It started with a mysterious teaser during Sony’s Gamescom press conference on Tuesday. Entitled P.T, brief footage was shown along with reactions to players experiencing the demo and then the news that everyone could play it now by downloading it from the store immediately. Once the conference had finished I quickly went to download it as I’m a huge survival horror fan and was very intrigued by this new game from an unknown studio. The demo is very tense and atmospheric with no menus or tips on how to play; you simply start walking down a corridor in hopes of learning what on earth is going on.

Learning of what happened in the house via a radio report, suddenly it cuts out with a mysterious voice saying “Behind you, look behind you.” As I slowly turned around a demon was right in my face and let’s just say I let out a shriek that I wasn’t even aware I was capable of. After this initial scare, I settled down and became more intrigued in how to actually progress. I looked at ripped up pictures and started to progress to new areas, whilst still being terrified that the demon would show it’s ugly face once again.

Without completely delving into what else happens, I really liked the simplistic approach but it did seem very random how you do get certain events to trigger. Eventually the phone rang and I finally got to leave the house. As I walked down the street, the names Hideo Kojima, Guillermo Del Toro & Norman Reedus appear on screen before the name of the game that’s being teased is finally revealed: SILENT HILLS. Wow.

An incredibly creative way to announce a new title, Kojima seems to be really experimenting lately after pulling a similar stunt when announcing what became Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Given that this teaser does not reflect what the final game will become, what can we expect? Well judging by the short sequence at the end it’s not that crazy to assume The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus will be the main protagonist, also assuming the main game will be played in third person like previous games.

One thing we can learn is that clearly atmosphere and simplicity will play a part in Kojima’s vision of what a Silent Hill game should be. Whilst still very basic, P.T certainly made me feel very uncomfortable which is something only a handful of horror games have ever done and certainly not in the recent Silent Hill games.

Kojima has already said he wants this game to “make you shit your pants” which the demo certainly did. He also said back in 2012 “Silent Hill in a closed room setting and doesn’t require full action so that we can focus on the graphic quality. Enemy doesn’t have to be a lot or move fast. It only requires scariness by graphics and presentation. As being a creator making action game in open world, such game is very enviously attractive. ” You can certainly see that in P.T.

The other name attached is acclaimed film director Guillermo Del Toro. This one is more interesting as we don’t know in what capacity Del Toro will be involved. While more known for his film and TV work, Del Toro is still no stranger to the video game world. Most notably was a survival horror game called inSANE that Del Toro was to direct which is currently lost in development hell but supposedly not cancelled. Perhaps some of his work on this title will be used in Silent Hills? One thing Del Toro has proven himself on over the years is his monster design and I look forward to see what he can come up with inside Silent Hill‘s twisted universe.

What is most crazy from all of this is that I’m genuinely excited for a Silent Hill game again. Just like Resident Evil, these two franchises I have loved playing for years but in recent times have really turned into something I don’t enjoy. With the news of an enhanced Resident Evil remake and now this news also I am thrilled to see both franchises hopefully being treated with the respect they deserve. With The Evil Within also just around the corner, I really hope console survival horror is back to it’s best and horror fans certainly have a lot to look forward to. Even if Silent Hills probably won’t come out for at least another 12-18 months.

I remember Lorne Lanning once saying how Peter Jackson, who was meant to be working on a Halo game at the time, getting into games has more to do with him wanting to keep his team working and less to do with loving games in general. Del Toro is a brilliant director and I'm sure he could contribute quite a lot to Silent Hill game, but working on an interactive narrative is a big jump and the only credit to his name is a cancelled game from years ago. Kojima knows how to make great games but is an appalling story-teller so maybe he'll balance the team out. But most likely Kojima Productions also needs to stay busy after The Phantom Pain wraps up and Konami must think the Silent Hill franchise is in need of renewal.

I'd consider Silent Hill 2 one of my all-time favourite games, as is Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, so I want to love this. But I'm going to stay cautiously optimistic rather than getting overly invested just yet. I hope it's amazing... but I also hope these two can play to each other's strengths... and for fucksake please keep Kojima away from the goddamn script! Let he make the game, but no dialogue...

Also, a side note, the marketing of MGSV in the early days with that fake developer Moby Dick Studios was unbelievably stupid and lead to absolutely nothing. It fooled nobody, it added nothing to the game and it didn't even tie back into the eventual reveal in any meaningful way.

Really good write up! Also, congrats on actually getting through it, I got stuck.

P.T was one of the few horror type things that actually got to me. Kojima and Del Toro being involved in this raises my hopes up too. Kojima is a fantastic developer and Del Toro knows horror. This might be one of the few horror games I'll actually buy and enjoy.

Randomuser295 said something interesting in another thread. I've been thinking about it and agree with their hypothesis. When Silent Hills comes out it's going to be a collection of vignettes. One of them is going to have Norman Reedus in it and it's actually going to look like Norman Reedus. Maybe his story will be the thread tying the whole thing together.

P.T. looked nearly photo-realistic. It was also a genuine stumper that required me to think. There's something really artistic and interesting about the way they're approaching this game.

I am watching the archive from spooking with scoops and damn, this scared the shit of me just watching....

@mooseymcman: Thanks. Took about 6 hours but eventually got through it. Really enoyable experience.

@spraynardtatum: I like the sound of this idea.

My theory is that it's multiple timelines all centering on the same dude but under different circumstances.

@_mattallica: Really enjoyed reading your thoughts, especially since I don't have a PS4 and only watched a play through. I think your right assuming 3rd person given Silent Hill's history and the fact Konami got someone like Norman Reedus for the role. Obviously, no one really knows exactly what Silent Hills will be like yet, but I'm curious if you think the scares in P.T are more effective because it is in first person. Would going through the experience in third person have provided just enough separation from the action to make lessen the feelings of dread/horror?

Finally unlocked the trailer myself, after reading about you had to talk into the mic to get the phone to ring. Amazing stuff.

I'm not sure if I want the game to be first-person or third-person. Silent Hill has always been 3rd person ofcourse (except for the hub in 4) and it would be necessary to keep it so if you want to create a decent survival horror game including combat. I would love a Silent Hill where you can freely roam the city and enter some buildings (as if were an open world game) and have the 'other world transitions' randomly happen. Really excited for this one and I just love it that the series is in Japanese hands once again!

@bitdistillery: Given the way P.T was constructed, I believe it wouldn't have been as scary. Walking around a corner, not knowing what I would see in each loop is what really pulled me into it. Then of course the jump scare when I slowly turned around wouldn't have really worked either in third person. I think this just shows they know how to be effective in this certain style. Hopefully if the main game is in third person they will find other ways of being scary that are equally effective as well as completely different.

@dussck: I really like what you said about Silent Hill being somewhat an open world. Imagine you just walk around in third person, enter a house and then suddenly what happened in P.T plays out. You are in first person, stuck in a loop and have to figure a way out. When you do get outside again the game goes back to third person and each different area of SH will have a completely different feel. Some sections could be combat heavy third person action sequences whlst others could take a more slower, exploration route. This would certainly keep the game unpredictable and then keep it scarier for a longer duration.

A new entry in the Silent Hill franchise for the PS4.

A new entry in the Silent Hill franchise for the PS4.

A new entry in the Silent Hill franchise for the PS4.

A new entry in the Silent Hill franchise for the PS4.

A new entry in the Silent Hill franchise for the PS4.

On the other hand, though, it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. All the nonsense about JOACHIM MOGREN and whether or not Cliffy B was involved... it was fun!

Also this whole thing seems like a good idea to me because Silent Hill hasn't had a good game since 4- arguably since 3. No harm in letting Kojima and del Toro take a shot at it, because the series is pretty much dead at this point. If they fail it's just another nail in the coffin, but if they pull it off they can bring back one of my favorite franchises. Win/win.

@make_me_mad: Completely agree. The series is pretty much dead right now so I say let anyone slightly interesting have a go at revitalising it.

I think its Silent Hill S (not Hills) where the S is a substitution for 5, since the last numbered Silent Hill game was 4.

Jup was thinking the same thing. This is the true successor to Silent Hill 4. The PT was feeling alot like 'The Room' as well, with the floating ghost and the fetus. And ofcourse the first person view.

Although I hope it's more in the style of SH1/2/3 and Kojima keeps it a bit more serious this time and not litter the game with references to him and MGS.

@dussck: @rigas: That's what I intially thought. Like you said, very similar to The Room so 5 makes sense, even though it's not the 5th game. However the last thing you see on screen is "Silent Hills Playable Teaser" which I guess could have meant Silent Hill's Playable Teaser i.e the game is just called Silent Hill? Who knows.

We don't even know what his influence in the production of the game (we don't, right? this could be Castlevania all over) or the teaser is and you seem to be giving him all the credit.

I'm sorry but I despise when people say things like your title. Hideo is probably a super talented guy that is capable of contributing a lot, but PT was what it was because of a collection of people all doing excellent work. That would be true even if Hideo had strong connections to it's development.

Add that to the fact that the actual gameplay was garbage (or at least the puzzles, which is pretty much the full extent of the gameplay beyond walking around) and it seems really weird to say that this is a manifestation of Hideo's "genius."

It was super scary, and a very cool idea for a teaser.

I hope they keep the first person. I have a hard time being scared when I can see my character. Horror games are so effective because you have to put yourself into the shoes of the victims of a horror movie.

I will say I hope they go really fucked up with this. Do things we haven't seen in horror games. We've seen plenty of ghosts. They should really take advantage of the atmosphere of the teaser, the domestic violence. Another romp through generically haunted mansion #5 isn't going to really do this game any favors. It needs to set itself apart and one thing horror games rarely seem to get into is actually screwed up shit performed by humans.

@jarmahead: Nope, we don't know his involvment at all. Kinda the point of this was to speculate as we really don't know right now. It easily could be like LoS but considering he's been talking about Silent Hill for a while I'm inclined to think he'll be more involved but only time will tell.

What part of my title did you despise? The genius part? I also called him strange as I'm not really a Kojima fan but thought it made sense in this context. Regarding giving him credit when tons of other people are involved; that's just the way these things work. People will give props to Peter Jackson before anyone else after seeing The Hobbit, Ken Levine with BioShock Infinite etc. This has just always been the case. I by no means am looking past all the talented people that have to all work hard in creating something like this.

I actually really liked the gameplay. By limiting what I could do it really made me feel more helpless. Obviously it will need to be way more substantial once the full game comes around but for a teaser I thought it worked very effectively.

I completely agree with your final paragraph. My favorite part of the entire teaser was hearing what happened in the house on the radio report. I was really terrified as I was expecting to run into the killer, and I also thought could I be playing as the killer? Then when the ghost appeared it made me jump but immediately afterwards I was like "OK, so it's just a ghost" and most of the tension was lost.

When I saw Patrick playing it I thought it was brilliant in it's simplicity. What a mind bending experience and what a great way to make you question your surroundings at all times.

@humanity: Yeah it's weird that one of my fav video game experiences of the year isn't even a full game.

And to top it off they've actually managed to sell some extra PS4s to the facecam Youtube crew that they were clearly catering to with this thing.

@syz: $$$$

@_mattallica: I don't think Sony expected it to be such a hype, they barely mentioned the exclusivity of the PT on the Gamescom press conference. They probably just thought it was a good kind of joke of ol' Kojima-san.

The teaser had some good things going for it. But it fell flat for me right about the time the world switched to a reddened, uncomfortably noisy, hyper speed run through a very cramped space. I got good and nauseated very quickly and a few moments later, a killer tension headache. What was creepy and fun a few minutes ago just became frustrating. Once that frustration set in, it was impossible for me to regain the earlier mood. I think where horror games fail is that they let the player fail. Close encounters with death create a better sense of dread. Once you die in a game, the magic is kind of loss except when there's a penalty (Dark Souls). The same rule applies to the puzzle element. Once it's too obtuse, it's no longer scary.

@frustratedlnc: I agree that once you die it kinda ruins the experience. One thing I hated about Tomb Raider; when I failed a QTE I would see Lara die, then the game just restarted the sequence to give me another shot at it. Hated it. Whereas in Beyond:Two Souls the game would adapt if you failed a QTE and continued regardless. Loved this apporach as I never got pulled out of the experience.