Silent Hill f

Silent Hill f takes the long-running horror franchise in a completely new direction, setting its story in 1960s Japan instead of the fog-covered town for the better. Silent Hill f expertly blends psychological horror with grotesque body transformations, crafting a disturbing experience that is both tragic and mesmerizing. Every frame oozes dread, and the hauntingly beautiful visuals serve as a chilling contrast to the decay creeping beneath the surface.

With the game now in players’ hands, it also feels like the right moment to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on how and why the Silent Hill franchise has long captivated players and how this latest entry both honors and redefines that legacy.

To that end, here are all of the mainline Silent Hill games ranked from worst to best. Know that we’re not counting the visual novels or mobile titles among them, although those are quite entertaining in their own right.

14. Silent Hill: Ascension

Konami’s combined effort with Genvid Entertainment to bring a creative new touch to the Silent Hill formula does deserve credit for adapting the franchise’s narrative for the Massive Interactive Live Event format. The story of two families on the cusp of discovering the very dark secrets that Silent Hill was hiding, with viewers deciding on the fate of its characters, was quite an innovative idea.

However, the execution of an ingenious idea failed the show/video game, leading to its failure to enthrall its audiences. While we do praise the effort, Ascension is certainly the weakest among its counterparts in the franchise and is thus at the bottom of our rankings.

13. Silent Hill: Book of Memories

Wayforward Technologies’ spin-off based on the franchise was quite good as a dungeon crawler, and the fact that there were multiple endings made it quite a good idea for the PlayStation Vita, considering its replay value. It also brought a very Death Note-like vibe to its story, mixing in psychological elements with the franchise’s more traditional horror trappings to create a compelling story and gameplay loop.

However, it did ultimately prove a little too basic for everyone’s tastes, and many found that it failed to capture the essence of a Silent Hill game sufficiently enough to be considered a title that merited a place of reverence among its ranks. For our part, we still say it’s quite fun to play, but it loses out on a better spot thanks to other games doing everything it does, and better.

12. Silent Hill: The Short Message

There were quite a few things going in favor of this one. For starters, it was free. It was also a departure of sorts from Silent Hill (the location that is). However, its narrative was certainly right up there with some of the franchise’s best instalments. Anita’s attempts to piece together the fate of her friend Maya were an insightful trek through the pitfalls of bullying among teenagers and the adverse effects it could have on their psyches. It was the kind of introspective horror that put the franchise on the map in the first place!

But without a combat system and a largely predictable ending, this one falls short of true greatness in our book. And that’s a pity considering how it sells its material. It is what it is, though.

11. Silent Hill: Homecoming

It’s kind of surprising that Silent Hill f is drawing flak for its combat mechanics when Homecoming’s protagonist was literally a well-trained special forces soldier who brought over a few moves from Origins in his effort to find out what happened to his brother and his hometown.

Shepherd’s Glen was a gloomy and terrifying place, which was standard fare for a Silent Hill instalment. However, the story that it offered was a bit of a letdown, with a fight that was such a clear callback to Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings, it was almost laughable. His story didn’t feel in line with the kind of unique horror that the Silent Hill franchise had a reputation for at the time. Nevertheless, it does have its merits and nails the horror part quite well.

10. Silent Hill: Origins

As a return to the franchise’s literal roots, Travis Grady’s adventure was quite compelling and does a great job of weaving in the original game’s beginning into one of its endings. It stayed true to all of the elements that made the Silent Hill franchise as popular as it was while also allowing its gameplay loop to look and feel quite immersive and terrifying in equal measures.

However, a clunky combat system and a lack of innovation held it back from ranking higher among its counterparts. And that’s not counting its PS2 port, which did not manage to recapture the game’s essence well enough for it to be worth the effort. It’s a title that you kind of have to play for its lore, but it isn’t one you’re likely to revisit once you roll the credits on Grady’s adventure, irrespective of whether you achieve the canon ending or see him set off looking for his lost truck in a UFO.

9. Silent Hill: Downpour

Downpour certainly had a lot of what Silent Hill was known and loved for, returning the franchise to its survival horror formula, while its story was an inspired take on the mind of a convict whose actions could make him an anti-hero of sorts. The examination of his thoughts, presented through the franchise’s framework of psychological horror, was quite entertaining and is certainly worth a try.

However, it failed to capitalize on its strengths, with its combat system leaving a lot to be desired and technical issues at launch, which proved to be quite divisive. Although it shines brightly in short bursts, those aren’t enough to earn it a higher spot on our rankings, considering the other titles that we’re yet to discuss.

8. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

As a sort of parallel universe version of the original game, Shattered Memories’ premise is definitely among the franchise’s more inspired ideas. Its visual, gameplay loop, enemy designs, and story were all solid, as was the voice acting on offer. So why doesn’t it rank higher on this list?

For starters, its short runtime meant that there simply wasn’t enough of it to go around. Secondly, it was let down by a few odd design choices that held it back from achieving the dizzying heights that the titles we’re yet to discuss managed to achieve. Once again, it was a very bold idea that could have been more, but sadly couldn’t live up to what it wanted to be.

7. Silent Hill 4: The Room

A protagonist trapped in his own apartment with an undead serial killer? Sign us up!

Pair that up with a companion who is susceptible to being possessed by the game’s threats, and you’ve got a very potent recipe for a strong Silent Hill game, albeit one that doesn’t take place in the titular town. It was a plot that drew a lot of praise from critics and gamers alike, although its gameplay did not receive the unanimous praise that Team Silent had hoped for.

Nevertheless, it deserves a place of honor among the franchise’s best titles, albeit one that’s not as high as the best of the best.

6. Silent Hill

The game that started it all is obviously going to be among the franchise’s best titles. Its story, setting, gameplay, and protagonist were all show-stoppers at the time of its release, as was its basis in psychological horror. It has certainly earned its place among modern gaming’s greatest hits, and with good reason.

While its voice acting could have been better, and a few annoyances with regard to controlling your character did mar its gameplay a little bit, it still deserves recognition as a game that we’d revisit the minute The Bloober Team’s remake of it hits the shelves.

5. Silent Hill 2 Remake

We’re not going to lie, we absolutely had a blast playing The Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2. It was a perfect recreation of the original title, with a healthy dose of current-gen goodness thrown in to make it a very appealing repackaging of a title that was already excellent to begin with.

As you may have guessed, we’re going to be talking about everything that was good about Silent Hill 2 in just a moment, but we’d be remiss not to give the Polish studio its due and comment on just how well it managed to modernize a title that remains among gaming’s greats.

4. P.T.

We’re still not over the cancellation of this one. Bringing Hideo Kojima into the Silent Hill fold should have been a shot in the arm for the franchise, a catapult to true greatness considering the legendary storyteller’s work with the Metal Gear franchise. Kojima’s penchant for introspective examinations of his thematic inspirations was the perfect vehicle for the franchise’s unique brand of horror.

However, it wasn’t meant to be, and the project was cancelled, and Norman Reedus’ take on a Silent Hill protagonist never saw the light of day. More’s the pity considering his work with Death Stranding.

3. Silent Hill 3

Atmospheric, suffocating, deliciously introspective, and absolutely terrifying, this was the Silent Hill franchise at its finest. Heather’s tryst with Silent Hill’s resident cult is a tale for the ages, bringing examinations of complex themes to a story that was riveting from start to finish.

It was sadly limited by a clunky control system but considering how well it presented everything that we know and love about Silent Hill games, this one deserves its place on our rankings.

2. SILENT HILL f

Silent Hill f marks the series’ first major entry in thirteen long years, and what an amazing return it is. Set in the remote Japanese town of Ebisugaoka during the 1960s, players step into the shoes of Hinako Shimizu, a high school student trapped amidst vicious monsters. With exceptional audio design, striking visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5, and engaging level design, Silent Hill f comes remarkably close to topping our list for this feature.

1. Silent Hill 2 (2001)

Silent Hill 2 is the undisputed champion of the franchise. There’s a reason that Konami and The Bloober Team selected it as the vehicle to bring the franchise into the current generation of gaming hardware and gamers, after all.

Its story and characters were unforgettable, and some of them haunt us even today. Its gameplay fired on all cylinders while exploring Silent Hill as James and searching for his lost wife was seriously unsettling. This was one of our favorite games on the PS2 and we would love to forget it just so we could experience it all over again for the first time, even without the modernized touches of the recent remake.

And there you have it! That’s all of the mainline Silent Hill games ranked. Do you agree with us on their places among the franchise’s many installments? Was there one you think deserves more?

In a series of posts on social media platform X, Kamiya wrote about 2023 horror title The Exit 8, and how much it reminded him of Kojima’s P.T., and how he would love for the Death Standing director to return to a similar style of horror game at some point in the future. Kamiya also noted that he could give it a try himself, but that it likely wouldn’t be a horror game.

“When [The Exit 8] was released, I thought, ‘Ah, it’s a P.T.-type thing,’ and figured that the streets would be buzzing with talk about that, but surprisingly, there weren’t many comments touching on it, and before I knew it, I started hearing the term ‘8th-like,’ and I was like, huh? But… yeah, P.T. has indeed been buried in darkness forever… Konami, you idiots,” wrote Kamiya on X (translated via Grok).

“If reviving P.T. is impossible, Kojima-san should just make another game in the same style,” he continued. “If Kojima-san won’t do it, maybe I’ll give it a try… I’m not a fan of horror, so it wouldn’t be horror… plus, I don’t have any ideas anyway…”

P.T., for its own part, has left quite a mark on fans of the horror genre. The free horror experience was released during a time when the horror franchise in AAA gaming was believed to have been dead, with indie developers taking the stage with their own scary outings. While the title remains unplayable, the legacy of P.T. is still worth noting. For more details, check out our thoughts on why it still remains one of the ultimate benchmarks for horror games.

In the meantime, Kojima dabbled with a few different genres since his departure from Konami through the experimental gameplay of the two Death Stranding titles, and is currently working on a new horror game – OD. The title, which is being developed in collaboration with horror filmmaker Jordan Peele, is being developed alongside Microsoft, and is slated to make use of the tech giant’s cloud technologies to offer up some unique scares.

While no details about OD have been revealed since its original announcement, trademarks have indicated that the upcoming title will likely feature a pair of new systems, dubbed Social Scream and Social Stealth. The names of these two systems were discovered through trademark filings back in December 2023, and indicate that OD might feature some kind of multiplayer aspect, similar to what we’ve seen with the asynchronous multiplayer systems in both of the Death Stranding games.

Along with OD, Kojima Productions is also working on a new espionage game dubbed Physint.

The Bloody Baron – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Arguably the most morally bankrupt NPC Geralt encounters in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Bloody Baron’s history as an abuser to wife Anna and daughter Tamara is revealed during Geralt’s attempts to locate The Baron’s estranged family in exchange for information on his own daughter’s whereabouts. Neither of The Baron’s conclusions are favourable for him (or, indeed, his wife Anna); should both The Baron and Anna survive, Anna will have succumbed to madness whilst a band of witches abscond with the orphans of whom she was residing. Should Anna die, the Baron will tragically hang himself due to a lifetime of grief and guilt.

Coming from the mind of Hideo Kojima and his team (which, at the time, was still operating under the oversight of parent company Konami), P.T. was not a game that was content to do things by the numbers. In the years since its launch, we’ve seen an absolute deluge of imitators and games that have lifted at least a few elements from the seminal demo, but back when it first came out, P.T. was singular. It was entirely unique, delivering a kind of experience that most of us hadn’t even conjure up in our wildest fantasies. Until it launched, we obviously couldn’t miss what we had never had, but once it was out and we had played it, it was impossible to go back to a horror genre in gaming as it was pre-P.T.

And what exactly was it that made P.T. as good and unique as it was? That’s a question that we (and countless others) have been having endless discussions over to this very day, which means there’s no shortage of things to love about P.T., but if you were to boil it down to its barest, you’d probably recognize the genius in its simplicity as perhaps the biggest factor contributing to its enormous (and well-earned) success.

Because really, P.T. is an extremely simple game. As players you only ever have access to a couple of verbs throughout the length of the experience- you can walk around, and you can zoom in on things. From a gameplay perspective, those are the only two things that you ever do, and though that sort of gameplay loop would threaten to become monotonous sooner or later in similar games – of which there’s no shortage – P.T. doesn’t feel like it’s being held back by that simplicity so much as it’s being bolstered by it.

A lot of that is, of course, down to how effective it is as a horror experience, which in turn is thanks to how unpredictable it is from beginning to end (especially on a first playthrough). P.T. builds familiarity through repetition, having players go through a simple hallway inside a seemingly regular suburban home again and again and again, and then uses that familiar to great effect by playing with your expectations in each loop. Each time, you hope to experience nothing but the mundanity that the ordinariness of your surroundings would ordinarily hint at, but each time you turn around that corner in a loop, you experience something new- something horrifically unsettling in ways you couldn’t have imagined.

Whether it’s the muffled cries of a baby coming from inside a fridge suspended mid-air while blood pours down its sides or a woman being brutally stabbed and killed in a bathroom while unsettling radio reports blare on in the background, whether it’s deeply distressing bits and pieces of the game’s tragic story that you discover and put together as you play more or, of course, the petrifying encounters you have with the chilling apparition known as Lisa. And yes, we absolutely weren’t going to get through this without talking about Lisa, who is perhaps the single most terrifying enemy we’ve had the fortune (or misfortune, as the case may be) of crossing paths with in a game in years.

The idea of a pale, ghostly lady staring at you from darkened distance is a chilling one in and of itself- it’s a horror trope that has endured through the ages, and it’s one that P.T. uses to great effect. But the more you experience this masterpiece of a game, the more you realize that Lisa is not just an excellent version of an established horror trope, but a benchmark that horror games still haven’t managed to rise to, much less surpass. Whether you’re frozen in place as you behold her ghostly visage as she stands on the landing above you, or catching glimpses of her in your peripheral vision from the corner of your eye, each time you encounter Lisa – or think you encounter Lisa – chances are your heart is going to leap right into your throat.

And yes, we’re almost legally obligated to mention that later on in the game, Lisa is tethered directly behind the player at all times, which means she’s always right there, literally just breathing down your neck. The very thought is terrifying. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call P.T. one of the scariest games ever made. From a design and mechanics perspective, it might not have the scale or complexity that some of the genre’s best games can tout, but in terms of pure scares – not just in the quantity of scares, but also in their pure intensity – you’ll struggle to find many games that have P.T. beat.

A healthy collection of incredibly well-realized scares, genuinely unsettling storytelling, and cryptic and engaging puzzles are able to come together as spectacularly as they do in P.T. because of the game’s emphasis on simplicity and minimalism. You could argue that if not for the laser-sharp focus that the game is able to have as a result of that approach, it wouldn’t have been able to do justice to some of the things that are most crucial to the experience.

Returning to the thesis that we started this discussion with, then, it’s not surprising that P.T. has had the influence that it has, in spite of the fact that it’s essentially just a playable teaser (that’s literally its name, after all), given just how good it is at what it does. In the decade since its release, P.T. has spawned an entire genre of indie horror titles, first-person perspectives that blur the lines between walking sim and psychological horror, while even some of the biggest AAA horror games out there – including something as massive as even Resident Evil 7 – have taken more than a few cues from the revolutionary playable teaser.

The fact that we never got to see the full Silent Hill game that P.T. was supposed to lead into is a crying shame, as is the fact that the demo got nuked from existence by Konami, thanks to the circumstances surrounding Kojima’s departure and Silent Hills’ cancellation. That is, of course, a whole another discussion (one that has been had an infinite number of times, including by ourselves), but if nothing else, P.T. will always live long in memory as one of the most astounding, impactful, and memorable horror games of all time. The fact that it achieved everything that it did in spite of being a free demo should tell you everything you need to know about just how unbelievably good it was.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

HOUSE BENEVIENTO – RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE

Resident Evil Village was a theme park of horror, but no area of the game was quite as startlingly scary (especially on your first playthrough) as House Beneviento. Starting out as a quiet but creepy house full of dolls, it quickly devolves into a sequence where you’re running through the darkness while being chased by a giant, horrifying baby that wants to swallow you whole. It’s an absolutely terrifying sequence, and nothing in the game quite matches up to that focused intensity.

THE FRIGGING WORKBENCH – THE LAST OF US PART 2

The Last of Us Part 2 excels at keeping players on the edges of their seats, but while encounters against Stalkers or the boss fight against the Rat King are certainly heart-pounding moments, nothing in the game is as scary as that one damn workbench. You know the one we’re talking about. Throughout the entire game, workbenches are supposed to be a safe space where nothing will attack you, but just as Ellie begins tinkering with her weapons at that one particular bench, she’s quickly ambushed by attackers. It takes a while for your heart to stop trying to pound through your ribcage, and afterward, you never quite look at workbenches the same.

ANIMA ENCOUNTERS – THE EVIL WITHIN 2

The Evil Within 2 delivers a very distinct brand of horror throughout its runtime, and though the game is full of plenty of unforgettable moments on that front, it’s probably at its best when you’re faced with Anima. The haunting creature roaming the streets of Union is perhaps the game’s most terrifying enemy, from her ghastly appearance and the bone-chilling melody she sings to the fog that she brings with her and the fact that she can phase through walls and doors.

GETTING CAUGHT BY THE XENOMORPH – ALIEN: ISOLATION

It’s nearly impossible to think of many enemies in horror games that haunt players’ nightmares as vividly as Alien: Isolation’s Xenomorph does. The stalker foe is a menace for the vast majority of the experience, and having to avoid its attention is never anything short of being a harrowing ordeal. Always quick to react and shockingly intelligent, the Xenomorph is sure to make you jump right out of your skin every time you’re unlucky enough to be caught by it.

MR. X THROUGH THE WALL – RESIDENT EVIL 2

Speaking of stalker enemies that we still have traumatic flashbacks about, the Resident Evil 2 remake’s Mr. X is another iconic survival horror villain that has brought us dangerously close to several heart attacks. The game is filled with such moments, and none of them will catch you off-guard as violently as when the brutish Tyrant smashes through a wall to catch you unawares while you walk through the halls of the RPD building.

LISA ON THE BALCONY – P.T.

The fact that P.T. is considered to be one of the scariest games ever made in spite of the fact that it’s essentially just a demo should tell you something about how good it is at unsettling players. And that’s putting it mildly, honestly. A lot of that tension comes, of course, through Lisa, the ghostly apparition that haunts you every step of the way throughout the experience. Every appearance she makes is blood-curdling, but spotting her staring down at you from her perch up on the balcony is particularly horrifying.

AYUWOKI ENCOUNTERS – ESCAPE THE AYUWOKI

There’s a good chance that you haven’t heard of Escape the Ayuwoki, but as those who’ve played it will tell you, this is a genuinely nightmare-inducing game. It places you inside a haunted mansion where your goal is to explore your surroundings and solve puzzles so you can find a way to escape, all while constantly being stalked by a creature known as the Ayuwoki. From its unpredictable behaviour to its terrifying appearance to the game’s chilling atmosphere, every encounter with the Ayuwoki is sure to make your pulse shoot right up.

MEETING THE HUNTER – DEAD SPACE

From beginning to end, Dead Space keeps finding ways to make you jump out of your seat (or at least keep you on the edge of it), and nothing exemplifies the effectiveness of its brand of horror than your first encounter with the Hunter. Created as the result of a twisted experiment, the Hunter serves as a stalker enemy for brief sections of the game, and is, to say the very least, the stuff of nightmares. Watching it burn to a crisp later on in the game is quite a cathartic moment.

MARGUERITE BAKER – RESIDENT EVIL 7

Resident Evil 7 delivers more potent horror than any other game in the series has ever managed to do, thanks in large part to how intimately terrifying it makes every single one of its encounters feel. The Marguerite section is a great example of just that. Creeping through the old, decaying house while she roams its halls is scary enough as it is, and things only take a turn for the worse once she takes her hideous, spidery form. She’s also quite fond of jumping out at your out of nowhere when you least expect it, when is never pleasant, to say the very least.

GHOSTS THROUGH THE CAMERA – FATAL FRAME SERIES

Fatal Frame games hinge around one central concept- they force you to look directly at their scariest enemies in order to even know where they are. As a series, Fatal Frame has been inconsistent, but that one idea never quite loses its luster. Using the Camera Obscura to see what ghosts are in your vicinity is always terrifying, and it’s made even more so when you’re faced with the particularly gnarly foes.

CYNTHIA AND THE NURSING HOME – ALAN WAKE 2

Alan Wake 2 is brimming with sequences that can get your pulse racing (including plenty of jump scares), but no part in the game is as chilling as the nursing section. From the palpable atmosphere to the eerie environments you go through to how things progressively get more and more twisted as you progress further, this is where the game is at its absolute peak. Encountering Cynthia serves as an appropriately horrific crescendo for this sequence.

DON’T TURN AROUND – FROM THE DARKNESS

From the Darkness is another game that you may not have heard about, but boy can it get you to scream in terror when it really wants to. Throughout its short runtime of an hour and a half, it delivers plenty of those moments. One that stands out in memory sees you walking through dimly lit environments in search of tools, and just as you start believing that there might not be anything too dangerous around you for the time being, you turn around and are faced with a horrifying creature staring you right in the face. It’s… not pleasant, let’s just leave it at that.

LUCY ENCOUNTERS – VISAGE

Visage really came out of nowhere when it launched a few years ago, but was instantly recognized by many as one of the scariest games you’re ever going to play. That’s abundantly clear even in the very first chapter, which focuses on Lucy, a girl who died when she ripped her own jaw off after being tormented by a demon. Her backstory is a chilling one (which is putting it mildly), and encounters with her even more so.

KITCHEN SCENE – HELLSEED

Another lesser-known game, and one that’s probably more flawed than the vast majority of titles in this feature- but one that can surely get you to jump up in terror from time to time. One particular moment that is hard to forget sees you exploring a kitchen in the calm darkness, only for the music to suddenly grow startlingly intense out of nowhere. As soon as you turn around, you spot a ghastly, decrepit woman slowly walking in your direction, only for lights to completely go out for a second, before coming back on and showing you the scene of a calm and empty kitchen once again.

THE JEFF SEQUENCE – HALF-LIFE: ALYX

Despite not being a horror game, Half-Life: Alyx can be scarier than the scariest horror games out there. The sequence where you’re shuffling through cramped corridors while the undead monstrosity known as Jeffs lumbers around is probably the best example of that. This entire chapter is filled with moments that can make you jump right our of your skin, because no matter how many times you lay your eyes on him, nothing dulls the sheer terror of watching Jeff angrily advance in your direction.

Ocelot – Metal Gear Solid Series

Going through everything that Ocelot does in the series may take a while. However, from Metal Gear Solid 1, it’s obvious that the man of revolvers was playing a longer game, working for Solidus to steal Metal Gear’s specs. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty saw him “possessed” by the arm of Liquid Snake, later revealed to be a sham to lower the guard of The Patriots, who seemingly ran the world. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Ocelot controlled the five biggest PMCs in the world, took over The Patriots’ SOP system and came close to ultimately destroying their AI if not for the efforts of Solid Snake and Otacon.

Scarecrow – Batman: Arkham Asylum

The very definition of mind games, as Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow, used Fear Toxin to create elaborate hallucinations to combat the Dark Knight in Arkham Asylum. He even had a giant Scarecrow in an otherworldly setting to prevent Batman from overcoming the illusion. It got even crazier when the game’s initial events occurred again, but this time with Batman in Joker’s place (revealed to be another illusion). After Batman breaks free again, Crane is taken out by Killer Croc and resurfaces in Arkham Knight, where he enacts a plan to break the hero.

Albert Wesker – Resident Evil HD Remaster

Like Ocelot, Wesker’s career of manipulation is long and storied and can take some time to summarize. While he was a major villain in future titles, his manipulation is witnessed first-hand in the first Resident Evil. He was revealed to be working with Umbrella Corporation, even while seemingly guiding and helping S.T.A.R.S., and responsible for preventing Bravo Team’s escape, prompting Alpha Team with Chris, Jill, and Barry to get involved. Wesker also enlisted Barry’s help to destroy evidence, threatening his family in the process, and would unleash the Tyrant to hunt down Alpha Team. Hilariously, despite going so far for Umbrella, it’s revealed that Wesker betrayed them as well to work for a rival company.

Vaas – Far Cry 3

You have to feel bad for Jason Brody in Far Cry 3 – even after surviving an encounter with Vaas, he’s left emotionally scarred from the death of his brother, Grant. While Jason pursues him at every turn and also attempts to rescue his friends, Vaas is seemingly one step ahead every time, leaving Jason to die in a burning building, drowning him, and even outright shooting him. When it seems like Jason has the upper hand when infiltrating Vaas’s compound to kill him, the latter broadcasts his plans to everyone. The two fight, and while Vaas appears to die, he seemingly survives, as seen in the Far Cry 6 DLC Insanity.

The Illusive Man – Mass Effect 2 and 3

While the Illusive Man wouldn’t be properly introduced until Mass Effect 2, he’s working behind the scenes throughout the series to get what he wants. He founded Cerberus to put humanity first over the alien races. Brainwashing, human experimentation, blackmail, corruption, genocide – the Illusive Man engaged in all this and more. Even his plan to revive Shepard in Mass Effect 2 and fight the Collectors has an ulterior motive, as he seeks to seize their technology. In Mass Effect 3, he becomes obsessed with controlling the Reapers, even implanting himself with their technology. That he can simultaneously execute so many complex schemes and fight Shepard on so many fronts is a testament to his drive and will.

SHODAN – System Shock

As the artificial intelligence of Citadel Station, SHODAN would go rogue after the Hacker, well, hacked to gain amnesty from TriOptimum’s VP Edward Diego. Not only did she effectively gain sentience, but also gained control of the station and killed everyone on board. Well, almost everyone – some were turned into cyborgs or became mutants to serve her purpose of opposing the Hacker. Throughout all this, she’s constantly mocking the Hacker when not threatening him with violent ends. She’s viewed as the biggest threat facing the Earth before the first game ends, before returning in the sequel with a vengeance.

Third Child – Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

The Third Child first appears in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain with a bang, controlling the Man on Fire and summoning a giant flaming blue whale. He later controls Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, wreaking havoc before Venom Snake can fight back with a mounted turret. He’s also used to prevent the player from doing anything sneaky, like destroying the helicopter that Skull Face emerges from in Mission 30. While not explicitly confirmed whether the Third Child is Psycho Mantis, there have been too many hints throughout the series to suggest otherwise. At least, the Third Child relies more on fire and manipulation instead of, say, turning Meryl against you.

GLaDOS – Portal

One of the most unforgettable villains in gaming, GLaDOS was terrifying due to seeing humans (and, as we found out later, robots) as little more than test subjects. Live or die – all of that is secondary to the testing. In the first Portal, she starts with relatively safe tests to introduce you to the game’s various mechanics before turning the hazards up. You eventually learn that she may have killed all the researchers in Aperture Labs by releasing toxic gas.

Of course, her comments remain spicy throughout, as she mocks protagonist Chell’s life, parents, general skill and more. Insults like “smelly garbage standing around useless,” “a bitter unlikeable loner whose passing will not be mourned” and “horrible person” may sound biting on their own. However, GLaDOS’ phrasing (and Ellen McLain’s incredible voice work) ensures they’re delivered with the right amount of panache.

Scratch – Alan Wake 2

Scratch is a complex being, first created as Wake’s doppelganger and meant to replace him in the real world before being possessed by the Dark Presence. Throughout Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Scratch opposes Wake and is seemingly defeated, but emerges once more in Alan Wake 2, turning Wake’s escape attempt into a horror story that bleeds into the real world. From there, he causes all sorts of trouble and even succeeds in dragging Saga Anderson into the Dark Place to mess with her mind.

Lisa – P.T.

Lisa’s existence in P.T., the teaser to the cancelled Silent Hills, is pitiful. She was previously expecting, but one day, her husband, claiming there was a monster inside of him, stabbed her. The result is that Lisa’s ghost haunts the halls of the teaser, sometimes appearing in a door frame before disappearing.

If possessed by her, players will hear a third footstep while walking and her ragged breathing. Turning around at this stage isn’t advised, since she’ll kill them. Regardless of whether you’re possessed or not, seeing her watching through the windows outside, the balcony upstairs and the bathroom before moving away.

Scott Shelby – Heavy Rain

Shelby seems unassuming – a private investigator working to find the Origami Killer. However, he’s revealed to be the killer, manipulating the likes of Lauren (his partner), Ethan Mars and families that suffered due to his murders. It’s somewhat out of left field, especially since you play as him at various points, but Shelby’s motive is to ultimately test Ethan and find someone capable of saving their son, which his father failed to do when his brother John drowned in his childhood.

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Resident Evil 2 Remake is an excellent re-imagining of the survival horror classic, and it stands tall as one of the best remakes of recent memory. The game presents a striking rendition of the familiar Raccoon City, complete with new puzzles and third-person shooting mechanics that make this experience a lot different than the original. While the campaign is definitely on the shorter side, plenty of side content, including but not limited to Ghost Survivors, should keep you occupied for a long time.

Developed by the unknown 7780s Studio, it actually went live on the PlayStation Store right before Gamescom on August 12th 2014. P.T. was short for “playable teaser” and greeted players with a seemingly innocuous title screen set in a mysterious forest. The “game” itself, however, took place in a strange hallway that continuously repeated itself, looping several times. It soon became apparent, however, that each loop presented something new, slowly unraveling in unique and horrifying ways.

After solving the various puzzles in the teaser, fans discovered an announcement for Silent Hills at the end. The horror series had seen its fair share of disappointments over the years but things were seemingly turning around. Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and fantasy horror film director Guillermo del Toro were attached to the project, which starred The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus.

And while there was exceptional buzz over the prospect of a new title, P.T. had grown into its own media phenomenon. Video game demos had been a thing forever but P.T. was something else entirely – a teaser that was its own entity, completely separate from the main game. The photorealistic visuals meshed with the uncomfortable atmosphere; the intriguingly disturbing story of Lisa and her family; and the “walking simulator” gameplay that still challenged the player to solve its various, cryptic mysteries were all praised. It also tapped into the community aspect of horror gaming as fans worked together to solve its puzzles, interpret the story and much more.

Even if the first-person perspective was nothing new for horror games, P.T. had this freshness to it – of the player being truly unaware what lay around the next corner. Or right behind the player if they turned around at the wrong time. What could Silent Hills offer, especially with Kojima and del Toro at the helm? It was truly a new beginning for the franchise.

However, it wasn’t to be.

Several months later in March 2015, reports emerged of Hideo Kojima leaving Konami with his name removed from several Metal Gear products. Rumors of a falling out, coupled with the rebranding of Kojima Productions to Konami Digital Entertainment and departure of several senior staff, raised significant questions about the future of Silent Hills. Konami would later confirm that while “future Silent Hill projects” were “currently underway” – which is freaking hilarious in hindsight – Silent Hills would not be continued. Reedus and del Toro tweeted their disappointment for the same, and the latter continues to lambast Konami to this day for its decision.

As if all of that weren’t bad enough, the publisher made the decision to remove P.T. from the PlayStation Store in April. This prompted an expected amount of backlash because not only was it being delisted, but those who previously played the teaser would be blocked from redownloading it. In a series of recent tweets, Pearl L, who worked as a first-party lead for Konami at the time, revealed that she helped set P.T. up on the storefront, “fake publisher and everything.”

“And I was the one who had to call Sony and ask them to take it down and block redownloads. That was a super fun conversation”. Describing the removal as a “tough situation all around,” Pearl described the difficulties in its removal. “We’d already gone through a lot to get it set up, and got a lot of operational exceptions. And then to add the request to block redownload? More engineering workarounds. It was exciting to see people hype about it and see the work pay off! But in a way also not.”

When the date had come and gone, PS4 consoles that had the demo installed were selling for $1000 to $1500 online. Even if Konami didn’t want to advertise a game that was cancelled, the removal was still frustrating.

However, despite efforts to effectively erase it from public memory, P.T.’s influence was still strong. Several developers announced their own P.T.-inspired horror titles from Allison Road and Layers of Fear (which is getting another sequel next year) to Visage and the recently released MADiSON. Fans would also develop their own remakes, whether it was in Project Spark on Xbox (before that was canned), Unreal Engine and even in Media Molecule’s Dreams.

Even the initial reveal of Capcom’s Resident Evil 7: biohazard with its first-person gameplay and psychological horror had elicited comparisons to the teaser, even though designer Jordan Amaro – who was the level designer for Silent Hills – noted that the latter would have been “quite different.” References would also be seen in other titles including Kojima’s own Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

The teaser was subsequently data-mined, revealing all kinds of interesting secrets years later, like the conditions for Lisa attacking the player, models which ended up being unused, and even a map of Silent Hill outside of the never-ending hallway. Even as new horror titles emerge and older franchises are revived, P.T. remains a significant milestone in the genre all these years later.

As for any “newer” Silent Hill projects, Konami has yet to officially announce anything. There have been a fair number of rumors though. Kojima working on a reboot for Sony in collaboration with Konami. A Japanese developer reportedly working on a new title. Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team working on a Silent Hill 2 remake. The list goes on and on. The only real proof of a new Silent Hill were some concept art images from a 2020 title that leaked this year (and we only know they’re legitimate due to their removal via DMCA).

It’s easy to look back on P.T. as something gimmicky or even misleading. Kojima himself admitted that the actual Silent Hills had no relation to the teaser (even if the player character was modeled after Reedus, as dataminers discovered). Despite all of this, it was a radical concept and at least represented Kojima’s approach to horror, relying more on psychological fear and less on gore to create a terrifying atmosphere. How it would have worked in a full game remains one of gaming’s biggest “What if” scenarios.

Pearl’s comments perhaps best sum up what it was like at the time for fans. “It was definitely really fun to be plotting this secret cool thing for the fans. It was amazing to see everyone come together to try to figure out the experience and see them come away with so much love for it! I’m super grateful I got to be a part of that in some small way.”

For those who were there at the time, either furtively playing the demo and being left traumatized at the hands of Lisa (especially on dying), or watching people play through it, P.T. remains a special experience.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Making games is a complicated process, to say the very least, and it gets progressively more complicated as technology advances, as the industry and its audience grow, as developers and publishers get more ambitious with their projects. Even the simplest of games have so much going on behind the scenes, so many systems and mechanics in place and working in conjunction to deliver what you see on the screen and get on your controller. Often, developers are quite creative in how they choose to solve problems or accomplish specific things with the things they do behind the scenes, and here, we’re going to talk about a few such things.

P.T. AND LISA

It’s ridiculous that a short demo of a game that never got made made as much of an impact on the industry as large as Hideo Kojima’s P.T. did, but there’s just so much going on here. It’s a masterclass in scaring the crap out of players at every turn, and it does that in incredibly simple yet effective ways. For instance, you’re constantly hearing terrifying noises and seeing shadows that make it look and sound like something is right behind you- but of course, when you turn around, there’s nothing there. Well, as it turns out, the developers made it so that Lisa will always be behind the player constantly, so when you’re hearing and seeing things, that’s because she’s right there at your back. And when you turn around to see if she’s there- well, she’s still behind you.

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