Jeremy Blaustein – a translator and voice director who has helped localise some of the best video games of all time – has opened up about the recent loss of his wife and how it impacts one of the key story items in Silent Hill 2, a game he helped bring to the West back in 2001.
If you've played the original game or the recent remake, you'll know that Mary's Letter is a key story item. Penned by Mary Shepherd-Sunderland before her passing, the letter brings her husband and protagonist, James, to the town of Silent Hill and kickstarts the events of the game.
"More than anything else in the #SH2 remake, I’m happy that Mary’s letter was well done," says Blaustein, whose credits also include Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden 2 and Snatcher. "Did they keep my letter exactly as I wrote it? It is especially meaningful to me because my IRL wife of nearly 30 years passed away of cancer 2 years ago."
Blaustein then admits he's never revealed this before. "This is the first time I’ve had the courage to say it in public, so please be kind. At the time of the original, I was just imagining the pain, but the last 2 years have shown me what real fear and darkness are."
In an interview with Game Set Watch from 2010, Blaustein revealed that Monica Taylor Horgan – who provided voice and motion capture for Mary – cried after narrating Mary's letter:
The scene where Maria reads it, if you have never seen it, is one of the three most emotional moments I have ever had with the actors. The actress cried after she read it and many of us were getting a little misty-eyed. It was a great moment.
Blaustein's brave revelation has prompted a flood of condolences on social media, and we'd like to add our heartfelt sympathies to that number.