There might be no single video game director more keenly associated with Japanese horror than Keiichiro Toyama. His directorial debut, the fog-choked Silent Hill, introduced a cloying, small-town-gone-bad aesthetic that remains urgent and immediately recognisable today. And while the Siren series – designed by Toyama once he had recovered from the ordeal of making Silent Hill – is less widely known in the west, in Japan the games remain fiercely beloved cult classics. It's a legacy on which he's continuing to build with his next project, Slitterhead, currently in the final stages of development, albeit a rather unlikely one for a designer who, by his own admission, has "always been a bit apprehensive about horror".
Born in 1970 in the city of Miyakonojo, in the southern part of Kyushu, Toyama grew up in the mountainous countryside – the sort of rambling, sparsely populated rural location to which he has been drawn repeatedly in his games. His parents owned a general store that sold everyday goods such as vegetables and rice – "nothing to do with art or technology". So when he encountered his first arcade game at the age of six, it felt like a momentous occasion. "I felt astounded when I first saw these games," he recalls. "I can't quite put it into words, but it was incredibly impactful."
