In the world of sometimes too clever marketing you find yourself confronted with a new trailer or preview meant to whet your appetite for…what? Well sometimes you don’t know. That was the case when Sony revealed a demo for “P.T.” just before Gamescom. Now we know that the title stood for Playable Teaser, and for what?
Silent Hill. Or Hills. Plural.
The portal will only open if you offer the blood of an innocent.
Now let’s be honest here, Silent Hill is the lover that burns us, that scorns us, that we go back to in hopes of getting better. In Silent Hill’s long sordid history with fans each game ended up being only as terrible as the last game. By the time we got to Homecoming, The Room was revered as the last true Silent Hill yet reviled at its time of release. Then we got Downpour, the game that seemed to unite everyone in “That’s it, the franchise is finished.” (Dear Downpour fans: Feel free to send me your hatemail telling me how wrong I am and how I deserve to be pushed into the Devil’s Hole for it, it will go on the podcast).
So is there anything that could grant hope for the series? How about a big name game developer paired off with a big name director? How about cinephile Hideo Kojima teaming with Lovecraftian Guillermo Del Toro, coming with such might behind them as Metal Gear Solid: Guns of Liberty and Pans Labrynth. Could they be the New Hope that the Jedi so desperately need? It certainly is a beefy team up, and the new game Silent Hills will feature Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, and hey that’s horror right?
That ain’t your momma’s zombie, Reedus.
The short announcement demo shows us Reedus’ in game character walking through a beautifully rendered town that takes advantage of the Fox engine, giving us a paranoid glance over his shoulder before going into an extensive credit’s list that plays over Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill. Does this mean the atmospheric, musical titan of Silent Hill will be returning to his former role as series composer of the sequel? Tough to say, but if he does that may be one major step in the right direction. Kojima also confirmed Kojima Productions will be taking responsibility for the game directly, and (for now) it won’t be outsourced to a third party. Kojima also expressed that he wanted to make it as scary as possible, in his words pants shitting scary, so we’ll see if he succeeds.
But if gentle teasers aren’t enough there’s still the P.T. demo which Playstation 4 owners can go and nab to experience the action first hand. Very first hand, since the P.T. demo is entirely in the first person, which serves to make environments feel more claustrophobic and enemy brush ins just a little more intense. The demo also forgoes the action-y, B-list movie openings of the prior few Silent Hill titles for a bit more of a mindfuck of an experience. I can’t really speak at length on the demo without spoiling too much, but you can download it on PSN for the Playstation 4 or find plenty of let’s plays online.
Silent Hills certainly sounds intriguing, with a new approach to atmosphere, improved Fox Engine graphics and a few powerhouse names backing it, however it still needs to whether the test of time and popular opinion to see if this game comes out on top. Stay tuned to Enemy Slime for any future Silent Hills updates. Check the Gamescom announcement trailer below:
