SILENT HILL Transmission Recap

It's been years since Konami decided to do anything with their cult horror franchise, here you'll read everything they have in store for the future of Silent Hill.

After the canceled Silent Hills project that was supposed to be developed by Policenauts director Hideo Kojima, it was rather quiet around the Silent Hill franchise for a long time. And it is this kind of franchise that never really figured out how to be a franchise in the first place. Sure there were movies, and several games but all of them remained in the shadow of the first two entries in the series.

Silent Hill is Back

Now after many, many years, Konami has not only remembered that they used to make video games. But they've also been sitting on one of the most interesting properties in gaming. Silent Hill in concept is something very fascinating, it is a playground with just a few rules that any creator would love to get their hands on.. so what did Konami have to announce after all those years?

Silent Hill 2 Remake

There are no surprises here right? If you want to come back from a long catnap and want to reassure your fans that you still love them, you'll remake one of the most iconic video games of all time, Silent Hill 2. Since the original is ancient by video game logic, let's recap it. Silent Hill 2 is a standalone title that is not a sequel to Silent Hill 2, instead, it borrows some of its ideas and the setting of the town of Silent Hill to stage what is considered by many to be a masterpiece. Not only in the horror game genre, we're talking an all-time great here.

And while I believe that many would've loved to see Bluepoint handling the remake, the honor falls to Layers of Fear developer Bloober instead. Supported by Konami and in collaboration with the original composer Akira Yamaoka and the originals artist Masahiro Ito. Studio Bloober has committed itself to creating a faithful remake that aims to uphold the qualities of the original and bring it into a new era. The game is going to be a timed exclusive for the PlayStation 5 for 12 months and will then release for PC and perhaps other platforms.

Silent Hill: townfall

Silent Hill: Townsfall on the hand looks exactly like what I would want from the Silent Hill franchise moving forward. It is a playground for creators to mess around in and use its unique atmosphere and visuals to tell a story. And this is going to be developed by Annapurna Interactive (Stay) and Studio No Code who have been responsible for the excellent Observation a couple of years ago. This is a Silent Hill game in the vein of Observation, as you run around town trying to figure out what happened to all the people in Silent Hill this has the potential to be a worthy entry into the series.

Return to Silent Hill: The Movie

After Silent Hill which was one of the better video game movies back in the day and the not-so-great Silent Hill Revelations, we get Return to Silent Hill. While the first two movies focused on retelling the tale of Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 with great creative liberties, Return to Silent Hill not aims to recreate the events of Silent Hill 2. The movie will be helmed by french director Christopher Gans who already directed the first two movies and in fact revealed to French gaming website Jeux Video earlier this year that he had already completed the script and was aiming for a 2023 release.

Silent Hill: Ascension

Silent Hill: Ascension is a thing that… exists. With a cryptic teaser and name drops like J.J. Abrams, it will surely turn heads. It is supposed to be a weird hybrid movie TV show/interactive video game? Coming out next year and is some live show thing. We'll keep you informed should we find out anything about it. The concept of a Silent Hill interactive movie that you play with thousands of other people, if not millions, does seem interesting. But Silent Hill in a multiplayer environment seems a little jarring.

Silent Hill f

Now visually, Silent Hill f has me hooked from the get-go. It looks more like a direct homage to what series creator Keiichiro Toyama has been doing with his Siren games. The concept of Silent Hill set in a rustic, traditional Japanese town instead of the American mid-west seems like quite the change of pace for the franchise. The collaboration behind this project however exciting. Written by a Japanese Author Ryukishi07 might make this the most interesting title announced today.

For the uninitiated, Ryukishi07 has his name over some really messed up supernatural murder mysteries in the realms of light novels and anime. If you want a taste of what the man is capable of, I highly suggest you seek out the anime adaptations of his work Higurashi: When They Cry. Producing all of this by Motoi Okamoto who *checks notes* last directed the Wii Play and the Minigames of the Mario 64 DS port? And made by the developers behind… *checks notes again* the Resident Evil 3 Remake Multiplayer mode Resident Evil Resistance? Okay. A little weird but you can't say it isn't interesting!

We'll of course keep you notified if we get any more Silent Hill-related news here on ESTNN