The Secret Behind Silent Hill 2's Transparent Plastic Sheeting

Senior Environment Artist Liam Tart, who is currently working on Subnautica, has made a curious thread about the translucent plastic sheeting in Silent Hill 2 Remake based on his previous experience on Alien: Isolation. The artist suggested that the plastic sheeting in the game isn't actually as transparent as it appears, and instead, the image of the wall is used as a texture on the plastic.

"Works really well in SH2 because the lighting is so dark. I remember my lead on Alien: Isolation came up with this idea for wrapping some of the desks/consoles in plastic. Worked really well", commented Liam.

It seems that Liam's guess is right, as other users quickly supported it with evidence from both the Remake and previous Silent Hill titles. For instance, here's an example of a "translucent" shower curtain from Silent Hill 3:

And these are the screenshots from Silent Hill 2 Remake with disabled Global illumination:

Another user, Dean Debono, used FModel to investigate the plastic sheeting from the game and shared the results, confirming that Liam's theory was indeed correct:

This isn't particularly surprising, as transparent objects can be tricky for performance, especially when layering multiple transparent surfaces at certain angles. This approach is much more performance-friendly and holds up well when not examined too closely. Still, it's charming to see these classic techniques being used in the recently released game, showing how clever design choices from the past continue to resonate today.

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