Sounds like Konami is determined to revive silent Hill series, as a recent interview details the potential for more games, failed games, and more.
In an interview with IGN Japan, Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto, concept artist and Pyramid Head designer Masahiro Ito, and composer Akira Yamaoka, the trio touched on a wide range of topics related to the game’s history, as well as its future. First off, it sounds like the overall mood at Konami is that the company’s developers want to bring it back for a while.
“The Silent Hill series has been dormant for a long time. As a company, Konami wants to bring it back, and a lot of the people who work here want to make Silent Hill games,” Okamoto shared. “The only problem is that everyone has a different idea of what Silent Hill is and why they like it, so it’s hard to gel around one direction.”
Okamoto went on to explain that while everyone has a different take on the series, bringing it back for the Silent Hill 2 remake was because that particular title represented “what real psychological horror is.”
Obviously, with the announcement of the remake, independent studios like No Code will be offering their take on the Silent Hill world with Silent Hill: Town Fallen. “There’s only so much we can do on our own, which means that if we want to make many different Silent Hills, we need to work with many different independent creators,” Okamoto explained.
The producer also notes that there are actually some projects that “never really got off the ground,” but believes that “the number of projects we have will only continue to grow. The fact that we’re reviving Silent Hill has been a secret until now, so we can’t exactly go out and shout , “Hey everyone! Bring us your Silent Hill projects! “We can do that now, so if creators from all over the world who love Silent Hill come to us with their suggestions, I promise to read every single one of them. We’re all ears.” Ridge game with a great idea: send it the Konami way.
Both Ito and Yamaoka worked on the original Silent Hill 2, so they worked on the remake, and they were also asked what it was like to work on the game. Ito touched on the influence of David Lynch’s Lost Highway and interestingly revealed that James won’t be the only protagonist at one point. “For a while, we were so influenced by it that we devised a twist where the main character suddenly switches mid-game,” Ito explained, though it was ultimately decided to focus only on James so as not to confuse players.
The full interview is well worth the read, as Ito goes on to talk about his design influences, and Yamaoka discusses the thought process behind some of his work.
