23 years later, Silent Hill 2 composer Akira Yamaoka can barely recall what making it felt like – aside from having to down-tune his guitar because he couldn’t afford a bass

When looking back on his life for Silent Hill 2 Remake inspiration, original composer Akira Yamaoka made an exasperating discovery: he couldn’t remember much except being kind of broke. 

Appearing at the Tokyo Silent Hill 2 preview event on August 8, Yamaoka was asked how it felt to return to the game more than two decades later. “The first thing he had to do was a bit of self-counseling,” Yamaoka’s translator says. “He had to ask a lot of questions to himself, like, ‘what was I thinking back then? How did I live my life back then? Who was I? What was my mental state, and how was I approaching life at that time?’ And he says that he couldn’t remember.”