I remember reading a review when Super 8 came out, with one critic calling JJ Abrams a “Spielberg Cover Band”. it just stuck with me all of these years. A person whose emulates a particular style without really offering their own super distinct vision.
Bloober is like that for me. They read the cliff-notes of what makes psychological horror “psychological”, and without really wanting to extrapolate further, ape other games to cover their bases without fully understanding what makes games within the genre work well beyond the spooky ticking of a clock or “room with doors that disappear behind you”.
We’ve seen it time and time again with Soulslikes. Developers who *almost* pass the smell test because the game will at least visually appear similar to a FromSoftware game, but usually falling short of refined combat and environment intricacies that otherwise define their titles.
Bloober — like Abrams and like Deck13 –have all the ingredients in front of them. Go on Youtube, and you will find countless hours-long essays about what makes Silent Hill 2 so damned effective. There is nothing to misconstrue.
I am hoping for the best, and am cautiously optimistic. But even Konami themselves have botched the franchise, and their horrendous remastered versions had the “SILENT HILL” sign written in comic sans.
We will see soon enough.
