Fans have long considered Silent Hill 2 to arguably be the best game in the franchise. Now, it seems that these fans may have one more reason to revisit the game. A prototype build of Silent Hill 2 was recently discovered, giving fans a chance to gain some insight into this classic horror game.
The Hidden Palace recently posted a video of the prototype build that was shared to them by a notable Silent Hill fan and collector named Ratiocinator. The build is labeled as version 0.10 (VW047-U1) and dates from July 13, 2001, a few months off its September 24, 2001 release date. The build itself comes on a official Sony DVD-R disc used for PlayStation 2 games.
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Being a prototype build, version 0.10 contains quite a number of differences from the game that eventually released later that year. A detailed breakdown by the Letter from Silent Hill fansite shows that it had a slightly different UI, different item placement, enemy attacks, and sounds, as well as some tweaked camera angles. More interestingly, a few bits of dialogue were different in the prototype build as well.
Aside from being a piece of Silent Hill history, this prototype build may also hold some other significance to fans of the game. Back when Hijinx Studios was working on the Silent Hill HD Collection, the developer had to base their build of Silent Hill 2 on an unfinished prototype, as Konami had lost the final version’s source code. While it hasn’t been confirmed that this is the same build that Hijinx used, the possibility is still a tantalizing one for serious Silent Hill fans.
Interestingly enough, the prototype actually has most if not all of the data and art assets for the game, beyond the artificial boundaries set by the developers for this prototype. This could lend credence to this possibly being the build used for the Silent Hill HD Collection. Aside from this, this also means that, with a bit of modding, die hard Silent Hill fans can access those areas, giving them the chance to look for any other secrets that Silent Hill 2 may hold.
