Konami has confirmed that it's currently looking into the best way of delivering a new entry in the Silent Hill franchise. This comes hot on the heels of some fairly juicy reports that suggest there's not one, but two Silent Hill games in development at the moment. While Konami didn't outright respond to these rumours, the timing of its little announcement is certainly suspect.
"We cannot share anything at this point, but we are listening to customer feedback and considering ways to provide the next title," a Konami representative told PCGamesN. Admittedly, that doesn't really give anything away... but it's the first time Konami has really acknowledged the future of the survival horror franchise since Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's attempt at rebooting the series with 2014's P.T./Silent Hills ended in tears. My tears, mostly.
If we don't count P.T. (Konami would almost certainly rather we didn't), then the last official game in the series was 2012's Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Unfortunately, that particular game was really quite poorly received, and a seriously sub-par place to leave such a beloved franchise. Isn't it high time we had a new entry to wash away that bad taste? Yes. Yes, it is.
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The rumours that first surfaced last week certainly give me cause to be hopeful that at least one new Silent Hill game is on the horizon. According to AestheticGamer, who's accurately leaked Resident Evil info in the past. Konami is planning a soft-reboot of the franchise, as well as a Telltale/Until Dawn-style spinoff.
AestheticGamer also suggested that there's "high chance" that one or both of these titles might be revealed this year, but we'll have to wait and see. These claims were soon backed up by RelyOnHorror, which claims to have heard from its own independent source that at least one Silent Hill game is indeed currently in development at Konami.
It's been a while since I've left myself get excited about Silent Hill, what with Konami being Konami and all. But these rumours, coupled with Konami's own sly admission that it might have something in the works, is the most we've had to go on in years.
There's also the fact that Masahiro Ito, one of the chief creative forces behind Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, recently started work on a new game. It's worth noting that there's nothing to suggest Ito is working on a new Silent Hill, or even that he's working with Konami, but I can't help but feel things are starting to come together.
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My own, completely speculative theory, is that Konami has seen the massive commercial success Capcom has had with the Resident Evil 2 remake, and now wants to revive its own survival horror IP in a similar vein. I guess we'll find out soon enough, but if Konami really is listening to the fans, then it'll be aware a new Silent Hill is at the top of our wishlist.
Featured Image Credit: KonamiTopics: Konami, Silent Hill