Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor 

nuc5002@psu.edu 

Photo Credit: NeoBards Entertainment / Konami

Is it not always great when a classic rises back from the grave in outstanding fashion? Seeing something that you once saw as dead roar back to life and show that it is ready to come back fold. The case in question: “Silent Hill.” 

“Silent Hill,” a video game series released by Japanese publisher Konami, has lain dormant for over a decade now. While one game, “Silent Hills,” was teased in 2014 with the iconic “P.T.,” the leaving of Hideo Kojima, the game’s director, led to the cancellation of the highly anticipated project. Cut to eight years later and we are now finally hearing back from this classic game series. On October 19, Konami held a transmission set only around “Silent Hill,” the first broadcast of this variety for the game series. 

The announcements included four games and one film, showing that Konami was back to fully supporting this once-dormant game series. The biggest game announcement out of the four is the upcoming remake of “Silent Hill 2.” For the layman, “2” is considered by many to be the best game in the franchise, if not one of the greatest video games of all time. With that being said, the classic has been showing its age, being over 20 years old now. This remake, led by the team behind the series “Layers of Fear,” seems like it will assist “Silent Hill 2” in continuing to live on. While no release date has been announced thus far, it has been noted that the game will be coming to Playstation and Steam. 

Outside of the “2” remake, the three other new games seem to continue “Silent Hill’’’s atmospheric roots. “Townfall,” is the game with the least known about. The game’s teaser trailer consists of surreal imagery and the detail that the studio No Code was developing the game. Similar in its vagueness was the trailer to “Silent Hill f.” In the trailer, a frightening scene shows a character, likely the protagonist, who is claimed by flowering plants and turned into a living garden. While we know that the game is being developed by NeoBards Entertainment, no release date is provided. 

The most relatively different game from the rest is “Ascension.” From what can be seen from the trailer, it appears that the game is a live, interactive story that has players making decisions and choices that impact the story. It appears that multiple stories will be available, each with a different demon acting as the antagonist. At the time of writing, this game is set for a 2023 release date. 

Video games aside, the most surprising announcement was for “Return to Silent Hill.” The film is set to be directed by Christophe Gans, who directed the original 2006 “Silent Hill” film. Based on the trailer, it appears that the story will be disconnected from the first film and feature the iconic Pyramid Head character from “Silent Hill 2” as the main antagonist. Like most games announced, this film does not have a concrete release date. 

In less than an hour, Konami revived “Silent Hill” from a decade-long hiatus with the announcement of five new projects. While a majority of them do not have release dates, it is a sight to see this classic series finally returning for new and old fans alike.