Masahiro Ito reveals what might have been for Silent Hill’s iconic Nurses.
Silent Hill‘s terrifying-yet-sexy Nurses are one of the series’ most iconic enemies, up there with the likes of Pyramid Head. Wearing an old-timey cap, high heels, and showing way more chest than seems professional, the Nurse takes the sexy stereotype and twists it into something horrible–exactly on brand for Silent Hill.
But as with every video game, there were a few potential versions that didn’t make it to the final build. Concept artist Masahiro Ito recently shared several alternate Nurse designs that could have just as easily made it into the original Silent Hill 2 had Konami made a different decision over two decades ago.
Well, maybe not quite so easily. The first concept Ito shared goes far beyond what PlayStation would allow on its platform. She’s basically naked, her coat now entirely transparent exposing a leather harness, collar, and straps. She’s also wielding an IV pole covered in barbed wire and has a pacemaker connected to a vibrator. She perhaps leans a little too far toward the “sexy” side of the stereotype to be scary.
A few nurse character arts I drew before except for the ones for the Silent Hill series. The 1st one was suppose to be a concept art for a title. pic.twitter.com/gYzZliVKdY
— 伊藤暢達/Masahiro Ito (@adsk4) April 6, 2023
The second concept is far closer to what we’d get in Silent Hill 2. She’s wearing the same cap, the same coat with a short skirt, and the same black stockings. Ito recently explained that those black stockings were to actually make the Nurse slightly less sexy, which seems a departure from the overall theme of these concept images. The big difference is that her bandages have been replaced by a mask with a hose attached, presumably referencing breath play.
That last concept seems to focus more on the Nurse’s original title from Silent Hill 2, the “bubble head nurse.” Besides the oddly misshapen head, this Nurse eschews some sex appeal for something far more powerful: a gun. Presumably, this concept would have given James ammo upon their defeat, but we’ll never know for sure.
Konami eventually went with the bandaged Nurse that we all know and love, with Team Bloober updating the concept to be equally scary on vastly superior hardware. We haven’t seen a lot of Silent Hill 2’s other monsters, but we might not have to wait too long to find out.
Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babien recently revealed that the Silent Hill 2 remake is “technically ready,” and although that doesn’t mean it’s finished, it does mean that it’s time to start looking at a firm release date. And Steam recently updated Silent Hill 2’s page to now list its arrival as “Coming Soon” rather than “TBA.”
With the recent release of Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, I’d expect Konami to wait at least a few months before dropping another hotly-anticipated remake, but another horror classic might be returning in 2023.
