>>11862272
>>11862270
>>11862294
All indications is that it undersold expectations compared to the first one (you expect sequels to sell more and build an audience), leading to Konami losing faith in the franchise, and having SH3 and SH4 developed at the same time, before the low sales of those games made them decide to outsource everything.

And a lot of the decline of the series goes to SH2, and it's poor pacing and opening. The game grows on you, but you need the complete experience to really get it.

5 minutes into Silent Hill 1, you are in a dark hallway, things are getting weird, you get attacked by white children with knives, and you wake up in a diner. 5 minutes into 2, and you've heard a letter, walked down and talked to some random in a cemetery. It doesn't "click" and you have to stick with the game for a few hours (mostly to the hospital) for it to make sense.

Remember, you need to make an impression right away. Someone renting this might play it for an hour or two, put it down and declare it sucks and never think of it again. That's why I think they should have followed the pacing of SH1 more and moved some events and locations around. It's just so driftless and directionless at the start of the game.

Only after you play the whole thing, and get all the story beats, does it really make sense and make an impression on you.