Silent Hill Gets More Games – Good or Bad for Fans of the Franchise?

Konami announces a partnership with Bloober Team, the studio behind the horror game The Medium, but it could be a double-edged sword for the Silent Hill franchise.

The last Silent Hill game on the market appeared back in 2012. It was Silent Hill: Downpour, a game that was a partial success, but even then it was clear that Konami had strayed far from what the franchise had become in the early 2000s. After that, in 2014, we got a demo, i.e. “Playable Teaser” or a playful introduction to what we hoped would be the new Silent Hill – P.T. But after the vicissitudes and all that arose between Hideo Kojima and Konami, P.T. has been extinguished, as has any hope that in 2015 we will get a new Silent Hill. However, that could soon change…

Konami Began a Secret Collaboration With Bloober Team

Konami, the studio behind the cult, classic Silent Hill gaming franchise, confirms the start of a collaboration with a development team called Bloober Team and that it is a secret project, which could reportedly include not one but several new Silent Hill games. Fans believe Bloober Team could take the baton once held by Climax Studios and Team Silent. But is that a positive or negative thing for Silent Hill? Well, there are reasons for concern.

Some speculation about the new content of Silent Hill began back in July 2020, when the official Silent Hill Twitter account was created, on which new, hitherto unseen materials and photos were subsequently posted. Following these speculations came rumors that Konami and SIE Japan Studio were working together, and those rumors started again after the announcement of the partnership between Konami and Bloober Team. But before we start looking forward to seeing new Silent Hill games soon, let’s go back in time a bit and take a look at how things have gone so far. After 2012 and Downpour, many thought there was no hope for Silent Hill. And then a glimmer of hope appeared with P.T. But even that glimmer of hope is extinguished.

The Recent History of Silent Hill Gives Franchise Fans Cause for Concern

Konami then tried to ‘mitigate the damage’ that occurred to Silent Hill’s Twitter account, apologizing to fans for heating up their hopes for something new that might come in terms of the franchise. This was a particularly big disappointment for fans after the cancellation of the Silent Hills game, which was due to hit the market in 2015. An abandoned project shared by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro led a large number of fans to question whether Konami would ever make a Silent Hill game again (or is it cheaper and more cost-effective, at least for Konami, to have Pachinko machines).

Fans have started speculating that the Silent Hill games have been ongoing since Konami announced a partnership with the Bloober Team studio, the studio behind the exclusive horror game for the Xbox Series X / S, The Medium. None of the developers mentioned the franchise when talking about their project, but CEO Piotr Babieno said in an interview before all this that he was working on IP in the horror genre “with a very famous developer,” which is now seemingly confirmed to be Konami.

Why Could All This Be Good for Both the Franchise and the Fans of the Series?

This is good news for several reasons. The first is that Konami could start changing directions in terms of outsourcing its franchises. Bloober Team’s horror game The Medium has been praised primarily for its visual impressions, meaning future Silent Hills could go through equally. If Bloober Team is reportedly working on two games, it may take a long time to wait for any actual content.

However, if we had to wait up to two years for new games, it would not be a problem, provided that those games would be of good quality (in the Silent Hill sense), not just in the graphics one. Further speculation and online research by fans revealed that the original developers of Silent Hill (i.e. the boys and girls from Team Silent) could be involved in making these new games.

This is just a rumor, but some indications are that it could be true, given that the creator of the famous Silent Hill sounds and songs, which gave us goosebumps, Akira Yamaoka commented on it how he was collaborating with Bloober Team on a new project, which could be another indication that Konami is indeed preparing new Silent Hill games. Or at least one.

Why Could All These Plans Fail Ingloriously?

Konami doesn’t have a very good relationship with fans of the Silent Hill franchise. After the cancellation of the Silent Hills game, the dismissal of Hideo Kojima, and the complete shutdown of the SH franchise, there is little to say that fans were left disappointed. But if the rumors are true and if Bloober Team is really working on more SH games, it means only one thing: Konami has accelerated the whole process a lot, and speeding up a game is never a good thing (let’s all recall the remake of Resident Evil 3, which has appeared on the market last year and which ‘ripped money’ from the fans by Capcom.

Better making one but valuable game, even if it is necessary to wait two years for it, than two (or God forbid more) games in a year. Quality, after all, is more important than quantity. Let’s hope that Konami started to be aware of that too.

It is still completely unknown on which projects Konami and Bloober Team have partnered up. While there are comments by Babieno saying fans will be excited after the release, that doesn’t guarantee this will be a new Silent Hill game. Maybe we will just get some new game, which will be created in collaboration between Konami and Bloober Team. But in every fan of the Silent Hill franchise, there is undoubtedly still a glimmer of hope that they will get the Silent Hill game – which might not be as popular for betting at online bookmakers featuring the most-used payment methods as some other games (CS: GO, Dota 2…) – and that some new adventures will await them in this mysterious fog-shrouded town.