Grave Gamer News & Views — silent hill

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I can hear them calling to me from hell

I really need to pick up some spinning eyeball portraits from Michael’s sometime.

Hideo Kojima + Guillermo del Toro + Norman Reedus = Silent Hills

Now this is the kind of reveal that reminds me why I love this industry so damn much. It’s both a genuine surprise and manages to incite omega levels of excitement.

Sony’s whole ominous “P.T.” PS4 demo hyped up at Gamescom manifested today into a clever interactive announcement for none other than a continuation to Konami’s long-standing Silent Hill series.

That ain’t even the kicker. Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima and famed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s names are attached to the project with actor Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead, Boondock Saints) set to lend his voice and likeness to the starring role. The game’s title? Simply: Silent Hills. Gives me a chill just pondering what the name could imply.

How Hideo and Guillermo are involved is a bit muddy at the moment but it’s no secret Konami has been courting Kojima-san to pilot the flagship survival horror franchise for some time now. Kojima’s even openly mused how much he’d like to see Silent Hill’s foggy, dilapidated world realized using the FOX Engine – Kojima Productions’ proprietary engine currently being utilized for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V.

Here’s the rundown: it looks next-gen, it has two of the most imaginative creative forces from their respective fields working on it, and it has a badass name. Silent Hill has needed a real kick in the ass for some time now – and I do mean a completely fresh angle on the material. This… this could be the one we’ve been waiting for, folks.

Silent

by glooh

“Monsters I can deal with. This? Fuck this.”

Kojima’s Psyching Himself Up to Visit Silent Hill

In 2012, Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind twenty-five years of Metal Gear, revealed that Konami’s president had called the developer personally with a unique request: He wanted Kojima to create the next Silent Hill game.

Before our collective fan boners could so much as twitch, Kojima said he’d rather supervise than direct, citing an unfamiliarity with the horror genre. While he thought his internally developed FOX Engine would be the perfect candidate to rebuild Silent Hill’s rotted, fog choked foundations upon, he posited that his involvement would end there. Worse, Hideo’s a bit of chicken, apparently.

“Honestly, I’m kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, so I’m not confident I can do it,” he admitted.

But it would seem the notion of visiting Silent Hill hasn’t quite quieted down in his head. During an interview with Geoff “Bonus Round” Keighley in which fans could poke and prod Hideo about anything, the Kojima Productions head was asked if there were a series he would like to reboot or direct himself.

Kojima’s face tightened. His eyes immediately darted to an invisible horizon, staying there; transfixed by the unknowable. After a moment, a pocket eternity perhaps, he spoke. “Silent Hill,” he said, as if saying the words for the very first time. He then rose, put a hand gently on Geoff’s shoulder without looking at him, and left the studio never to be seen or heard from agai– All right, none of that shit went down, but he did say he’d like to reboot Silent Hill. Thought I’d spruce it up.

“Uh, there’s a problem,” he actually said. “I’m easily scared of many things.”

But Kojima no longer thinks that’s a detriment. In fact, it might his greatest asset if he were to undertake the project.

“A guy that is such a chicken and is so easily scared – making a scary game – I’m very confident something very horrifying would come out from that,” he told Keighley. “But on the other hand I would have to prepare myself to have nightmares every single day. Hopefully sometime in the future I’m able to work on this, but I would really need to prepare to have daily nightmares.”

Silent Hill: Downpour, the last main installment in the franchise, was released in 2012 under the direction of Vatra Games. Tepid reviews and middling sales have seemingly led Konami to put the franchise on hold until a new strategy is proposed. That strategy seems to be Kojima’s leadership on a revamp. You know what, Konami? I’d be willing to wait for that, too.

[via Rely on Horror]