Joseph Schreiber really was losing his mind (E3 Trailer stuff)

[The Adversary]

These are unused shots from the SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM E3 trailer, depicting what appears to be Joseph Schreiber sitting at his desk, plugging in some headphones, and scrawling symbols and words across his hands and arms, so much so that his right hand is covered down to his fingers.













What I find interesting in particular is that Henry isn't shown at all in the trailer. I wonder if an early concept had Joseph, or whoever he might have been, as our protagonist and then was later altered to make Henry as the playable character and Joseph as a side character.

Regardless, I think this sheds a little more light on the nature of Joseph while he obsessed over solving the mystery behind Walter Sullivan and his death.

[alone in the town]

I've said for years that Silent Hill 4 would have been a much better game if Joseph was the character and focus of the story, rather than some dude who moves into his place after he dies and reads Joseph's notes telling us about the more interesting adventures he got to have.

[The Adversary]

Definitely agree. I've considered tweaking my whole DREAMS, but not mine story into something more about Joseph, though I haven't quite thought too much about it.

[LittleNightma]

Joseph was the true star of SH4 and he was dead

[Chris Sunderland]

I think more than any game in the franchise that the Room needs a remake, no, a reimagining even. It's a typical amazing concept, mixed execution. In fact it's concept really props the quality of the adventure.Its a game that needed another year in the oven at least.I really would love to see a quality developer given the reigns to do SH4 reimagining and complete expansion on its core concepts.

Those early trailers for the game were some of the best ever made in the medium. THEY went HARD, so to speak.

[Arsonist]

I think more than any game in the franchise that the Room needs a remake, no, a reimagining even.

That's what I was thinking since the SH2 remake was announced. SH4 had such a strong start, but then the second half of the game happens. It deserves some love and care that a "soft" reimagining could bring it.
The worlds we traversed in the first part being radically different during the second half, more twisted and unreal, fully immersed in dream logic. The room which was once a safe haven becoming hostile in ways beyond a few (admittedly cool) hauntings, perhaps a world within itself, like the looping hallway of PT.
It is also a game that presents a unique opportunity to make a statement on the true crime genre which went really mainstream since the pandemic. Time and time again, victims are reduced to mere numbers on their killer's belt, completely stripped of their humanity. It would be nice if we got to learn about them the way we do about Walter. At least a little bit. Tying them together with themes of isolation, oppression, and loss of control, which follow both Walter and Henry. Driving the point that they too are humans who had their own struggles to overcome, and hopes for the future.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

Except Andrew, fuck that guy.

[Droo]

Hopefully with fewer burping nurses this time if remade.

[Chris Sunderland]

Hopefully with fewer burping nurses this time if remade.

You shut your mouth! There's a deep, thought provoking reason! I mean there is, but I still hate it, even after learning why they burp.

I'd really like to see them expand the world of SH4. Make Henry more interesting, expand on everyone. I'd love them to really get wild in the second half, instead of just backtracking through the levels but harder. So much potential.

[Jonipoon]

I've said for years that Silent Hill 4 would have been a much better game if Joseph was the character and focus of the story, rather than some dude who moves into his place after he dies and reads Joseph's notes telling us about the more interesting adventures he got to have.

I disagree. I think one of the greatest strengths of Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fact that you have to reconstruct the story yourself by basically following a trail of breadcrumbs left behind by Joseph. There's a certain kind of joy you get when you piece together all the notes and clues and eventually get the bigger picture and meaning behind it all. Henry being basically the "fish out of water" protagonist means that you're re-experiencing it through a fresh pair of eyes. Joseph, on the other hand, is highly intelligent and more of a paragon character. Then there's the symbolical aspect of it as well when you dig deeper into the lore; Joseph being the giver of wisdom while Henry is the receiver of wisdom.

Joseph would probably make for an interest protagonist, but I think the main problem stems from people simply finding Henry a tad bit boring and overly quiet/stiff. Giving Henry a bit more of a personality would probably do the trick for most people. Personally I have no problems with a shy character like Henry, but I acknowledge the fact that it doesn't make for a very interesting protagonist according to some.

[Burning Man]

Bits and pieces suggest to me that Konami originally had plans to incorporate Joseph as a playable character in some form. The idea may have been scrapped for resource reasons. The year 2004 wasn't a particularly great time for KCET as Konami was planning to move their gaming division to the US.

The idea of dual playable characters was recently mentioned in a Silent Hill 2 Remake interview with Okamoto, Ito, and Yamaoka [1]. According to Ito, when the team was brainstorming Silent Hill 2 at the time, they apparently had an idea to have the protagonist switch out with another character midway ala "Lost Highway." The idea was scrapped as they thought it would be too confusing for the players. Silent Hill 4 was designed to be experimental, so it would make sense if they wanted to revisit that idea with Henry and Joseph.

The "Another Red Diary" entries, which I translated long ago, describes Joseph finding, presumably, the Crimson Tome on the second floor of Wish House. However, when you try to visit that room as Henry, he will mention that the lock is broken and that he cannot get in. It's a rather pointless trek for Henry to go up a flight of stairs just to find a broken lock.

I think the problem with Joseph being the sole protagonist is that he's destined to be doomed. Players generally don't like having worked so hard just to get a canonical Bad ending. But Joseph and Henry traversing the same location, but only separated by time could make for some interesting gameplay and story.

[1] https://www.ign.com/articles/silent-hil ... -interview

[The Adversary]

That idea was probably scrapped because both SILENT HILL 3 and THE ROOM were in production simultaneously and they just wanted to get that shit done.