Oh, 25 years have passed since that first game, and in the end, something died. Specifically, the popularity of the Konami saga… at least, until now.
I remember perfectly the first time I played ‘Silent Hill‘ on my cousin’s pirated PlayStation. There was something about that atmosphere and those polygons that made it special, unique, a horror game that was not only about jumpscares and killing, but about unraveling the mystery around the town. It has been -oh- 25 years since that first game, and in the end something died. Specifically, the popularity of the Konami saga… at least, until now.
Don’t look for me anymore, I don’t live there anymore
After the coitus interruptus that was ‘P.T.’, that demo from ten years ago that promised the definitive game of the franchise with a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, we did not venture into Silent Hill again. ‘Downpour’ was a critical and commercial failure that indicated that it was over and waiting for a resurrection. Well, it seems that it has arrived. Let’s cross our fingers.
The truth is that last year, ‘Silent Hill’ tried to do something innovative with the release of its interactive series, ‘Ascension’, but it was a terrible concept mistake that only led to sadness from its followers. At least there were the promises of the remake of the second part and other titles of which we only had the title, like ‘F’ or ‘Townfall’.
However, we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel: Konami has announced that this Thursday 30th at four in the afternoon (one in the morning in Spain) we will have a Silent Hill Transmission with news about upcoming games, the movie, and in general, the state of the franchise, including merchandising. The developers of the different ongoing games have urged us to watch it, so it seems that, finally, we will have surprises about a dying saga that has its golden opportunity to shine again… if it can do so through the fog.
It’s been about a week since Konami dropped a bombshell on us. Not only did we hear about a Silent Hill 2 remake, but the company also announced three new games. It’s one of the biggest announcements of the century considering we thought the franchise had died.
We already covered the details of the Silent Hill Transmission. Today, we’re going to take a more detailed look at what we expect from each announced game from the showcase. It will be a mixture of known facts, fan discussions, and speculations.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Many of us fans have been waiting for a remake of any kind from Konami. We were pleasantly surprised to see Silent Hill 2 as the first official remake of the modern gaming console generation. The company showed us the new graphics and told us that there would be updated gameplay features.
Referring to the visuals, Konami indicated that there would be a permanent camera-over-the-shoulder perspective. If you played Silent Hill 2, you may recall that the original and remastered editions both had fixed cameras. Now, you’ll see everything from James’ view, just behind his shoulder.
It’s bound to give us a brand new experience of the game. You’ll be able to see monsters head-on while wondering what’s behind the corner. While some fans would have preferred the camera remain the same, I’m excited by the new viewpoint. It means I can look at items in more detail.
If you follow Facebook and other social media Silent Hill groups, you’ll notice many of them have the same question. Why didn’t Konami start by remaking SH1. I personally believe it’s due to three reasons:
Silent Hill 2 is considered the most popular in the series (I love Silent Hill 4: The Room the most)
It ties in with Christophe Gans making a new movie based on Silent Hill 2
The third reason links to Silent Hill Townfall, which is next on my list, so I’ll discuss it there.
Silent Hill Townfall
At first, we thought the trailer for this game didn’t have much in the reveal except for someone speaking and flashing images on the portable TV. However, yesterday we revealed there was an image hidden in the Silent Hill Townfall teaser that sent chills up our spines. What does it mean, and will we be required to heal the haunted town?
I already went to town in that news article explaining why I believe it’s a possible remake of Silent Hill 1. Well, not so much of a remake as a new vision. The name ‘Townfall’ seems to already imply that we’re heading back to when the town fell, literally. It’s when the church tried to burn Alessa as they believed she was a demon, and that’s when the fires of hell destroyed everything in the neighborhood.
Of course, the Silent Hill Townfall trailer doesn’t implicitly indicate any of that. There are a few images that flash on that mobile television, and one of them looks like a door from the P.T. playable teaser. What could have been Silent Hills may be revived as Townfall, instead.
All we can do is guess at this point, but wouldn’t it be great if we went back to the origins again, much like Silent Hill: Origins did?
Silent Hill Ascension
If you’ve ever played a Netflix interactive movie game, you’ll have a rough idea of what I expect of Silent Hill Ascension. From what we know so far, it will be a multiplayer experience only. Also, it will only air once, so blink and you’ll miss it.
The only date we have for the release is sometime in 2023. Every choice you and your team makes is final, so you can’t reset or go back to a previous save. That’s probably why we won’t see it air again, as everyone will learn how to play it by watching others.
Bad Robot, a TV production company, will be involved, as will Behaviour Interactive from Dead by Daylight. Specifically, Genvid is from the Bad Robot company, and they’ve made something similar with The Walking Dead: Last Mile. I’ll keep watching the news to see if there’s any more information that comes to light.
Silent Hill f
The last game on the list is the one that seems to be getting the most appreciation from fans. Instead of being based in America like all the games, Silent Hill f is based in Japan. The time period seems to be the 1960s. While not much is known about it at this point, the trailer reveals quite a bit.
Firstly, it’s interesting that the series is traveling to Japan, making us wonder what connection it has with Silent Hill. Also, the red tendrils are fascinating and look like the symbiotic arms of Carnage from the Marvel universe. They also look similar to what we’ve seen in Resident Evil 7.
Many gamers have been wondering what the f stands for, with some saying it’s the musical symbol for forte and others flowers. In any event, it’s an interesting title, to say the least, and the gore and suspense are high in the Silent Hill f trailer alone.
High expectations
Yes, it’s clear I and many other games have high expectations for the Silent Hill series. I was so excited that I made an announcement about the future of my Silent Hill novels. The sad part is that not all fans feel the same, as I’ve seen in many SH groups I am in.
For some reason, many of them are negative and have nothing but hateful speech to spew out. After waiting for so long for a new game, we finally have four coming our way. They just refuse to accept that Silent Hill is coming back, and I’m here to live every moment of it!
For those of you who know me well enough already, you knew I would write about this. Konami surprised us all when they announced a Silent Hill Transmission show. We all waited in anticipation for the news after all the rumors over the last year, especially a Silent Hill 2 remake. I can safely say, the company didn’t disappoint. Well, for many of us, anyway.
The first announcement of the live announcement was the Silent Hill 2 remake we were anticipating. It looks like we’re getting fresh visuals while retaining the same “behind-the-shoulder” camera movements. Red Pyramid Head is making a return, of course, and he definitely received a face-lift, so to speak.
The second bit of news is related to the remake. Return to Silent Hill will be Christophe Gans’ second movie, the third in the film series. From the trailer and the teaser poster, it looks like it’s also going to be based on Silent Hill 2. If you recall, we mentioned in a recent article that Gans did an interview about this movie, which is where he leaked news about upcoming Silent Hill games.
So, with what we suspected was coming out of the way, we waited to see what more was on the horizon. Silent Hill Townfall caught us by surprise, but the trailer doesn’t really give too much away. The name suggests it maybe has to do with the time when the town started burning and things went wrong.
Konami then treated us to Silent Hill Ascension. Not much is clear on this title, except for two main points I noted. One, it will be a multiplayer experience where choices are permanent and you can’t reset. Two, the same team that worked on Silent Hill for Dead by Daylight will be involved.
Finally, we heard about Silent Hill f. I’m not sure if that’s going to be the actual name of the game, but that’s what we saw in the trailer. It was an exciting preview of what seems to take place in Japan instead of America. It’s definitely a game I’m looking forward to playing.
The other news had to do with Silent Hill merchandise, but I’m more interested in the games and movie. From all this fuss, it seems there’s a rising interest in my Silent Hill novels I’m working on, specifically the first one. It’s a bit of a crazy day for all of us SH fans, with Facebook groups blowing up with their reactions. Many of them are happy, but there are still those that you can never satisfy and will always find something to be upset about.
As I’m writing this, PlayStation Blog just published an interview with Konami producer, Motoi Okamoto, and Mateusz Lenart, Creative Director of the Bloober Team for the Silent Hill projects. You may want to give that a read for more insight into what’s to come.
