Summary
- Konami may be planning to bring the original Silent Hill trilogy to modern platforms, expanding the reach of the iconic horror series.
- The recent State of Play event showcased Silent Hill: The Short Message and a controversial first look at the gameplay for the Silent Hill 2 remake.
- HEXADRIVE, developer of Silent Hill: The Short Message, was initially tasked with porting the trilogy but shifted focus to The Short Message, leaving the status of the ports uncertain.
Konami may be planning to bring the original Silent Hill trilogy to modern platforms, according to the company's recent interview focusing on the development of Silent Hill: The Short Message. Although the Silent Hill 2 remake is coming soon for PlayStation 5 and PC, Konami may be interested in ensuring more players around the world are able to play the iconic series of Silent Hill horror games.
PlayStation's January 31 State of Play event featured the long-rumored reveal of the Silent Hill: The Short Message game. Silent Hill: The Short Message is a free PlayStation 5 exclusive title that sees players explore a decrepit apartment block that's been rumored to be the site of multiple suicides. The showcase also featured a first look at gameplay footage from the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, developed by Layers of Fear studio Bloober Team. The combat reveal turned out to be very controversial for the Silent Hill community, with many fans believing that the remake is not faithful to the original Silent Hill 2. Konami may be preparing to bring the original trilogy to modern platforms for those who prefer classic Silent Hill controls, however.
New Silent Hill Game Is Getting Bad Reviews
The recently released shadow-dropped Silent Hill game, exclusive to PS5, is not getting great reviews from critics so far.
In a Silent Hill: The Short Message interview uploaded to the official Silent Hill YouTube channel, HEXADRIVE level design director Rika Miyatani reveals that Konami reached out to the studio to potentially port the series to current-gen platforms. Everyone at HEXADRIVE, including Miyatani herself, were heavily involved in the discussion about these ports as big Silent Hill fans. According to Miyatani, these discussions eventually led to the team deciding that a remake would be ideal. Miyatani and other development staff began to prepare a production-quality mock-up demo that could be shown to Konami as a proof-of-concept for the Silent Hill 2 remake. Plans did not work out for this particular remake, but Konami reached back out for development of Silent Hill: The Short Message while Bloober Team worked on Silent Hill 2.
HEXADRIVE's Rika Miyatani Discusses Silent Hill Ports in Interview
Miyatani reiterates that HEXADRIVE was originally supposed to port the original Silent Hill trilogy before shifting to the Silent Hill 2 proof-of-concept and Silent Hill: The Short Message. The status of the Silent Hill ports is unclear, since Miyatani did not discuss whether another development studio was given the greenlight to port the games.
At the very least, the interview suggests that Konami is interested in making the Silent Hill series available on current-gen platforms through new games, remakes, and ports of classic titles. After the Silent Hill 2 remake, fans may look forward to Silent Hill F, a brand-new title with a scenario written by Higurashi creator Ryukishi07.
Silent Hill is a series of survival horror games best known for its original trilogy. The first three games stood out with how atmospheric they were, along with their engrossing storylines that were often told through symbolism and metaphors.
Silent Hill 2 is set to be remade by Bloober Team, a game that could reignite the franchise.