Silent Hill, a franchise that Konami has been sitting on for ten years, will finally be revived on Wednesday with “the newest enhancements.” Fans have been waiting for this moment for what feels like forever. What, though, will be displayed?
We have a good idea, as rumors have been rampant about Silent Hill for the past two years. To the point where it’s hard to keep track of everything that’s going on, as rumors of numerous projects and multiple developers working on them (both new and old to the series) have muddled the waters.
In this article, we attempt to synthesize the available news into four plausible outcomes. However, (unless there are three of them…)
Silent Hill: the Short Message — a Playable Teaser?
The classification of a game called Silent Hill: The Short Message by the Korean game rating body was the most concrete sign of Silent Hill activity prior to Konami’s reveal event. According to Gematsu, Uniana is the publisher, and they frequently release Konami games in South Korea.
Reports of a playable teaser in the vein of P.T., the infamous demo for Kojima Productions’ cancelled series revival, Silent Hills, are consistent with the title’s implication of a short encounter. It has been reported by Video Games Chronicle that this teaser, codenamed Sakura, “is meant to be published as a free digital product to raise anticipation for the major [Silent Hill] initiatives.” It’s unclear whether this is a prequel to an upcoming Silent Hill game or a completely self-contained adventure.
In addition, VGC provided a connection between the teaser and a series of photos that appeared online in May 2022 and were claimed to be from a new Silent Hill game. To get the pictures removed from the internet, Konami filed a copyright claim (which both failed in its aim and confirmed their authenticity, as such claims tend to do).
Images purportedly from the year 2020 show a cluttered, broken, and trash-strewn room, a woman’s face designed to look like a collage of scraps of paper, and text such as “I hate myself” scrawled across some of the pieces of paper, a screenshot of yet another cluttered room with text superimposed on top of it, and two images of a hallway covered in post-it notes, with a figure covered in blossom lurking at the end.
Masahiro Ito, the game’s art director and monster designer who contributed to the previous three titles and designed the iconic Pyramid Head, signed one of the latter photos. Ito has retweeted the official announcement of Wednesday’s Silent Hill update and stated that he is a member of the core development team of a new, unannounced game.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that a lot can change in two years, but the artwork is mysterious and compelling. This is still the most likely scenario for Wednesday’s revelation. It would make sense to capitalise on the buzz around P.T. by releasing another teaser trailer, and we can even hold out hope that The Short Message will be released at the same time this week.
Masahiro Ito, the original Pyramid Head designer and art director for the first three games, autographed one of the latter photos. Ito has retweeted the official announcement of Wednesday’s Silent Hill update and stated that he is working on the main development team of an unannounced game.
Even though the artwork is mysterious and seductive, it’s vital to keep in mind that a lot can change in two years. Even yet, this is still the most likely scenario for Wednesday’s revelation. If the success of P.T. is any indication, a new teaser is in order, and hopefully this week’s publication of The Short Message will coincide with it.
A New, Mainline Silent Hill Game — Made in Japan?
