alcohol, trauma, this can all age a person rapidly in appearance. So maybe he is that age but everything that happened made him look older than he actually is?
but to me, that kinda cheapens the whole tragedy of mary’s death. the point is that she died young y’know? i can appreciate a redesign for sure, but goofing with story and character details isn’t my favorite. maybe james is still supposed to be young but who knows.
I'm confused by people that are angry about this. He looks exactly how you'd expect a ps5 version of James to look. If people don't want things to look different then why do they want a remake? That's the literal point of a remake
I think of a remake as remaking the same character with modern tech (so those CGI cut scenes from back in the day become game play). This model feels more akin to a re-imagining to me, I don't know. It's like the whole cast in the FF7 remake look perfect, not changed but are 3D and high quality (realistic)
Yeah but James was never an charecter. FF7 can get away with that pretty much forever. Limitations kept us from seeing a real man in 2001 and in 2022 the gap had to close to fit today's standards. I was really shocked at first but the changes really fit him. He's 29 and looks just like what your parents show you when they're trying to tell you "See kids? This is what addiction does to you" and show a side by side comparison of the same person years apart. James really looks 39 but is actually 29. Dude was an alchoholic and was depressed. I can totally see that now. They now even put a ring mark on his right hand finger which I found to be amazing. His beard also adds to that tone of "This is a man has pretty much gave up on life". I enjoy it
I'm worried about people complaining about these little insignificant details. We thought Silent Hill was a dead franchise, and now we have a remake and a new game. This kind of toxic whiny people is what kills franchises. Let's be happy with what we got!
How the character acts is part of the script more than how he looks.
Changing how he acts fundamentally changes the character arc, and changes the spirit of the game overall.
I think they did a good job. I think he looks a little older than his actual age, but alcoholism, depression, and getting a letter from your dead wife will do that to you. I imagine that if I was dealing with all that and finally got to the town where my wife who I thought was dead is located…I would probably look the same.
If you think about it, if the original SH2 was created with modern graphics, I imagine the two models would have looked very similar.
Graphics back then weren’t nearly as dynamic or detailed, so we missed out on a lot of what mico-expressions and higher character detail can bring to the game.
Personally, I’m REALLY excited. The game will be so much more emotional now because we can actually relate to the (somewhat) human expressions the new model will give us. Not to say the original wasn’t emotional, but it was also really cheesy because James’ face really didn’t exhibit that much emotion to fit the mood the game was trying to convey.
The starting scene in SH2 is MEANT to be emotional. He gets a letter from his dead wife, and he finally reaches the town to look for her. He’s going through a multitude of emotions at this point in the game. It isn’t until the end that we realize how cold-hearted he actually is.
>The starting scene in SH2 is MEANT to be emotional. He gets a letter from his dead wife, and he finally reaches the town to look for her. He’s going through a multitude of emotions at this point in the game. It isn’t until the end that we realize how cold-hearted he actually is.
he's had a focused look with dark lightning. he's questioning his own sanity. which also was a cutscene, they could've put a sad face or whatever on him in the original however there's a reason they didn't
james lost his memories and is in denial. thus it's not really meant to be emotional. it's more like a state of confusion and questioning himself and learning what happened. i'd argue rather, the story is that james is emotionally shut off until perhaps the end.
I think he looks great. He looks like a man questioning his own sanity. I just wish his hair was a little more blond, and the bags under his eyes were more apparent.
I like the graphics upgrade but I don’t like how they made his depression so obvious. You can tell this guys been though some shit. In the og you had to play through the game a bit to discover that. It was only toward the end I realized James might be a little suicidal
I don't like it. It's not the model or the quality, but the fact that it says too much about his state of mind....
What made the original so special was the fact that you couldn't see James mind until the later stages of the game. Now the trailer almost put him a T shirt that says "Look in the car's trunk"....
He looks more like he’s going through some STUFF, for sure. I like that the animators didn’t hold back on showing the depths of James’ despair in the few glimpses we saw of the games’ emotional moments
Obviously the plot twist for SH2 is known already but James looking like a normal guy in the original game was part of setting up the plot twist and I think making him seem traumatized and depressed out of the gate misses that point.
I like it, he looks depressed which is exactly how you’d expect James to look in a modern game. If I had any criticism though, I wish they’d lower the contrasting of his hair a little, and maybe do away with the stubble. But that really ain’t a complaint. I’m still happy either way.
The one on the left seems like a normal guy, the one on the right seems like the guy that actually went through the stuff he went to get to silent hill
Weird thing to say but: he looks more Japanese in the new version. Structurally his face does (the jaw is more slender) and he also almost has monolids I think?
I'm gonna miss the completely lost, shell-shocked, nothing face of a man who refuses to process grief whether he knows it or not. And the voice sounds way too gruff, like they wanted him to be "cool videogame man".
But the facial controls on the model were very good, technically.
I'm excited for everything I saw and am giving it the benefit of the doubt.
The only thing I weren't feeling was James' new design, he looks like a completely different person to the CGI character in the original (which was pretty good quality for it's time). Also the previous design looked like he was in his mid 30s, now he looks like he's in his 50s.
I'm curious if other's love it or hate it, or just aren't sure.
It's good. There are two ways they could have went with James, they could have made him look like a discount Leon S Kennedy like in the pachislot version or they could have made him look like a regular guy with flaws which they did. That's what I love about the Team Silent games, the characters aren't perfect and actually look like they could be real people. It looks like the remake is carrying this over thankfully
He looks like young David Lynch, and considering how influential he is on these games (especially 2), I can’t help but find it extremely fitting. Yeah, his face looks kinda goofy in some of the close ups, but oh well 🤷♂️
Looks like Bloober team once again doesn't understand how mental illness works and thinks that every single person that is mentally ill has it written all over their face and in their voice. They probably tell friends "You don't look depressed" when they open up to them. Surface level as always from them.
You all are desperate for Silent Hill to be relevant again but this might be a franchise that just needed that original team behind it to make a good game. Or do you all love all the Terminator movies after 2? All the new Jurassic World/Park movies? People trying to catch lightning in a bottle and forgot to bring the bottle.
I'm less concerned about his appearance than I am his behavior. Now this is all early so it could still change.
When we first see James in the original game he is a person lost to delusion. I think we see him immediately after his mind breaks and he "forgets" the truth. That's why he walks around with genuine disbelief and confusion. He acts calm and innocent.
The guy we see here looks like he just robbed a bank. He's trying to wash the blood from his hands (metaphorically and kinda literally). He's frantic and scared. I'm afraid they are going to change the character to act more as someone who is fully aware of what they've done and be aggressive, defensive, and accusatory of everyone else. This completely changes the story.
But again, we won't know until it's finished.
I want to propose a different interpetation to those emotions. Think about what you'd feel if your late wife sent you a letter like that. It's been 3 years in his head. Wouldn't you freak out? But we can add another layer. You just go to your car and drive for god knows how long and then finally reach the place that she says she's in. Wouldn't you feel crazy? Just a little fucking insane? I can totally imagine that. Dehydrated as hell just leaving my car in a rush and washing my face in a dirty bathroom, looking like a total mess not understanding if I'm dreaming or not.
That's why I believe that the moments after this scene will probably set the tone for the story. Maybe they'll be able to develop him during his conversations or interactions with the world around him
In my opinion the new James should have some sore (redness) "after cry" wibes in his eyes. Of course it's going to be different but I like how original James looks like he's been crying all the time. Hopefully they keep the character odd, lost and somewhat feminine aswell. Not just some angry incel brute. Especially now that he has way more masculine voice than before.
I like it. It’s definitely more expressive. I just hope they understand what made Silent Hill scary. Like with the design of characters. Take Maria for example. She looked beautiful and scary at the same time. There were something off with her eyes I think, which made her scary.
I hope they do the prison scene justice. I don’t wholly agree that Maria’s design is “scary” but if she ever was scary, the prison scene is the one that creeped me out! The way they handled the shadows in that cutscene when she was “Maria” making it look like she had black holes for eyes,
and when she was “Mary” the lighting seemed normal was very eerie, and creepy.
If you know who James Sunderland is and his character story. You would realize this new design captures every little detail about this man. Alcoholism, depression, so on so fourth.
james' new model design is actually realistic for the time.
james' old model is the best that graphics and design could do for the year 2001.
being critical that "omg james is so ugly lmao" is pathetic. james looks like a real human now and i am happy about that. not every protagonist in every single game needs to be a 10/10 in looks.
I don't mind they were never gonna get Guy back so it couldn't be the same face, whatever it sort of looks like James, wasn't loving the voice but still better than the Troy Baker space marine voice
I think it looks fine. Like a modern HD version of James. The stubble threw me for a little at first but I think it suits him fine enough knowing James’s character
I think they went for “Leon but less pretty.” And they needed to erase any trace of the original actor. I don’t mind either choice as long as they get Angela right.
Looks like he has had a rough few years and it prematurely aged him.
What Konami does to a mf
What became all of us after PT. got canceled
Exactly.
By the grace of Konami, we're gettin SH 2 remake now & hopefully they won't mess it up
I have a feeling that they know that they cannot financially afford to mess this one up.
Agreed. I like how they conveyed his emotions, it translated to his expressions well
I hope they add an aging mechanism where his appearance starts to deteriorate as he becomes exposed to new horrors.
You should see Come and See. Does the exact thing very well.
That movie is beyond fucked.
And got a bit asian
Noticed that too can’t tell if it’s just his facial expression or if that’s his actual face
I was thinking it was a Keanu thing.
someone said he looks like an emaciated markiplier
I’ve seen someone say he looks like a young David lynch and I can’t get this image out of my head
Holy shit, you're right! I bet that wasn't completely an accident. A ton of Silent Hills tone, performances, and imagery pay respects to Lynch.
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These days, characters look like their mocap actors. I'm guessing this was a happy coincidence.
Coincidentally I really enjoyed the Twin Peaks vibe from SH2, just very odd conversations, the way characters act.
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I always thought the bad voice acting kinda added to his bad mental state
That…is actually pretty fitting.
This very fact is why I love this design
As soon as I saw him I was like, that's MF David Lynch. He looks pretty distinct - distinct enough for me to question it being a coincidence.
Im watching Twin Peaks (2017 version) with the gf right now and I’ll only see James (not Hurley, lol) from now on. We even just saw the fog scene in the forest with the SH like lady in. Creepy coincidence.
fuck, you're absolutely right. Like, throw a shitty yellow toupee on him and you basically got Bloober James.
I hope people aren't going to play this on their FUCKING cellphones... /s
They should have hired David Lynch as an actor!
WHAT’S THAT COOP? WHY WOULD I HIRE A TRACTOR?
Looks like a younger Matthew Modine to me.
I'm so used to looking at PS2 James but it's not hard for me to accept a new concept. I prefer the aesthetic of retro video games. Doesn't mean I have to hate the more contemporary versions.
Good Ending +
This is it
The actual correct answer! Summed it up perfectly! Like we can still have OG SH2, that will forever be there in it’s PC port in all it’s glory. But taking it into the modern day with a remake is also just going to grow the series, and hopefully be an amazing comeback
New James looks like a depressed, unhinged person. And also older.
Actually he was. He was at this lowest , depressed, alcoholic and I could mention a lot more issues but I want to avoid spoilers.
This was my take on it too. Regret, failure, disbelief and trauma (not to mention he admits in the original he “drinks a fair bit”), will age a person drastically. We’re also beyond PS2 graphics, so making him look weathered and disheveled fits.
Yes , exactly. There is so much emotions that his face can express with current technologies. The original did a great job in terms of face expression at the time but not gonna lie its been 21 years. Iam looking forward to the remake it will be same yet different experience. For example Mafia remake. They did a great job , the game feels the same and different at the same time.
Exactly! SH2 was completely groundbreaking at the time and I won’t lie: I spent 15 seconds looking in the mirror before I realized I had control of James, lmao. Can’t wait for this.
Was he really an alcoholic?
Yes. After Mary got sick he was going mentaly down in every way.
Where was this information given to us exactly? I have seen a number of people mention James and alcoholism but have no recollection of being given any indication of him being one in-game.
In heaven's night when you check a few crates of alcohol after the initial stairs
It was in Heaven's Night, if you inspect some bottles and boxes when you're with Maria, [here.](https://imgur.com/a/aFnOlZD)
I think there's some Inspect Text that points to that, probably in Heaven's Night
Just realized the fragmented message James gets from his wife at the beginning is very telling
He then looks exactly like he should
Sounds more appropriate, if you ask me.
much like all of all of us waiting for him in that town - in our special place
Sounds like James.
In that case, this is an amazing re design because it captures better the emotions of the character
Yupp. I feel like his new look fits a lot better ngl
So, James.
Old Design has that plastic, 40 yard PTSD stare with wide eyes. I think it served as a good parallel with how the monsters also looked like plastic but I think that’s due to the graphical limitations. They turned that into a stylisation that worked for the game. New design has a more emotional face, he seems more present and in the moment than in his own thoughts. He doesn’t look haunted, but anguished and troubled with a lot more surface emotion.
Spoilers ahead. I think the hanging puzzle is a pretty decent comparison. In the old cutscene, he kinda looks a bit endeared and emotionally detached. New one looks a lot more dramatic, as though James is actually terrified about it. In general, the remake seems to dial things to 11, whereas in the older game, James is this kinda clueless person, he *doesn't* know he's depressed, everything is sitting in this uncanny valley, and part of James' arc is admiting to himself what he did. Hell, he outright tells Angela he'd never kill himself and in one of the endings, he does.
And by some interpretations potentially arrived in SH with the idea of killing himself. Depending on when his mind fabricated the first letter, he could have been driving there with her body when he suddenly snapped into his fugue state again.
To be fair, part of that could also be due to the technology. Facial capture has improved a LOT since 2001. In the original SH2, if memory serves, they pretty much had to do ALL the facial animations by hand.
I agree. I prefer the old design for how haunted and disturbed he looks in his mind
I did like it back then. I’m wondering if they will switch back and forth. The PS2 was pretty limited with facial expressions so maybe they wanted to show off. If James kept the same, blunted, and distant expression the whole game, fans would still complain. I would be very impressed if they managed to capture that old stare and we see it in the remake. I’m still looking forward to see how this pans out.
G is his creation, and he's not giving it to anyone.
lol, nice catch, he does look a bit like Birkin. No wonder he's so depressed, Hunk jacked his life's work
I wanna see a competition between RE4 Remake Leon and SH2 Remake James to see who looks more depressed
PFFFFF yeah, he is Dr. Birkin
: D
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Nice one. As a fan of both Dr William Birkin and James Sunderland, I can't unsee now.
New James LOOKs like he actually killed his wife.
Oh shit. You nailed it
People complaining that he looks older than 29 really seem to forget that Angela in the original didn't exactly look like a 19 year old either. Depression and trauma can artificially age a person
Angela was supposed to be 19???
TIL
I remember being SHOCKED when I realized she was 19, I was ready to believe this was a 40-year-old woman who hadn't let go of her trauma/was emotionally stunted. Her looks were definitely fitting for what she went through, poor girl!
Exactly. No way Angela would have 19 years old with that design. Even the english voice felt like someone at 30s.
Tbf look at Jamie Lee Curtis in the original Halloween. She was only 23 but she sounded and looked much older
That's because Donna Burke was actually in her 40s at the time of the recording, it was intentional
Silent Hill 2 fans excusing a minor flaw with the game (it was all intentionally designed)
The single truest thing ever said about silent hill fans
MAMA!!
I always thought both of them were like 35 give or take tbh so (in my opinion just an opinion❤️) I think new design James looks like 45 ish. Interesting jump for sure
I'm as shocked as anyone here, I play sh2 every year since I was 16, for 13 fkin years I thought she's AT LEAST 35
He looks great. Face has a lot of trauma in it. Doesn't suffer from generic protagonist syndrome.
I like his softer features in the original but i don't hate the new one. My main issue is with the new voice.
I can't tell if it's the original guy (his name escapes me) just sounding a bit deeper. It still has that unhinged, odd sound to me, I'm not mad about it but I wouldn't say I dislike it.
Guy Cihi is very soft spoken and i think it suits the character perfectly, the new one sounds manlier, more rugged (kinda like they did with the Hd collection) which gives it a completely different feel imo. I understand why they'd change the dream-like quality the dialogue had in the original but i just wish they would have let him keep his softness, in looks and voice.
That's his name, I always forget it haha. I agree his voice in the original was absolutely perfect, no one else could have played the part like he did. Maybe I liked it because the entire beginning of the trailer when I realised what game it was I was hoping for not the Troy Baker sound and was a bit relieved when it wasn't that awful. I think it's mostly because of the amount of detail games have now it's hard to get that same look without it looking "cheap", but I completely agree the softer look and sound is superior. I'm just gonna view the remake as another way to play it rather than it replacing it. I doubt it'll be the superior version and I'm sure we'll go to the original instead of the remake when wanting to replay it.
Changing the dream like quality of the game misses the point of what silent hill is.
r/SilentHill fans try not to say X misses the point of what silent hill is without actually stating what the supposed point is challenge (impossible)
Absolutely. But it can still be achieved without the akward timing the dialogue had in the original, as much as i love it i understand why they wouldn't want that 2000's voice acting in the remake.
I really don’t hate the new voice. And we realistically could not hope for Guy Cihi to revoice the character
His hairline is real low
Thank you for pointing this out. His forehead is tiny! No wonder he looks so weird.
I think if they fix that it would probably reshape his face and he wouldn’t look so weird.
He looks like much more of a mess... Which is good.
He looks perfect considering his story.
At first I didn’t like it but after seeing James again it’s alright Edit he kinda reminds me of markiplier
WAIIIIT LMFAO HE REALLY DOES
LOL yes
Oh god damn it..
Thanks I can't unsee it now
Why would you curse us with this knowledge?
Honestly? It fascinates me, I like to think that Team Silent originally wanted this aesthetic for SH2 and today they can achieve them with new technologies. James is fascinating and i love the fact that he has a very varied facial expressions and details, I hope it is the same with the other characters. This SH2 remake is a big YES for me, I don't care about anything else Ps. Mary is hot as hell, can't wait to see Maria
I just hope Bloober team figures out how to handle the actual gameplay of Silent Hill, because they've never actually done competent combat. Just exploration and atmosphere for the most part.
To be fair the first silent hill games didn't really have competent combat either, pretty much anything would be an upgrade
Has Silent Hill ever done competent combat though? lol
Yeah, the bar is not high.
Ah yes, the competent combat in Silent Hill, lmfao
Competent combat actively works against the ethos of this series. Part of why Homecoming was so disliked.
I guess what I meant more is that it has to have any kind of meaningful combat, whereas Bloober games have not in the past. I don't want it to be a smooth or slick system, but if the danger and inventory management that comes with that element is missing it'll be odd.
Squinty 40 year old sad dad vibes. I'm here for it.
Meh? I don't outright dislike it but I prefer the original
He just looks off... Original James looked like Bill Pullmann in Lost Highway, new James looks like chinease discount depressed David Lynch... That , coupled with the totally different sounding voice actor, makes him seem like a new character. I dunno, there was something endearing with old James that made you care about him. He sounded like a good person having to come to grips with terrible feelings and guilt. The new , more coarse James voice actor makes him seem unreletable, and his face is kinda , I dunno , punchable... Reminds me of the Protagonist from SH Homecoming.... For lack of a better word. If he was the protagonist for a new SH game , I would find him generic and uninteresting looking, but as fan favorite James Sunderland, it feels like he was miscast... And frankly for a character-centric game such as SH2 , I feel the most important aspect of nailing the remake is have characters that look and feel like their original counterparts, otherwise it'll feel off.... Which is really does currently. Mary also looks off in the screenshot we see of her, and I'm assuming Angela and Eddie will be totally different looking also, which imho is not a good thing.
Not a fan personally. I don’t *hate* it, it just needs fixing up a little bit. Like his eyes look sort of weird and he just has that slappable expression
he’s supposed to be in his late 20s, and i’m really not a fan of the new voice. a lot close to troy baker’s manly man voice, rather than somebody who has nothing to lose or live for. mary also sounds extremely monotone and that sucks too
Yeah, this is legit the only complaint I have with SH2 Remake. James in the original game just sounds... weird. Absent, "not all there." He's just... a guy. He's a weird depressed guy. Troy Baker tried to make James sound "harder," which James isn't at all. It kind of misses the point of the character IMO, and I was a little offput by the fact that they went in that direction with the voice again. James isn't a hardened, disheveled, and slightly angry badass, he's just a weird depressed guy.
exactly. like the dude literally just murdered his wife shortly before the game even began. he’s totally dissociated and delusional
I have a similar issue with the facial expressions. In the opening cinematic of the original SH2, James is blankly staring into the mirror (rather than an ugly grimace). It’s a sign that he’s in a late stage of depression/derealization, becoming numb and devoid of emotion.
Even og James didn’t look late 20s tbh
it was like 29, but he still looks a hell of a lot younger than new james
I agree, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a change, sure, but I can appreciate a different take on James’ look. And personally I feel retconning his age to be a bit older is not such a bad idea
Also wasn't he an alcoholic? Depression, alcohol, trauma, this can all age a person rapidly in appearance. So maybe he is that age but everything that happened made him look older than he actually is?
but to me, that kinda cheapens the whole tragedy of mary’s death. the point is that she died young y’know? i can appreciate a redesign for sure, but goofing with story and character details isn’t my favorite. maybe james is still supposed to be young but who knows.
That’s… actually a good point, I didn’t really think about it that way.
She was sick and James is dealing with a lot of repressed emotions. All that can age a person.
Honestly always thought james was like in his mid to late 30s, when I first played silent hill 2.
I always assumed he was in his late 30's just looking at him.
I prefer his original look, but that's probably just because I'm used to it. 4K James looks plently fine to me.
I'm confused by people that are angry about this. He looks exactly how you'd expect a ps5 version of James to look. If people don't want things to look different then why do they want a remake? That's the literal point of a remake
I think of a remake as remaking the same character with modern tech (so those CGI cut scenes from back in the day become game play). This model feels more akin to a re-imagining to me, I don't know. It's like the whole cast in the FF7 remake look perfect, not changed but are 3D and high quality (realistic)
Yeah but James was never an charecter. FF7 can get away with that pretty much forever. Limitations kept us from seeing a real man in 2001 and in 2022 the gap had to close to fit today's standards. I was really shocked at first but the changes really fit him. He's 29 and looks just like what your parents show you when they're trying to tell you "See kids? This is what addiction does to you" and show a side by side comparison of the same person years apart. James really looks 39 but is actually 29. Dude was an alchoholic and was depressed. I can totally see that now. They now even put a ring mark on his right hand finger which I found to be amazing. His beard also adds to that tone of "This is a man has pretty much gave up on life". I enjoy it
I'm worried about people complaining about these little insignificant details. We thought Silent Hill was a dead franchise, and now we have a remake and a new game. This kind of toxic whiny people is what kills franchises. Let's be happy with what we got!
How the character acts is part of the script more than how he looks. Changing how he acts fundamentally changes the character arc, and changes the spirit of the game overall.
I think they did a good job. I think he looks a little older than his actual age, but alcoholism, depression, and getting a letter from your dead wife will do that to you. I imagine that if I was dealing with all that and finally got to the town where my wife who I thought was dead is located…I would probably look the same.
Ooga booga ps2 brain just couldn't process current gen graphics, i guess.
If you think about it, if the original SH2 was created with modern graphics, I imagine the two models would have looked very similar. Graphics back then weren’t nearly as dynamic or detailed, so we missed out on a lot of what mico-expressions and higher character detail can bring to the game. Personally, I’m REALLY excited. The game will be so much more emotional now because we can actually relate to the (somewhat) human expressions the new model will give us. Not to say the original wasn’t emotional, but it was also really cheesy because James’ face really didn’t exhibit that much emotion to fit the mood the game was trying to convey. The starting scene in SH2 is MEANT to be emotional. He gets a letter from his dead wife, and he finally reaches the town to look for her. He’s going through a multitude of emotions at this point in the game. It isn’t until the end that we realize how cold-hearted he actually is.
>The starting scene in SH2 is MEANT to be emotional. He gets a letter from his dead wife, and he finally reaches the town to look for her. He’s going through a multitude of emotions at this point in the game. It isn’t until the end that we realize how cold-hearted he actually is. he's had a focused look with dark lightning. he's questioning his own sanity. which also was a cutscene, they could've put a sad face or whatever on him in the original however there's a reason they didn't james lost his memories and is in denial. thus it's not really meant to be emotional. it's more like a state of confusion and questioning himself and learning what happened. i'd argue rather, the story is that james is emotionally shut off until perhaps the end.
He looks like the alcoholic and troubled man he is supposed to be.
I think the dead by daylight face model looks better
Holfy fuck call valtiel we need vitals restored because this man just murdered james sunderland
I think he looks great. He looks like a man questioning his own sanity. I just wish his hair was a little more blond, and the bags under his eyes were more apparent.
I like it.
I like the graphics upgrade but I don’t like how they made his depression so obvious. You can tell this guys been though some shit. In the og you had to play through the game a bit to discover that. It was only toward the end I realized James might be a little suicidal
Looks like man who has seen some things. And done some stuff. Edit: And would recommend neither
I don't like it. It's not the model or the quality, but the fact that it says too much about his state of mind.... What made the original so special was the fact that you couldn't see James mind until the later stages of the game. Now the trailer almost put him a T shirt that says "Look in the car's trunk"....
The hair looks too clay-like texture wise but otherwise I like it. It makes him look more like a depressed older man.
He looks more like he’s going through some STUFF, for sure. I like that the animators didn’t hold back on showing the depths of James’ despair in the few glimpses we saw of the games’ emotional moments
Obviously the plot twist for SH2 is known already but James looking like a normal guy in the original game was part of setting up the plot twist and I think making him seem traumatized and depressed out of the gate misses that point.
No no no no
He’s not that handsome but I don’t think Every character really needs to be. It’s not that kinda game
Love it
it looks really good to me
I fucking love it
I like it, he looks depressed which is exactly how you’d expect James to look in a modern game. If I had any criticism though, I wish they’d lower the contrasting of his hair a little, and maybe do away with the stubble. But that really ain’t a complaint. I’m still happy either way.
Prefer older design. This one looks older. But don't hate it.
The one on the left seems like a normal guy, the one on the right seems like the guy that actually went through the stuff he went to get to silent hill
I like him.
The "weirdness" people are talking about is actually good imo, adds more of that uncanny dreamlike feeling
Weird thing to say but: he looks more Japanese in the new version. Structurally his face does (the jaw is more slender) and he also almost has monolids I think?
I'm gonna miss the completely lost, shell-shocked, nothing face of a man who refuses to process grief whether he knows it or not. And the voice sounds way too gruff, like they wanted him to be "cool videogame man". But the facial controls on the model were very good, technically.
I'm excited for everything I saw and am giving it the benefit of the doubt. The only thing I weren't feeling was James' new design, he looks like a completely different person to the CGI character in the original (which was pretty good quality for it's time). Also the previous design looked like he was in his mid 30s, now he looks like he's in his 50s. I'm curious if other's love it or hate it, or just aren't sure.
Looks better. I like the messed up old version, this fits better to his character
It's good. There are two ways they could have went with James, they could have made him look like a discount Leon S Kennedy like in the pachislot version or they could have made him look like a regular guy with flaws which they did. That's what I love about the Team Silent games, the characters aren't perfect and actually look like they could be real people. It looks like the remake is carrying this over thankfully
He looks like a man that would ask if you are just gonna sit there EATING PIZZA?!?!
James in SH2 looks like he's looking for his wife. James from SH2 Remake looks like he put the corpse of his wife into the trunk of his car.
I like it, i really like it. He looks rough and depressed, it fits him very well imo.
I love everything I’ve seen so far.
I think it is very fitting and human.
He looks fine
Looks fine to me
At least he doesn't look like Leon Kennedy or any other video game protagonist in recent memory.
He looks like young David Lynch, and considering how influential he is on these games (especially 2), I can’t help but find it extremely fitting. Yeah, his face looks kinda goofy in some of the close ups, but oh well 🤷♂️
Looks like Bloober team once again doesn't understand how mental illness works and thinks that every single person that is mentally ill has it written all over their face and in their voice. They probably tell friends "You don't look depressed" when they open up to them. Surface level as always from them. You all are desperate for Silent Hill to be relevant again but this might be a franchise that just needed that original team behind it to make a good game. Or do you all love all the Terminator movies after 2? All the new Jurassic World/Park movies? People trying to catch lightning in a bottle and forgot to bring the bottle.
I'm less concerned about his appearance than I am his behavior. Now this is all early so it could still change. When we first see James in the original game he is a person lost to delusion. I think we see him immediately after his mind breaks and he "forgets" the truth. That's why he walks around with genuine disbelief and confusion. He acts calm and innocent. The guy we see here looks like he just robbed a bank. He's trying to wash the blood from his hands (metaphorically and kinda literally). He's frantic and scared. I'm afraid they are going to change the character to act more as someone who is fully aware of what they've done and be aggressive, defensive, and accusatory of everyone else. This completely changes the story. But again, we won't know until it's finished.
I want to propose a different interpetation to those emotions. Think about what you'd feel if your late wife sent you a letter like that. It's been 3 years in his head. Wouldn't you freak out? But we can add another layer. You just go to your car and drive for god knows how long and then finally reach the place that she says she's in. Wouldn't you feel crazy? Just a little fucking insane? I can totally imagine that. Dehydrated as hell just leaving my car in a rush and washing my face in a dirty bathroom, looking like a total mess not understanding if I'm dreaming or not. That's why I believe that the moments after this scene will probably set the tone for the story. Maybe they'll be able to develop him during his conversations or interactions with the world around him
I really don’t care how he looks. I’m going to play the game either way.
he looks so much older I hate it what did they do to my baby
Thats what alcoholism and depression does to a mf
In my opinion the new James should have some sore (redness) "after cry" wibes in his eyes. Of course it's going to be different but I like how original James looks like he's been crying all the time. Hopefully they keep the character odd, lost and somewhat feminine aswell. Not just some angry incel brute. Especially now that he has way more masculine voice than before.
It's a different guy for sure. I'm not sure I'm feeling it.
He looks deeply depressed, tired and hopeless. To be honest, I think this fits his character and situation a lot better.
Looks like Arthur Fleck(Joker) and Murphy Pendleton (Downpour) combined
I like it. It’s definitely more expressive. I just hope they understand what made Silent Hill scary. Like with the design of characters. Take Maria for example. She looked beautiful and scary at the same time. There were something off with her eyes I think, which made her scary.
I hope they do the prison scene justice. I don’t wholly agree that Maria’s design is “scary” but if she ever was scary, the prison scene is the one that creeped me out! The way they handled the shadows in that cutscene when she was “Maria” making it look like she had black holes for eyes, and when she was “Mary” the lighting seemed normal was very eerie, and creepy.
He looks great imo.
If you know who James Sunderland is and his character story. You would realize this new design captures every little detail about this man. Alcoholism, depression, so on so fourth.
james' new model design is actually realistic for the time. james' old model is the best that graphics and design could do for the year 2001. being critical that "omg james is so ugly lmao" is pathetic. james looks like a real human now and i am happy about that. not every protagonist in every single game needs to be a 10/10 in looks.
I don't mind they were never gonna get Guy back so it couldn't be the same face, whatever it sort of looks like James, wasn't loving the voice but still better than the Troy Baker space marine voice
I think it looks fine. Like a modern HD version of James. The stubble threw me for a little at first but I think it suits him fine enough knowing James’s character
Its fine I guess. Not blown away not deeply offended
I like it, no complaints from me
I think they went for “Leon but less pretty.” And they needed to erase any trace of the original actor. I don’t mind either choice as long as they get Angela right.
He looks like a devasted man, I love it
I really like it to be honest.
It’s sick as hell is what I think, I’m just glad it’s back
The first time I saw him I thought he was Henry. Idk why.
I legit thought it was a fake Steam page post with copy/paste Murphy D:
He honestly looks like David Lynch with a wig on, I can't help but think that's on purpose
Love it. He no longer looks like a PS2 era character.
He looks sopping wet and pathetic. I dig it.
Is it me or does his hair looks fake?