In case anyone missed, original director Masashi Tsuboyama gave his opinion on the remake:
There are a few interesting observations in how the director has reacted to the remake versus the Youtube essayists (who often proclaim themselves to be the true fans and everyone else as just 'tourists').
The first is how even Masashi considers the remake as an opportunity for a new generation to be able to experience SH2. He considers it distinct from the original, both literally and in the sense that the remake's existence "doesn't affect the original". But I think his statement very clearly shows that he considers someone playing the remake as someone having experienced Silent Hill 2. This directly refutes the gatekeeping attitude to the remake that some critics have been parroting ("not played the original, not a real fan hur dur"). You want to have as many people getting into the series as possible and so pursuing new players as well as old fans is critical.
The other observation is what he has to say about camera perspective, which is what some analysis has been focusing on as a negative of the remake. In his own words there was dissatisfaction with what they tried to accomplish originally. That doesn't take away from the effectiveness of the camera they shipped the game with, but it also shows that they didn't necessarily design it that way purposefully.
"Depth and angle were limited by the processing load" leads me to believe that what people think was something carefully crafted was in fact born out of necessity. It reminds me of when legendary director Akira Kurosawa was asked about a shot in his classic Ran:
This idea that Team Silent were these auteurs who crafted the original exactly in line with their artistic vision is questionable. Even the push to lean further into the small town America setting came directly from Konami suits higher up (it was a bid to appeal more to Americans and boost sales). Almost everyone has to compromise when creating art and Silent Hill 2 was no different. It also reminds me of the old chestnut of "the combat is bad on purpose!", which is a completely unprovable claim and at best could be another case of accidental genius.
You almost get the impression that the remake is what they wanted to create when he calls its camera perspective "even more immersive". But hey, original director or not, what does he know? Sounds like a tourist opinion and not a certified true fan
™ who knows the work better than he does.
Masashi's only real issue appears to be with the way the game has been marketed by Konami, which has been quite poor (see the boneheaded decision to make that trailer focusing on combat which derailed the hype train for months). Then again, the game just crossed the one million mark so perhaps something has gone right.
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