Nearly three years ago, rumours first emerged that a revival of Konami’s beloved survival horror franchise Silent Hill was in the works, and those rumours have refused to die down since then. On the contrary, they’ve consistently gained momentum, and now, at long last, Konami has finally officially pulled back the curtain and offered a glimpse at what the future holds for Silent Hill. At its recent Silent Hill Transmission, the Japanese company announced a number of major new titles, coming from different developers and offering different experiences, and here, we’re going to go through all of them and everything that we know about them so far.
SILENT HILL 2 REMAKE
Silent Hill 2 remains one of the greatest survival horror games ever made, and as leaks have strongly suggested, it is indeed getting a remake. That, in fact, is what opened Konami’s recent showcase. Silent Hill 2 is being developed by Bloober Team, the Polish studio behind titles like The Medium and Observer, with The Medium’s creative director Mateusz Lenart leading the project. Silent Hill 2 doesn’t yet have a release date or window (none of the new Silent Hill games do, in fact), but it has been confirmed that it will launch for PS5 and PC, and will remain a PS5 console exclusive for at least 12 months following its release.
Of course, Konami and Bloober Team have also revealed a decent amount of details on what players can expect from the game. Let’s move on to that.
SILENT HILL 2 – CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS
Given that Silent Hill 2 is a 21 year old game at this point, it goes without saying that its remake is going to be a very different kind of experience in some fundamental ways, beyond the obvious visual improvements that are being made. For instance, the Silent Hill 2 remake will feature a third person over-the-shoulder camera, which, according to the developers, will help deliver “a more visceral experience across the board”. Alongside that, Bloober Team has also rebuilt the game’s combat system, while set piece moments are also being overhauled with the new perspective in mind.
There’s still a lot that we don’t know yet, of course. For example, how much is Bloober Team going to change, remove, or add? The developer says that it’s looking to modernize the overall gameplay while keeping the general atmosphere of the original intact, but details on what exactly that will entail are currently unknown. Bloober Team has confirmed that it’s working closely with key members of the original title’s development team, including composer Akira Yamaoka and art director and creature designer Masahiro Ito, so that’s definitely encouraging.
SILENT HILL 2 – TECHNICAL DETAILS
The massive gap between the original Silent Hill 2 and its remake obviously means that Bloober Team is going to have access to much better technology. The remake is being built on Unreal Engine 5, which, according to the developer, will “bring the foggy, sinister town to life in ways that were impossible up to this point” and will “delight players visually, auditorily, and sensorily.” It looks like the engine’s global illumination tool, Lumen, and its level designing Nanite technology are being put to good use as well.
The remake is also making use of performance capture, so we can expect better cutscenes and more nuanced performances from actors, which is something that a game like Silent Hill 2 can really benefit from. Meanwhile, Bloober Team has also confirmed support for the PS5’s 3D audio engine (which is always a great boost for a horror game) and the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Finally, the developer also says that, thanks to the PS5’s SSD, Silent Hill 2 will also not feature any load screens whatsoever, allowing players to seamlessly explore the entire town of Silent Hill.
SILENT HILL 2 – PC REQUIREMENTS
Given the fact that the Silent Hill 2 remake has only just been announced, has shown very little gameplay (if at all), and doesn’t even have a release date, you wouldn’t expect to hear any concrete details about things such as what its system requirements on PC will be, but surprisingly enough, its Steam page lists the game’s full minimum and recommended specs- and the latter are quite demanding. On minimum settings (for 1080p/30 FPS), Silent Hill 2 will require either an i5-8400 or a Ryzen 3 3300X, along with either a GeForce GTX 1080 or a Radeon RX 5700, and 12 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, on recommended settings (for 4K/30 FPS or 4K/60 FPS), you’ll need either an i7-8700K or a Ryzen 5 3600X, along with either a GeForce 2080 RTX or a Radeon 6800XT, and 16 GB of RAM. On either setting, you’ll also need 50 GB of free storage space.
Whether the fact that the game’s system requirements are already available means that it might actually be closer to launch than many might assume remains to be seen. If nothing else, that’s certainly what we’re hoping for.
SILENT HILL f
If you’d rather have Silent Hill’s comeback entailing a brand new game rather than a remake of a classic, don’t fret- Konami made plenty of new announcements. One of these is Silent Hill f, which will be the series’ first new mainline instalment in over a decade. And yes, it comes with a very interesting twist. Its trailer was very cryptic, and as you’d expect, details are scant right now, but it seems like it will be set in a Japanese town where a creepy fungus has taken over. Of course, this being Silent Hill, it seems safe to assume that there will be plenty more going on, with a heavy emphasis on psychological elements.
Acclaimed Japanese writer Ryukishi07 is writing the game’s story, while former Nintendo veteran Motoi Okamoto serves as the title’s producer. Its development is being led by Taiwanese developer NeoBards Entertainment, which has co-developed a number of titles with Capcom in recent years, including the likes of Resident Evil Re:Verse, Resident Evil Resistance, Onimusha: Warlords HD Remastered, and more. There’s no word what platforms Silent Hill f will be made for or when it will launch. We don’t even know what the f means. But hey, it’s a new mainline Silent Hill game, which is exciting enough for now.
SILENT HILL: TOWNFALL
In addition to a remake of a beloved classic and a new mainline instalment, Konami also announced a couple of side projects that will be part of this mega revival for the series. One of these is Silent Hill: Townfall, which is being developed by AA developer No Code (known for Stories Untold and Observation), published by Annapurna Interactive, and of course, produced by Konami. So what exactly is it? Well, there’s next to no concrete details there. Apparently, it’s going to be a very different and new kind of Silent Hill experience, so those looking for an experimental horror game are going to want to keep an eye on this one. Leaks have previously claimed that this will be a choice-driven and narrative-focused game similar to Until Dawn, but it remains to be seen whether that’s accurate.
SILENT HILL: ASCENSION
if you want something really experimental, Silent Hill: Ascension might be your bag. We’re not exactly sure what it is, to be honest. With Konami, dj2 Entertainment, Dead by Daylight’s Behaviour Interactive, and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Games all working together, Silent Hill: Ascension looks like it’s going to be a hybrid gaming and streaming experience, with a particular emphasis being placed on widespread user interactive and communal decision-making. It certainly sounds intriguing, but we’re hoping to get a better idea of how exactly it will work in the not-too-distant future.