Silent Hill Series Discussion/Speculation thread

[Princess Garnet]

I wanted to make a thread about this for anyone who wanted to talk about/speculate on the series due to recent developments (see below).

Brief History of the Series:

The original Silent Hill was developed and published by Konami in 1999 for the PlayStation, establishing the series.

Silent Hill 2 and 3 followed for the PlayStation 2. Silent Hill 2 was its own thing, and then Silent Hill 3 was a direct sequel to Silent Hill (1).

Silent Hill 4: The Room later released. It was again its own thing, and it was a bit of a departure from the series up until that point. It was last time Konami's own in-house development team, "Team Silent" developed a game.

After that, there were a number of other titles in the series, always developed by an external studio, but the series generally started falling out of favor as fans said what once made the series had been lost.

In 2014, a teaser trailer for a new entry called "Silent Hills" (note the "S") was shown, and this became known as "P.T." It involved Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid series) and featured Norman Reedus (where does that combination sound familiar from!?). It would have been far different from anything in the series before, but fans were excited as it looked promising... until it was cancelled. Kojima (without Konami this time) would instead go on to release another title featuring a protagonist based on Reedus called Death Stranding.

Konami hasn't done much with the Silent Hill series in about a decade outside of perhaps gambling machines in Japan.

The State of the Series Today:

That changed a few years ago, when news of a Silent Hill 2 remake came about. Often considered the best in the series, Konami must have felt it was a safe best for testing the waters with all the successful remakes in this day and age.

The remake for Silent Hill 2 would be developed by Bloober Team (Layers of Fear series and the Medium), not Konami.

The Silent Hill 2 remake released late last year and was (as far as I know) considered a success. Personal remark here, but I consider it the best title of 2024 and one of the best entries in the series (maybe the best). It reached a million sales in less than three days, and has sold at least two million up until today. It released to the PlayStation 5 and PC platforms so there's still the Xbox market it hasn't released to (the console exclusivity period probably lasts a year I would guess). To put that number into some perspective, the highest sales total confirmation I know of for a past entry in the series is... two million for the original release. And prior to the remake, the series as a whole is said to have had about ten million sales. Konami never stated what their expectations were with the remake, but unless they were shooting for the moon and expecting something like half the sales that the series collectively has made out of a single remake after a decade of the IP being unused... then I'd say it's relatively safe to guess this was considered successful enough.

And we may have some hints of that...

The Future of the Series:

We already know another one or two entries in the series are coming. Those are "Silent Hill f" and "Silent Hill Townfall".

"Silent Hill f" is taking place in 1960s Japan and will probably be the nest to release. It is expected that it could release in 2025. Here's the teaser trailer from that around two years ago.

Also, Konami has a "Silent Hill transmission" coming up where they plan to "share the latest news on the Silent Hill series" (note that last word), although it says it will "focus on the upcoming Silent Hill f". That will be Friday, March 13th at 3:00 PM PDT (this is the time the news post in Steam gave me so you'll have to convert to your local time, and note that daylight time just took affect in the US).

Less is known about Silent Hill Townfall.

Here's where things get more interesting.

Bloober Team released a roadmap of upcoming projects a while back. They included (perhaps among others) "Project C", "Project G", and "Project H". It is now speculated that Chronos: The New Dawn is likely Bloober Team's next release, and that is suspected to be "Project C". The others are in a "pre-production" phase.

Source below.

Bloober Team confirms 7 games in development, plans to open two new offices

Poland-based studio Bloober Team has announced its expansion plans. This year, Layers of Fear and The Medium developer will open new offices and move to a larger stock exchange.

wnhub.io

A couple of weeks ago, Bloober Team has also recently announced that they are collaborating with Konami again.

Source below.

Bloober Team and KONAMI Continue Their Collaboration

Bloober Team, the Polish masters of horror, and the Japanese giant Konami Digital Entertainment (KONAMI) are continuing their partnership, announcing the signing of a new agreement for a joint project. Following the massive success of the remake of one of the most highly...

blooberteam.prowly.com

"Following the massive success of the remake of one of the most highly anticipated psychological horror games—SILENT HILL 2—the developers are now focusing on a new game based on KONAMI's IP"

"Of course, we can't reveal too many details at this time, but we are confident that fans will be just as excited about our collaboration as we are. We can't wait to share something truly special with players when the time is right."

Now this doesn't confirm it's a Silent Hill game they are developing... but unless Bloober Team, a developer that is mostly experience in survival horror and is on the tail of a successful Silent Hill 2 remake release, is making the next Metal Gear Solid or an entirely new IP, well... draw your own conclusions.

People are speculating what "Project G" and "Project H" could mean. If we assume the project letter references the title or game in some way, as "Project C" is likely Chronos: The New Dawn, the "H" could refer to either Harry or Heather, the protagonists of Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 respectively. Also, as Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to Silent Hill 1, remaking the former seems less likely without remaking the latter. Could... could both be a possibility here!?

Lastly, there was a supposed claim late last year, about a month after the Silent Hill 2 remake released (so, before confirmation came from Bloober Team that there was more collaboration with Konami) that a Silent Hill 3 remake was in development. This came from a random source with no real credibility it seems, but... given everything else, it may have indeed been real all along. The timeline would match up; Konami saw the success of the remake for Silent Hill 2 and decided to go forth with more.

With the other two titles that aren't remakes also coming, might Konami be using Capcom's strategy of alternating new entries with remakes? (SquareSoft Enix, please join them in this strategy...) Is Silent Hill back?

Personally, I'm excited. While Silent Hill 2 is the better entry, my favorite was Silent Hill 3, and I loved Silent Hill 4: The Room despite its flaws. I'd love to see that remade too eventually, because it had a great concept but stands to improve the most from better execution and some changes. Silent Hill f looks promising too. Typically set in America, this one is in the recent past of Japan. I'm getting Fatal Frame series vibes from its setting and I'm excited for it. (Also, Silent Hill: Homecoming wasn't great... but besides the strange insert of Pyramid Head, I thought the story was fine and I consider it the best non-Team Silent developed entry before the recent revival.)

Anyone else here follow the series?

 

[Klemc]

I loved first, 12 times in 1999 on PsX...

... i liked third and didn't know it was tied to first in the first place.

I hate fourth, also second because i feel nothing while playing it (bland, the worst if there was not fourth that's not to be compared to any videogame tho) and it's been exact same feeling with remaki lol.

Five is good, not on the same exact tone, i won't want even play the XboX one btw looks bad overhaul in all aspects.

I hope the F will be something, and next remakes will be 1-3.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I played Silent Hill 3 before playing the original, so I missed out on context since it is a sequel of it. While Silent Hill 3 still "works" on its own, you'll be missing a lot of context and back story (and it makes the part I won't say in the middle of the game lose some impact if you haven't played the original).

Silent Hill 4: The Room was definitely disliked in its day, despite being developed by the original team. It's one of those games that people seem to have warmed up to over the years, but I always liked it back then. Not as much as 2 or 3, but it was alright. The execution didn't land perfectly, namely...

Spoiler

The second half of the game becoming an "escort Eileen through the same levels you've already been through for passing, and oh, there's some unkillable ghosts now"

...Were the common complaints I noticed, but I thought the story was great. And the whole room concept...

Spoiler

That slowly haunts more and more over the course of the game

...Was also fantastic. So it would make a great candidate for a remake specifically because the material is great and it just had some execution flaws. The later revisit/escort portion needed to be shorter, and in turn, expand the locations and have the initial time through them longer (that way it's not merely cutting content out of the game).

But I think a remake of 4 before 1 or 3 is unlikely, so those who don't care about 4 probably don't need to worry much yet. And there's non-remakes coming so there's a ton of alternative entries.

See, that's the good thing about what Capcom and seemingly now Konami is/might be doing. By remaking entries as well as making new ones, and doing it at a reasonable pace, if a single entry isn't that good, it doesn't sour fans as much. This is why, say, Final Fantasy VIII being disliked in its day wasn't hated as much. It still had its fans, and people had IX, X, and XI coming which were all different. Instead of trying to please as much people all of the time, they put out more releases faster and made them more unique back then. So while a certain entry might not hit it off with you, there was a chance at least one or even many would. But modern Square Enix is putting them out at such a low rate, and the remakes they do put out feel so changed that they may as well be new games, that it means unless you really like what they are making, you feel like they have nothing to offer. So I applaud what Capcom/Konami is doing and would love to see Square Enix move more in that direction too (for example, the pixel remasters were great, and so was/likely will be the Dragon Quest I through III remakes, so more remakes/remasters and smaller scale/faster development main line titles would get them there).

 

[Klemc]

i will put all my hopes in SH F.

Because it's Jap in arts, and it will be different.

Since you talked about fourth, i liked as much as it's possible the Cynthia's encounter video, and have it in my YT btw:

Dream:

For the music (OST of SH are good):

 

[Hyderz]

i just watched the trailer.... i mean its just a teaser... mixed feelings tbh but here are my thoughts
the title says silent hill but its doesnt feel like silent hill?
it looks like a high budget japanese horror game and it looks decent enough but some parts looks kinda generic?
i guess konami is trying out different take on their franchises to new direction but i am not feeling it...
there is no connection to Silent hill at all if ya ask me... but i enjoyed silent hill, i will end up trying this at some point

 

[Onasi]

Silent Hill f looks interesting, even though it probably won’t be much of a SH game. I like Higurashi, so I am interested. Butbother than that - just let the series die. The worst mistake on the part of Konami was thinking that a series that basically said already what was there to be said artistically needs to be a Resident Evil-esque drawn out franchise.

 

[Princess Garnet]

i just watched the trailer.... i mean its just a teaser... mixed feelings tbh but here are my thoughts
the title says silent hill but its doesnt feel like silent hill?
it looks like a high budget japanese horror game and it looks decent enough but some parts looks kinda generic?
i guess konami is trying out different take on their franchises to new direction but i am not feeling it...
there is no connection to Silent hill at all if ya ask me... but i enjoyed silent hill, i will end up trying this at some point

Did you watch one of the trailers or the transmission thingy?

It's definitely different, and they talk about this. They say it's the first Silent Hill in the series that is set in Japan, and that's a big part of the reason it's different. Traditionally, Silent Hill was the town by that name, but they also talk about how there's more things that define the series than a town, such as how it's about battling one's own demons or there being a mirror or other world. They talk about how Silent Hill was originally a blend of Western and Japanese horror, but how the latter was fading over the course of the series, so they wanted to try and go the other way with that. And honestly, I'm excited. One of the biggest complaints of fans of the series is that somewhere between 4 and Homecoming (5), that was starting to fade. The developers of Homecoming just inserted pyramid head for its iconic aspect and that ruined it because they didn't understand what the series was supposed to be about (Pyramid Head was specifically James' monster). Silent Hill was often called "psychological horror" compared to Resident Evil being "survival horror", and this was part of that difference. If they bring that back, sign me up. And if it's a new setting instead of Silent Hill? Honestly, Japan sounds ripe for a good setting for the series. They also talk about how Japanese horror sometimes uses the theme of horror in beauty, and that is a big approach they are going for here.

The new things I'm seeing are a Japanese location, and whatever those flowers/fungus/vein vines are... but none of that makes it not feel like Silent Hill to me. I still see the fog and other world and it still looks to be about battling monsters themes after whatever your struggle is. They even say the "player is confused/left in the dark until a later reveal, and then things will make more sense" will be there, which many past entries had. This one seems like it will involve betrayal of friends maybe.

In other words, yes, it won't be in the town itself and there will be new things, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Silent Hill f looks interesting, even though it probably won’t be much of a SH game. I like Higurashi, so I am interested. Butbother than that - just let the series die. The worst mistake on the part of Konami was thinking that a series that basically said already what was there to be said artistically needs to be a Resident Evil-esque drawn out franchise.

"Just let the series die" sounds like it's been there but dead all along. The series hasn't been alive in over a decade, and the last handful of entries before that were "there but dead". The whole point of this is to bring it back.

They're basically doing what Capcom did with Resident Evil. The latter entries starting with 4 became something different, and while most people liked 4, 5 and 6 were... bad. So Capcom tried something new with 7 and resorted to also bringing back remakes of the first few entries. And it's worked. Konami might be trying the same here and I say let them have at it. I didn't like Resident Evil 7 or 8 (Village) as much as the remakes of the originals, but that's fine by me. I think they improved on what they were doing before, and I did like the remakes. If I feel the same of what Capcom's doing, that's still better to me than "no more Silent Hill". But I think I like the looks of Silent Hill f anyway so I think I'll like it all. No idea about how Townfall will be though... (is this even a game or the movie?)

Also, I disagree on the last statement. With Resident Evil, I agree that the story felt said and the rest drew it out. or rather, I'd be fine if it was merely drawn out, but it drew it out and continued with a bad story. Silent Hill isn't really telling a singular story, per se. Sure, 1 and 3 are sequels and the town is a typically repeat setting, but each entry is a characters' own struggle. The story is personal and internal rather than a large, external overarching one. There's infinite possibilities for new stories.

 

[Onasi]

Also, I disagree on the last statement. With Resident Evil, I agree that the story felt said and the rest drew it out. or rather, I'd be fine if it was merely drawn out, but it drew it out and continued with a bad story. Silent Hill isn't really telling a singular story, per se. Sure, 1 and 3 are sequels and the town is a typically repeat setting, but each entry is a characters' own struggle. The story is personal and internal rather than a large, external overarching one. There's infinite possibilities for new stories.

I think you misunderstood me. I meant it the other way around. RE is pure shlock about bioweapons, maniacal villains, combat data and other silly stuff like that. It can, essentially, go on forever - just change the style of said shlock once in a while and you are golden. Which is what Capcom did several times now quite successfully. The characters and the plots are, really, almost incidental. 7, even without direct plot ties to Umbrella/Spencer and a cameo from Chris, would still pass as a Resi just fine. Silent Hill is just… less of a franchise and more of a mood, a very specific one, very dependent on particulars. Sure, the stories of the initial three/four (depends on how one views The Room) were related directly only with 1 to 3, but it was a thematically consistent series and, more importantly, it held on to that ever elusive SH mood. Since then, nothing really managed to do so. The western games mostly either tried cargo cult copying, which failed due to the developers doing said copying seemingly failing to understand on any level but the most surface one what they were ACTUALLY copying, or they just used Silent Hill as a backdrop setting for something completely different, like the meme that is Book of Shadows or an actually semi-interesting experiment of Shattered Memories. Origin, Homecoming and Downpour are all in the mindless cargo cult category. Suppose so is the remake, but it’s a remake, so that goes without saying. As I said, I like what I hear about f, I just have no idea how it’s a Silent Hill game except for Konami banking on name recognition. Not being set in SH or tied to it is kind of a big deal, the town itself is as much a character as anyone else. We’ll see. I personally feel that SHf might end up a pretty decent game that could have been called anything else and it would make no difference to its core and identity.

 

[Klemc]

But Silent Hill's phenomenon had never been told to be unique to the town, it's just games that kept this setting, first and third being same characters (daughter & parents) so it makes sense... but second is another story about different characters in the same town which started to close the phenomenon to there (in SH) and also because it's the game's name btw.

After that Konami could have set the phenomenon to be in another place and time, but never did (fourth, fifth, downpour, origins... all in SH town).

F looks fascinating.

I never known the origins story, so i'm perhaps wrong, it's a SH town phenomenon only, but i doubt there is such explanation.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I think you misunderstood me.

Maybe?

To clarify, everything you're mentioning about the series having lost its way since Team Silent stopped developing them isn't what I'm I disagreeing with. Most fans hold this opinion, and that includes myself. Konami expressed this same thing in their recent transmission.

My disagreement lays in your final statement that it was Konami's biggest mistake to continue the series "because what was said is all that ever needed to be said". That read to me as "there was no more room for additional stories". Later entries not being as good doesn't mean there wasn't room for more stories; it just means those later entries weren't as good.

Something like Resident Evil has a larger overarching story connecting different incidents, and each entry in the series is different vantages of different people struggling to survive those incidents.

By contrast, while Silent Hill is a place with its own history, events, and lore, its entries tend to focus not on an overarching story but rather on the phenomenon that some experiences due to their inner demons, struggles, turmoil, repressed memories, and so on.

So something like Silent Hill has more room for multiple entries and new stories, not less. If anything has been dragged on, it's Resident Evil. I personally feel like the entries for the Spencer mansion and Raccoon City incidents told everything that needed to be told (so this is basically 1 through 3, though 0 and Code Veronica were also "fine"), and that all of the entries beyond that (so, starting with 4) weren't as good. But that doesn't mean I think there wasn't any room for exploring the Resident Evil universe further; it just means I didn't like the way those particular entries did it. And just like Capcom eventually realized "lets revisit our approach" starting with VII, Konami seems to be doing that with Silent Hill f. So I'm kind of saying "let's give them a chance and see".

 

[Fokker]

The trailer for Silent Hill f looks interesting, but it doesn't feel like a Silent Hill game judging by that trailer.

 

[Vayra86]

Ill say this about Silent Hill...

It is hands down the most interesting horror franchise Ive come across. Playing SH2 recently was like a throwback to the PS2 days and the slow pace combined with the constantly 'pulsing' moments of tension and the puzzle elements alongside it, is just a conceptual smash hit. The same thing applies to the very limited resources, pick your battles idea in it. It just all strenghtens each other.

Saw the teaser and it avoids the 'oh another SH' vibe and instead shows how much its core concept lives on another plane entirely than the fog and the usual town. Silent Hill is like someone else posted, more of a 'mood' than a game. You just step into it and shit happens; you know its happening, it feels like sheer terror and tension and yet, theres barely anything going on.

Maybe the term here is 'sophisticated horror'.

 

[leeamtheone]

The trailer for Silent Hill f looks interesting, but it doesn't feel like a Silent Hill game judging by that trailer.

I am under that impression too but I do like it and am very interested. SH2 remains the best game I've ever played to this day so I understand my expectations/standards/impressions about anything related to this franchise are just ... very specific.

 

[Artas1984]

PC master race here. Recently, within 6 last months, i went through Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition (2 times), Silent Hill 3 (1 time) and Silent Hill 2 Remake (4 times). The old games i played like 20 years ago, that's why i have returned to this franchise when the new Silent Hill 2 Remake was released. Silent Hill 4 i played in 2004 and then a decade later. I want to replay Silent Hill 1 again naturally, but i've been aware and ''afraid'' of the bug, that has been talked about in the internet - the missing ammo bug. I've encountered this in Silent Hill 3 - and since the worm boss battle i literally had to finish the game on hard mode with melee weapons only. While this was manageable and even fun, i am not sure if i can do this in Silent Hill 1. Can anybody comment on this?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Silent Hill will always be one of the most memorable games to me I Liked 2 and 3 but after that not so much.

Just for context I was 15 when the first one came out I won't spoil it but the beginning of that game is so awesome I was pretty freaked out lol.

PSX was like the golden age for Survival horror games though. Although I would say Alone in the Dark probably pioneered the 3D survival horror genre in 1992 on PC although it was much less dark than the PSX Survival horror genre that was the gift that kept on giving.

 

[Vayra86]

Silent Hill will always be one of the most memorable games to me I Liked 2 and 3 but after that not so much.

Just for context I was 15 when the first one came out I won't spoil it but the beginning of that game is so awesome I was pretty freaked out lol.

PSX was like the golden age for Survival horror games though. Although I would say Alone in the Dark probably pioneered the 3D survival horror genre in 1992 on PC although it was much less dark than the PSX Survival horror genre that was the gift that kept on giving.

Silent Hill 3 on long summer evenings/nights together with a mate back then were stupidly scary. We were so into it that we didnt even notice the room got dark because it turned night but got ever more anxious lol

 

[Princess Garnet]

I want to replay Silent Hill 1 again naturally, but i've been aware and ''afraid'' of the bug, that has been talked about in the internet - the missing ammo bug. I've encountered this in Silent Hill 3 - and since the worm boss battle i literally had to finish the game on hard mode with melee weapons only. While this was manageable and even fun, i am not sure if i can do this in Silent Hill 1. Can anybody comment on this?

I've never heard of this bug. I don't think I ever encountered it in Silent Hill 3.

I would suggest to make backups and keep each save point as its own file. My thinking would be that if the bug exists, there's likely a cause for it, so by keeping each save separate, then if you encounter it, you can always go back to the point before whatever caused it to continue.

 

[Artas1984]

So i have just finished SH1 after two dozen years for the second time (on hard mode for the first time) and i am glad to say i have not encountered the bug with the missing ammo (a correction should be noted - ammo does not disappear in SH3, it is present and interactive, but once you take - you actually get nothing). I found out that Silent Hill 1 seemed to be the hardest game to beat on hard mode among the original 4 by a slight margin. I forgot how awesome it was, but with minor flaws as well.

Now, i do not know what kind of version people are playing on PC, since this is abandonware, but this is what i have played:

It is some kind of tweaked version by team silentscape that adds an extra "1.2.1" patch on top of the the original 1.1 patch. I can recommend this. The game did not have any bugs, except lags in some places with particle effects. Custom keyboard controls were available to adjust with this version.