Silent Hill – Syndication Server

Silent Hill 2 may not have a Pyramid Head origin story, thankfully

Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 may not come with a Pyramid Head origin story, and the horror game – and us – are better for it

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Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake may not come with a Pyramid Head origin story after all, and the universe is a better place for it. Best Buy’s listing for the horror game includes a bullet point feature that had fans of the horror game feeling concerned.

“Fan-favourite character Pyramid Head makes a return along with a special origin story for fans to play through,” the Best Buy description reads.

PCGamesN‘s Will Nelson pointed out that the feature point is actually a weird rephrasing of something Masahiro Ito, director of the original Silent Hill 2, said after the remake’s announcement.

“Pyramid Head is coming back,” Ito said at the time. “A new journey for those who know the original, and his origin story for those who know that character. And… the most memorable journey of the man most closely associated with that monster.”

If you’ve played Silent Hill 2, then you probably have a good idea why including a Pyramid Head origin designed to please fans raised some eyebrows. Without spoiling anything, that particular Silent Hill monster‘s existence is tied so closely to protagonist James Sunderland that it makes little sense to even entertain the idea of an origin story. Pyramid Head comes into being at a very spoilery moment before Silent Hill 2 starts, which you figure out at the moment James realizes the truth about the mystery surrounding himself. Maybe Bloober can do something interesting with it, but that story’s already being told in the main game.

Ito even said more than once how displeased he was with the idea of Konami and the makers of later Silent Hill games dragging Pyramid Head back out just to make fans happy. Silent Hill Origins and Homecoming director Tomm Hulett even admitted there wasn’t a “compelling reason” for Pyramid Head to turn up in other stories, but he felt pressured to include the character anyway.

“We had a tough situation because, now, [Pyramid Head] showed up but there wasn’t really a compelling reason for him to show up,” Hulett said in an interview. “Whereas originally, it was like ‘Shut up, Tomm. It’s cool.’ Now it was just kind of like ‘Shut up, Tomm. He shows up.’

I fervently hope the Best Buy listing is just phrased poorly. If Bloober wanted to add some kind of origin tale, there’s a lot more they could do with the lore around Pyramid Head than just drag him back out for an encore. Ito created a whole Silent Hill mythology, with a divine being named Valtiel acting as judge and executioner and various lesser entities, including Pyramid Head, manifesting to carry out its will. Ito had plans for more versions of Valtiel, including new stories that actually, presumably, made sense without Pyramid Head in the picture.

Silent Hill 2 remake will launch for the PS5 sometime in 2024.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Silent Hill Ascension passes major milestone ahead of Halloween launch

Silent Hill Ascension, the interactive mobile game from Genvid and the first new Silent Hill in over a decade, passed a major milestone

Silent Hill Ascension, the interactive mobile game from Genvid and the first new Silent Hill in over a decade, passed a major milestone ahead of its Halloween release date. Genvid announced that over 1 million people around the world pre-registered for the horror game, which sees viewers determine the story by voting on key character decisions in every episode.

“Audiences will experience Silent Hill: Ascension for the first time tonight and we have no idea what choices they will make, or how it will end,” Genvid CEO Jacob Navok, said in a press release “It’s a perfect time for Halloween, where the community will shape this one-of-a-kind horror series over the course of the next several months. We’re thrilled by the enthusiasm we’ve seen thus far.”

The first episode airs on Oct. 31, 2023, at 9 p.m. Eastern, and Genvid is holding a pre-show event with Kinda Funny Games and Greg Miller, where fans can chat with Ascension’s creators about the upcoming season. The initial scene centers on Rachel Hernandez, the leader of a mystical cult, and Joy Cirelli, who seeks healing from the cult. What Joy gets is a sliced palm, cold feet, and a terrible monster lurking outside – right before the scene ends with a choice about how Rachel should respond.

“We’ve put a lot of effort crafting the story of the Johansen and Hernandez families, working with Konami Digital Entertainment to expand the Silent Hill lore in intriguing ways,” Stephan Bugaj, Genvid’s Chief Creative Officer, said. “Creating a story where collective audience choices will determine the canonical ending has never been done before.”

Bugaj and Navok tell me Ascension has roughly 1,000 outcome combinations, including character deaths, different endings for each character story, and, of course, different outcomes for every branch point.

Viewers get roughly a day to cast their vote and use influence points – earned by completing tasks in the Ascension app or from buying the season pass – to determine a scene’s outcome, but if you just want to watch the show, you can do that, too. Genvid is taking every episode and combining them into a 45-minute-long feature at the end of each week.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Genvid’s fresh take on Silent Hill horror has a new trailer

Silent Hill Ascension, the new horror game from Genvid, is set to launch later in 2023 with a new twist on Konami’s classic series

Silent Hill Ascension, the new horror series from interactive storyteller Genvid, is set to launch later in 2023 with a new twist on Konami’s classic series. Ascension first showed up during Konami’s big Silent Hill broadcast in late 2022, and this is the first we’ve seen of it since then.

Ascension follows several new characters in the Silent Hill universe, and while we don’t yet know who they are, the trailer makes it pretty clear that they have quite a bit of baggage. It weaves themes of redemption, guilty secrets, broken families, and haunted lives together – with plenty of new monsters birthed from these dark, repressed feelings as well. Whether they’re huggable is another matter.

“Silent Hill: Ascension will captivate audiences with its immersive experience, spotlighting stunning visuals and live community-driven moments, all while exploring the psychological horror that has made the Silent Hill series so beloved by fans worldwide,” Jacob Navok, CEO of Genvid said. “We’re offering fans the unique chance to become part of the story themselves.”

Like with Genvid’s previous work on Rival Peaks, the story of Silent Hill Ascension will unfold based on how the audience interacts with it. Players will decide what choices characters should make, and there’s no safety net. A poorly judged decision may have disastrous outcomes for the characters involved.

“We’ve gone the extra mile to create a dreamlike world in Silent Hill: Ascension with disturbing, hyper-detailed characters, other-worldly monsters, immersive atmospheres, and an overall audio and visual design that our team is very proud of,” Chris Amaral, Bad Robot Games’ art director, said.

Silent Hill Ascension releases sometime later in 2023, with more details to follow in the coming months.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Silent Hill monsters ranked by how huggable they are

Even nightmare fuel needs to snuggle once and a while.

Let’s face it: most people on this earth have thought about hugging the eldritch horrors within Silent Hill, but only a brave few are willing to admit it – including me, which is while I’ll be ranking several of the franchise’s most iconic monsters based purely on how huggable they are.

Why? Because there’s not enough chaotic, unhinged energy lingering in the air these days.

Plus, Silent Hill’s revival is just around the corner. So what better time is there to look back on every installment from the original Silent Hill through Silent Hill: Downpour to see who needs a hug? (Hint: there’s no honest answer – just bear with me)

Let’s get to it.

Bloober says Silent Hill 2 remake is done, but they can’t launch yet

Work on Silent Hill 2 remake is reportedly almost finished, but Bloober is waiting on Konami to decide the horror game’s launch plans

Work on Silent Hill 2 remake is reportedly almost finished, but developer Bloober Team is waiting on Konami to decide the survival horror game‘s launch plans. The news comes from a recent interview Polish publication Bankier conducted with Bloober CEO Piotr Babieno (thanks, VGC).

“Silent Hill 2 is technically ready,” Babieno said. “It does not mean that the game is finished, but we are close. However, the issue of the release schedule lies with our partners, what the promotion will look like and when the title will debut is not directly in our hands.”

While Konami developed the original Silent Hill 2, the publisher chose Bloober Team, makers of Medium and Layers of Fear, to lead work on the remake as part of its bid to revive the franchise by working with teams outside of Konami itself. Bloober won’t be making too many drastic changes, though. The team previously said they were “playing it safe” and sticking to the source material.

Other Silent Hill projects in the works include Silent Hill f, written by Higurashi and Umineko creator Ryukishi07, and Konami is actively seeking other pitches for Silent Hill games.

Babieno didn’t give any indication of what Konami’s timeline might look like. There’s certainly plenty of competition for attention, with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Redfall, Tears of the Kingdom, and Final Fantasy 16 all releasing in the next three months. Starfield is set for September, and if a recent accidental tease from Venom’s voice actor is true, Spider-Man 2 might launch in September as well.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Konami wants studios to pitch more Silent Hill games

Series producer Motoi Okamoto is open to working with anyone if the idea is good.

Last fall, Konami brought the Silent Hill franchise back in a big way – announcing several new games from studios all over the world. Apparently, the door is still open for more too.

During an interview with IGN, series producer Motoi Okamoto explained that Konami is open to Silent Hill pitches from game studios worldwide.

“There’s only so much we can do ourselves, which means we need to work with lots of different indie creators if we want to make lots of different [Silent Hill games],” Okamoto said. “That’s why we made moves to work together with people around the world who want to make Silent Hill games and approached Bloober Team, as well as Anapurna Interactive and No Code.”

“Unfortunately, there are some projects that never actually got off the ground. Still, I think the number of projects we have will only continue to grow,” Okamoto continues. “The fact we were reviving Silent Hill was a secret until now, so we couldn’t exactly go out and yell, ‘Hey, everyone! Bring us your Silent Hill projects!’ We can do that now, so if creators from around the world who love Silent Hill bring us their pitches, I promise to look through every one of them. We’re all ears.”

Some of the Silent Hill games currently in production include a remake of Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f, and Silent Hill: Townfall. There’s also a mysterious title called Silent Hill: The Short Message, which has yet to be formally announced but received formal product ratings in multiple countries.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Silent Hill: The Short Message has been rated in Taiwan

The mysterious horror title continues to pop up on rating boards worldwide.

Well, the Silent Hill revival vibes are still strong – especially after a new mysterious rating in Taiwan.

As first spotted by Gematsu, Taiwan’s Digital Game Rating Committee gave Silent Hill: The Short Message a product rating for PS5. The listing contains a description as well.

“Anita came to an abandoned apartment in order to meet her friend Maya, and somehow woke up to find herself trapped in it,” reads the description via Google Translate. “She must escape her own fears and the monsters lurking in the corridors, discover the truth behind the events she’s trapped in, and try to escape before her own trauma consumes her will to survive.”

There’s also an official piece of artwork, which you can check out below.

It’s worth remembering that Silent Hill: The Short Message wasn’t announced during Konami’s Silent Hill Transmission broadcast last fall. However, the game received a rating in Korea in September 2022. Typically, games only receive ratings when they are nearly complete, so we’ll likely find out exactly what Silent Hill: The Short Message is soon enough.

Konami also teased a Metal Gear Solid revival last week, which we should hear more about this year.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Konami feels the ‘winds of change,’ as Silent Hill is just the beginning

Fans have been eagerly asking for Silent Hill’s revival for years.

Konami has been through a strong internal restructuring over the last ten years or so, with the publisher often looking less and less interested in gaming. That’s been painful for many fans around the world, as they’ve been with Konami for the better part of their childhoods, or spent dozens of hours on PS1 masterpieces such as Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid.

Now that eFootball is finally leaving behind its troubled kick-off, and that the pandemic has convinced Konami that gaming could still be a viable business, people can clearly see winds of change at the Japanese publisher.

The label still owns intellectual properties such as Silent Hill, whose revival fans have been eagerly demanding for years.

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To that purpose, Silent Hill Transmission – a digital event fully focused on the survival horror franchise, and aired in October – has revealed the future of the sleeping giant, and this has completely changed people’s opinion about Konami already.

Does Konami feel the winds of change internally, too? We’ve asked David Monk, eFootball’s senior partnerships and activations manager at Konami.

“Completely,” Monk tells GLHF. “It’s a good analogy. When you say winds of change, I would say innovation. And I would say trailblazing to a certain extent, because there is a really strong portfolio of titles coming out.”

“And so, as we saw with Silent Hill, there’s an opportunity that’s coming in a series [of games] that will be released, and will be really, really cool for everybody who’s loved all the historic titles and the IP.”

On top of that, “we’re able to continually develop that, and bring that to a new technology base. That’s really important for us.”

And something new is coming to Silent Hill, indeed. Silent Hill: Ascension is set to be a Black Mirror: Bandersnatch-like interactive drama series, while Silent Hill f is coming from Taiwanese developer Neobards Entertainment under Ryukishi07’s eclectic direction, and is set in Japan’s 1960s.

After completely skipping PS4 and Xbox One, it’s a big deal. There’s a Silent Hill 2 remake coming from Bloober Team, and No Code (Observation) is also working on a Silent Hill psychological thriller called Towerfall. The movie franchise is making a comeback, too, with Return to Silent Hill coming from the same director as the original film, Christophe Gans.

This expansive approach has strengthened fans’ confidence in other IPs making a comeback. Rumors have suggested new Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania games could be in development, with a Snake Eater remaster recently linked to Virtuos Games.

Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.

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Silent Hill 2 and other announcements from the Silent Hill stream

Konami is bringing classic horror franchise Silent Hill back from the dead with a Silent Hill 2 remake and several new projects in the works.

Konami is bringing its long-dormant horror game series Silent Hill back from the grave in a very big way. The publisher posted a nearly-hour-long video highlighting multiple SIlent Hill projects, some of which leaked beforehand, including several new Silent Hill games, a high-profile remake, and even a new Silent Hill movie from the director and producer of the 2006 Silent Hill movie adaptation.

While Konami created the franchise, along with others such as Castlevania and Metal Gear, the publisher is working with development partners to bring these new creations to life, though those with ties to the original games, including Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka, are still involved in production.

Most of these projects are still in development, and none have a solid release date just yet.

Read on to get a glimpse at everything Konami announced!

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Three new Silent Hill games have been leaked ahead of announcement stream

Silent Hill Transmission is just a few hours away, but an oversight may have leaked the titles of upcoming games early.

The Silent Hill Transmission stream is set for broadcast today at 2pm PT/5pm ET/10pm BST, where several new titles in the Silent Hill series will be revealed. The waiting room for the stream went live on YouTube, and fans quickly found some interesting details about what games are going to be showcased.

First of all, in the stream’s description, there was a now removed section labeled “Silent Hill 2”, followed by a prompt for the PlayStation Store, but no link had been inserted. It’s assumed that this link will be filled in once the stream is broadcast and the store page is live. This comes after several screenshots of a remake leaked online last month, with the game supposedly being made by Bloober Team.

That’s not all though, as after they’d found that little nugget, fans dug deeper and looked into the metadata for the stream. There, in the tags for the stream, they found an interesting list. The full list of tags are:

KONAMI
SILENT HILL 2
SILENT HILL
PlayStation
Steam
SILENT HILL Transmission
SILENT HILL f
Ascension
SILENT HILL: Ascension
Return to SILENT HILL
Teaser Trailer
Interview

Most of those are to be expected, but two stand out as the titles of potential new games. Silent Hill: Ascension and Return to Silent Hill both hold a lot of promise, even if we don’t know what form these games will take. Based on previous rumors, one might be developed by Annapurna Interactive, with the game taking an episodic format. On top of that, there’s word that one of the games might be developed in Japan, which would explain why several of the original Silent Hill team have been promoting this stream on Twitter.

There is also “Silent Hill f” in there, which doesn’t seem to make any sense, and may very well just be a typo. However, you can never be sure, and there may be more in store than we’re expecting when the event goes live later today.

Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.

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