Did you know that Piglet, Winnie the Pooh's cowardly pig friend, starred in a kid-friendly version of Resident Evil? Several Twitter/X users are finding out about the existence of 2003's Piglet's Big Game, a surprisi?ngly disturbing kids' game release??d for the PlayStation 2 and the GameCube.

It all started when @jaxonloid shared one of its songs, ominously titled "Foreboding 1", asking why this kids' game has 11 different tracks that sound like they come from a mature horror title, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. In a hilarious coincidence, another Twitter/X user pointed out that Akira Yamaoka sampled the same sound for a song in the recent Silent Hill 2 Remake, which prompted a flurry of memes about how Yamaoka also did the score for Piglet's Big Game.

@jaxonloid's post became viral, and naturally, a lot of peop??le began trying out the game by themselves, only to find out that none of this weirdly foreboding music was accidental. In reality, Piglet's Big Game is basically a kid-friendly version of Resident Evil, complete with fixed camera angles, empty locations and a dark atmosphere that includes elements that feel completely out of place in a Winnie the Pooh adventure. Some of the reactions to this game on Twitter/X have been equally hilarious and fascinating.

Piglet's Big Game's Resident Evil inspiration may be 100% intentional

French developer Doki Denki Studio made Piglet's Big Game, and while there's not much information about it, Philippe Codecco and Guillaume Saurel composed the soundtrack, according to MobyGames. Codecco and Saurel worke??d on other similar Disney games. Now we know who most likely ?made all this weirdly creepy music, but the only question is: Why did they do it?

Piglet's Big Game is actually a loose adaptation of the animated film Piglet's Big Movie, which focuses entirely on Piglet, a character who is famous for being shy and cowardly. Disney often uses him in Winnie the Pooh stories to try and teach kids how to overcome their fears, and Piglet's Big Game was no exception.

The idea of using Resident Evil-like gameplay and dark ambiance to partially scare children in ??order to eventually teach them a lesson is actually quite brilliant, but, truth be told, Doki Denki Studio may have gone too far in a few places. This has resulted in an unexpectedly disturbing game that is baffling adult players, even to this day.

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No one is more relieved to see that the remake of Silent Hill 2 has been nothing short of a major triumph. Well, I suppose developer Bloober Team could be classed as being somewhat more reassured, especially now the ga??me has sold an impressive amount already.

Maybe it's not too surprising, but it certainly vindicates any doubts people may have had prior to launch to see that Silent Hill 2 has sold more than a million copies worldwide. According to a post on the game's?? Japanese X account, it actually exceeds this figure, and the post itself comes with a "thank-you" message to those who've bought and played it so far.

In fact, these numbers are based on research dating October 11. Not only does this mean that SH2 s??old a whopping amount in just a f??ew days (it launched on October 8), but given we're now on the 17th, no doubt it's sold even more.

Take that, doubters

Bloober seemed very much up against it, particularly with its past reputation of not exactly treating themes of mental illness with great sensitivity. Now, though, any concerns about whether the studio could handle a reimagining of one of the industry's most influential psychological horror games can surely be put to rest.

Currently, the remake of Silent Hill 2 is sitting pretty on Steam, with a review score of "very positive," complete with some pretty glowing reviews from fans. Our own Zoey had some optimistic things to say about the game in her review, calling it "solid" though with some flaws.

Either way, as one user on Steam s??aid: "??SILENT HILL IS BACK BABY!" I'm just sad I have to wait until the Xbox version comes out before I can join in on all this merriment.

The post Silent Hill 2 has ‘exceeded’ one million sales, Konami says appeared first on Destructoid.

Ranking the 10 best trips to our special place

Back in '99, video games beat even movies in discovering the best kind of horror comes from within our deepest resentments, not just from neat jumpscares. Team Silent is the name of the band of misfits responsible for creating Silent Hill. Still, despite continued critical success, Konami decided to pull the plug on Team Silent and began outsourcing the series to random companies after the fourth game. Let's first look at the series's predictably sad decline, then at its glory?? days.

12. Silent Hill: Origins

Silent Hill: Origins belongs to a cursed batch of Silent Hill titles made after Konami decided that they didn't like making Silent Hill games anymore. If what you love about Silent Hill is its psychological horror, then you won't like this one. The biggest mind-scare we got out of Origins came prior to its release. It was when we learned that Konami outsourced a development team to create a prequel that "explained" aspects of Silent Hill.

Gameplay-wise, Origins fits the mold of a classic Silent Hill game, but it commits the unforgivable crime of trying to change aspects of pre-established and beloved lore. That's especially offensive since the outsourced newcomers behind this are messing with the work of a different team, the team responsible for creating Silent Hill in the first place.

Spoilers: Who would want to know that the Red Pyramid Thing, aka the Pyramid Head, aka one of the most iconic and meaningful monsters ever, isn't the projection of someone's extreme psychological trauma but rather just some monster cre??at?ed in a lab?

Strengths: It kind of looks like the games? we like, so it works for players who want to experience some nostalgia.

Weaknesses: It c??hanges the established canon wit?hout at least adding to the gameplay as well.

11. Silent Hill: Book Of Memories

Gameplay-wise, Book Of Memories shows Silent Hill at its weirdest. Instead of the Resident Evil-inspired tank controls we know the series for, we get a more action-oriented isometric shooter. You could make the case that this is less Silent Hill and more Lara Croft and the Guardian Of Light, but at leas?t the developers cared enough? to make something that fit the PlayStation Vita's more mobile style.

Strengths: It's an attempt at something fresh.

Weaknesses: Silent Hill rea??lly doesn't work as an action title. Out of all horror games, this is the one that should stay far away from guns-blazing shenanigans ??the most.

10. Silent Hill: Homecoming

Homecoming hits the same beats as Origins, but at least it isn't trying to reinvent the wheel by turning it into a square. It's yet another passable attempt to fit what we like about Silent Hill into a neat package, then sell it to hungry fans.

Strengths: It looks like Silent Hill, again.

Weaknesses: The fog effects somehow don't look as good as they did even on the PS1. The characters are almost as unmemorable as "cap protagonist" from Origins. Als?o, you can accidentally get the UFO ending on your first r??un, resulting in a hilariously confusing conclusion to the story.

9. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Unlike Origins, a prequel that brings unsolicited changes to the series, Shattered Memories set out to reboot it all. We actuall?y salute this bold approach. It works less as a retcon, and more like a reimagining that can coexist with the original vision.

Strengths: The developers fully revamped the gameplay to fit the Wii remote's playstyle and it works,?? for the most part.

Weaknesses: It feels too fast-paced at times. It's never as scary or as memo??rable as the original game. It replaces the fog with snow and that's just not as cool.

8. Silent Hill: The Short Message

The first title in Konami's famous attempted resurrection of the Silent Hill brand was a surprisingly positive gut punch. Like most great iterations, it's not afraid to tell a new story and to tinker with the formula to prevent things from going stale. Silent Hill: The Short Message doesn't reinvent the wheel like P.T. did, nor does it get a spot in the plateau of all-time great narratives like Silent Hill 2, but it's pretty solid in both departments.

Strengths: A new personal story that makes great use of the PS5's hardware to bring the beautifully twisted world of Silent Hill to current-gen life.

Weaknesses: The last segment gets repetitive.

7. Silent Hill: Downpour

Downpour is easily the best post-Team Silent game in the seri?es. While not exactly great on its own, it uses the strength of its setting to tell a new story without messing wi??th the established world. It also adds some neat new gameplay mechanics and a few new areas that look good if your definition of good is sick and twisted.

Strengths: It tried to enrich Silent Hill with grand setpieces and its characters with moral choice mechanics. The Resident Evil 4-inspired over-the-shoulder cam works well here.

Weaknesses: The SAW-esque setpieces don't work with this game.

6. Silent Hill 4: The Room

Don't let the title fool you. The Room wasn't originally a sequel to Silent Hill 3. Konami developed both games more or less at the same time, relegating a much smaller team to the development of this game that ended up with the s?eries' weight on its shoulders.

Unfortunately, Silent Hill 4 doesn't look or play as well as its "predecessor," but it also brings some cool stuff to the table. The game features a new story, probably courtesy of it gestating outsi??de the franchise womb. It also introduces an awesome new central mechanic, one that entraps the player in his haunted apartment. The apartment serves as a hub world players will interact with in a first-person perspective to solve the mystery behind their imprisonment.

Strengths: The new 1st-person Hub Room rocks.

Weaknesses: It doesn't look as good as SH 3, nor do its areas feel as inspired. Its gameplay already felt outdated by release, and it got even worse a few months later when Resident Evil 4 changed the world of games.

5. Silent Hill 3

Silent Hill 2 delivered wha?t some wanted the most, but not wha??t most wanted.

Silent Hill 3 gives fans a direct sequel to the original game, one that still manages to avoid feeling overblown. It invites players to a less nuanced nightmare than SH2 but makes up for its narrative shortcomings with a lot of class. The game showed both the PS2 and Team Silent at the peak of their powers by delivering an unexpected cont?ender for the title of the most beautiful game ever made.

Strengths: A horror game has never looked this beautiful â€?yes, even though it's from the PS2 era. The new main character is very likable and it? features some of the coolest areas in the series.

Weaknesses: It doesn't try to hit the nerve that the series str??uck so well in the previous sequel.

4. Silent Hill

Silent Hill resulted from tasking a bunch of studio misfits to cash in on the survival horror craze started by Resident Evil. Nothing about it is short of a miracle. Its most iconic element, the fog that fully embraces the town? Merely t??he developers' way of hiding enough play area to make the game playable on PS1 hardware.

This is the game that changed everything, all the while swimming against all sorts of wicked tides. Out ??of nowhere, jumpscares began giving way to mood, atmosphere, and deeper horror that didn't even necessarily show up on the screen.

Strengths: The introduction of 3d environments and accompanying aesthetics, the sound, the mystery, a?nd the ingenuity ??to turn the limitations of the PS1 into the game's strengths.

Weaknesses: The controls felt clunky at times, but one has to wonder if tha??t hadn't been intentional all along.

3. Silent Hill 2 Remake

I tend not to like remakes, but I must hand it to Bloober Team for their remake of Silent Hill 2. It looks, plays, and feels amazing to experience. My playthrough was at least three hours longer than it needed to be just because of all the time I spent looking at all the new nuances of this ins?tant classic.

Silent Hill 2's remake mig??ht not be better than the original was when it first came out, but it's definitely a better game to play nowadays. Though it isn't perfect, it provides a fantastic blueprint for all remakes to come.

Strengths: The love and care put into the visuals, the improved gameplay, the overall direction, and the absolutely fantastic voice work. Silent Hill 2's heartbreaking? plot will resonate with you ?whether you're a fan or a newcomer.

Weaknesses: A few too many combat encounters and some changes in lev??el design make the game a bit longer than it should be.

2. P.T.

Ok, let us get a few things out of the way.

P.T., the playable teaser for the once-upcoming Silent Hills, isn't a full game. It's also not made by Team Silent, the people we'd really love to see helming the series. It doesn't even feature much gamepla??y, per se. Still, this nightmare by the mind of Hideo Kojima hit everyone so hard in 2014 that it completely resh?aped the horror genre.

If Silent Hill owed its existence to the Resident Evil series, it more than paid off its debt by directly inspiring the Resident Evil renaissance we've been witnessing ever since the release of RE 7.

P.T. doesn't just take players to an endlessly repetitive corridor. It shows players how much horror it can fi????t into so little and invites them to imagine just how much it could have done with an entire town.

Strengths: You might ne?ver find a more immersive experience in horror.

Weaknesses: It's hard to find a playable version these days?? and we'll probably never ge??t any more of it.

1. Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 surpassed its predecessor because instead of expanding like most sequels do, it looked i??nward and took the game in a more deeply personal direction.

Though not a direct sequel, SH2 improves upon all the?? good seeds that the original had p?lanted and tells one of the most engrossing tales in the history of gaming. Also, did we mention that those PS2 graphics used to look top-notch back in the day?

Strengths: The rare sequel that resists just making everything bigger and bloodier. Silent Hill 2 understood that to surpass SH1, it had to expand only when it came to characte??r development. Ok, that's a lie. The game also looks much better than the first one.

Weaknesses: It set too?? high a standard for every other horror story that fol??lowed.

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The remake of Silent Hill 2 launched yesterday and judging from the current review scores on Steam, it's going down a mighty treat. Bloober Team see??ms to have done the original a great service with its reimagining of the iconic 20?01 survival horror game. However, it's not perfect.

For example, the developer has ensured that the cutscenes in Silent Hill 2 are locked to 30 frames per second. In this modern era of gaming, this can be something of a bugbear. Fortunately, as noted by DSO Gaming, someone has already fix??ed ?that. At least on the PC version.

Nexusmods user RoseTheFlower has created "Cutscene Improvements," a modification for the remake that unlocks ??the FPS during the cutscenes on PC. This means they can now be viewed in higher framerates. The mod also removes the "black bars from the cutscenes in anything other than 16:9."

Unlocking Silent Hill's full potential

According to the report from DSO, it does work pretty well, though they've only tried it on a few of the earlier cutscene??s, with the writer adding that they "did not spot any framepacing or speed issues." This potentially raises the question of why the developer and/or publisher made the decision to lock the scenes to just 30fps.

Such a s??mall detail may not be a huge issue for some gamers. However, those who want more bang for their buck are willing to play something that makes the most of their hardware. Bethesda raised similar concerns when it turned out that Starfield would be locked to 30fps on a console. At least the PC version still has it unlocked.

It seems there may not be any one reason why a modern studio would limit frame rates in this day and age, but it is far from me to speculate Bloober or Konami's rationale. In any case, if you are playing Silent Hill 2 on PC and you have a system with decent specs, "Cutscene Improvements" s??eems to be one ?mod that's worth trying out.

The post Not happy about Silent Hill 2 cutscenes bein??g locked to 30fps? You need this mod, then appeared first on Destructoid.

Today is officially Silent Hill 2 Launch Day. That's not an actua?l holiday, admittedly, but it is a day that many of u??????????????????????????s have been waiting for. As we all wake up on this Tuesday, Bloober Team's long-awaited remake finally hits storefronts.

Praise for the game has already been doing the rounds, and one person in particular seems pleased with what Bloober has given us. As noted by VGC, Masashi Tsuboyama, the director behind the original Silent Hill 2 from 2001, had a few things to say about the game,? as well as remakes in general.

In particular, Tsuboyama has lauded t?he remake for changing the perspective. In a series of posts on X, the director says the "change in playable camera has a significant impact on many aspects," adding that the new "over-the-shoulder view definitely adds to the sense of realism." They also admit they weren't happy with the camera ??angle in the original game, saying the "depth and angle were limited by the processing load."

Breaking the silence

In general, Tsuboyama seems very pleased with the way Bloober has handled Silent Hill 2, not to me?ntion stressing t??he value of it as a remake.

I think the value of the remake is that a new generation can play it. As a creator, I'm very happy about it. It's been 23 years! Even if you don't know the original, you can just enjoy the remake as?? it is. Whether it's good or bad d?oesn't affect the original.

A quick look on the game's Steam page shows the reception is already pretty stellar. Okay, it's only just come out, but an immediate review score of "overwhelmingly positive" is not to be sniffed at, even in these early stag?es.

There were obviously a few concerns about whether Bloober Team could successfully bring one of the most important horror games to life in the modern era. I must admit, even I wasn't sure it was going to be worth the wait. The developer has been subjected to criticism in the past for its somewhat insensitive portrayal of certain topics, such as mental health. Given that Silent Hill 2 is largel??y about some rather deep topics, it stood to reason that the remake might not be able to hit the subtle marks as well as ??its predecessor.

Plus, what we've seen of the Silent Hill revival up to this point has not exactly been filling a lot of fans and critics with confidence. However, it definitely seems like we're onto a winner here with the SH2 rema?ke. Masashi Tsuboyama and others seem to think so, at least.

The post Original Silent Hill 2 director praises the remake’s ‘over-the-shoulder’ perspective appeared first on Destructoid.

Although Silent Hill is finally back after a lengthy hiatus, the offerings we've had so far have not been wholly well received. The Short Message didn't exactly set the world on fire, and the interactive experience Ascension was a massive disappointment. As su??ch, we're all waiting to see whether Bloob??er Team's remake of the legendary second game can save the franchise's renewal.

Given that Silent Hill 2 previews suggest the full game is going to be worth the wait, it's tempting to, once again, get excited about the future of this iconic horror series. In anticipation of the upcoming remake �scheduled to release October 8 �I've put together a list of the best Silent Hill games as noted by their Metacritic scores. You can also check out similar articles I've done for Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, and Quake.

As always, this one will list the mainline Silent Hill entries only. When doing a bit of research, it seemed there was some debate about which games in the series would count as "main" ones. With that in-mind, I'll be using this Wiki page for help, so anything that's classed as?? a port or spin-off according to the site won't be included. Now that that'?s out of the way, let's crack on.

Silent Hill: Downpour (2012) - 64%

Downpour forms the latter part of Silent Hill's original run. At this point, Konami's IP had been scaring the pants off us for about 13 years, give or take. The survival horror genre had been through peaks and troughs over the years, with the likes of Resident Evil gearing more towards action rather than scares in the later games. However, there was still plenty to enjoy, and the indie scene was making strides thanks in part to Frictional Games' terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which came out in 2010.

With horror offering so much, it sort of felt like Silent Hill: Downpour would always struggle to make an impact, despite it coming from such highly regarded stock. As a result, it ended with a 64% Metacritic score on PS3 (68% on Xbox 360),?? which is not exactly terrible, but it perhap?s showed that the series wasn't able to keep up with what was happening in modern horror.

Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008) - 70%

I have a pretty vivid memory of buying Homecoming when it first came out. Aside from it being a new Silent Hill installment, one of the big draws for me was the bundle pack, which came with the game itself and an Xbox 360 controller. A red one, as well. I absolutely loved that controller. I kept it for years to come, long after I finally gave up on Homecoming.

I don't know what it was about it, but it just didn't resonate with me the way the classics had previously. I couldn't tell you much about it. I think there was a Pyramid Head-esque monster in there. Although, according to Wikipedia, this version was known as the "Bogeyman." If memory serves me well, the game also didn't allow for an inverted control scheme. That's a big no-no for me, but it is probably not the main reason it got just an okay Metacritic score of 70% on the system. Some people probably liked it, but again, it felt like Silent Hill was on a downward trajectory at this point.

Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) - 76%

Developing a fourth game in a beloved horror franchise is never an easy feat. The three games that had come before it have gone down as classics in the genre, inspiring others since. But The Room is still a solid entry, one that's able to dole out the scares with its twisted and psychologically creepy mood. A score of 76% on Xbox and PS2 means Silent Hill 4 stands firm with its predecessors.

Although I never completed the game, I have fond memories of it. While still capturing some of the elements that made the previous games instant hits, The Room's main bargaining chip was those moments in the apartment itself. The fact that these sections were entirely in first-person was quite the appeal for me back then, especially as it just wasn't something horror was doing at the time. I remember looking through the spyhole, peeping through the hole at ??the neighbor's place, and seeing the disembodied, g??hostly head floating past my window. It definitely had an eeriness to it that was evidently missing from my gaming life.

Silent Hill: Origins (2007) - 78%

Beginning life on the long-defunct PlayStation Portable, Silent Hill: Origins is the first mainline entry in the series that wasn't developed by Team Silent. Instead, the project was helmed by Climax Studios, which would go on to do ports for the likes of Assassin's Creed Chronicles, as well as assist in the development of Returnal. So, not a bad career, overall.

However, because Origins only came to the PSP and eventually the PS2, it would have been easy to miss this one. As the name suggests, it's very much a prequel, beginning before the events of the first game. Everyone loves an origin story and this game is no different, putting us in the shoes of trucker Travis Grady as he comes face-to-face with some familiar characters. Earning a Metacritic score of 78% on PSP �just beating The Room �suggests this entry had a lot going f??or it. I'm sad that I missed out, truth be known.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009) - 79%

Another one from Climax Studios, the developer obviously had something about it that meant it was more than capable of creating a high-quality Silent Hill game. I think I'm also right in saying that this is the first and only installment in the series that was released on the Wii. The hugely successful Nintendo system wasn't really known for boasting a lot of horror games, though it did get a port of Resident Evil 4, which may be what prompted Konami to release Shattered Memories on the console.

This is one of those entries I wasn't sure about, in terms of adding it to the list. You see, Shattered Memories is considered more of a reimagining. It retells the premise of the first Silent Hill e??ntry, but with a twist in the narrative?, as well as changing some of the characters. Having said that, the fact that it does change the story somewhat means you could also consider it a new game. So, here it shall stay.

Silent Hill 3 (2003) - 85%

Now we're into what I would label the classic Silent Hill era, which means we'll be seeing some big scores. The third game is one that I was very much late to. I only managed to get around to playing it a few years ago, not for any reason other than I didn't have the system to play it at the time of its release. I bought it as part of the much-maligned Silent Hill HD Collection, but that didn't detract from my experience.

With its themes of birth and pregnancy, not to mention the fact that you literally get to fight a god (spoilers!), Silent Hill 3 hit almost as hard as the previous two games. The fact that it came out just two years after what many regard as one of the greatest survival horror releases of all time (more on that soon) means the studio was able to keep that momentum going. Although perhaps overshadowed by the previous installment, the third game was still a remarkable achievement for Team Silent, with a Metacritic score of 85%. Just don't compare it to the PC version.

Silent Hill (1999) - 86%

During the mid-to-late 1990s, there was only really one word when it came to survival horror: Resident Evil. Okay, that's technically two words, but you know what I mean. Capcom's iconic franchise has been a huge part of the gaming world for almost 30 years. Just before the new millennium �with a third? entry about to hit shelves �it seemed nothing could stack up alongside it.

Then Silent Hill arrived, and we haven't felt the same since. Although to an outsider it looks like a Resident Evil clone, it offered so much more. Instead of zombies and biotech conspiracies, we had grotesque monstrosities, a creepy cult, and a foggy locale that, in itself, was part of the antagonism. The first game had its limits, sure, but it used those limits to full effect, such as the aforementioned fog which initially was a cover to make the game run smoother, but eventually became a staple of the series. It just wouldn't be a Silent Hill game without it.

Silent Hill 2 (2001) - 89%

I'm hoping many of you are familiar with Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw, the acerbic critic who brought us humorous (though serious) reviews via The Escapist on a weekly basis. I distinctly recall one of his videos in which he envisioned a world without video game sequels, forcing studios to be original every time they started a new project. A nice idea, for sure, but in this utopia of Croshaw's, we would have missed out on such important hits like Thief 2, Half-Life 2, and, of course, Silent Hill 2.

The second entry in the newly arrived Silent Hill series didn't just bring us more horror for the sake of it. Of course, it had plenty of scary moments, but its story was deep with symbolism; enemies that were representations of protagonist James Sunderland's anxieties and fears. It was mature enough to be taken seriously by critics and gamers alike. It's obviously aged at this point, but there's a very good reason it has an 89% score on Metacritic, typically sitting high on lists of the best horror games of all time. Team S??ilent wasn't just banging rocks together when it made this one.

The post Ranking the mainline Silent Hill games by Me??tacritic score appeared first on Destructoid.

It’s the tenth anniversary of the greatest horror game that never was. The playable teaser for the canceled Silent Hills, better known as P.T., is one of the most well-regarded horror games out there despite being able to be completed in under 20 minutes. In fact, it's one of the best PS4 games in history.

Now that it’s been ten years since its release, there are tons of secrets and easter eggs gamers have uncovered. Each new bit of information makes the game even scarier than before, and that’s no small feat. Here are the most terrifying fun facts about P.T. in honor of its ten-year anniversary.

10 spooky fun facts about P.T. for its 10-year anniversary

1. A legendary collaboration

Most fans are well aware that Hideo Kojima, the mind behind the Metal Gear series, was the director behind P.T., and was meant to direct Silent Hills. However, he wasn’t the only mastermind behind the teaser. Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro also worked on P.T. with Kojima. He is well known for creating terrifying creatures such as the ones in Pan’s Labyrinth and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It certainly made for a horrifying triumph.

2. You’re never alone

Throughout the game, the player is stalked by a terrifying ghost commonly referred to as Lisa, presumably the murdered wife. She has some of the best jump scares in gaming, but as modders like Lance McDonald have found, she’s aroun?d more ?than we initially thought. 

After picking up the flashlight in the bathroom, Lisa’s model actually follows you for nearly your entire playthrough, staying directly behind you so you’re never able to see her. You can check it out in this Twitter clip. You can spot her twitching?? shadow oft?en but not catch sight of her. No wonder the radio was telling players to look behind you. 

3. 204863

Players wi??ll ?quickly find a radio in the hallway loop, where a radio broadcaster gives players all sorts of details and clues. One of the most puzzling is the repeating of the number 204863.

What does this number mean? While there are many theories about it (including the date being Kojima’s birthday), dabura667 posted a theory on the GameFAQs board that the number is actually?? a Japanese anagram. Using the numbers, it roughly translates to “ofuroba miyo� meaning “look at the bathtub� What’s the player supposed to find there? We don’t know, and we’re not sure we want to find out.

4. Rattling the door

Most players will remember the three scripted encounters where you’re guaranteed to see Lisa �when she appears standing in the hallway, when zooming in on the gap in the bathroom door, and when she’s looking down on you after the window crashes on the floor. All other times you see her are randomized. However, thanks again to Lance McDonald, we know that there’s a fourth spot where Lisa is gua??ranteed to appear. 

This is when you’re lo??cked in the bathroom, and the door is rattled by someone trying to get in. By breaking the camera away from its locke?d first-person view, McDonald found that this is actually Lisa and not just an effect. She eerily shambles down the hallway, jostles the door, and continues on her way. Even though in normal gameplay, you can’t spot her, it’s awfully unsettling just knowing she’s out there.

5. Lisa doesn’t want you outside

Speaking of boundary-breaking, you’ll get an unpleasant surprise if you use it to break out of the hallway loop. By going outside, you’ll drop off the world and then get jumpscared by Lisa taking down the player. This is completely unexpected, and the development team likely added this as a gotcha moment to scare boundary breakers. I don't thin?k I would recover if I didn’t know about this and tried it myself. 

6. That's gross

The hallway radio often drops hints about what happened to Lisa and the cause of the endless hallway nightmare. A father murdered his pregnant wife and children, then took his own life with a garden hose noose. However, if you listen closely, when the radio is describing the father’s suicide, a darker voice can be heard underneath it that says that the dad hung himself with an umbilical cord. 

The game alludes to the??re being multiple realities, and it’s possible that in one of the realities, this is how the father/murderer died. Either way, that couldn't have been pleasant f?or the CSI team to find. 

7. Gouge it out!

One of the many puzzles is found early in the game, where you interac??t with a photo of Lisa on the table. Do so, and a bloody hole will appear on Lisa’s eye with the words “gouge it out!â€? Obviously, this implies that Lisa’s eye was ripped out. This isn’t the last we see of her eye, though. ??;

Later in the game, when you’re moving fast in the infinity hallway, eyeballs can be seen endlessly twirling in ??the picture frames. This is likely Lisa’s eye th??at was gouged out, showing that now she’s always watching you.

8. Inspiring a whole new generation of horror

Despite only being a teaser, P.T. has made a huge mark on gaming, inspiring countless other horror games. Not only is there an easter egg referencing the teaser in Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but games like Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion and Visage take inspiration from the character design and labyrinthic hallway. Some even argue that the playable teaser inspired Resident Evil?? 7 and Resident Evil 8, with elements like claustrophobic corridors and first-person being in the games.

9. I’m not saying it’s aliens, but�/h3>

The radio continues to scare you as you progress further into the game, becoming distorted and even demonic. At one point, the radio begins chanting in Swedish. Thanks to translation, though, it turns out it’s actually a reference to The War of the Worlds radio play, whose broadcast in 1938r sent listeners into a panic, believing alien??s were really arriving to conquer us?.

The radio in the game says that the broadcast was true, and that “They are here on our Earth� Aliens have always been a part of the Silent Hill series, with tons of secret UFO endings across the games. It’s awesome that this easter egg even made its way into P.T.

10. The limited window of release

While it’s famous for its incredible direction, P.T. is also known for its rarity. Originally released in August 2014, after Kojima’s firing from Konami and the subsequent cancellation of Silent Hills, it was announced that the game would be removed from the PlayStation Store. In May 2015, P.T. was excised entirely and never made available again. 

If you didn’t download it during the few months it was available, you wouldn’t have the chance to do so anymore. While several fan projects have made it available, they’ve been taken down by Konami due to legal issues. There’s nothing scarier than a masterpiece you cannot experienc??e. 

The post 10 terrifying ?fun facts about P.T., 10 years later appeared first on Destructoid.

With potential to be a very promising indie horror game, Post Trauma intends to keep the classic tropes of the genre alive and well. With twisted visuals not unlike what we know from Silent Hill, this tasty loo?king title?? will be grossing out our consoles and PCs this October.

October 29, to be precise. As always when it comes to horror gaming, the Halloween period is typically a busy time for both A?AA and more independent studios. This is definitely one to look out for when it releases via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Wearing its influences very much on its sleeves, Post Trauma sees you play as R?oman, a "middle-aged train conductor trapped in a terrifying twisted reality." The trailer above is quite t?he nightmare fuel, combining combat with "unspeakable horrors that lurk in these threatening surroundings."

Pre-trauma

The game's been in development for a few years now. I actually got to play a very early demo a while back, and I was who?lly impressed with what I saw. Even back? then, it was quite the visual feast, which was unfortunately a burden for my poor laptop. That's my laptop's fault, though, not the game's.

It's great that indie horror is still thriving in this increasingly hostile and competitive industry. Of course, there's always going to be some overshadowing from the likes of Resident Evil, not to mention the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 (with ??recent previews suggesting the game may be worth the wait after all).

The smaller teams who are in it for the passion and are still making waves in the genre. I mean, you could say that about other genres as well. ??Independent studios are the ball bearings in the video game jar that's full to the brim with the golf balls of the mainstream indu??stry. God, that was a weird thing to say.

The post Silent Hill-inspired ?horror game Post Tra??????????????????????????uma launches this October appeared first on Destructoid.

There have been quite a few doubts about Bloober Team's ability to remake Silent Hill 2 in a ?way that keeps the spirit of the original while breathing new li??fe into the legendary horror game. I've been guilty of perpetuating some of this cynicism myself, but there's a chance the game could actually turn out to be good.

A number of journalists have been treated to a preview of the Silent Hill 2 remake lately, and feedback suggests Bloober might actually have nailed it. Wi??th the r??elease date just a few weeks away, early opinions seem to be positive.

Eurogamer's Thomas Morgan says they're excited about what the full game will bring, praising the developer for daring to make a few changes. Jasmine Gould-Wilson, over on GamesRadar, said they went into the preview "cautiously," but was "pleasantly surprised," adding that they're "more than ready to give Silent Hill 2 Remake the chance it deserves," while the Metro refers? to the g??ame as "far better than we expected."

Silent no longer

From just these three opinions, it seems many of us may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Bloober Team has often been criticized for its mishandling of delicate subjects in its games, such as mental health. Given that the original Silent Hill 2 is wholly a psychological game, concerns were raised over whether the same studio that made The Medium could do one of the most influential su??rvival horror games any justice.

Alongside these early indicati?ons of its potential, we've also been treated to a new story trailer. The teaser gives us a good look at some of the titular foggy town's inhabitants, including Eddie, Laura, Angela, and, of course, Maria.

With a modern control scheme not too far removed from the remake of Resident Evil 2, new puzzles, fresh visuals, and, above all, respect for the source material, we could be looking at one hell of a return for Silent Hill 2.

The post Silent Hill 2 Remake previews are out, and they sound promisin?g appeared first on Destructoid.

For quite some time now, gamers have been accustomed to video game ending cutscenes featuring enough drama and gravitas to rival those of Hollywood's best productions. That, however, doesn't mean tha?t video games have entirely done away with the fun and unexpected comedy that earned this medium the place it occupies in our hearts.

Sometimes, even the most serious of video games are home to some of the funniest and most bizarre endi?ngs, and we love them for it.

wacky spoilers below

Silent Hill's UFO ending

If you dare to venture back into Silent Hill after having completed the game once, you may complete an absolutely out there puzzle to find out who's really ?pulling the strings in the titular town. Turns out it's aliens.

Even though it's obviously a joke ending, it gets bonus points for never really letting go of the scary element, from the weird noise the UFO makes in the sky when we trigger the ending, to ??the ending where the main ??character just gets taken into space for who knows what otherworldly reason.

Silent Hill 2’s dog ending

The UFO ending in the original Silent Hill is amazing overall, but its greatest strength is its completely unexpected nature. Silent Hill 2 also has a funny UFO ending, but it no longer catches fans of the series off guard. The developers were aware of that, so they came up with an even wackier ending.

Players who meet the conditions to trigger this ending will be treated to a cutscene that reveals that the mastermind behind all the treacher?y in the titular town: a cute Shiba Inu pup in an equally cute control room. Wanna know who that dog actually is? Try reading "dog" backwards, but not before you prepare to get your mind completely blown by this incredible plot twist.

The sce?ne plays as a hilarious palate cleanser to the seriousness of the game's story, and the song that plays during the end credits is yet another masterpiece in game's already stellar OST. It's just completely unbelievable that this ending came to be in a pre-Internet meme era.

Undertale’s dog ending

Undertale?? has three different endings. The first is heartwarming, the second one is heartbreaking, and the secret one is just the best. After the game's credits, Sans tells us that a dog �that I assume is the "lengthshifting" one we see throughout the game �somehow became the mayor. Sans says that he just sleeps on the throne, but that t?hings have been really good ever since he came to power, so no worries.

World Of Horror's dog ending

I don't know exactly why so many games have dog-related endings, but as far as I'm concerned, all games should have dog endings. What I like most about World Of Horror's dog ending is that it has players searching through various locations for grey-alien like figures to figure out its strangest mystery, only to then have them abducted by a super advanced race of Shiba Inus, the Xenoshibas. To make matters even funnier, this ending concludes with a message saying the story will be continued in Galaxy Of Horror, an obviously made-up game �or is it?

Metal Gear Solid 3’s Time Paradox Endings

Metal Gear Solid 3 is a prequel to the rest of the series, and MGS3's time paradox endings are events that players can trigger in case they kill a character that would play a vital role in the future of the series. You're not supposed to kill these characters, but Kojima isn't the kind of person to?? pass on the chance to lay a fun easter egg in his game. Thus, he filled the game with sneaky instances where you can kill off an important character and immediately get treated to a Game Over screen for pretty much breaking the universe.

Though these aren't actual endings of the game, you can argue that they're even more definit??e than the actual ending of the game, because they completely kill the game's continuity.

The most interesting part about the time paradoxes is that once you trigger them, you're confronted by Colonel Campbell telling Snake that he just created a time paradox. Thing is, Campbell only shows up in future games, so, does this mean MGS3 is actually Solid Snake reliving the memories of his "father" Assassin's Creed style? We'll never know.

Nier: Automata’s Mackerel ending

One of the first things we casually learn about the androids we play as in Nier: Automata is that they cannot eat Mackerel, as the presence of that specific type of fish in their bellies will prove their demise. That's interesting, but while we see our androids evolving and becoming ever-more multifaceted killing machines throughout the game, we can't help but feel tempted to go fishing and finding out whether it's true or just a rumor. Either I am? part of the conspiracy, or yeah, it's totally true, and you shouldn't eat Mackerel, or your ultra-powerful android will be treated to the most humbling ending in the history of badass main characters.

Eternal Darkness' fake ending

As the name Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem suggests, the game takes special pleasure with messing with the minds of players. As we progress through the game, we'll be treated to various cutscenes and animations pertaining to extremely weird events, but most of those are hallucinations that give this game its unique flavor. One of my favorites leads players to believe they'd reached the end of the game, then even teases the culmination of the story in a made-up game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Redemption.

Sadly, a sequel to Eternal Darkness was indeed?? in the works for a while, but it ended up getting cancelled. How I wish that was but a clever trick the dev?elopers at Silicon Knights pulled on us to mess with our sanity.

Far Cry 4’s ending for patient players

Right at the start of Far Cry 4's campaign, the villainous Pagan Min kindly welcomes the player to have a nice dinner at his palace, but he's interrupted by "terrorists" that he needs to deal with. Before leaving, Min asks players to just wait for a bit, promising ?that he'll help players upon his return. That'??s when most players try to get away from this tyrant, but those who actually stay will see that this is a monster of his word. Upon returning, Min will take us directly to the place where we're supposed to put the main character's mother's ashes, effectively concluding the main quest.

Elements in this ending still do allude to the fact that ??letting a vile dictator off the leash isn't a good thing for the people of the land, but, for players who only care about complet??ing their own quest as soon as possible, this ending is the way to go!

Outer World’s literal dumb ending

Fallout games are famous for dealing with players who don't care much for their intelligence in hilarious fashion. Outer Worlds, being the spiritual successor to the old Fallout games that it is, goes even further. On top of various funny dialogue options that pop up in the playthroughs of players with low intelligence attributes, Outer Worlds features an actual e?nding where players can, against all better judgement, decide to make a s??hortcut to their destination that goes through the Sun. Spoilers: it goes just about as well as you'd expect.

Silent Hill Homecoming's UFO ending

Oh, were you expecting yet another dog ending? Nope. It's time for another UFO ending. This time it's the joke ending of Silent Hill Homecoming, the game that tried to follow the footsteps of the awesom?e UF?O endings in the original series, and ended up getting one of the funniest ones but completely by accident.

One rule of joke endings in Silent Hill is that you'd never get them during your first playthrough. Searching for your daughter or girlfriend for hours on end, only to end up with your character tangled up with aliens and seeing no closure to their story would just make for a really strange first playthrough. Homecoming says screw that and makes it totally possible for the main char??acter to get beamed up into a spaceship and taken to space.

It's a terrible ending, but I just can'??t help but to laugh at the irony of an ending that's? meant to be funny but that only ends up ruining the game for everyone.

The post Best joke endings in video games appeared first on Destructoid.

For horror fans, 2024 has headlined many disappointing and worrying industry developments, such as claims of the Dead Space franchise being shuttered again or the closure of The Evil Within studio Tango Gameworks by Microsoft.

News of this kind does not portray an optimistic outlook for big-budget e??fforts in the g??enre but rather suggests a steady decline in publisher confidence for horror games to be profitable.

This is in stark contrast to only a year prior, as 2023 saw the release of games like Resident Evil 4 (2023), Dead Space (2023) and Alan Wake II, along with new entries in the Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill franchises looming on the horizon. What happen??ed?

Reflecting on over a decade of horror

It appeared as though horror games were undergoing a renaissance not that long ago. The genre suffered from a long stagnation during the early-to-mid 2010s, during which point franchises like Silent Hill and Fatal Frame were almost entirely absent. Meanwhile, attempts at new IPs like The Evil Within stumbled, and even the genre-defining Resident Evil suffered an action-horror identity crisis.

It wasn't all bad, though. The indie scene is filled with break-out hits like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast, Slender: The Eight Pages, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. For a time, it seemed that the future of this genre wou??ld be entrusted to these smaller, more humble endeavors.

In the late 2010s, the financial and critical success of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil 2 (2019) reignited the belief that big-budget horror was commerically viable. Each sold over 13 million copies, becoming Capcom’s 3rd and 4th best selling games to date. This spurred many publishers to try and revive their own horror properties, such as Dead Space (2023), Alone in the Dark (2024), and Silent Hill 2 (2024). 

This was cause for celebration among fans of these long-dormant franchises. The unfortunate caveat to all this was the publisher’s high? expectations that these IPs would produce a golden goose, which ultimately served as the undoing for at least a few of these properties.

Bright prospects cast a long shadow

Publisher Krafton Inc. and developer Striking Distance Studios invested $200 billion won ($162 million USD) into 2022's The Callisto Protocol, aiming to capitalize on the void left by Dead Space. Ironically, neither its game nor the Dead Space remake would recapture that market, and both games would sell under expectations. The Callisto Protocol's failure to meet sales targets led to layoffs and the departure of CEO Glen Schofield at Striking Distance Studios.

A similar fate was met by Alone in the Dark (2024), after suffering “softer-than-expected performance�/a> in sales. Developer Pieces Interactive faced layoffs before ultimately seeing publisher Embracer Group pull the plug on the entire studio and plunging the future of Alone in the Dark into uncertainty.

The problem is that modern video games are just incredibly expens?ive to make. They demand hundreds of man-hours to craft intricate and d??etailed worlds for players to explore. Horror, in particular, requires an immersive atmosphere that has become paramount to the experience.

The catch is that a strongly performing game does not translate to immediate profit. Alan Wake II is an unmitigated triumph for Remedy Entertainment, receiving widespread acclaim and multiple awards for its achievements in story and presentation, all made possible by a budget that ballooned alongside its ambitions. Though Alan Wake II is Remedy’s fastest-selling title to date, the game has yet to break even on production expenses. If not for being 100 percent funded ??under the Epic Games Publishing label, it's unclear whether the game ??would have seen the light of day.

Aspirations now met with trepidation 

It’s little wonder why publishers are so careful in choosing which projects to greenlight from their studios. Capcom is leading the pack in horror with Resident Evil, having seemingly found the winning formula: legacy status as a decades-old franchise, multimedia saturation with Hollywood films, investing in internally crafted technology to streamline production, and intelligent planning for development pipelines, which includes very delibe??rate consideration for which projects are most worthwhile to undertake. 

Unsurprisingly, the popular safe choice is now to remake previously well-received titles from the publisher's catalog. This lets them leverage the original’s success and marketability, as well as cut down on pre-production planning by?? using an existing framework.

Still, it's not a guaranteed plan. EA tried this approach with Dead Space (2023), producing a faithful remake with a familiar blueprint as a low-risk, high-yield investment. Despite critical acclaim and strong initial sales, Dead Space (2023) allegedly sold below EA’s expectations.

Dead Space is not a small IP either, spanning multiple games, animated movies, and comics at the height of its popularity. If EA truly has no current plans to continue with the series at this time, that bodes ill for the industry perce??ption of a successful horror franchise in general. 

Microsoft’s shuttering of Tango Gameworks reinforces this notion. Tango held a strongly established survival horror IP in their repertoire with The Evil Within but evidently showed no interest ??in capitalizing on t??he property.

The dark age of horror? Not quite.

Does this leave us in a dismal future where only Resident Evil reigns supreme? There may be another stretch of time with very little competition in the big-budget horror space while publishers seek out new strategies for reproducing Resident Evil's success.

Instead, the future of horror appears to again be smaller publishers and developers. Newcomers Blumhouse Games - a games publishing branch of Blumhouse Productions formed in 2023 - took to the stage at 2024’s Summer Game Fest to unveil a lineup of six independent horror titles now being funded under their label.

Meanwhile, Supermassive Games has crafted numerous narrative choice-driven horror games with multiple different publishing partners, ranging from bigger budget efforts like Until Dawn and The Quarry, to their collection of shorter productions with The Dark Pictures Anthology. They've also inherited the Little Nightmares series after original creators Tarsier Studios ceased working on the property.

Even Fatal Frame has been sustaining itself with remastered ports of previous entries and has a new feature film on the way.

Most interesting of all is Konami’s reinvigorated approach with Silent Hill. The publisher hosted a Silent Hill Transmissi??on video broadcast in 2022 that manifested multiple new games and a feature film after a decade-long?? inactivity.

Konami has cast a wide net in an attempt to recapture the market, aiming to make a splash in the high-budget horror space with their remake of Silent Hill 2 (2024) and an original title with Silent Hill: Ć’. It's also testing smaller markets with experimental projects like Silent Hill: Townfall and Silent Hill: Ascension, as well as the free downloadable title Silent Hill: The Short Message that was released in early 2024.

If there exists any frontrunner with a chance to compete for commercial viability in the AAA horror space, it would likely be Silent Hill. A lot is at stake for the franchise this fall with the release of Silent Hill 2 (2024) in October and a new film, Return to Silent Hill, the stage is now set to see if Konami’s fan-favorite horror series can secure a s??ustainable future.

As publishers struggle, players still profit

In reality, the main takeaway here is that regardless of whether publishers can financially endure the big-budget horror space, the creatives behind these projects will continue to find ways to bring their ideas to life. There is a swath of talent wit?hin the indie horror market crafting innovative and evocative new ways to terrify and enrapture players. 

Amnesia: The Bunker is arguably among the best horror games of 2023, while Crow Country swiftly became a breakout hit in early 2024. The rest of the year is primed to impress with up-and-comers like Hollowbody, Post Trauma, and Fear the Spotlight, among others.

It's also worth reiterating that Resident Evil is not going anywhere anytime soon, either, providing players with a near-annual fix for big-budget horror. So long as trailblazers exist to set the benchmark, it is only a matter of time before we see developers take? another crack at producing intricate, large-scale horror games.

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The long road to the launch of the anticipated Silent Hill 2 remake is coming to an end, as the official release date was finally revealed la??st week (with the title, probably predictably, set to come out just weeks before Halloween). But there's a bit of a stink in the air surrounding the game, and it seems like this modern take on one of the most influential horror releases ever is going to have t?o be pretty much perfect.

In the current era of remakes, remasters, and re-imaginings, it can be easy to feel a little bogged down by an industry that's too eager to tick the nostalgia box rather than deliver something fresh. However, a quick look at games like Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Final Fantasy 7, and the work Nightdive Studios has been doing on classics like Quake 2 shows there's ??still room for ??it in the market, it seems.

But despite the excitement that should be surrounding Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 rema??ke, there are a number of doubts that are pu??tting the whole project under a lot of pressure to succeed.

Reigniting the influence

There's an argument to be made about not fixing something that isn't broken. As one of the most influential horror games of all time, remaking it is surely a tall order. Silent Hill �especially the second one �has made its mark on the genre, preserved in?? the annals of gaming history as a staple of how to create something atmospheric with lashings of delicious psychological torment to go with it. To some, the second installment is the perfect horror game.

That's not to say it can't be done. You only have to look at Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 4 to see there's scope for revitalizing older games to give them another go in more modern eras. Much like Silent Hill 2, the original RE4 has been hugely influential, which rend?ers a potential remake a dangerous line to tread, but we know it can be done. However, there's one thing that's probably crossed people's minds about?? it.

What's the connection between these remade franchises: Resident Evil, The Last of Us, and Dead Space? They were all done by the developer who created the original. Maybe not the exact same people, but certainly the studio itself. With Silent Hill 2, it's being made by a different team entirely; one ?that, although it has a reputation in the horror sphere �as?? well as being influenced by Team Silent's work �was not even around when the original was released. Placing a remake of a beloved game into the hands of another is an exercise in trust.

What we've seen so far

The Silent Hill Transmission that took place in 2022 had a lot of people excit??ed. Finally, after years of speculation and dormancy, Konami's horror series was getting new games, a new film, and?? more attention than ever before. Would this be the triumphant return many of us had been hoping for?

But the outpouring since then has left much to be desired. The interactive Ascension has not stood as a bastion of achievement in terms of rejuvenating the Silent Hill name. Metacritic is?? curren??tly showing a user score of 0.8 out of 67 reviews, with the likes of IGN giving it just 50 out of 100.

Perhaps less tragic �though still not really noteworthy �was this year's A Short Message. Although it's done better than Ascension, with a Metacritic review score of 53 and a user score of 6.3, it leaves the Silent Hill 2 remake with a lot of slack to pick up. SH2 is not a brand-new entry in the series, but it's seemingly going to have?? to do more than coast on nostalgic reputation alone given what we've seen of the reemergence so far.

Bloober Team's track record

Whatever your thoughts on Bloober Team, the studio has managed to make a name for itself in the horror genre, despite going up against the likes of Naughty Dog, Capcom, and even Frictional Games of Amnesia ?fame. But this esteem is not without its criticism. Bloober has a knack for visual quality and a disturbing aesthetic that has pricked up a few ears, but there are some problemat?ic things about the developer that people can't shake.

This TechRadar article from a couple of years ago laments the studio's inability to represent mental health in any agreeable way. The troubled artist from Layers of Fear, the protagonist in The Medium who was abused as a child; there's a sense that the developer uses these angles as a demonizing tactic, and it's unclear whether Bloober has learned from this. The writer of that article does not appear to be alone in such criticisms.

Given that Silent Hill 2 deals quite heavily with trauma and psychological issues, there's bound to be concern that a remake from the Layers of Fear studio could encounter similar backlash. However, if Bloober is aiming for a faithful recreation of the original, then such issues should not be a problem, right? But therein lies a further qu?estion: why remake something like-??for-like (only with modern visuals and control schemes) without an injection of new sensibilities, mechanics, techniques, the developer's own flavor, etc.? Answers on a postcard.

It's not P.T.

We all miss it. We all wonder what the final product would have been like, especially with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's names attached. Although it's been ten years since P.T. came and went, it still hangs in the air to some extent, and it's likely the Silent Hill 2 remake will g??et compared to the canceled project. But maybe I'm doing Bloober a ?bit of a disservice.

A game with such recognition and high praise is going to be the subject of scrutiny when it comes to releasing an official remake of it. Taking a beloved franchise and handing the reigns over to a studio that's not without its fair share of detractors is likely going to draw a bit of ire regardless. Everyone's going to be watching Bloober Team on October 8, and I don't think it's beyond the realms of pos??sibility that some may be scathing by default.

Personally, I think some of the current negativity surrounding the remake is a little unfair, likely down to a frustrated audience that wants to see this new era of Silent Hill succeed. But I think �judging by some of the YouTube comments posted on the video linked above �things are in danger of bordering on nasty, maybe even verbally aggres??sive, from a fan base that's hungry for blood.

Maybe there's some legitimate criticism of what we've seen in trailers and teasers so far. This article?? dives a little deeper into some of the design choices of the remake, with particular reference to how changing the clothes of Maria detracts from her significance as a duplicitous femme fatale who reminds James of his dead wife. How much of this is simply the wailing sound of "dudebros" upset that a female character has been modernized to look less sexual, as opposed to this new look missing the point of the original's intent, is not clear.

At any rate, Bloober is under a lot of pressure to make sure Silent Hill 2 is pure and flawless; not one iota less. If it strays too far from the original, it'll displease the older fans. Similarly, if it's a 100% retelling of the 2001 release, it'll feel a little pointless (see also: the 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Psycho). If it doesn't straddle the line between?? freshness and nostalgia, but w?ith a fair representation of the game's themes, the backlash could be brutal. Honestly, it feels lose-lose at this point.

The post The Silent Hill 2 remake is? u?nder a lot of pressure to succeed appeared first on Destructoid.

It was recently revealed that Return to Silent Hill - a new movie based on Silent Hill 2 - has finished filming. Yeah, even though it has flown a bit under the radar, a new Silent Hill movie based on the events of Silent Hill 2 has been in the works for a while, and I'm cautiou?sly optimistic about it.

I know that getting two re-tellings of Silent Hill 2 in such a short timespan will probably strike many as weird, but the good news here is that they've brought back Christophe Gans, the French director responsible for the original Silent Hill film �the one that kinda owns, not the awful 3D one.

On top of my belief that Gans is a talented director with a strong artistic vision, I also trust him to helm the project because, well, he's had a good influence on gaming even without knowing it. You see, back in 2001, Gans directed Le Pacte Des Loups, which came out in the West as Brotherhood Of The Wolf.

The film tells the story of two hunters trying to track down the beast of GĂ©vaudan, a suppo??sedly supernatural predator that stalked the French province of GĂ©vaudan and killed over one hundred people in the eighteenth century.

Even though its story is somehow based on actual historical accounts, you can probably tell by now that Brotherhood Of The Wolf sounds a bit like Bloodborne. And, wouldn't you know it, it also looks a lot like Bloodborne.

That's not even mere hearsay. Elden Ring and Bloodborne director Hidetaka Miyazaki had no problem admitting that he based a lot of the looks of Bloodborne on this film in a long-lost interview with IGN Brazil. The interview is naturally in Portuguese, and that's ho??w not too many people know about the direct influence.

Still, those curious can use a translator, check out this accurate translation on Resetera, which we first discussed all the way back in 2019.

Another thing you should trust me on is regarding the ?film itself. Even though it's maybe just a bit too long, it still absolutely rocks.

Neither Return to Silent Hill nor the Silent Hill 2 remake ha??ve an official release date, but they're both set to ?come out this year.

The post How Return to Silent Hill’s director influenced FromSoftware’s best game appeared first on Destructoid.

Like a lot of other horror fans, I'm holding out that Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 won't be a major letdown. While we wait to find that out, however, we can treat ourse??lves to the new "combat trailer" shown at the most recent State of Play.

There are no prizes for guessing what the footage shows. While we get some of the cinematic goodness of the new Silent Hill 2, we also get to?? see James Sunderland and his guns making friends with enemies. Ha ha! Their heads a??go a-splatter!

But in all seriousness, it seems the remake is doing a revamp of the combat to make it more modern. It makes sense. The original SH2 �as magnificent as it wa?s �wouldn't work in this era with its rather outdated control scheme.

New Silent Hill when?

Of course, the question on everyone's lips is: when's it coming out? We??ll, we don't know that I'm afraid. The trailer doesn't give a release date or even a release window. We can "wishlist now" and it's being made exclusively for PS5.

On a personal note, I'm slightly bitter that it's only coming to PlayStation. Sure, I could get it for PC, but?? there's no way on this �or any other �planet my laptop would be able to run it (my laptop says hi, by the way).

From what we've seen, it looks like Bloober's take on what is considered a masterpiece has potential. Unless the studio deviates massively from everything that made the original so iconic, it's going to take a lot to really ??fumble an up-to-date reimagining of this horror classic.

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Konami announced as part of the Playstation State of Play Stream that a new entry of the Silent Hill series, Silent Hill: The Short Message, not only exists but also is available now for free.

Silent Hill: The Short Message has you play as Anita, a woman who finds herself in a desolate apartment block after following messages from her friend, Maya. The trailer appears to demonstrate themes of bullying and suicide, which sounds pretty Silent Hill to me.

The trailer shows everything from a first-person perspective and omits combat, which makes it seem like a walking sim. It might be worth a look anyway, as Konami has released the game for free, so you’re only pla?ying with your time.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is available now exclusively on on PS5.

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Even though Silent Hill is coming back in a big way, many still wonder what could have been with P.T., which Konami pulled the plug on. While we'll likely never see a Kojima/del Toro horror collaboration set in the? titular foggy town, fans will never stop dreaming.

In a video uploaded to YouTube (as spotted by DSO Gaming), user Maxim Dorokhov has offered their own interpretation of Silent Hill 4: The Room. That is to say, they'v?e recreated the 2004 game entirely in Unreal Engine 5.

A look around the apartment that's been rendered in more up-to-date software gives this 20-year-old release a bit of pep. It's gloomy, pretty realistic looking, and with its first-person perspective, really does make me think of P.T.

Another tease for something that will never be

According to the report, this is not something that's likely to be made available for public consumption. It seems to be more about showing what UE5 can do in terms of rendering, and Silent Hill 4 appeared to be a good fit for sh?owing off all this detail and moody lighting.

It's also just the apartment sections as well, but that's okay. SH4 is generally regarded as the weakest entry in the classic Silent Hill franchise. However, those moments in the apartment I found ??to be pretty standout stuff, espec??ially for the time.

First-person horror was not so common back in the early 2000s, so to get to experience some of it in this game was quite something. It's a shame I never actually got around to finishing SH4, but then I was a lot young?er then. I probably had some important kid stuff to be thinking about, like hope??s and dreams.

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A lot of people have been quite keen to know when they can get their hands on the remake of Silent Hill 2. So much so that developer Bloober Team urged for a bit more patience, and we still have no idea whe??n it's releasing. But we're getting closer.

In a recent video on the PlayStation YouTube channel, we're treated to a brief teaser showing what we can expect to launch this year on Sony's system. Among other things (something called "Tek-en," not sure if you've heard of it), we're now told that Silent Hill 2 will be available this year.

Of cour?se, we could probably have ascertained that 2024 was likely the release window. But it's comforting to see PlayStation officially acknowledge this. However, we don't have an actual date yet, so that's surely the next port of call.

We must be nearly there, then

Many of us had been hoping to see the remake by the end of 2023 at the latest. For some time, it's been suggested that Bloober was just putting the finishing touches to the game, and this teaser sort of confirms that the team must be a??t the final hurdle now.

After the disappointment that was the interactive experience Silent Hill: Ascension, the legendary series could do with a win.?? Konami's horror franchise has been dormant for far too long, some might say. Me. I would say that.

However, there's a lot to live up to. Bloober Team has its critics, and bringing back Silent Hill 2 �with ??the original being largely considered one of the most influential horror game??s of all time �is a tall order, indeed.

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Rumors and speculations have led many to believe that the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake is imminent. However, we're all still dreaming, and developer Bloober Team is asking that people chill ?out for a ?little bit longer.

In a statement posted to the studio's Twitter, Bloober has said it's "diligently working to ensure the Silent Hill 2 remake attains the ??highest ??quality." Work is also said to be "progressing smoothly," and the team understands that fans are waiting patiently for any updates.

However, in the meantime, the developer is kindly asking for ??"a bit more patience" from the fan base. The statement ends by ass??uring people that as and when publisher Konami does share information, the "wait will be worthwhile."

Commence thumb-twiddling

Understandably, fans are keen to know what's happening with the much-anticipated remake. Silent Hill 2 is generally regarded as one of the most influential survival horror games of all time. Of course, with that comes a small amount of uncer??tainty and maybe a little pessimism.

Despite their visual quality, Bloober Team games have been criticized in the past. Most notably, 2021's The Medium drew notes of disapproval for its depictions of mental health. That's not to?? say the game wasn't good, but some felt its representation of mental issues?? was lacking somewhat.

As a result, a few may be a little wary about how Bloober will handle Silent Hill 2, particularly in terms of its psychological theme??s. In any case, the studio is going to have to put a lot of effort in to keep new and old fans happy.

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Silent Hill's Pyramid Head is, without a doubt, the franchise's most infamous and mysterious creature. But thanks to a Best Buy store listing for Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2, the strange pointy-headed reve?nant has caused quite a stir.

UPDATE: After this story was initially published, Konami sent a statement to Eurogamer explaining that the Best Buy store listing featured "incorrect information." Furthermore, the line "fan favourite charac?ter, Pyramid Head, makes a return along with a special origin story for fans to play through" has been removed. The original story follows.

As spotted by Reddit user dpanim [Editor's note: amended to include the original source], Best Buy's Silent Hill 2 remake store page claims that the "fan favourite character, Pyramid Head, makes a return along with a special origin story for fans to play through." Obviously, a mere store listing isn't going to go into any meaningful depth on the nitty-gritty of its claims, but this was more than enough to worry Silent Hill fans such as bobvids himself.

Is Pyramid Head getting an origin story in Silent Hill 2 remake?

Franchises such as Silent Hill live and die by their mysteries and lore, and Pyramid Head has become a crucial aspect of Konami's flagship horror IP. Even though the original designer of the creature, Masahiro Ito, has come to seemingly despise the monster, it's clear that it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and the implication that it's getting an origin story all of its own isn't necessarily good ne???ws.

That being what it is, Best Buy's store page could certainly be interpreted in several different ways. For one, it might not even be Pyramid Head that's getting an origin story all of its own here. The way the text is written could be taken to mean that the monster would simply be an integral part of some other character's origin story. Furthermore, as bobvids himself pointed out, Best Buy might simply be referring to the Born From a Wish side story from the various special editions of the original Silent Hill 2.

In Born From a Wish, players take control over Maria just before sh??e meets James in the town of Silent Hill, and she ends up witnessing the manifestation of Pyramid Head as a side-effect of James's own guilt. Whether this is what Best Buy i??s referring to or not is anyone's guess at this point, of course, but it's not impossible that either Konami or Bloober might chime on this before fans simply assume the worst.

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After a long hiatus, we're about to experience an explosion of Silent Hill releases. From the official remake of the second game to brand-new entries, Konami's iconic horror series is finally making a comeback. Along with these is Silent Hill: Ascension, which has just released its premiere trailer.

Billed as an interactive experience that viewers can influence the outcome of, Ascension's recent teaser gives a little taste of things to come. It also confirms �though we already knew at this point �that the "live series" will begin on October 31, starting at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. You can pre-install it by going to the official website.

It's being developed by J.J. Abram's Bad Robots Productions company in conjunction with Behaviour Interactive (yes, the people behind Dead by Daylight), Genvid Entertainment, and DJ2 Entertainment.

Make your choices

Each day, viewers will get to decide what happens to the characters in the Silent Hill experience. You'll get to watch (play?) it while also making? decisions in real time. The story will play out depending on audience choices.

The story is described thus:

The Hernandez family plummets into chaos as another death shake??s their decimated rust-belt town in Pennsylvania. ?In a dying fishing village in Norway, the uneasy peace of the Johansen family is upended when their matriarch, Ingrid, dies under suspicious circumstances. Survival depends on them overcoming their darkest impulses and the machinations of a cult, as they discover the horror that connects them.

While it's almost certainly going to be likened to such things as Bandersnatch, Ascension is at least a unique way of reigniting the Silent Hill flame. While many of you are eagerly awaiting Bloober Team's remake of SH2, Bad Robots' interactive offering is s??omething a lot of horror fans will also be looking forward to.

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It's been more than a hot minute since we've had a Silent Hill game. Last year's announcement that the series was making a return caused joy (and a bit of relief) in many fans' hearts. As well as brand-new interactive series, we're also getting a remake of Silent Hill 2, and some updates?? on Steam sugges?t we may hear more about this project soon.

If you head over to SteamDB �a third-party website that chronicles all things related to the Steam client �you can see that Silent Hill 2 has been quietly (dare I say...silently?) updated recently.

On October 6, Brazilian and Ukrainian subtitles were added, while Portuguese langu??age support was removed, for whatever reason. Perhaps the most interesting thing to note, however, is the change ID above that says Steam achievements have now been added.

What does this mean in terms of a release date?

Naturally??, many people (myself included) may conclude that news about the remake is imminent. Obviously, there's nothing officially saying this, ?but these recent updates suggest we might hear something soon.

We still have no idea when Silent Hill 2 will release, though a website did leak a potential date a few months back. Of course,?? the listed date was "September 29, 2023," which obviously did not pan out. Still, it's interesting to see activity on the Steam page only a week and a half after that date?.

On top of that, it was recently revealed that Silent Hill: Ascension would begin on October 31. Ascension is the interactive SH e??xperience that viewers can influence in real-time. We know few details about this one, so we'll learn more when it launches on Halloween nig??ht.

Will this (and the upcoming other entries) be the almighty comeback for Silent Hill many of us are hoping for? Only time will tell.

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Silent Hill and Halloween go together like James Sunderland and existential guilt. With Konami's iconic horror series returning, many will be wondering when we'll get to experience this new era. As it turns out, perhaps to the surprise of no one, Silent Hill: Ascension may be heading to ??our?? screens for the spooky season.

That's according to a listing on Google Play, which says the interactive mini-series?? will be premiering on October 31. So, Halloween exactly, it seems.

It should be made clear that, as of writing, the producers and developers of Ascension have not actually confirmed whether this is the date the experience will launch. Howe??ver, Google Play? also doesn't say that this is a placeholder date, so this could be the real deal.

Like Bandersnatch, but not

For those who aren't aware, Silent Hill: Ascension is an interactive live-action series in which viewers decide on the outcome. It's being developed by J. J. Abram's Bad Robots Production company, along with Dead by Daylight stu?dio Behavior Interactive and Genvid Entertainment.

The listing on describes it as a thrilling new "streaming service"?? that "follows multiple main characters from locations around the world tormented by new and terrifying SILENT HILL monsters."

We were treated to a pretty creepy trailer a few months back. Ascension is essentially a spin-off and, from what we understand so far, could deviate slightly from what we know and love about Silent Hill. However, we'll kno??w more as and when the interactive experience airs.

We're also still waiting to hear more about Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2. Th?ere will be ma??ny who are looking forward to this modern take on one of the most influential horror games of all time. Equally, there will be those who are skeptical about whether it can do the original justice.

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So we're all waiting for the return of Silent Hill. After years of dormancy, we're finally getting some new entries, plus the remake of SH2 by Bloober Team. However, people are still finding hi??dden things in the classic entries, such as this one from the third game.

As spotted by The Gamer, a Twitter profile called Silent Hill Fact Hub has noticed that, during the Hilltop Center section, which features a batht??ub that triggers ?a shift into the Otherworld, there's a thin cord nearby.

This seems to explain what causes said bathtub to inexplicably fill up with blood. Although "weird shit be doing weird shit" is an acceptable theory in any Silent Hill? game, it adds a little explanator??y detail as to what's likely occurring.

Masahiro Ito responds

Masahiro Ito, who was art director for Silent Hill 3, responded to this tweet, congratulating them on noticing the cord. A further tweet from Masahiro Ito says that this took 20 years to find, and that t?hey'd "totally forgot [about] the bloody cords." There? may even be some details that have still not been found.

It kind of really hammers home how much detail goes into each Silent Hill installment. It remains to be seen whether the upcoming releases will put as much care into their worlds as people like Ito did in the classic games. Then again, he is working with Bloober Team on the remake, so we'll see.

With it coming up to Halloween, fans across the globe are going to be keeping their ear to the ground on an??y develop??ments regarding the triumphant return of Konami's legendary horror series.

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We think of video game sequels as something that can outdo the original in most ways, be more of the same, or even hit fans with the heavy hammer of disappointment. That, however, ignores the rare but very real case of sequels that don't necessarily suck but that will baffle fans with their nigh-inexplicable new desi?gn choices. We shouldn't forget this class of sequel, it does at least a great job of providing fun to anyone learning about just how absolutely bizarre these games can get.

[caption id="attachment_398483" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Silent Hill: Book Of Memories

Remember how the Silent Hill series managed to make players feel scared and uneasy even when no enemy was on screen? Well, nobody had time for that when they were reinventing the square for the PlayStation Vita with Silent Hill: Book Of Memories.

This one isn't a psychological horror game and barely even a survival horror game. It's a weird attempt at making an isometric action title in the vein of the awesome Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light but in the world of Silent Hill.

Heck, you don’t even have one of the simplest staples of psychological horror that the series had done so well up until this p??oint—like the feeling of loneliness and isolation—as this one is a co-op adventure featuring up to four players. Wild stuff.

[caption id="attachment_398490" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Nintendo[/caption]

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Remember when the original The Legend Of Zelda changed gaming by taking a cue from the top-down perspective of RPGs and re-purposing it for action adventures?  You don't? Well, neither do I because I was too young to play it back then, but that's what the legend of The Legend of Zelda says.

Zelda 2 is definitely not a bad game (if you're looking for a bad Zelda side-scroller, google Zelda CD-I games), but it’s still pr??etty weird that Nintendo did away with the revolutionary design they’d come up with in the first one to make a more conservative 2D side-scroller. Nintendo already had Mario dominating that field, and there was no shortage of similar side-scrollers from other companies. Luckily, it didn't take Nintendo long to both go back to their revolutionary formula and then try new stuff that further propelled the series into legendary status.

[caption id="attachment_398485" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Konami[/caption]

Bomberman Act: Zero

This one was absolutely terrible and also marked an awful tonal shift for a beloved cutesy series that definitely didn't need one. I probably wouldn't have put it on the list because this isn't about straight-up bad sequels, but I like how its poster looks just like Oppenheimer's, so that??'s some extra bonus points for weirdness.

If you're looking for a wacky fun Bomberman game, then you're much better off playing Saturn Bomberman.

[caption id="attachment_398478" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Valve[/caption]

Half-Life 2: Survivor

Remember how the original Half-Life and its sequel each changed the FPS landscape of its time, due to smart gameplay mechanics that forced players to use their brains? Welp, Half-Life 2: Survivor is a bizarre, mostly on-rails arcade version of Half-Life 2 that only came out in Japan.

Do you see that massively busy interface? That's not one of those spoofs of HUD glut that you see all over the Internet—that's the real deal. The reason why anyone would come up with such an antithesis to what made Half-Life 2 great is a mystery, but I'd be lying if I said? that I wouldn't spend a few dollars at t??he arcade to try this mess.

[caption id="attachment_398461" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Naughty Dog[/caption]

Jak 2

Ever wondered why the original Jak & Daxter had players happily hopping from platform to platform and then Jak 2 was all about gunning down enemies and driving flying vehicles? Sure, Naughty Dog had also previously equipped Crash with a Bazooka for the third game in the Crash Bandicoot series, but Crash's Bazooka only fired Wumpa fr?uit,? not lethal rounds. What the hell happened there?

Well, it turns out that the sequel to Naughty Dog’s once happy-go-lucky platformer became a shooter because Naughty Dog saw the entire gaming landscape change with the arrival of gritty titles such as Killzone, God Of War, and, most importantly, Grand Theft Auto 3. The team made all the changes to the original that they could to accommodate gameplay elements tha?t played simi?larly to Rockstar's mega-hit, and the series was never the same again.

In Naughty Dog's defense, however, I have to admit that Jak 2 was pretty damn good.

[caption id="attachment_398509" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Nintendo[/caption]

Star Fox Adventures

This is the game that sent the Star Fox series into dormancy and made the titular Fox more recognizable as a top-tier Super Smash Bros. character than as the main character?? of his own series. Its mistake? It decided to get Fox out of his ship and give him so?me ground-based missions.

This isn't a new kind of 3D game. This is Zelda with the exception that Zelda games are usually great, and this one is just okay. Star Fox Adventures marks one of the very rare?? moments in gaming when they would've been much better off ju?st doing an on-rails shooter than a sprawling 3D adventure.

[caption id="attachment_398471" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Capcom[/caption]

Dino Crisis 3

Dino Crisis has always been an odd Resident Evil clone, but the rule is that you can only send your series to space after around the 8th entry. Picking space as the setting for your mundane terrestrial series in the third entry is too much—especially when it's a game about pre-historic stuff, the historical opposite of space stuff, I guess. Even Exoprimal feels more grounded than this Chimera.

Also, the first two games in the series came out for the original PlayStation, whereas Dino Crisis 3 landed on Xbox as an exclusive, which might have gotten Xbox fans to believe it has always been in space, thus making?? it all the more hilariously weird.

[caption id="attachment_398467" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image By Bethesda[/caption]

DOOM RPG

Remember when Doom fans didn't like Doom 3 because it was slower, darker, and spookier? Well, there's an even weirder, blacker sheep in this series: Doom RPG.

For some bonkers reason, Id looked at the "meh" reaction DOOM 3 got and decided to further reduce the amount of action and make a game that was more Final Fantasy than Doom. To Id's credit, however, Doom RPG is pretty decent and was even pretty revolutionary in the mobile gaming scene, as it provided a fully-fledged campaign two years before the iPhone made mobile gaming go big. Did any of the things that you just read entice you to wait for an HD remaster? Well, good luck with that, since Id lost Doom RPG's source code.

[caption id="attachment_398464" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Maxis[/caption]

Darkspore

Remember Spore? At some point, it was totally going to be the best game ever made! Sadly, the most fun anyone ev??er ended up getting out of it came from the game’s extremely advanced creature creator—mostly because they got to create beings that looked awfully phallic.

The people at Maxis looked at the game's lukewarm reception and came to the natural conclusion anyone in the �0s would’ve arrived at: it just wasn’t gritty enough. To solve this, they came up with Darkspore, a game that ditched everything from the original exc??ept for the creature creator, and then made a gritty action game about a badass creature that went on to battle other gritty, less phallic creatures.

Darkspore wasn’t even bad, but I can’t help but laugh at the very obvious high-speed course cor??rection that was at play here.

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Pyramid Head, the main antagonist from the iconic Silent Hill 2, is not exactly what you would call "c??ute." However, there's? always room for some adorableness, even in horror, and there's a plush toy of the monster that's being made available next year.

After the Credits, a company that specializes in video game and pop culture memorabilia, recently uploaded an image of the loveable-looking Pyramid Head. Despite the fact it still resembles the Silent Hill 2 villain, you can't? help but coo at him in this context.

//twitter.com/atc_experience/status/16??86??678228616859648

While the plush isn't available until January 4, 2024, you can pre-order one from the website, currently priced at â‚?4.99 (about $38 US).

No sign of a James Sunderland plush, though

Of course, what a lot of you are waiting for–besides soft toy versions of demonic creatures–is the Silent Hill 2 remake. Helmed by Layers of Fear and The Medium studio, Bloober Team, there's a lot riding on whether a modern telling of this classic horror game will be a success??.

The original 2001 release is such an influential? part of the genre that any studio handling a remake wi?ll be up against a lot of pressure.

We're still not sure when it's coming out, though an Australian retailer did suggest it's due to release on September 29. Neither Konami nor the developer have confirmed this, so we can't say for certain w??hether t??his launch window is accurate.

All we know is there's plenty of Silent Hill 2 fans who are unsure whether Bloober has what it takes ?to do the source material justice. If not, at least there's the adorab?le version of Pyramid Head to ease the pain.

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From the mind that brought us Silent Hill

For all you horror fans out there, Bokeh Game Studio has uploaded a video diary for the upcoming Slitterhead. This is a brand-new psychological horror game from KeiichirĹŤ Toyama, better known as the creator of the first Silent Hill.

In this latest video, the developer gives a brief behind-the-scenes look at the tests that have been done on an early build of Slitterhead. In the footage, we are treated to a few details about th??e work done so far, which includes some brief glimpses from the game (keep in mind that it's still very much in early development).

//youtu.be/XYrOO0SLUAI

As well as this sneak peek of the project, we're also told that the game will feature "unique mechanics," which have apparently gone down quite well with testers so far. What these mechanics actually are is a mystery. In fact, there's still not a huge amount known about Slitterhead, including when it's likely to release. Given that it's still in the early stages, it's probably going to be a whi?le.

A new horror awaits

Bokeh Game Studio was founded in 2020 by Toyama after his departure from Sony. He also brought onboard Junya Okura and Kazunobu Sato, both of whom he worked with on the cult horror series Siren. Slitterhead will be the new team's maiden release.

Right now is an exciting time to be a horror fan. Whether it's remakes of classics or...well, okay, there are a lot of remakes at the momen??t. But the ones that have come about over the last few years have been pretty good.

There are also some great games on the indie scene, such as Iron Lung, not to mention the new Amnesia game has been scaring the pants off people. So the genre is very much alive, and a lot of you will be looking forward to what Bokeh has to offer, especially given it has the director of the OG Silent Hill at the helm.

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But don't mark your calendars just yet

No doubt, plenty of you horror fans have been anticipating Bloober Team's upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2. Some of you will be excited, while some of you may be holding back judgment. In any case, it's on a lot of people's lips, and the game may have its release date already.

As spotted by Twitter user ResiEvilCentral, Australian website Gaming Gorilla has made Silent Hill 2 available for pre-order, at a cost of $89 AUS (about $60 US). How??ever, the most interesting part about this listing is that it says the "expected release date" for the remake down a?s September 29, 2023.

Now, given that neither Konami nor the developer has said when it's likely to launch, where Gaming Gorilla got this information is definitely interesting. Last we heard, Bloober Team denied SH2 was ready for release. The fact that both Steam and the PlayStation Store also do not list a release? date means this could well have been in error.

//twitter?.com/resievilcentral/stat??us/1668311447212785692

Either that or someone somewhere has access to information the rest of aren't privy to. As of this moment, there is no official release date for the game, so it's entirely likely that this is just a rumor or someone has made a mistake. At the time of writing, the "leaked" release date is still on the retailer??'s website. However, it's best not to get your? hopes up until the studio/publisher either confirm or deny these latest developments.

Silent Hill enjoys a pretty solid legacy,? though it's been lying dormant for too long. The second installment, released in 2001, has gone down as one of the most important survival horror games of all time. Given this, it's not surprising that so many are looking forward to the remake. Whether Bloober Team can pull it off remains to be seen at this stage.

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You can't escape your past

It's a great day for horror fans, as Genvid Technologies and Behaviour Interactive have released a new trailer for Silent Hill: Ascension. Representing just one slice of the SH rejuvenation, this teaser gives a brief taste of things to come. Unlike the other projects, Ascension is going to be an interactive experience, produced in conjunction with J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robots. The fact that it's being co-developed by the Dead by Daylight team should intrigue a few people.

The trailer itself does suggest that the game may depart from what fans have come to love about the iconic, yet criminally dormant, survival horror series. That's not surprising, seeing as Ascension is pretty much a spin-off. However, the fact that you'll get to influence the story directly should be enough of a pull. In any case, some of you are probably still pinching yourself that Silent Hill is finally coming back.

//youtu.be/hxBuL8lU3Bs

Not since 2012's Book of Memories has there been a new entry, so it was a pleasant shock when, in November 2022, Konami announced a multitude of games under the SH umbrella. While such projects as Silent Hill f, with its creepy Japanese flavor, and Townfall are ones to look out for, the one that's on everyone's watch list is the remake of the 2001 masterpiece Silent Hill 2. This reimagining is being helmed by Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team. ??M?ake of that what you will.

On top of games, there's also a new Silent Hill movie in production, which is being directed by Christophe Gans who did the 2006 adaptation. Essentially, it's all go for Konami's legendary horror series. Silent Hill: Ascension is currently in development, and is scheduled for release in? 2023.

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Look as hot as The Nurse

In an interesting, but somewhat unnerving, piece of merchandising, Konami has announced that it will be teaming with make-up, erm, maker Vampyre Cosmetics in order to produce a line of cosmetic products based upon the Drop Dead Gorgeous world of *checks notes* Silent Hill.

While absolutely no images or even hints were offered up as to what the line of items will include, the comical nature of a Silent Hill cosmetics line writes itself, given the series drab, grim, and disgusting look. Are you expecting a palette of rusted metals, fog greys, and rotted flesh reds? I kid, of course, but it will genuinely be interesting to see how the grisly, depressing world of Silent Hill is reproduced in a beauty line. Vampyre Cosmetics, as the name suggests, is pretty sharp at adapting the darker side of make-up, so I'm looking forward to seeing what?? is eventually prod??uced.

//twitt??er.com/TeamSilent??Hill/status/1654521071326863360?s=20

This is, of course, a pretty big year for the missing-in-action survival horror franchise. As revealed during the Fall 2022 Silent Hill Transmission stream, there are currently multiple projects in production at Konami, including Christophe Gans�live-action movie Return to Silent Hill, streaming series Silent Hill: Ascension, Annapurna spin-off Silent Hill: Townfall and, of course, Bloober Team's incoming remake of 2001 classic Silent Hill 2. So you can paint your?self up in the new line of Vampyre Cosmetics, and perhaps, if your make-up s??kills match mine, you can be the scariest thing in town.

Silent Hill 2 is currently in development for PS5 and PC.

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Robbie is done with your Funko Pop shit

Merch-maker Numskull has announced the next statue in the company's Silent Hill range �And second in the lineup of nightmarish creatures and dream warriors comes a particular fan favorite, in the form of Silent Hill 3 protagonist Heather Mason.

The tortured and traumatized young hero �forced to step up and face her fears and her own destiny when trouble comes a'callin �is the latest release in Numskull's burgeoning range based on the skin-crawling Konami franchise. The PVC statue, which stands around 10 inches tall, depicts Ms. Mason in her classic casual clothing, packing heat and dramatically wiping a cut ?on her delicate face. Heather's base features a visual motif stylized after the Happy-go-Doomy locale of Lakeside Amusement Park, an??d is complete with an appearance by its creepy mascot, Robbie the Rabbit.

//www.youtube.?com/watch?v=ZA2SA?U6KYDE&ab_channel=NumskullDesigns

Heather will make for a wonderful companion to Numskull's previously released Bubble Head Nurse statue, as dedicated Silent Hill fans slowly turn their lounge mantle into a menagerie of nightmares. What's ?next in the range? Who knows? But I'm sure hoping for a life-size, crazy-eyed Eileen head to block up my kitchen doorway. Wouldn't that b??e a fun conversation piece?

Whatever we get, Numskull's Silent Hill range is an attractive and (relatively) affordable way to pay tribute to one of horror gaming's most iconic franchises. For interested parties, the Silent Hill 3 Heather Mason statue is available to pre-order now over on the Numskull website, retailing for around ÂŁ100 (or roughly $130 US??D). The statue is exp??ected to ship in September 2023.

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