What does it mean for a franchise when its next installment gets cancelled? How much does the cancelled installment inform the next game? Does anything from the original concept remain? These are all hard questions for developers to answer. Thankfully, it’s not the most common situation, but in the case of Silent Hill, that’s exactly what’s going on. If Konami wants to bring this cornerstone horror franchise back to life, it has to think about what became of Silent Hills.
Many horror game fans probably remembers the bone-chilling PT. Completing it revealed that the game was actually a playable trailer for Silent Hills, a new installment in the series of the same name. What’s more, the trailer and the larger game was being made with the help of horror legends, and perhaps most importantly, acclaimed video game designer Hideo Kojima. Unfortunately, Silent Hills was cancelled and Kojima is no longer connected to Konami. That leaves horror fans wondering what the next Silent Hill game will look like without him. Can it live up to P.T. without Kojima’s vision?
Even though he never worked on a Silent Hill game before the playable trailer back in 2014, Kojima had a rich history with Konami. Metal Gear is arguably one of Konami’s most famous franchises, after all. Kojima was the mastermind behind the military action-adventure and stealth games of Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid and worked on them when Kojima Productions was part of Konami. Considering how long-lived and beloved that franchise is, Konami clearly valued Kojima’s creative ideals, and Kojima seemed comfortable there. By working together, the studio and the designer made some really strong content.
Unfortunately, that relationship is over. In 2015, Kojima and Konami parted ways, compelling Kojima to work independently with his own studio. That meant that his plans for Silent Hills went up in flames. As long as he was outside Konami, he was outside the franchise. That meant that Konami has summarily rejected the work he put into PT, even though the playable trailer spread like wildfire and got lots of praise.
The biggest obstacle a new Silent Hill game has to overcome is those expectations set up by PT. Considering how long it’s been since Kojima was working with Konami, odds are that the new game will take Silent Hill in a different direction from Kojima’s plans. Even if Konami does base the game on whatever notes and plans he shared with the studio, that’s very different from having Kojima in house collaborating on the project. A new Silent Hill game will inevitably be compared to what Kojima had to offer the franchise, no matter what direction it goes in.
Although there really wasn’t much hope of Kojima suddenly reuniting with his former employer to begin with, particularly after the various reports of mistreatment, the odds are ever decreasing that Kojima will have a hand in Silent Hill. That’s because he’s already doing very well for himself. Death Stranding made serious waves when it released last year, delivering a wholly unique post-apocalyptic experience. It even incorporated some of Kojima’s collaborators from Silent Hills, seeing as horror movie director Guillermo del Toro played one of the supporting characters to Norman Reedus’ Sam Porter Bridges.
What’s more, after all these years, Kojima might actually be producing a horror game of his own. It’s been confirmed that Kojima Productions is starting a new project; it’s already started hiring even though fans don’t have much of an idea what the game is about. Supposedly, Kojima has started watching horror movies in search of inspiration for a new project, and if he’s still in touch with del Toro, he’ll have a really talented reference to bounce ideas off of. For a moment, fans thought Junji Ito might be in on a new Kojima project, but that rumor has been dispelled for now. Even so, just Kojima and del Toro’s expertise could produce a really chilling game.
If Konami does produce a new Silent Hill game soon and Kojima Productions does its own horror game, Konami might have made significant competition for itself by ejecting one of its star developers. Kojima’s mystery project could completely outshine Silent Hill considering the resources he has available. In other words, the next Silent Hill game doesn’t just have to live up to the game that was almost made; it also has a chance that it needs to compete with a rival game whose creation was inadvertently spurred by Konami’s actions.
Even though the Halloween season has ended, there’s still significant interest in horror games right now. Whether it’s the upcoming Resident Evil 8 or one of the many indie horror sensations of the last month like Phasmophobia, there seems to be a horror game for everyone either out now or on the way. If a new Silent Hill gets announced soon, it might get a boost by riding that wave of popularity. Presumably, Kojima’s project is still a long ways away, since he’s famous for teasing projects well in advance of their release. If Silent Hills comes out much sooner and avoids conflict with Kojima’s work, it might be more successful than otherwise.
Of course, a new Silent Hill announcement would be a big deal in its own right. There hasn’t been a new Silent Hill game since 2012, so it’s about time that Konami return to one of its most famous properties and bring it back to life. Next-gen technology is opening up a lot of possibilities for horror games, as The Medium indicates. Still, one has to wonder what Konami will lose out on without Kojima on the franchise. Many of the ideas he had are bound to find their way into Kojima Productions’ new project, and Konami has gained a good window of timing to return to this important part of horror game history. Time will tell if Kojima’s departure will leave Silent Hill worse off.
A new Silent Hill game is rumored to be in development.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply