Silent Hills is an upcoming survival horror video game for PlayStation 4. It is the ninth installment of the Silent Hill franchise. It is being developed by Konami Digital Entertainment, and will be published by Konami. It was being directed by Hideo Kojima, with assistance by film director Guillermo del Toro. Actor Norman Reedus will provide motion capture for the yet unnamed protagonist, as well as provide his voice.[1] As of March 2015, Hideo Kojima has postponed development on Silent Hills due to his involvement with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and sources from Konami confirmed that Silent Hills will continue development "with or without Kojima".[2]Silent Hills marks the first Japanese-developed Silent Hill title since Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004).
In September 2012, Konami's president asked Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima to direct the next Silent Hill installment.[3] He accepted the offer with enthusiasm, and development began shortly thereafter in Kojima Productions' Fox Engine.[4]
When asked about the project, Kojima stated:
“
In the past I've mentioned Silent Hill in interviews, and as a result of that the president of Konami rung me up and said he'd like me to make the next Silent Hill. Honestly, I'm kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, so I'm not confident I can do it. At the same time, there's a certain type of horror that only people who are scared of can create, so maybe it's something I can do. That said, I think Silent Hill has a certain atmosphere. I think it has to continue, and I'd love to help it continue, and if I can help by supervising or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect.[5]
An interactive teaser for Silent Hills was released on 12 August 2014 as P.T. (Playable Teaser), marketed as a demo for a horror game by the non-existent 7780s Studio.[6][7] Published on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 4 as a free download,[8][9]P.T. uses a first-person perspective, in contrast to the usual third-person perspective often found in the Silent Hill series, and centers on an unknown protagonist who awakens in a house and experiences supernatural occurrences;[7] the only actions available are walking and zooming as the player character explores the continuously looping corridor.[10] After the player solves the final puzzle, a trailer reveals that it is a "playable teaser" for a new Silent Hill title being directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, with the protagonist portrayed by Norman Reedus.[11] On 1 September 2014, Sony revealed during its pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference that P.T. has been downloaded over a million times.[8]
In an interview, Kojima later mentioned that P.T. was intended to take players at least a week to find the solution and expressed surprise that it was finished on the same day as its release.[7] He chose the corridor as the setting of P.T. instead of "a ruin", because he wanted the teaser to emotionally affect the player regardless of "cultural background".[12] Kojima wanted fear from an inescapable world with very minimal information to affect the player.[12]P.T. received praise from video game journalists. GamesRadar's David Houghton praised it as well-executed, immersive horror and wrote: "By spreading out into the real world, by forcing solutions by way of hearsay, internet whispers, and desperate, rumoured logic, it has become its own urban myth."[13]IGN's Marty Sliva ranked it as an honorable mention on his list of the best video game trailers for 2014,[14] and another reviewer for IGN, Lucy O'Brien, described the game as "the most genuinely frightening interactive experience in recent years."[10]Giant Bomb gave the Best Horror Game award to P.T. in 2014.[15]P.T. won "Scariest Game" at Bloody Disgusting's FEAR Awards.[16]
