Will Hideo Kojima’s OD be the PT game we’ve always wanted?

At last week’s Game Awards, Hideo Kojima got considerable stage time alongside horror director Jordan Peele to show off a very brief, disturbing trailer for Kojima Productions’ upcoming game OD piece.

The bizarre trailer shows two characters, played by Sofia Lillis and Udo Kier, reciting poetry. After about a minute, Lilith’s face begins to contort and she begins to scream as we hear the door open and see its reflection in her eyes. Gere’s character, on the other hand, is somewhat elusive. Some letters appeared in his mouth – albeit very vaguely.

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The first thing discovered was CentralXbox, these letters ultimately spelled out Atami. Atami is a city in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Shizuoka is written as “Shizuoka” in Chinese characters. Separately, “Jing” can mean “quiet” or “quiet”, while “Gang” can mean “hill”. That’s right; Kojima seems to have quietly and discreetly inserted the Silent Hill trailer into OD’s trailer.

Now, the chances of OD becoming a Silent Hill game are slim. Even beyond slim. We’ve already seen Konami’s plans for a Silent Hill reboot, and Hideo Kojima – after having a troubled past with the publisher and plans to develop Silent Hill – isn’t involved in those plans. But Kojima’s attempts at making horror games with big names like Jordan Peele and Hunter Schafer, as well as the inclusion of Silent Hill -related teases, lead me to believe that OD and PT could be There is more in common than I initially thought.

This begs the question; will Hideo Kojima’s OD be the PT game we’ve always wanted? Even though it’s been ten years, is it finally happening? Anyone who follows Hideo Kojima or Guillermo del Toro on social media knows that every year, they sympathize with the cancellation of Silent Hill. Ultimately, OD won’t be a Silent Hill game, but needless to say, Kojima – like many fans of the PT demo – isn’t giving up on what could have been.

Entering the Game Awards stage through a mysterious door, Sophia Lillis’s scream, the letters in Udo Kiir’s mouth, and even the name of the game being OD itself; all evidence points to Kojima’s desire to continue PT’s legacy without would be shackled by Konami to limit his studio’s efforts.

During the 2022 Xbox Showcase, Kojima announced Kojima Productions’ partnership with Xbox Game Studios, saying: “Yes, there is a game I’ve always wanted to make. It’s a brand new game, there’s no People have experienced it or seen it. I waited a long time before I could finally start creating it.”

At the time, no one knew what game Kojima was talking about. Leaks happened, rumors emerged about a horror game called Overdose, and most of us witnessed a topless man filming the alleged OD game on his phone. Last week we saw the game officially announced as “OD” and described as “like a movie, but also a new form of media”, with Hideo Kojima also confirming that in addition to Jordan Peele, There are other creative collaborators on the project. Fingers crossed that Guillermo del Toro is involved again.

With all of this in mind, it’s safe to assume that “The Game I’ve Always Wanted to Want” is a horror game. We’re not sure if this horror game is Silent Hill, but we have a hint – especially after this trailer – that it is, and Kojima Productions is finally making it with the help of Xbox Game Studios game.

While riding the hype of PT’s legacy, surprisingly, the only problem Kojima will face is PT’s legacy. The cancellation of Silent Hill led to many studios and modders creating their own PT-like experiences; to some extent there were Layers of Fear, Faces, and even Resident Evil 7. Let’s not forget the never-ending dilemma of getting PT up and running on a modern console, something some people had success with on the PS5 last year.

That said, you also can’t underestimate the social scream system used in OD, and we’re looking forward to hearing more about that system as well. Perhaps Kojima is expanding on his self-proclaimed “stranded” genre, creating a horror game with a social system for players to help or warn each other, a la Death Stranding. We’ll have to wait to hear more, but it’s sure to be refreshing and interesting.

It’s also important to note that while it’s easy to get excited about it all, Silent Hill fans are also becoming increasingly jaded. Konami’s reboot of the series was surprising, but after recent events, a lot of hopes for the publisher and its plans have been dashed. This fatigue will definitely carry over to Kojima Productions’ OD. Fans can only wait and hope that OD becomes everything we want it to be; a spiritual successor to PT and more. Something that can truly reignite that psychological horror-shaped hole in our tired hearts. I’m also hoping Bloober Team’s in-development Silent Hill 2 remake will reignite our enthusiasm, but it’s easy to distrust Konami’s direction.

If Kojima did intend to make a Silent Hill game, which he – and the rest of the team working at or with Kojima Productions – had never done while making OD Members – have done their job. There are plenty of PT clones and a pretty impressive horror renaissance to contend with (looking at you, Alan Wake 2), but if anyone can capture the feel of PT in 2023 and beyond, I think it’s safe to say, My bet is that Hideo Kojima and his collaborators are the ones doing just that.