Masahiro Ito, the creature designer for the original threeSilent Hillgames, has recently shared an early concept piece of his most famous work, Pyramid Head. Initially a core enemy inSilent Hill 2, Pyramid Head has gone on to be emblematic of the series, and has been included in several follow-upSilent Hilltitles, as well as the movie series, and other Konami licensed games.Ito joined Konami in 1997 and became part of Team Silent, where he worked as background and creature designer ofSilent Hill, art director and creature designer inSilent Hill 2, and art director, creature and background designer inSilent Hill 3.Silent Hill 2is still known today for its amazing narrative, foreboding atmosphere, and character design that is so celebrated that theSilent Hill 2remake won’t add any enemies, with Pyramid Head being noted as a standout enemy.RELATED:Silent Hill: The Short Message Rated for PS5Now fans can see an early version of what would become the iconic monster. Ito, who often posts concept designs to Twitter as well asangry tweets about Pyramid Head, has shared an image of Pyramid Head in an early stage of development. The painting titled “3310” was made after Ito finished work on the firstSilent Hill. The intention seems to be that the protagonist ofSilent Hill 2would encounter the “object” in water. It is unclear how far into developmentSilent Hill 2was at the time of this design, but fans will know that water, in the form of Toluca Lake, would become a key part of the story.
The tweet closes off with the statement “This figure became Pyramid Head eventually,” confirming that the design wasn’t simply similar to the iconic monster. Ito has gone on record saying that Pyramid Head was intended to be tied specifically to theSilent Hill 2protagonist, James Sunderland, going as far as to say thatDead by Daylightuses the wrong Pyramid Head. The monster was intended to be a manifestation of James’s guilt rather than a typical enemy.
Similarly, the nurses fromSilent Hill 2tie in directly to James’s narrative but have been re-used in the movie franchise. Even as one of thescariest nurses in horror movies, it could be argued that one of the reasons whySilent Hill 2has achieved its status as a psychological horror classic, if not the definition of the genre, is the way that Ito’s creature designs tie in so perfectly to the psyche of the troubled protagonist.
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