Silent Hill 2 remake, new Silent Hill f, Return to Silent Hill movie and other projects – highlights from Konami’s presentation

Numerous rumors have been confirmed. During the presentation on the night of October 20, 2022, Konami presented no fewer than five projects in the Silent Hill universe. The fans are cheering…or not? The Japanese studio is not directly involved in the creation of even a remake of the second part, and the rest of the projects are nothing more than sketches and ideas from third-party developers who do not have an estimated time for release. We decided to find out what we did announce, what our impressions are and if all this will make the classic Silent Hill series, sorry, “great”.

Remake of Silent Hill 2

Let’s start with the obvious. The remake of the second part was actually confirmed long before the official announcement. Numerous leaks have convinced fans that something like a new imagination is worth the wait. Resident Evil 2 from 2019. The presentation opened with an impressive trailer showing the more beautiful city, the main character and the pyramid head.

The appearance of James Sunderland (the main character) has already caused a wave of memes. He looks like a sick alcoholic, which the public was not allowed to do. The rest of the remake looks really good though. The masters of Silent Hill – artist Masahiro Ito and composer Akira Yamaoka – participate in the creation, so you don’t have to worry about the overall story and soundtrack. The main development was carried out by the Polish studio Bloober Team, known for: medium, layers of fear, Blair Witch and observer. While the company has no hits in the AAA category in its portfolio, all of its projects turned out quite well.

This time the Poles do not have to reinvent the wheel, it is enough to sharpen the graphics and rework some outdated mechanics. It seems to us that the development team was chosen quite well. The only unfortunate thing is that for some reason Konami hasn’t done a remake themselves.

There is no release date for the review, but it is already known that the game will be released exclusively on PS5 and PC, albeit only for a year. Of the pleasant – Russian subtitles are announced. Also, the minimum and recommended system requirements appeared on the network. For a comfortable game you need 50 GB of free space, as well as an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X processor, at least 16 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon 6800XT graphics card. The minimum requirements are simpler: processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, at least 12 GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon RX 5700 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card.

AAA game Silent Hill f

But much less is known about the official sequel of the series than about the remake of the second part. Viewers were shown a trailer in which an unknown girl in a school uniform tries to escape from strange plants. As a result, nothing works for her and beautiful stems begin to grow right out of the body, much to the delight of all trypophobes.

The plot is set in a 1960s Japanese town that was rocked by a series of mysterious deaths. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t inspire much optimism. The depictions of schoolgirls and geishas familiar to the Japanese appear trite, and unfamiliar bushes indicate paranormal, not psychological, problems. It seems that the series is moving more and more into the supernatural, shifting the focus from the characters’ internal experiences to external dangers.

Episodic thriller Silent Hill: Townfall

The next game is being developed by No Code, which has been released Untold Stories and observation. The publishing house is also noteworthy – Annapurna Interactive. The company is known for non-standard projects that mainly focus on history. This gives an idea of ​​what to expect from Silent Hill: Townfall.

Rumor has it that we are waiting for a story episodic game. The trailer doesn’t give much information, just a walkie-talkie with a screen where blurry frames change quickly. From the name we can assume that we will learn the background of the famous city, but the modern device in the video indicates that the plot will not plunge into the distant past.

Silent Hill: Ascension Interactive Video

The developers call Silent Hill: Ascension an interactive video in which viewers can influence not only further events, but the entire canon. Sounds ambitious, especially since JJ Abrams (Jeffrey Jacob Abrams) and the creators are involved However, Dead By Daylight may not be so rosy in reality.

We think we can expect a stream like “Project Raven”, where the audience votes on the next actions of the characters. This is indicated by the live icon in the trailer, as well as the chat frames. But this format is a one-time entertainment, which is unlikely to be repeated on a regular basis. How the project will be sold and supported beyond the premiere is a mystery. But at least there is an estimated release date – 2023.

Movie “Return to Silent Hill” (Return to Silent Hill)

Finally, the last major announcement is the movie. The director will be Christophe Gans (Christophe Gans), who already made a picture about Silent Hill in 2006. There are no shots of the upcoming work, but the audience was shown several storyboards and shared the details of the plot. This time the second part is taken as the basis, yes, just like in the remake. A man is looking for his lover in the city.

No one has stated any connection to the first film except the city itself. Whether The Return will be a direct sequel or a soft reboot of the MCU is still unknown. But the director shared his desire to transfer as many moments from the game to the screen as possible. Given the reinvention with updated next-gen graphics, such a decision seems debatable. No release date, as usual.

And another thing called Silent Hill: The Short Message

Rumor has it that there is another game that was never announced at the presentation. It is called Silent Hill: The Short Message and may be screened at the upcoming The Game Awards on December 8, but the information has not been confirmed.

What do we think of all this junk?

Overall, the presentation left mixed feelings. Trailers have been shown enough, but only one of them is informative, the movie can turn out to be a mess, and most game projects don’t even have an estimated release date.

You get the feeling that Konami wants to squeeze all the juice out of its dusty franchise, but doesn’t really understand how. Perhaps it remains to announce only the royal battle and strategy. The participation of only third-party studios in the development also raises questions. The Japanese enthusiastically shared their impressions of drinking in Poland, but didn’t even show a gameplay frame. With this approach, you can wait another five to ten years for new games about Silent Hill.

We personally put the biggest bet on a remake of the second part. The tried and tested classic has already taken its place in the history of the best computer games, it remains only to put the project in order and attract a new generation of players. With Resident Evil 2, the schedule worked perfectly, and there are practically no high-quality psychological thrillers now.

Unfortunately, all of the other projects, including the main sequel, look faded against the backdrop of the prettier Silent Hill 2. We really hope the remake will work, giving Konami an idea of ​​where we can go with the series.

***

The presentation at Silent Hill showcased the studio’s far-reaching plans for the coming years. We are waiting for no fewer than five projects, each intriguing in its own way. Unfortunately, there is still too little information. I would like to believe that Konami will not only try to make money, but also bring the series back to its former greatness.