There’s no end to the Silent Hill rumours. For over a couple of years, we’ve been hearing that Konami is gearing up to bring the beloved survival horror series back with a bang, with multiple projects in development across multiple studios. A number of developers have been linked with the same, and recently, when new screenshots of a first person Silent Hill title were leaked (you can view high-res versions of those images through here), those leaks came back with a vengeance.
Now, a new report by VGC – who’ve previously leaked alleged information on the Silent Hill revival in the past – claims that there could be as many as three separate Silent Hill projects in development. Meanwhile, journalist Jeff Grubb has said over on Twitter that the details match up with what he’s head as well.
One of these is a new mainline entry in the series, though it’s unknown which studio is working on the game (past reports from different sources have claimed that Kojima Productions is attached to this project). Whatever the studio in charge of the project is, VGC states it’s a “prominent” Japanese developer, which lines up with previous leaks.
VGC’s report claims that the aforementioned recently leaked screenshots were from a PT-style first person teaser game codenamed Sakura. Allegedly, the game will launch as a free digital title in an effort to build up hype and anticipation surrounding upcoming Silent Hill releases, though there’s no word on when it will launch, or even be officially revealed.
The second project that’s allegedly in development is a remake of Silent Hill 2, which was recently reported by insider NateTheHate. Similar to what was stated in that leak, the VGC report claims that the remake will have reworked AI, animations, and puzzles, along with new endings, while the game could also be a timed console exclusive for PlayStation.
The project is allegedly being developed by Bloober Team, developer of The Medium, Observer, Layers of Fear, and more. In early 2021, the Polish studio it was working on “a new big project”, and that it was working with “a very famous publisher”, following with it was announced that Bloober Team and Konami had signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
The third and final project that’s supposedly part of this grand revival is an episodic series of short stories with gameplay similar to Until Dawn. Indie publisher Annapurna Interactive could possibly be involved in this project, though it’s possible that it was simply one of many to pitch to Konami and did not make it past that stage.
As for when one or all of these games could be unveiled, that remains to be seen. Supposedly, Konami planned on making announcements at E3 last year, but those plans were pushed back (according to another recent report, that may have been due to COVID). Interestingly, shortly before E3 last year, Konami said that while it wouldn’t be at the event, it was “in deep development of a number of key projects.”
Leaks have also claimed that new Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania games are also in the works, so when it comes to revivals of dormant Konami franchises, there’s plenty of smoke. Where the former is concerned, it seems that Singapore-based studio Virtuous is developing a ground-up remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
