There was a time when Silent Hill was the biggest name in survival horror video games. The series terrified generations of gamers, and the series continues to inspire developers and horror fans across the globe. However, the series hit a rough patch in the late 2000s. The franchise had a string of mediocre and disappointing entries, and it was apparent that the Silent Hill series needed a new hit to reinvigorate the series. Then, the mysterious, enigmatic, and terrifying P.T. was released for download and breathed new life into the series once more.
When it was released, no one knew that P.T. was essentially a demo for the next Silent Hill game. It was simply a spooky game made by the mysterious 7780s Studio. It was only later, when fans beat the demo, that they learned it was a new entry in the Silent Hill series, called Silent Hills, and P.T. stood for "Playable Teaser." Fans also learned P.T. was helmed by video game legend Hideo Kojima, and film icon Guillermo del Toro would also be working on the game with Norman Reedus starring as the main character. Unfortunately, the game was canceled during Hideo Kojima's unceremonious exit from Konami, and due to Konami's rocky business model in recent years, The Silent Hill series has remained dormant. Now that Konami has announced new entries in the iconic series, can the series escape the legacy that P.T. left behind?
P.T.'s Lasting Impact on Survival Horror
P.T. was merely a demo for what would become a Silent Hill game, and it's unclear how much of that demo would have been a part of Silent Hills. Despite this, P.T. became a successful horror game in itself. It incorporated ideas and themes that few triple-A and indie horror games had tackled, and mechanically, it pushed the horror genre in new directions. Even though it was only a small demo, P.T. changed the genre forever, and several indie games have since tried to recreate P.T.'s success. Despite fans' displeasure with Silent Hills' cancelation, P.T. left a lasting legacy on games and the survival horror genre, which is why the newly announced Silent Hill games have a lot to live up to.
Konami has obviously gone through several controversies since the last Silent Hill game was released, so fans were naturally skeptical when new entries were announced. While each of the Silent Hill games that Konami revealed during the Silent Hill transmission looks extremely promising, it still comes in the shadow of fans' expectations for Silent Hills. Fans have still been uncovering new details about P.T. years after the game was delisted, demonstrating just how well that demo was designed and how much fans love it. It isn't fair to prematurely judge any of the new Silent Hill games, but some slight skepticism is understandable when the last game in the series was a survival horror phenomenon.
Silent Hill Could Still Make a Comeback
Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro are both auteurs and geniuses in their crafts. It would be unfair to compare any new development studio to their previous work because Kojima and del Toro were never able to finish their vision for Silent Hills. Further, the new developers for the games are not Kojima or del Toro, and they never will be, which is good. No one wants a pale imitation of a game that was supposed to release years ago, but a new developer could bring freshly horrifying perspectives to the games. If Silent Hill is going to make a comeback, it has to be with new, diverse, and interesting voices in horror.
The studios tackling the new Silent Hill games may have a lot to live up to, but the developers behind them have impressive pedigrees. Bloober Team, in particular, is working on the remake of Silent Hill 2, and that studio has created great survival horror games like Layers of Fear and The Medium. Silent Hills will likely never see the light of day, but its legend certainly lives on, and hopefully, the developers of the new Silent Hill games will take inspiration from it. Regardless, it's fantastic that new Silent Hill games are coming, and it is always possible Kojima will return to P.T. in the future in some form.