After 10 years in exile, fans of gruelling psychological horror can finally pack their bags: Silent Hill is reopening to visitors. During a YouTube presentation on Wednesday evening, Konami announced a reboot of the acclaimed sequel Silent Hill 2 and two new adventures, Silent Hill Townfall and Silent Hill F. A new movie tie-in, Return to Silent Hill, and an interactive live stream series, Silent Hill Ascension, were also teased.
The remake is being developed by the Polish studio Bloober Team, known for horror titles such as Blair Witch and The Medium. Also involved are key members of the original Silent Hill development team, including the composer Akira Yamaoka and concept artist Masahiro Ito, best known for his creation of Silent Hill’s most infamous monster, Pyramid Head.
During an interview video shown as part of the presentation, Bloober Team’s creative director, Mateusz Lenart, explained that while the studio wanted to stay true to the atmosphere of the original game, certain elements were being modified for the modern era; this would include a move from a third-person camera to an “over-the-shoulder” viewpoint. “We want the game to make the same strong impression today as the original did 21 years ago,” he explained. A post on the PlayStation blog added further details, including the game’s development using the new Unreal Engine 5.
There was no information about a release date but the game will be launched on PC and PS5, the latter as a console exclusive for 12 months.
The first of the two new Silent Hill titles, subtitled Townfall, is being developed by No Code, the Glasgow-based studio behind the spooky adventures Stories Untold and Observation, in conjunction with the producer Annapurna Interactive. A teaser trailer featuring a retro portable TV device gave little away, and no details about a release date or platforms were revealed. The second new title, Silent Hill F, is set in Japan and is being written by Ryukishi07, author of the visual novel series When They Cry. Another teaser hinted at a combination of Japanese mythology and the Swedish folk horror film Midsommar. Again, there was no mention of a release date.
Two new spin-offs were also announced. A movie is on the way, Return to Silent Hill, from the director Christophe Gans, responsible for the original Silent Hill film. Several media companies, including the interactive livestream specialist Genvid and the JJ Abrams-founded Bad Robot, are also collaborating on an interactive streaming series named Silent Hill Ascension, set to begin next year, which will allow viewers to change the course of the narrative as it happens.
During the transmission, the producer Motoi Okamoto confirmed that Konami is working with other developers around the world on further Silent Hill projects, yet to be announced.
The Silent Hill series has been dormant for a decade, with the last instalment, the poorly received Silent Hill: Downpour, arriving in 2012. At that time, a reboot of the series, titled Silent Hills, went into development at Kojima Productions, the studio set up by Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear. That project was announced via a short playable demo titled PT, released in 2014 and widely considered the scariest video game experience ever made. A year later however, Silent Hills was cancelled amid reports of nosediving morale and poor working environments within Konami studios.
For a number of years it looked as if Konami was more interested in its hugely profitable pachinko machine business than the somewhat unpredictable video games market. Two years ago, however, rumours began circulating that the publisher was to re-ignite three of its key video game franchises – Metal Gear, Castlevania and Silent Hill – with numerous projects and development studios mentioned, but without any official confirmations. At the time, gaming news sites speculated that there might be more than one new Silent Hill title in development, including a reboot or continuation of the main series.
It wasn’t until Sunday night, however, that a tweet from the official Silent Hill account, beginning with the tantalising sentence “In your restless dreams, do you see that town?”, promised an official announcement video. Konami may have been absent from Silent Hill for a decade, but after the 45-minute stream, the extent of its commitment to that eerie little town became very clear indeed.
