Cognition Dissemination: Are We Believing the Silent Hill Rumors Now?
Silent Hill fans have really been through it in the last several years. Whenever hope arose that a new project might be in the cards, fate has had a way of snipping the thin line that sustained it — “fate” in this equation being a Pyramid Head using the gigantic rusted pair of scissors. There have been plenty of rumors about Konami considering new projects since killing P.T. and Silent Hills and showing Hideo Kojima the door, but it never takes long for any expectation of a real project being in development to come crashing down with a comical thud. For fans, it’s always like this.
If there’s been one constant in the years since Kojima’s departure his subsequent project (Death Stranding, which might get a sequel of its own), it’s that rumors about new a new Silent Hill project being in development continue to manifest. Or “projects,” plural, given the freshest batch circulating around.
Both Twitter user NatetheHate, one with a reportedly-good track record (with VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb corroborating), and VGC reported that three Silent Hill projects are in the works. One is a remake of Silent Hill 2 from Polish developer Bloober Team, previously responsible for The Medium. This could follow in the footsteps of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a remake of the first Silent Hill title from the now-largely-defunct Climax Studios, in how it could have notable changes compared to the original game. The game might be a timed exclusive for PlayStation platforms, perhaps to no surprise with Bloober incidentally announcing an entry into a publishing agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment mere weeks ago, after previously announcing one with Konami.
The second project is a small episodic game which might have the involvement of Annapurna Interactive, though it sounds like this one is only in the planning stages and could take a while if it happens at all. The third is a brand-new game, though none could give a developer. It’s unlikely to be Konami’s internal studios providing its primary development considering they haven’t produced any console titles by themselves since the original Kojima Productions closed.
These rumors followed the posting of images to Twitter by user AestheticGamer1 that provided a glimpse at concept art and early screenshots for a game that appears to be from a 2020 development version. The shots were soon deleted thanks to a Konami copyright claim, in somewhat of a self-own by being the biggest clue yet that some kind of Silent Hill project is in development. The screens appear to show a first-person presentation influenced by P.T. (gone by not forgotten, it seems), and, perhaps more intentionally, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (and the since-released Resident Evil Village by extension.) This doesn’t definitively mean one is happening, as the images could still be for a cancelled project that Konami would rather not have circulating on the internet. But there’s a much bigger chance of them being for one still in the works.
You’ll notice my hesitation throughout this post: It’s not easy to swallow all these. Pin this on all the prior rumors that didn’t pan out. When I see the words “Silent Hill” and “rumors” together, it brings to mind that rumor about a title from Project Siren at Sony’s Japan Studio. There were too many people who believed in that particular rumor, and expected to see it around the PlayStation 5’s reveal prior to the launch in 2020. It became clear that it would never pan out when Sony downsized their Japanese arm, resulting in the Project Siren members departing the company to form Bokeh Game Studio, and work on their own horror (or horror-ish) game known as Slitterhead. You can’t blame me or anyone for having trouble believing any of these newest rumors despite possible hints of them being real. There have been too many letdowns.
Even if they don’t pan out, there’s a slightly brighter side here: It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other horror options coming, including those with a budget. Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise has rediscovered its horror soul in the time since Silent Hills’ development crashed and burned, and the success of both RE7, Village, and the remakes of RE2 and RE3 mean the franchise isn’t stopping anytime soon. Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 will also fully embrace survival horror this time around, instead of dancing around it like its predecessor and the expansion.
There was another rumor that Konami planned to reveal at least one of these at the virtual E3 2021 last year, but pulled those intentions. If that’s true, there could be a reveal at Summer Game Fest, set to dance on E3’s corpse in a little more than a couple of weeks. That is, unless Konami is still mad at Geoff Keighley for this. But don’t forget that there’s still plenty of time for these projects to be cancelled, if they haven’t been already.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
