This week at GamesCom, Konami unveiled the latest entry in the
Silent Hill franchise in a rather interesting way. They showed off a playable
teaser for something that at first seemed to be rather innocuous before pulling back the proverbial curtain on what is to be known as
Silent Hills. Stemming from a creative marriage between legendary game developer Hideo Kojima (
Metal Gear Solid) and acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (
Hellboy), the game stars
The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus who finds himself in the fog covered town.
Having been a fan of the series since the beginning, I’m very excited to receive another entry in the franchise and a few thoughts and theories have popped into my head based on what very little is known at this point. While remaining cautiously optimistic, I can’t help but contemplate what may be some negative aspects of this new venture. Sure, they may not be much to worry about, but you may find yourself agreeing with me. I’ll present my thoughts in a rather straightforward manner.
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Hideo Kojima – While he has enjoyed several very successful decades of cranking out one hit after another, he has admitted that he’s not one for the horror genre and hadn’t played a
Silent Hill game. Fans have been clamoring for him to take the wheel of this series, so to speak, for a while now. While I enjoyed his work on
Metal Gear Solid, I’ve always pointed out that just because you’ve excelled at one genre doesn’t mean you will excel at another. But I’m guessing that he’s likely done his homework on the series since deciding to take on this project. He’ll no doubt work on crafting a great gameplay experience and that may be why he brought in a partner to help with the scares.
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Guillermo Del Toro – This seems like a good fit for him. His vivid imagination will likely continue the tradition of grotesque monsters that populate the seemingly deserted town and create some incredibly surreal moments and surroundings. My main concern is that he will go too fantasy with it. I don’t want
Silent Hills to be to
Silent Hill what
Hellboy II: The Golden Army was to Hellboy, if you get what I mean. In short, I don’t want to see elves in this game.
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Norman Reedus – I’ve never been a fan of him as an actor and it’s beyond me as to why a CGI rendering of him still can’t wash his hair. I’m not entirely thrilled about playing as him, but I’ll take what I can get. Let’s hope the creative team keeps the tradition of (mostly) well fleshed out characters who may or may not have a questionable past.
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Gameplay – Although it’s stated at the end of the teaser that this is not connected to the actual product, I think we can take away a few aspects that will likely carry over. Expect to see some very photorealistic graphics and an atmosphere that you could cut with a knife.
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Silent Hills – The first ever pluralization of the title absolutely did pique my curiosity and I’ve considered a few things that it could mean. The first being that it may just be a simple, nifty title that they wanted to make stand out from previous entries. Another is that this could be a series reboot and Silent Hills is actually the name of the town the game takes place in. My third theory may be the most exciting: we normally think of Silent Hill as the fog covered town or as its hellish, rustic Otherworld counterpart. What if, this time, we get multiple dimensions to explore? This is where Del Toro’s imagination comes in. Just think of the possibilities!
Like I said, there’s not too much to worry about. If this ends up being a Playstation 4 exclusive, I think it’s been decided as to what next generation console I will be getting. Yes, I love
Silent Hill THAT much. I can’t wait to come home.