Silent Hills

Not to be confused with Silent Hill.
Silent Hills

Developer(s) Kojima Productions
Publisher(s) Konami
Director(s) Hideo Kojima
Guillermo del Toro
Series Silent Hill
Engine Fox Engine
Platform(s) PlayStation 4
Release date(s) Cancelled[1]
Genre(s) Survival horror
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Optical disc, download

Silent Hills is a cancelled survival horror video game that was under development by Kojima Productions for PlayStation 4. Directed by Hideo Kojima, in collaboration with film director Guillermo del Toro, it was to be the ninth installment in the Silent Hill series.

Kojima was brought onto the project in September 2012 by Konami; the game was first revealed in August 2014 via P.T. (Playable Teaser), a critically praised demo that was released as a free download from PlayStation Store. P.T. also revealed the involvement of Del Toro, along with Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame as the voice of its protagonist.

The fate of the game's development was left in question due to rumors surrounding Kojima's future at Konami following the completion of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; on April 26, 2015, reports surfaced from del Toro, Reedus, and an anonymous tip to a video game news website that Silent Hills had been cancelled. The next day, Konami officially confirmed the cancellation of the game.

Development

In September 2012, Konami's president asked Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima to direct the next Silent Hill installment.[2] He accepted the offer with enthusiasm, and development began shortly thereafter in Kojima Productions' Fox Engine.[3]

When asked about the project, Kojima stated:

“ In the past I've mentioned Silent Hill in interviews, and as a result of that the president of Konami rung me up and said he'd like me to make the next Silent Hill. Honestly, I'm kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, so I'm not confident I can do it. At the same time, there's a certain type of horror that only people who are scared of can create, so maybe it's something I can do. That said, I think Silent Hill has a certain atmosphere. I think it has to continue, and I'd love to help it continue, and if I can help by supervising or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect.[4] ”

P.T.

An interactive teaser for Silent Hills was released on 12 August 2014 as P.T. (Playable Teaser), marketed as a demo for a horror game by the non-existent 7780s Studio.[5][6] Published on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 4 as a free download,[7][8] P.T. uses a first-person perspective, in contrast to the usual third-person perspective often found in the Silent Hill series, and centers on an unknown protagonist who awakens in a house and experiences supernatural occurrences;[6] the only actions available are walking and zooming as the player character explores the continuously looping corridor.[9] After the player solves the final puzzle, a trailer reveals that it is a "playable teaser" for a new Silent Hill title being directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, with the protagonist portrayed by Norman Reedus.[10] On 1 September 2014, Sony revealed during its pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference that P.T. has been downloaded over a million times.[7]

In an interview, Kojima later mentioned that P.T. was intended to take players at least a week to find the solution and expressed surprise that it was finished on the same day as its release.[6] He chose the corridor as the setting of P.T. instead of "a ruin", because he wanted the teaser to emotionally affect the player regardless of "cultural background".[11] Kojima wanted fear from an inescapable world with very minimal information to affect the player.[11] P.T. received praise from video game journalists. GamesRadar's David Houghton praised it as well-executed, immersive horror and wrote: "By spreading out into the real world, by forcing solutions by way of hearsay, internet whispers, and desperate, rumoured logic, it has become its own urban myth."[12] IGN's Marty Sliva ranked it as an honorable mention on his list of the best video game trailers for 2014,[13] and another reviewer for IGN, Lucy O'Brien, described the game as "the most genuinely frightening interactive experience in recent years."[9] Giant Bomb gave the Best Horror Game award to P.T. in 2014.[14] P.T. won "Scariest Game" at Bloody Disgusting's FEAR Awards.[15]

Cancellation

In March 2015, sources reported that due to conflicts with Konami, Kojima and his senior staff planned to leave Konami following the completion of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Concurrently, Konami announced a restructuring of its video game business, and removed references to Kojima and Kojima Productions from the promotional materials for its games.[16] A Konami spokesperson denied that Kojima was leaving the company, and stated that he would still be involved with Konami and the Metal Gear franchise.[17] The fate of Silent Hills, however, was left unclear.[18]

On 26 April 2015, at a San Francisco Film Society event, Guillermo del Toro reportedly told attendees that Silent Hills had been cancelled. The next day, Norman Reedus also made statements on Twitter stating that the game had been cancelled. The same day, Konami announced that P.T. would be pulled from PlayStation Store on April 29, 2015, and Polygon reported that an anonymous tip by a person familiar with the game's development had also confirmed the game's cancellation.[19][20][18][21]

On 27 April 2015, Konami issued a statement to Kotaku confirming that Silent Hills "would not be continued", but that they planned to continue the Silent Hill franchise.[22][1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Schreier, Jason (27 April 2015). "It's Official: Silent Hills Is Cancelled". Kotaku. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Kojima "Konami wants Hideo Kojima to make a Silent Hill game". Polygon. Sep 27, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ Kelly, Andy. "Konami are making a new Silent Hill. Will it come to PC?". PC Gamer. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Robinson, Martin (27 September 2012). "Policenauts, Silent Hill and a Metal Gear JRPG - an audience with Kojima". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Gamescom 2014: P.T. Announced for Playstation 4". ign.com. IGN Entertainment. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Matulef, Jeffrey (13 August 2014). "Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro are making Silent Hills". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Moriarty, Colin (1 September 2014). "PlayStation 4's PT Silent Hills Demo Downloaded 1+ Million Times". ign.com. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  8. ↑ IGN staff (24 December 2014). "The Biggest Surprises of 2014". ign.com. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 O'Brien, Lucy (17 December 2014). "My Game of the Year Wasn't a Game At All". ign.com. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  10. ↑ O'Brien, Lucy (13 August 2014). "Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro Are Teaming Up for a New Silent Hill". ign.com. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nakamura, Toshi (2 October 2014). "Hideo Kojima and Shinji Mikami Talk Horror Games". Kotaku. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  12. ↑ Houghton, David (27 August 2014). "P.T. is the first REAL horror game in years, and the smartest game on PS4". GamesRadar. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Sliva, Marty (11 December 2014). "The 14 Best Game Trailers of 2014". ign.com. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Giant Bomb's 2014 Game of the Year Awards: Day Five Text Recap". Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive. December 30, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Your Picks for the Best & Worst Horror Games of 2014!". Bloody Disgusting. Bloody Disgusting LLC. January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Kojima Expected to Leave Konami After MGS5, Inside Source Confirms". GameSpot. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (19 March 2015). "Metal Gear Solid creator's involvement in series questioned, Konami removes branding". Polygon. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Matulef, Jeffrey (26 April 2015). "P.T. is being pulled from PSN on Wednesday". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  19. ↑ Orland, Kyle (26 April 2015). "Signs points to cancellation for Kojima’s Silent Hills". Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  20. ↑ Good, Owen S. (26 April 2015). "Major figures mourn Silent Hills as cancellation appears likely". Polygon. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  21. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (27 April 2015). "Silent Hills is dead, actor Norman Reedus confirms". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Konami Responds to Silent Hills Cancellation Claims". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 27 April 2015.