"There's a couple of different reasons for" Silent Hill: Townfall's 1996 setting, writer Jon McKellan tells GamesRadar+ at Gamescom 2026. But they're all meant to make you feel uncomfortable.
"Some are narrative," McKellan continues, referencing the state of small, working class towns in Scotland during the post-Margaret Thatcher '90s. By 1996, consequences of Thatcher-driven class tension were still covering the UK like a cloud, and Townfall siphons that animosity for its story about the unhappy Scottish town St. Amelia, which McKellan reminds us is riddled with protest signs lamenting the missing "heart" of the community. Developer Screen Burn also wants players to feel awkward in a more physical sense – by taking away their iPhones.
