Things aren't looking good for Silent Hill, huh?

 

Silent Hill is a franchise about trauma manifesting in ugly and tormenting ways, and whether or not we can redeem ourselves or ultimately succumb to the demons of our own creation. Which I guess in many ways sums up Konami's surprise return to game development after the absolute sin of killing off the Metal Gear Franchise in favour of a zombie survival game trainwreck. It has been Silent Hill that the company announced their return from the land of Pachinko's with, and though I can't imagine in a thousand years why they want to step away from the sure-fire world of exploiting people with gambling addictions to eek back into the high risk world of expensive video game development- this is the world we're in and the Silent Hill revival is the litmus test for how that process is going. And for that case- how exactly is the Silent Hill revival going?

Well, there was the Silent Hill 2 remake by Bloober team- an absolute sure-fire way to announce the franchise is back given the cult classic status of that original thriller which shocked the entire horror space and changed that genre of games forever. That remake looks a little ropey, but how bad can going back to your roots really end up? I mean Resident Evil has turned it into a fine art over the past few years, EA shut me the hell up with all the side-eye I was giving Dead Space, and Square have pretty much turned their remake of Final Fantasy 7 into the next phase of that franchise for the foreseeable future. And with all that strategically placed on the table by me- allow me to kick out the legs by announcing that people are seriously reconsidering what slight praise Bloober earned out of them for taking on the project and it's looking like another mess.

A recent combat-centric trailer released for the game showcasing one of the weakest aspects of the Silent Hill franchise- monster fighting. Which makes sense given the fact that the player isn't really supposed to kill their way through Silent Hill- but this was a combat trailer so I guess this remake had some interesting work to show. And you know what- had this released a decade and a half ago it would be mightily impressive. Right now, it looks clumsy, messy, boring and uninspired. Resident Evil 4 Remake fans practically weep at the sight of James wrestling in a mad grapple against a monster- with no arms. But the big problem is that... well... Silent Hill isn't really a franchise where a 'combat trailer' would make sense at all. It's about atmosphere and mystery puzzle solving- so advertising material like this kind of makes it seem like the franchise owners don't really understand the property they're working with. The Bloober team insist the trailer was put together by Konami, not them- but that just heightens my unease and supports my grim theory.

Of course, I didn't really need that combat trailer to form doubts about Konami's viability as 'the parent who stepped up for Silent Hill'. Not when Silent Hill Ascension already exists! An attempt to turn Silent Hill into a multiple choice watch-along TV show with audience participation- Ascension practically had 'disaster' written across it's face from the very day it was announced. And now it's out? Yeah, it was as bad as we thought. The microtransaction ridden watching experience was regularly marred by bad cameos from audience member characters haphazardly shoved into scenes, ungodly unnatural lines read by actors who sound starved for an in-booth vocal coach and a reportedly lacklustre narrative that does a disservice to the integrity of the franchise. Oh, but to it's credit the game did give birth the hilariously out-of-touch official rainbow emote joyously announcing 'it's Trauma!'- and that is objectively the funniest thing to come out of this franchise.

But at least there's the small free game Silent Hill: The Short Message to keep everyone's spirits up, right? (Good god, how many Silent Hill projects did Konami greenlight?) This one actually jumped up out of nowhere whilst I was busy with other things and so I didn't even realise it was out- of course I had no reason to keep up with the game's release now finding out that's it's a Playstation exclusive for some insane reason. (The game is free! Why buy it's exclusivity?) There are actually some quite distinct opinions on this game, with some thinking it's actually pretty good- although those more familiar with the franchise, and coincidentally more jaded, seem to think that 'goodness' is only apparent in relation to everything else that the franchise has been spitting out of late.

The Short Message appears to be an attempt to capitalise on the kind of fan which was brought into the franchise back when 'Silent Hills' was first teased through PT; but doing so in a manner that lacks the revolutionary appeal of that frank classic. It's a bit generic, but not bad. Which for modern Silent Hill might as well be calling it the next Metal Gear Solid 3. But most importantly, Silent Hill: The Message is not a full game. It's more akin to an experience, and therefore it is not enough to reinforce the public against the current trajectory of the franchise. That lies in the hands of the two major projects currently in development which are becoming more and more worrisome as everything around them peels and rots in fast motion.

Right now the only thing we have on the horizon for the Silent Hill franchise totally lacking in the shade thrown at the rest of the franchise is 'Silent Hill F' which from the gameplay-free reveal trailer looks to be unnerving and original in way this franchise hasn't enjoyed for over a decade. I know that the writer of the project has quite some renown for his work- so we have a bit of talent attached to the project- but with everything around the game either in flames or showing signs of smoke- what are the chances that F is really going to be the one exception? I'm going for low marks- but I really hope I'm wrong. I would love a brand new kick-ass Japanese horror game to slap me around so hard that I never finish it because I don't actually like being scared too much.

So there is Konami's grand return to the Video Market by the Piliferous Pachinko Purveyors themselves, and considering all that time they spent developing solely for that market- no wonder they've lost their touch! As part of polishing off Yakuza 7 I've finally had a chance to try out a virtual simulation of those machines for myself and I have to say- they're bloody boring! Konami have forgotten how quality control works in the game market and though their projects appear to headed in an upwards trajectory to the point that Silent Hill F might be worth the time to actually load into a console- it's going to be a long time before they're treated in anyway seriously within this market again. Maybe it's best they just cut their losses. And sell their franchises! I cannot stress that last part enough! Please be sure to flog off Metal Gear before the next time you go out for milk, Papa Konami!

So Silent Hill is back.

 And it's gone on vacation!

I'm not going to mince words; Silent Hill was dead for a very long time under the purview of professional franchise-ruiners; Konami. The people who seem so uninvested in the process of video game creation it's been a wonder that they haven't prostrated themselves in front of any of the trigger-happy company purchasers during the spate of recent buyouts. (I wonder if there's some behind-the-scenes offers they've been making around some of the big boys.) Konami have been spending their fan credits with speculative abandon on quite literally anything that captures their singular fancy, including Pachinko gambling machines and NFTs. I've been guessing for months now that the team have been building up to a quick u-turn out of gaming for good. But it would seem that I either am standing here with massive egg on my face, or Konami weren't able to summon up enough escape funds in time because he we are in the middle of a self-confessed Silent Hill revival.

Of course if you've had literally any ear-to-the-ground in the industry, or just have google geared your news feed towards gaming in the slightest, you've probably been drowning in rumours regarding everyone who has been working on Silent Hill projects. Well it seems we're just capped off the end of Daggerfall because quite literally all the endings are true at the same time; everyone who was said to be working on a Silent Hill product is indeed working on one, and despite being checked out of gaming for the better part of the past 4 years or so; Konami are still leakier than the roof of a Waffle House. (A little Waffle House humour for you there... not sure how many people go to Waffle House...) Luckily, I was lazy enough not to cover these rumours else I would have end up saying something woefully poorly aged like 'Konami can't find their head out of their assess, let alone commission four games simultaneously!'

But here we have, kicking off the announcements, a remake that is sure to be one of Bloober Team's most challenging to date. Especially since they're known to be one of the most successful mediocre horror game developers currently working. But I suppose we have yet to see them tackle the gruelling work of remastering a classic and brining it back to life in stunning detail that will capture every aspect of the original and bring more richness to the graphical fidelity without doing something weird and adding aprons over all the gory bodies or something. (Seriously, what is the Dead Space Remake doing?) But Silent Hill 2 is one of the those games that makes you question whether it even can be remade. The perfectly off-kilter pacing and jarring performance delivery matched with thick white fog that was invented to circumvent engine limitations but weaponised into one of the most iconic gaming features of all time. And then, of course, you have the iconically twisted monstrosities all designed around a psychological evaluation of the protagonist's guilt. The best of the franchise is all there, and a lot of it seems untouchable.

But to Bloober Team's credit, they seem to have nailed everything; even the voice acting! I really thought their pride would prevent them from going with such haunting, yet blank, performances but right now I honestly can't tell if lines are rerecorded with new actors or just digitally enhanced from the original; and that's a good confusion to have when talking a remake of a classic! The visuals look stunning too, with Bloober team seeming to have, at least in these curated snippets of gameplay, nailed the look of the fog. My only issue is that the fog seems not to be as consuming as the original, and I wonder if creatures will be able to spawn out in that 'uncomfortably close but not directly on top of you' distance which the original nailed so well. It's just a big question of taste and tweaks which will be quite honestly impossible to judge until it all comes together. And even then the majority of the world will have to wait another year at least after launch, because Playstation executives are greedy scumbags and I hate them.

There is also a movie on the horizon and, before you groan, it's actually by the same producer as the first Silent Hill move which was... not awful. The real problem with the original movie was that it borrowed the imagery of Silent Hill and removed it from the contextual and psychological significance. Why adapt the bubblehead nurses if they're not representing the main character's guilt of his subconscious fetishization of the nursing staff working at the hospital his wife was dying in? (Wow, that is a weird sentence; I really have missed this series. ) And why resummon Pyramid Head if he isn't representative of... actually I've never quite been able to nail the significance of the Pyramid. I assume he's a representation of James and the... way that he locks his mind away from the crime he committed? Nah, that's weak as heck; I truly don't know. The point is the movie is getting a sequel and I'm cautiously optimistic about it. I know that this series revival is being spurred by this new movie, so I hope it's good enough to justify all this hubbub.

And there's also a... very unclear community style horror game with a cool new main monster, I like the design. As far as I can tell, and I'm putting together context clues here; this is going to be an interactive visual show where people online will vote for events to happen and thus influence the events as they unfold. Kind of like the exact inverse of Defiance, a TV Show that actively influenced the world of a subsequent MMO of the same name. This is going to be a show that people themselves change as a collective so they have a chance to, in the words of the creators, "influence Silent Hill canon." Which is quite the prize in an anthology series that contains next to no continuous canon. It looks weird, I'm not sure about it.

Then there was another game, a live action something, who cares; the real kicker was Silent Hill F; oh my god it looks insane! The very first Silent Hill not set in that sleepy ghost town but instead brought to rural Japan, I've said before how well Japanese nowhere towns and American nowhere towns substitute for one another. The teaser trailer we got was creatively gorgeous in all the most unnerving ways, with blossoming red fauna that spider-webs after our new school-girl protagonist like veins under the skin, to the deliciously haunting visual of a girl being entombed in billowing mushroom growths up her entire body and over her head until her face literally peels off. Richly visual, refreshingly striking, everything you want in a new Silent Hill product. I want it, so bad. Those in the know have also praised the name of the man writing for Silent Hill F, saying he is something of an auteur in the Virtual Novel space; which actually makes me a bit nervous as some the Japanese VN's I've read are incredible works of narrative art and if this man stand out even amidst them- then this game might be shaping up towards giving me some mad inferiority complexes.  

As far as reviving a dead series goes, I'd call this perhaps the most solid showing that Konami could have mustered. Offering a remake for old fans and an incredible visual treat of a teaser for the ever curious, mixed with a bunch of filler for niche folks to latch onto. I'm not sure if Silent Hill needs to be a franchise of content into of itself, it seems like every one is trying to do that nowadays with their properties, as if no one remembers what happened to the Deus ex 'Universe' initiative. (I remember how that crashed and burned.) I just hope that Konami are taking notes for when it comes to their inevitable relaunch of the Metal Gear franchise. Whatever terrible affront you guys want to do upon the Metal Gear Universe next; make sure it comes alongside a remake of Snake Eater and we'll let it slide. Mostly. We'll complain quietly about it.