Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka would ‘really love to work’ on a Resident Evil soundtrack
The legendary composer is synonymous with Resident Evil’s biggest rival
Legendary Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka says he would love to compose something for Resident Evil one day.
Yamaoka is synonymous with the Silent Hill series’ distinctive sound, having composed the soundtracks for the first six main entries in the series, as well as reboot Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake and the Silent Hill movies.
Silent Hill fans may be surprised, then, to learn that Yamaoka’s dream project is to compose music for Silent Hill’s biggest survival horror rival.
In a new promotional interview for upcoming survival city builder game DarkSwitch, for which Yamaoka created the soundtrack, the composer was asked a series of questions about his career.
One question simply asks: “Is there a dream franchise you’d love to work on?” to which Yamaoka replies that Capcom‘s Resident Evil series –the long-time competitor to Silent Hill – is top of his list.
“Well, I’d really love to work with the Resident Evil franchise,” Yamaoka said (via the video’s official subtitles). “It’s a horror game I used to play a lot, so it would be great if I can get a chance.”
Elsewhere in the discussion, Yamaoka was asked if he felt Western and Eastern games were getting more similar or more different, a particularly appropriate question given that the Silent Hill 2 remake was developed by Polish studio Bloober Team.
“I wonder,” he replied. “I don’t think they are getting similar, but I also don’t think they have many differences. Although, there will be many if you look at them with an artistic point of view, based on the cultural backgrounds of each country, like Japan or the United States, and of course European countries. Still, I don’t think the cores of the games are too different from each other.”
VGC’s Silent Hill 2 remake review called the game “a faithful take on a survival horror classic”, noting that “Akira Yamaoka’s reworked soundtrack is a thing of beauty, while the otherworldly noises that create a constant humming, squirming, whispering and screaming tension make it impossible to sit comfortably while playing (in the best possible way)”.
