Silent Hill HD Collection is a 2012 video game compilation of remastered video game ports of Silent Hill 2 (2001) and Silent Hill 3 (2003) developed by Hijinx Studios for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Silent Hill 2 centers on widower James Sunderland who travels to the titular town after receiving a letter from his dead wife, while Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game and focuses on Heather Mason, a teenager who finds herself in conflict with the town's cult. Both games are categorized as survival horror and share gameplay elements with each other. Published worldwide by Konami beginning with North America in March 2012, the compilation features a graphics overhaul, new voice acting, and Xbox achievements and PlayStation trophies.
The Silent Hill HD Collection was in development for more than two years. The development team had to work with incomplete source code provided by Konami, as the published source code had not been archived. This consequently resulted in their having to fix technical issues both arising from porting the two games and those that the original development team had previously dealt with. An arrangement was eventually reached between the original voice actors of Silent Hill 2 and Konami to allow for an option to have the original voice acting present in Silent Hill 2s port, although the Silent Hill 3 port does not have that option. Critics were divided over the Silent HD Collection, particularly in regards to its updated graphics and voice acting. Some enjoyed it as an updated presentation of two favorably regarded games, while others criticized the quality of the compilation, citing the technical issues.
Background and development
The Silent Hill HD Collection, a compilation of the high-definition remastered video game ports of Silent Hill 2 (2001) and Silent Hill 3 (2003), spent more than two years in development. Silent Hill 2 follows widower James Sunderland as he journeys through the fog-shrouded town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife. Silent Hill 3, in contrast, is a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game, centering on Heather Mason, a teenager who finds herself entangled in a plot to revive an evil god. Both games belong to the survival horror genre and as such, their gameplay elements overlap. Access to the various environments within the games' worlds is limited, and progression through a particular area or building generally entails finding the relevant keys, which are sometimes obtained after solving a puzzle; puzzles often take the form of riddles and sometimes consist of gathering various items to help solve them. "Health" restoratives and a limited range of weapons and ammunition to fight off various hostile creatures can be obtained. Both games have multiple endings available. The Silent Hill HD Collection featured 720p resolution, a 16:9 aspect ratio, a frame rate of 30 frames per second, achievements for Xbox Live, and trophies for PlayStation Network.
Because the original source code for Silent Hill 2 and 3 had not been preserved, the development team at Hijinks Studio had to work with the incomplete code provided by video game publisher Konami, which was not the code from the published games. Thus, the team had to simultaneously handle technical issues arising from porting the two games as well as those which the original development team had previously fixed; some of those problems included Heather turning blue. Furthermore, the team examined game textures that were present in the original games but not seen by the players, and highlighted them in the remaster; among the previously unseen textures and details are scratches on walls and clues to the games' puzzles. Masahiro Ito, the art director for Silent Hill 2 and 3, has speculated that the games' translucent textures, such as those used for the fog, might have proven difficult for the hardware of the PlayStation 3 to handle.