Having joined Capcom in 2007 before making his way up the corporate ladder, Conti discussed the more action-oriented approach taken by Resident Evil 5 and 6, and noted that the two titles wouldn’t be made without Code: Veronica first setting up the stage. In fact, he said that there is a direct throughline from Code: Veronica to Resident Evil 5 and 6.

“Everyone always mentions the first 3 RE games, and they seem to forget about Code Veronica. There is a direct line from CV to RE 5 and 6; CV is the game where the series went off the rails by trying to cram as many locales and plots as a Dreamcast disc could hold.” He went on to say that “many of the devs consider CV the best of the pre-RE4 titles.” However, he “would argue constantly that RE2 is much better.”

When taking a larger view of the entire franchise, it’s difficult to say that Conti is wrong about Code: Veronica having a large influence on future games in the franchise. The entire Resident Evil series is noted to have taken a more action-oriented gameplay approach over time, with Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 4 both marking different ways that Capcom could approach the genre.

He went on to note that even the opening cinematic for Resident Evil – Code: Veronica was “a straight-up Die Hard/John Woo pastiche and there’s nothing horror about it”, putting the title more in line with the action-oriented gameplay and atmosphere offered by Resident Evil 5 and 6. “No shade on CV fans, but seeing how it had a direct, negative development on the franchise means I am pretty biased against it. Take my bias with a grain of salt.”

Code: Veronica makes for an especially interesting subject of discussion since it manages to be forgotten even by fans of the Resident Evil franchise despite the title having story elements that would go on to shape the characters and personalities of both Redfield siblings. Some even go as far as to call it the “true” Resident Evil 3 over 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

It is also worth noting that Capcom is looking to remedy this by making Code: Veronica its next target for a remake. Dubbed Resident Evil Veronica, the remake was unveiled earlier this year, and while Capcom hasn’t yet announced a proper release date for it, the company has said that it will be coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.

In the meantime, take a look at what Conti has said about the development of Resident Evil 7. And while you’re at it, check out our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 release of the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes.

For all the talk about this year being the best in gaming, or 2023 delivering numerous masterpieces, the one insurmountable mountain remains: 2001. The year of Grand Theft Auto 3, Halo: Combat Evolved, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Gran Turismo 3 – heck, even Madden NFL 2002, back when the series could hang with the best. But among these heavy-hitters, these genre-defining legends, was a game from a relatively unknown studio, Remedy Entertainment. As much as 2001 was about Master Chief, Solid Snake, Tony Hawk, Ico, etc., it was also about Max Payne.

At its heart, it was a third-person shooter, but in presentation, style, panache, and, above all, audaciousness, it was a pulp-noir game unlike any other. It popularised bullet time in video games. It pushed storytelling boundaries, especially its use of graphic-novel panels in cutscenes. In an era where games were constantly stepping up to Hollywood, falling short yet inching ever closer with each massive leap in fidelity, it set new standards for cinematic presentation. Making sure everyone knew what lead writer Sam Lake, now Remedy’s creative director, looked like was just the cherry on top. But if it hadn’t released and had the impact it did, both in sales and critical acclaim, who knows what direction the studio would have gone?

Of course, it wasn’t meant to be. After the disappointing sales of Max Payne 2, Remedy focused on Alan Wake, bringing its trademark storytelling flair to new universes. However, Rockstar Games, which published both Max Payne titles, tried something different. Together with its various studios – Vancouver, London, Toronto, New England, San Diego, Leeds and, of course, Rockstar North – it released a sequel in 2012: Max Payne 3. It received rave reviews and shipped four million units in a year. This was it. Everyone’s favorite killer with a permanent chip on his shoulder was finally back.

And yet, nothing.

Oh, Rockstar would release some DLC packs for the game’s multiplayer, adding new weapons, maps, cosmetics and more. But one year passed. Then another. By then, it was clear Max was not coming back.

That is, until Remedy announced that it was partnering with Rockstar once more to develop Max Payne 1 and 2 Remake. That’s right – both games in one package, greater than the sum of its parts and…what do you mean it was announced over four years ago? While full production has been ongoing for over two years, there’s been no update on a release, much less any gameplay.

A different kind of…update, if you could call it that. Rockstar co-founder and head writer Dan Houser, who left years ago and established his own studio, spoke to IGN in an extensive interview recently, recalling his time on the game. Overall, he enjoyed the process and “what we did design-wise, the way the game didn’t have loads, the way it felt like a 12-hour movie, some of the visual stuff we did with words on screen.” He believed it was a “really cool digital noir experience,” but there’s apparently one problem: “The consensus at the time was that people hated it,” says Houser.

He then went on to take the blame, saying, “I got that completely wrong,” praising Sam Lake, and believed “we’d done a good job of doing another Max Payne game. Some people liked it; lots didn’t. So we got it wrong, or I got it wrong. I failed. My bit was not a success. The game is beautifully made, and it wasn’t as successful as it should have been. So I would say a large amount of that failure was on me as one of the people making the decisions and also as the writer, when people really missed his writing.”

How does that Max Payne 2 quote go? “You can’t run from your past. You’ll end up running in circles. Until you fall back down to the same hole you were trying to escape from, only the hole’s grown deeper.” Not that I’m saying Houser is digging a deeper hole for himself or anything. It feels like he’s reminiscing about a perceived missed opportunity, and just not being the guy whose writing was preferred over Lake’s.

Which is interesting to me, because if you look at the Steam rating for Max Payne 3, it’s 85 percent “Very Positive” based on a little over 25,000 user reviews. Recent reviews are actually better at around 89 percent, though it’s based on a measly 436 at this time of writing. What can we say? It’s not exactly the most happening Rockstar release nowadays.

Regardless, you’ll still find plenty of negative reviews. The most prominent (at least for me) called it “GTA 5: Simulator on Steroids” (ignore the fact that GTA 5 launched a year later). It lambasted Max’s characterisation, the setting, the presentation, including the on-screen text that Houser loves. Even a few positive reviews outright state that while the gameplay is great, the storytelling “sucks” compared to its predecessors.

Now, I really like Max Payne 3. A cover system would have seemed like the most ridiculous addition to a title all about stylish dives and slow-mo feels good; it still feels so much more seamless than Rockstar’s other titles, even today. The Last Stand mechanic fit perfectly with Max’s “too angry to die” mentality and provided another use for bullet time.

And as much criticism as there is about how the development team chose to display Max’s inner thoughts, or the effects his many vices would have on him, it doesn’t get nearly enough praise for the lack of loading screens and seamless transition between gameplay and cutscenes. Also, those who criticised the setting for being too “bright and sunny” are willfully ignoring some of the messed-up elements, including the whole organ-theft plot point or how Max ventured through the favela and its run-down buildings.

However, I can also acknowledge that it isn’t the same mood or style fans expected. It’s the modern conundrum of trying to release what’s essentially a clean slate for an established franchise. Sometimes, you get Mass Effect 2, which feels like it nails the series’ vision on both the narrative and gameplay front. On other occasions, you could get Fallout 3, which opened up the Wasteland to a new generation, and yet, completely alienated fans of the first two games (and not just because of the shift to first-person).

You could even get something akin to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Despite positive reviews at the time and even selling out in North America, the perception changed significantly over the years. The fact that Nintendo has never attempted another side-scrolling Zelda should tell you everything you need to know.

However, I don’t think the reception from some fans means Max Payne should stay in his miserable lane forever, or even the core impetus for the remakes. Maybe its lack of success (if you believe Take-Two at the time) is due to other factors. Perhaps the world was over Max Payne. Maybe it expected something else entirely from Rockstar and wasn’t willing to put down $60, especially with so many other big games that year. It could even come down to marketing or the lack thereof.

As the man himself said, “Things had a habit of only making sense to me looking back, long after I’d run out of time to fix them.” Regardless of the reason, Max Payne 3 still stands out as an incredible action game, and no, not with the caveat of being a bad Max Payne game. Opinions will always vary, but just as there’s room for remakes that could fundamentally alter everything we loved about the originals, there’s also space for a Max who finds some solace at the end of it all.

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.

“We are definitely leaning into the nostalgia of playing with your friends. The Black Ops ports were huge successes. We thought they would do well; we didn’t think they would do that well. But you can see that pent-up demand of being able to get back to the good old days of playing with your friends on a Friday night and having fun. MW4 does that.”

Bahl went on to note that the PS4 and PS5 ports of the PS3/Xbox 360-era games taught Activision a lot of things that the company will go on to apply to not only potential re-releases, but also “future games”.

In the same interview, he has also revealed that the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – slated for release on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23rd – will wrap up the story threads that have been left dangling ever since the Modern Warfare series got rebooted in 2019. Along with this, Activision already set up a team to work on a brand-new sub-franchise for Call of Duty.

“I don’t want to give any spoilers, but [Modern Warfare 4] is going to be the epic conclusion of this recent series of Modern Warfare. It’s not that some characters and pieces can’t live on beyond this and be reinvented. But we’re excited by closing this chapter and launching a new one.

“Where we go with future games, we have to innovate. What we heard from the audience is they want new or better or different. The landscape is changing right under our feet. You’re seeing new games being built overnight, and you’re seeing tastes change and how people want to play.”

As for how far along this new sub-franchise is, Bahl noted that “we’ve already laid the groundwork.” However, the company isn’t quite ready to talk about it just yet, and wants to instead focus its efforts on Modern Warfare 4.

“It was not something that our community was looking for,” he said on the subject of Modern Warfare 3’s poor reception. “They wanted something fresh, and even though there were different time settings and ways to play the game with new features, that tonal shift is something that they were looking for.”

“So, we’ve already stated that a future title is going to be a new sub-franchise, and we’ve already laid the groundwork. But we’re really excited about Modern Warfare 4, and that addresses some of that feedback.”

While Bahl hasn’t revealed any details about which of the Activision studios is working on this new sub-franchise, Sledgehammer Games seems to be the most probable since the studio’s last title was 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, which has given it plenty of time to work on a new game.

Sharma cites the recent advances that the gaming industry has seen in efforts to decompile and recompile older titles, allowing hobbyist developers to create PC ports for games that were previously console-exclusive.

“In recent weeks, we’ve seen games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support. Windows PC builds have been translated to run on Apple Silicon or ported to run inside a browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU, the latter now approaching 90% global browser support. Perhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another.”

Noting that these efforts have raised questions about the relationship between software and hardware, Sharma has said that the company wants to further invest in these efforts with its own engineers, while also maintaining a level of transparency with the community at large. She also believes that Xbox can play a major role in this department owing to the company’s history of developing games and creating development pipelines that have also integrated modern tech like AI agents.

“To explore these possibilities, I’ve asked Scott to stand up Xbox Labs, a small group of game makers, engineers, and scientists whose job is to turn emerging ideas into things our players and developers can experience. We’ll build in the open, learn from what people do, and measure success by whether more people are playing and creating.

“I think Xbox has an important role to play here. Coding became the first major workload for agents because they can write, run, and test software. Games share many of those same properties, and people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing Xbox games, roughly five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. We’ve spent 25 years learning how to make great games, and I want our game makers to help shape what these new technologies make possible. As we learn, we’ll share the tools we build with developers across the industry, just as we always have.”

Sharma capped off the announcement by noting that the company’s “priorities aren’t changing.” Rather, through Labs, Xbox will be able to further explore new technology in parallel with other development efforts that are continuing throughout the company.

It will likely be quite a bit of time before we see Xbox Labs’ efforts start paying off, however. Xbox has most probably only recently begun staffing up the Labs team, and its choice of first project will also likely take some time to finalize. It is worth noting that Xbox Labs is expected to start working on its own older projects rather than those developed by third-party studios, owing to the easier access to source code.

Among other things, Houser noted that Bully’s unique concept, which used a school as its primary setting, led to the team struggling quite a bit while developing it. While the team itself was unsure about whether or not Bully would turn out to be a good game, it ultimately “came together really well”.

“The development was hard. The game was in trouble all of the time. It was difficult. It was an out-there concept. We were struggling with it. I wasn’t sure it was going to be any good. We really wanted it to come together. It was really fun afterwards because it came together really well. The team did a great job. It was a sort of really strong game at the end. It kind of came together very late.”

Houser went on to talk about how creating a new IP was quite difficult for the studio that had become quite popular around the time it was working on Bully due to the critical and commercial success of games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This, along with the game’s controversial name, led to quite a bit of misunderstanding amongst the populace as well.

“So I think one of the challenges with that game was it never got the attention it deserved. We were too focused on trying to at least get people to stock it or to not protest it before it even came out.”

Rockstar Games was no stranger to controversy during the mid-2000s, thanks to releases like Manhunt and even the infamous Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

“We had to spend most of 2006 diffusing it, so we couldn’t positively promote the game in the way we normally would’ve done. I think that didn’t help it. I mean, that was the same time as Hot Coffee, and it felt like things were imploding. It was very stressful. And just go to work each day, wonder who’s protesting you that day, and hope that things can shake out properly. I wasn’t directly involved. Luckily, I was just sort of right off to the side, and wasn’t directly involved in organizing most of that stuff. But it was really stressful for the people involved.”

Discussing how the core gameplay of Bully started to come together, Houser noted that members of the development team were still quite confused about what players would do in it, since it didn’t have things like guns and cars. Eventually, however, the project’s lead designer started adding concepts into the game like the school’s class schedule and lessons.

“Then, one of the designers put this thing where you could stick a Post-it note on the back of a character that said ‘Kick me’ on it. Then an NPC would run up and kick them. And just seeing that work, you’re like, that’s a great moment. So then you’re, okay, we’re starting to get somewhere. So I think that moment was probably when I always remember going, this IP that wouldn’t work in a GTA, obviously; it’s not interesting. But as a kid, and suddenly it was the scale of the school and the scale of a kid’s life, it started to feel really fun.”

Currently, Bully is playable on PC, PS2, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Wii through various means. PlayStation users can grab it through the digital re-release, while Xbox One and Series X/S users can access it through backwards compatibility for the Xbox 360 version.

“It was a linear game, so it was a little different from writing an open-world game, a little more structured. I really enjoyed that as an experience. I loved what we did design-wise, the way the game didn’t have loads, the way it felt like a 12-hour movie, some of the visual stuff we did with words on screen. I felt we were creating a really cool digital noir experience, and the consensus at the time was that people hated it.”

He admits, however, that Max Payne 3 ultimately ended up being too different from its predecessors, which were originally developed by Remedy Entertainment. Acknowledging the fact that the title leaned harder into high-octane action rather than the neo-noir stylings that the original two games were known for, Houser says that his own part in writing Max Payne 3 ended up being a failure.

“So I got that completely wrong. I know Sam Lake [creator of Max Payne] well, and he’s a very good guy and really talented. I thought we’d done a good job of doing another Max Payne game. Some people liked it; lots didn’t. So we got it wrong, or I got it wrong. I failed. My bit was not a success. The game is beautifully made, and it wasn’t as successful as it should have been. So I would say a large amount of that failure was on me as one of the people making the decisions and also as the writer, when people really missed his writing.”

Max Payne 3 was released in 2012 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Despite being a major departure for the franchise, the shooter still ended up garnering quite a bit of critical praise thanks to its gameplay elements as well as its focus on protagonist Max still suffering from the trauma he suffered in the previous entries.

The core story takes place eight years after the events of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, with the eponymous protagonist continuing his slow descent into alcoholism and painkiller addiction. The game kicks things off by giving Max a new chance to start afresh as a private security guard in São Paulo, Brazil. Things escalate, however, with gang members trying to kidnap the Branco family’s patriarch, Rodrigo, and end up ransoming his wife, Fabiana. Max is tasked with getting Fabiana back, which sets him on the course to take on entire gangs in the city’s favelas.

Along with tonal differences from the previous entries in the franchise, Max Payne 3 also likely suffered quite a bit from coming out on the same day as Diablo 3, leading to underwhelming commercial success. For more details, check out our review from when it first came out.

That doesn’t include those added with DLC or expansions, which means you could already have quite a few on your profile if you’re part of the program. It even goes as far back as  Xbox 360 titles, which means that there are probably a lot that you’re proud of seeing through to their finish, now waiting to be showcased to your friends and loved ones on Xbox.

Does this bring anything more than bragging rights? Probably not. Are those bragging rights a great way to appreciate how far modern gaming has come by making you look back at all the great games you’ve played over the years? Definitely. On balance, we’d call this one a win, and it’s definitely better than Microsoft’s CEO saying what he said about the recent layoffs at Xbox. Stay tuned for more details on Mythic Achievements and when they’ll roll out to regular users.

Olga was seen as a necessary boss fight that couldn’t be avoided since defeating her is how Snake gets his hands on the USP pistol, which is necessary to destroy the sensors that would trigger an explosion in another part of the ship. The tranquilizer pistol itself, while far more effective when it comes to dealing with enemies, can’t destroy these sensors, and as a result, players can’t avoid the fight against Olga.

In a video showcasing the skip, Apel takes us through the early parts of the Tanker chapter, swiftly making their way to the ship’s bridge where the encounter takes place. Along the way, Apel picks up all the extras they might need, like ammo, while also taking out a few troublesome guards with their tranquilizer pistol. When it’s time to actually deal with the sensors, rather than getting their hands on the USP pistol, Apel instead lures a guard to the sensors to trigger an explosion.

How the skip works is a bit more complicated when taking behind-the-scenes details into account. Like many games, Metal Gear Solid 2 also has progression flags that are triggered in its memory state to track player progress. While players will still get a game over screen even if Snake isn’t directly the one to trigger the explosion, the speedrunner can avoid this by rolling into a checkpoint while the bomb is being triggered. This means that the “game saves the value of the flag after the explosions happen”, which means that the encounter with Olga can be completely skipped.

Along with being a major step forward for the speedrunning community for Metal Gear Solid 2 in general, this is also the only boss skip to have been discovered in the game so far. Despite players having discovered many tricks over the years that might allow them to speed through various areas of the title, the boss fights have always been considered mandatory. This new skip will likely lead to plenty of speedrunners figuring out new, quicker routes through the game. As a result, there will also likely be a plethora of new world records set in the coming days.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was originally released on the PS2 back in 2001. The title eventually made its way to more platforms – the PS3 and Xbox 360 – thanks to its HD Edition re-release alongside Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. When it comes to modern gaming hardware, players can get their hands on the title by picking up Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, which was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch back in 2023. Check out our review for more details.

It was once synonymous with horror in gaming, being a pillar of the genre within the medium with innovative ideas, well-written stories, insightful interpretations of complex themes, and of course, gameplay that had you on edge for a significant part of your playtime. But that rise to glory had been balanced out by a fall from grace marked by inconsistent releases, cancelled projects, and a loss of the creative identity that set its games apart in the first place.

But all that’s in the distant past, and a more recent appraisal of the franchise’s fortunes, beginning with that excellent remake of Silent Hill 2, paints the story of a comeback worth examining as we look at a busy, and potentially bright, future for the franchise.

How has it shaped that turnaround? What has Konami done differently this time around to warrant its newfound success? We asked the same questions, and we’re happy to tell you more about what we found along the way. Let’s begin!

Back To The Beginning

Silent Hill’s newfound glory is better understood through the lens of what it has managed to achieve in the past, and the decisions that led it there. It’s important to remember how the first four titles in the franchise created an identity distinct from Resident Evil, another strong presence in the horror space at the time.

Where human greed and its consequences guided the stories in Raccoon City and its surroundings, Silent Hill took a more psychological approach, diving deep into human depravity and how it could manifest in the worlds the franchise’s protagonists found themselves in.

Every title brought an atmosphere so oppressive it became a frightening presence in and of itself, while the excellent use of each soundstage, subtle symbolism, and very insightful storytelling were once hallmarks of the franchise. Silent Hill 2 became a benchmark thanks to how well all of these elements came together to make it a title that didn’t really have anything to compare it against at the time.

But all of these positive traits would have meant nothing in games that didn’t manage to keep their players invested in what was unfolding in front of them. And while the franchise’s early lineup didn’t need to worry about such concerns, the same can’t be said for the ones that followed.

A Frightening Lack of Direction

Silent Hill: Origins is probably a good game to examine what caused the franchise to lose much of the momentum it had built through its earlier successes. The prequel was quite good as a Silent Hill title, but you could already see that it lacked the inspiration and insight that made its predecessors as famous as they were.

It was still a moody, atmospheric return to the titular town, but it lacked the subtlety of the franchise’s other entries, a facet that often made it feel like a lore drop rather than a full-fledged story that took the franchise in an interesting new direction. Homecoming felt largely the same, although it did bring technical improvements like a controllable camera and some excellent visual upgrades to the franchise’s formula.

But Alex’s search for his brother began to feel like the franchise’s ability to innovate was beginning to run out of steam despite a fairly strong offering from Double Helix after it took over from Climax Studios, which handled Origins.

Climax Studios would return with Shattered Memories, a radical reimagining of the original Silent Hill that drew praise for its bold ideas but rather shaky presentation, with the weaponless chase sequences not feeling as potent as they could have been thanks to the game distinguishing between safety and danger too strongly.

Vatra Games’ effort with Downpour was a similarly flawed experience, drawing both praise and criticism alike, and bringing an important aspect of the situation to the forefront. Despite each title’s individual strengths, it was clear that the Silent Hill franchise was lacking direction and focus, and different interpretations of its best features weren’t necessarily making the most of them all.

But does that mean the franchise had already lost its potency and potential? We’d argue that that was hardly the case.

The Comeback That Never Was

There was still P.T. in the mix, and it came out of nowhere to revive hope in a franchise that could have been easy to write off as past its prime. Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, and what was slated to eventually become Silent Hills.

Not only did it revive interest in the franchise, but the potential from such a collaboration of great minds could also blend very well with a formula that was already proven to work when it was targeted at things beyond the ordinary. A detail that becomes significant as we move a little later down the line.

But for now, we return to the cancellation of Silent Hills, and the loss of a potentially exciting future for the franchise at the time. It would mark the beginning of a long period of dormancy, one that would see the franchise’s reputation survive only through its community and word of the heights that it was once capable of. It also marked an era where the competition continued to delve into psychological horror, a territory that the franchise once had firmly in its grasp, and perhaps even helped define.

The vehicle for the franchise now felt like it had been abandoned along the side of the road it once helped pave, blazing a path that other titles were now speeding along. But Konami didn’t give up on a franchise that was as great as this one, and the next few years might already be familiar to you, but merit a close look to understand why the new bevy of Silent Hill games have succeeded where others have not.

Regaining Its Form And Footing

2022 marked the beginning of a new chapter for the franchise, although there was no way of knowing about all the great memories it was going to give us at the time. We didn’t get news of just one game from Konami, but were told about the remake of Silent Hill 2 from Bloober Team, two new games, and a new movie!

Producer Motoi Okamoto would later explain that Konami never really intended to “test the waters” with one remake before committing to the franchise again, but was rather choosing to bet big on it right from the get-go. However, the intent behind the move doesn’t negate the valid skepticism that surrounded the announcement given the franchise’s history with external studios working on Silent Hill games.

That Silent Hill 2 was the game being remade was a big enough reason, given how much reverence it has garnered from fans over the years. Bloober had its task cut out for it, having to modernize the classic without sacrificing any of its original appeal. But the remake didn’t just manage to impress its critics, but also generated revenues that were impressive.

Five million cumulative players over combined sales metrics isn’t a joke after all, and is perhaps the best example of how the franchise regained its relevance in the current generation of games. Of course, the remake’s success could not dispel apprehensions about the game that followed it.

Silent Hill f was bringing several departures to Hinako’s story that could have, and perhaps even did, put off a few hardcore fans before they actually got to play it. It was based in Japan, in an entirely new location for starters, with combat mechanics that looked like they were putting too much of an emphasis on action instead of the franchise’s horror-focused roots.

And yet, what we got was a game that was quintessentially Silent Hill, packaged in a new world, premise, and story that helped sell everything that was great about the franchise so well, it made 1960s Japan feel like a natural new home for the experience it aimed for.

Hinako’s deeply personal story, her harrowing confrontations with her own inner demons, and the way all of it resolved was nothing short of extraordinary, and perhaps the best reflection of what the franchise was capable of when it fired on all cylinders back in the day. Konami was quick to point out that it was the first new Silent Hill game in a dozen years, and it reaching a million sales in two days is a showcase of the franchise’s unfading allure over the years. Townfall’s our next stop on this examination of the franchise’s current fortunes, and it marks an exciting new chapter for it.

A More Modern Silent Hill

If you think about it, Townfall is the third piece of a revival trilogy that showcases what has worked well for Silent Hill this time around. The first-person perspective was a welcome touch in an experience that used it well to bring a new location, art style, and narrative angle to life.

We didn’t expect examinations of the relationships between individuals, corporations, and societies in small towns to be effective vehicles for the kind of story beats that the franchise is used to telling, but Simon’s time in St. Amelia is definitely among the finer outings it has given us.

Okamoto’s assertion that it was intended to bring yet another axis to the franchise after the remake’s traditional approach and the new Japan-focused title showcases a revival that isn’t relying on a standardized formula, but on creating thoughtful interpretations of what the franchise has always examined, through the lenses of different creative teams.

With SH2 Remake, Bloober Team was able to successfully preserve those examinations while presenting them in a modernized classic. Silent Hill f took things to a new setting, story, and very unique art style to prove that it could be fresh yet familiar. Townfall has now reiterated that, while also proving that new external studios can radically reinterpret its formula while preserving its best elements and psychological horror foundations.

That variety is perhaps the best feature of Silent Hill’s current-gen revival, and it’s great that Konami isn’t asking every developer to deliver another SH2, but is instead asking them what the franchise means to their particular teams and creative perspectives. That’s probably the biggest difference between the franchise’s less successful years and now, as it has found success today despite some common factors.

Various developers working on different titles is an obvious one, as are the varying interpretations of the franchise’s story and gameplay loop. However, one crucial difference is that three successive titles could not give us a sense of deliberate strategy, and the feeling that each new game was building on the ideas before it.

However, diversity and a sense of forward momentum have felt like they’ve been baked into the underlying pillars of the latest titles, and it’s an irony that isn’t lost on us. Silent Hill has rediscovered its identity by accepting that it doesn’t have to be one specific thing, and operate within a limited framework of creative and technical options because of it.

A Long Road Ahead

It’s all well and good that the franchise has found a solid enough purchase in a modern gaming industry where even great games might not get the recognition they deserve from time to time. But how does Konami aim to sustain the momentum it has built for it?

We think the news is good, or at least a reason to be optimistic about the franchise’s chances. The remake of the original Silent Hill from Bloober is on the cards, and we see no reason to doubt that studio’s outing after the excellence it has displayed with its previous effort and with Cronos: The New Dawn. It’s a solid next step, and perhaps indicative of a newfound confidence.

Modernizing Harry Mason’s journey while rebuilding the 1999 game to make for a new experience that doesn’t just feel like SH2 Remake again. We’ve no information on how combat and exploration are changing yet, or about whether Bloober plans to expand the town, but we cannot understate the significance of making the original game that started the franchise’s journey more accessible to a modern audience.

Konami’s ambitions for the franchise might have seemed surprisingly aggressive to us when it first announced its plans for the franchise four years ago, but with Okamoto expressing hope for an “annual release of new games”, and that players should look forward to future experiences that take the franchise’s formula in bold new directions, it’s easy to see that it certainly has high hopes for its continued success.

The company has since stated it aims to go beyond the confirmed remake and Townfall too, which means we’ve got more Silent Hill on the horizon. But what would it entail? Remakes of Silent Hill 3 & 4 are definitely options to look into, considering how those games mark the franchise’s golden years and have been benchmarks against which the ones that followed them were judged.

But there’s the risk of bringing in too much Silent Hill to a franchise whose greatest problem was not having enough of it at one point. Once again, the irony is evident, but that doesn’t mitigate the risk of an ambitious release cadence diluting Konami’s ability to quality-control releases well enough for them to sustain the standards its recent titles have now created.

This is a franchise that relies heavily on its atmospheric storytelling and gameplay to bring distinctive creative voices and narrative insights to life through the eyes of its characters. A yearly release cycle could make things a tad too predictable, a fallacy that has often brought problems to even the finest of stories and innovative series of games.

Silent Hill’s exciting revival could become the very reason it loses steam if it doesn’t manage to meet the standards that its latest titles have now established as its baseline. However, this is a franchise that has already weathered one rise and fall, rising again and managing to stand tall in the process.

Its return isn’t as remarkable to us in hindsight, though. It’s in how it achieved the comeback that fascinates us, and also gives us confidence that whatever’s coming next is going to cement that revival by making clever use of new ideas grounded in the franchise’s familiar penchant for weaving in the unexpected into the very fabric of its games. There’s been no doubt in our minds that Silent Hill is back after our time with Hinako, and Simon has now made us confident that it’s here to stay for a while yet.

And we can’t help but feel a thrill even as we tremble at the thought of what horrors it’s going to bring our way when it does.

“The whole New Vegas thing did create this, at least the perception of this, ‘Who makes a better Fallout game?’ Oh, they should just give it to Obsidian’. There are the Obsidian, New Vegas people that think obviously New Vegas is way better, Obsidian is way better at making those games, and why don’t they just get Fallout altogether.”

Interestingly, franchise lead Todd Howard wanted to avoid comparisons like the ones between Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas with The Elder Scrolls franchise. Kuhlmann confirmed that, aside from The Elder Scrolls Online, Howard has continued to be protective of the fantasy franchise. As for whether the studio felt pressure to make a new entry while it was working on Starfield, Kuhlmann believes that the MMORPG “took the heat off” since it was at least “something with Elder Scrolls”.

“Todd, from my time there, he is very protective of it. I do think ESO took the heat off… There was a new Elder Scrolls product, and it was ongoing. It was creating new content constantly. There are a lot of people, I mean, I know the single-player people, I’m one of those people–but there are a lot of people to whom The Elder Scrolls is now ESO. That’s their experience with it. That’s what they love. That’s where they got their Elder Scrolls gaming experience, and that’s probably what they want more of.”

It is worth noting that the last mainline entry in the franchise was 2011’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which has seen several re-releases across various platforms in the 15 years since its original release. In the meantime, Bethesda has worked on Fallout 4, Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Starfield.

Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6, and while the RPG still isn’t expected to be coming out any time soon, hype around it has already started to build up. Just last month, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma spoke about having played an early build of the title and said that “the scale and grandeur are incredible” and that “the story is even greater”. Along with this, Sharma also teased the official title of the game by calling it “The Elder Scrolls 6: ********”.

Sharma’s post kickstarted quite a bit of speculation among fans of The Elder Scrolls. Many also started looking at potential hints hidden throughout Starfield, such as the fact that the “Employee Number” for the protagonist in that game provides a hint that the word “Sentinel” might be important.

Currently, Bethesda hasn’t announced any release date for The Elder Scrolls 6, and rumors have indicated that it might still be at least two years away.