Silent Hill

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Soooooo today after a relatively shitty at work and being generally underwhelmed by the Gamescom conferences this year, this bit a of a bombshell hit me square in the face:

Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro are working together on a new Silent Hill game with The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus as the main lead.

Seriously, I have not been this stoked about just the simple realization that a game exists since the Fallout 4 Announcement a few months back (which turned out to be a hoax, and whoever made that hoax is having a special ring in hell carved out for them).

But anyway, looking for an outlet to express this on the CWCki, I noticed that we apparently don't yet have a Silent Hill thread (annnnd if we do, it means I'm especially slow-in-da-mind tonight). So, what are you thoughts on the reveal, and your experiences and thoughts on the games et al. Works of inspired genius, or just reheated high-school level goth poetry? Discuss.

 

[OBAMATRON]

title screen -> 14 hr preachy monologue about the human condition -> credits. Thanks for playing folks!

also: 15 plot twists—one each hour, and one after the credits; and possibly 2-3 hours of what could be great gameplay if the game would just let you play it, and one "gameplay" sequence that consists of walking through an empty room/hallway from one 30 minute cutscene to the next

Never been a huge fan, but I'll put this on my list of things to watch for.

 

[Not There]

I was reading through "personal top 10 games" today, and I was hoping I'd see Silent Hill pop up somewhere... And here's this thread. Thank you.

Of all the survival horrors games I've played, none stuck with me like (specifically, SH2) the Silent Hill franchise. Can't wait for this, SH AND Guillermo del Toro is involved? Fuck yes. Fuck. Yes.

Word to the fans out there: if you haven't already seen Jacob's Ladder, GO WORK ON IT! Been a while, but they based a lot of the second game on that movie, I think.

 

[Trickie]

Silent Hill is one of my favorite franchises, and while I haven't been thrilled with the last few games, I think this one might have potential. I don't know Kojima well enough to say if he can pull off something that will do the original Team Silent's work justice, but I'm hopeful. Good god, am I hopeful. I haven't had a truly good SH experience since 3.

 

[Dollars2010]

Yes! I am stoked to see Kojima and del Toro team up together. I love the works that both of them produce.

Silent Hill 2 is my favourite of the series, but I really like Henry from Silent Hill 4 since I just found him so dopey although the game was strange unusual. But 2 really sticks with me with it's emotional roller-coaster of a story and amazing atmosphere.

 

[c-no]

I can't say in being much of Silent Hill fan since I only played the first (which I sort of dislike mainly because my nephew wanted me to play the game for him which I loathed since it felt like a chore *especially when I wanted to do other things) but to see how del Toro and Kojima are making this, this seems rather interesting though one should be prepared for anything that could lead to disappointment or even people who will bawww in saying it's terrible despite not really having the final product yet.

 

[John Titor]

I'm pretty new to the series having only played 2 and 3 but I am so hyped by this news. Metal Gear was already scary and it's not even a horror!

 

[Watcher]

It's worth noting Kojima had his doubts about being able to effectively create a horror game.

He's well known for injecting comedy into his overly dramatic stories and regularly breaking the fourth wall. Plus his female characters have a habit of being... sexualized in some way.

However Silent Hill is very different. It requires a much more serious approach to characters and storytelling. A big reason why Heather Mason is still praised as an effective female protagonist is because of her well written arc throughout the game, and her emotional vulnerability which strengthens as the game goes on.

I don't know if he'll be able to do it, I've had my doubts about any Silent Hill game not developed by Team Silent. Then again it is another Japanese developer at the helm so I'm sure it'll be plenty different. But I don't know if it'll be on-par with it's predecessors.

 

[The Fair Lady]

I love the Silent Hill series; 2 is definitely my favorite. Downpour left a really bad taste in my mouth, though. Let's hope this one does Team Silent justice. I expect nothing but good things from Guillermo del Toro.

 

[Trickie]

He's well known for injecting comedy into his overly dramatic stories and regularly breaking the fourth wall.

Let's not forget that Silent Hill has some fourth wall breaking comedy as well, even if it's mostly easter eggs you wouldn't encounter in a normal playthrough.

 

[Watcher]

Let's not forget that Silent Hill has some fourth wall breaking comedy as well, even if it's mostly easter eggs you wouldn't encounter in a normal playthrough.

Well yes but most of the time those were easter eggs. Kojima is well known for fourth wall breaking humor in the core game.

Do I think he's capable of making a srs game? Maybe. It really all depends. I'm just saying having Kojima design the game is the equivalent of having Valve design a new Metal Gear. I just remain skeptical toward it.

 

[Konstantinos]

I wish people would just let the Silent Hill franchise die. No matter how much embalming fluid gets pumped into it, its clear that it has nothing left to offer. The last time the franchise struck me as being truly great was 2. Ever since then its been a decline into mediocrity and extremely out of place Pyramid Head cameos.

I doubt handing the franchise to Kojima is going to change much of anything. To put it lightly, Silent Hill is beyond saving. Sending Kojima to write up a new game would be like having a professional surgeon attempt to revive a decaying corpse. I would much prefer that Kojima and Del Toro try to create an entirely new horror game as opposed to trying to bring back one that has no more life in it.

 

[MrTroll]

Well, it couldn't be worse than the last 5-6 Silent Hill games. The playable trailer was impressive enough (to watch anyway). I don't know if the whole game will be done in that style but I hope it is. I always thought a first-person SH game would be really neat.

 

[Papaya23]

I loved 1-4 and Origins, but I can't get through the new ones because I'm just bad at action games.

For those of you who are fans of the series, are any current-gen games scratching that itch at all? I tried Dead Space and it was nice, but after that "shoot all the meteors" minigame or whatever that was I put it down.

 

[Watcher]

For those of you who are fans of the series, are any current-gen games scratching that itch at all? I tried Dead Space and it was nice, but after that "shoot all the meteors" minigame or whatever that was I put it down.

Silent Hill is like video game royalty. Its first 3 games are some of the greatest horror games ever designed.

If you want a good horror game in the modern day. There's only a very rough handful of any that are worth getting. The market for survival horror games died a while ago due to industry analysts claiming it was dead. Which was why Amnesia was such a huge bombshell hit years later.

Resi 4 is okay but it only really has a horror exterior over an action game interior. The Penumbra or Amnesia games are okay if you're interested in indies. There might be a few on consoles like Fatal Frame but that's not particularly new.

 

[Caddchef]

I don't see why Silent Hill of all franchises needs to jump on the "first person horror adventure with a lighting gimmick" bandwagon.

Also i hate celebrities in games, as a big fan of the series (up to 4 at least) i'm dissapointed and will probably skip this despite the talent involved unless things change, but maybe they will... Kojima is a master ruseman.

 

[Watcher]

I don't see why Silent Hill of all franchises needs to jump on the "first person horror adventure with a lighting gimmick" bandwagon.

The context is that there hasn't been a modern AAA horror game that was a "horror" game. Resident Evil largely doesn't count because it was mostly an action game when it jumped into the modern day.

They probably know that making an action game is going to turn people off so emulating the first person thing is a logical step since first person horror games are really popular now. (Amnesia, Slender etc)

Not saying it's a good thing but I understand the devs and the producer's mindset.

 

[Trickie]

I think with so many Silent Hill games that have tried and failed to simply emulate the first 3 games' success, changes like going from third person to first person might just be for the best. If we're taking the demo into account here (and if you haven't seen the demo, you should watch it because goodness it's scary), just looking purely from a design perspective, the game appears to be using where you're looking to trigger events. When you first enter the bathroom, nothing will happen until you notice the "baby" lying in the sink and shine the flashlight on it, the baby doesn't even start stirring or making noise until you do. In third person, you probably would've noticed it right away because you've got a wider view of the entire room. I don't think the effect would be nearly as horrifying if it were in regular Silent Hill style third person.

As for the celebrity appearance, I'd roll my eyes if this were an A-list celebrity, but Norman Reedus isn't really known for anything other than the Walking Dead as far as I'm aware of. I don't think it has the same danger of being ridiculous as it would if it were Tom Cruise or something.

 

[The Fair Lady]

I'm not sure how to feel about it being in first person. Was never a big fan of that view, and it just screams "indie game". Not that I dislike those, but a lot of them are poorly made, and I don't want the SH franchise to be reduced to cheap jump scares.

I loved 1-4 and Origins, but I can't get through the new ones because I'm just bad at action games.

For those of you who are fans of the series, are any current-gen games scratching that itch at all? I tried Dead Space and it was nice, but after that "shoot all the meteors" minigame or whatever that was I put it down.

Shattered Memories is hardly an action game; there are monsters, but all you do is run away from them. It's a lot more psychological.

And as Cuddlebug mentioned, the Fatal Frame games are pretty good. They're not exactly current, but a new one is in the works.

 

[Queen of Tarts]

It's cool that Norman Reedus will be in it, and Kojima's games are always great, but...

Will there EVER be another female protagonist in the series after Heather?

I recently platinumed Silent Hill 3, actually, even in spite of the random freezes on PS3. Suffice to say, it was way better on PS2. Still, easiest game I've ever platinumed.