Konami has lifted the lid on five new Silent Hill projects in their recent ‘Silent Hill Transmission’ showcase. Included are the highly anticipated remake of Silent Hill 2 by The Medium’s Bloober team, as well as a brand new Silent Hill story set in 1960s Japan codenamed Silent Hill: f.
The full ~50-minute showcase can be seen here. Silent Hill fans have been desperate for a new game for quite some time, with rumours of new games circulating back in January of 2020. So without further ado, let’s have a look at the announced projects.
Silent Hill 2
This Bloober Team-developed Silent Hill game will be a remake of the masterful 2001 survival horror release. Featuring an over-the-shoulder camera, this remake will change up the gameplay, sounds and visuals whilst staying true to the world and characters. Bloober team, who developed titles such as Blair Witch and The Medium, will be joined by original Silent Hill developers including composer Akira Yamaoka and concept artist Masahiro Ito. The game will be made using Unreal Engine 5 and launching on PC and PS5 as a one-year console exclusive.
Silent Hill f Teaser
Described as a completely new story set in 1960s Japan, Silent Hill f sure does look mighty enticing. It’s set to be the first mainline entry into the franchise in over 10 years. This one is to be written by renowned visual novel author Ryukishi07 and contain creature and character design by kera. Unfortunately, we don’t know a whole lot more about this title yet, though the gorgeous trailer does a lot of the heavy lifting in piquing our interest.
Silent Hill: Townfall
Developed by Stories Untold developer No Code and published by Annapurna Interactive, Silent Hill: Townfall is likely to be a more indie affair with a focus on narrative and less on gameplay. No Code’s Jon McKellan says that Townfall “respects the source material but also does something a little bit different with it”. That’s about all the information we have so far on this one.
Silent Hill: Ascension
Not quite your traditional game, Silent Hill: Ascension is being touted as an interactive streaming series, think Netflix’s Bandersnatch, but where the entire community shapes what happens. I guess in a sense that makes it kind of like a Twitch Plays Pokémon type of experience, though with undoubtedly much fewer choices to be made. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this one, though I can’t help but be hesitant in its experimental premise. Silent Hill: Ascension is said to release sometime in 2023.
Return to Silent Hill
The last one on our list of Silent Hill announcements is a new film called Return to Silent Hill. The video embedded above includes a video message from the director and producer of the film as it adapts the iconic atmosphere and universe created by the games for a film audience. This won’t be the first Silent Hill movie to be made, joining 2006’s Silent Hill and 2012’s Silent Hill Revelation. Interestingly, it’s the director of 2006’s Silent Hill, Christopher Gans, who is returning to work on this new one.