Konami shows new Silent Hill at E3

By Oli Welsh Published 16 June, 2010

PS3 and 360 in 2011.

Konami has shown the first footage of the next Silent Hill at its E3 press conference. The game will be released for Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011.

It hasn't been given a title other than Silent Hill at the moment. It's being developed, as previously reported, by Czech studio Vatra Games.

Silent Hill's producer promised that it would be influenced by everything the series has successfully implemented in the past - disturbing creatures and survival horror in a parallel world - but that special attention is being paid to evolving the combat "in a logical direction" rather than simply increasing it, or removing it altogether as in Shattered Memories.

The new trailer showed a lead character, a man with blonde hair, who going by his numbered jumpsuit and shackles is an escaped convict. He makes his way into Silent Hill after a bus transporting him crashes into a ravine. A female law officer - possibly a prison officer or Marshal - survives with him.

Once in the town, the convict begins to explore deserted houses by torchlight in classic Silent Hill fashion. Sparing combat was shown - stalked by one creature, he spun around and dispatched it with one pistol shot. At another point, the camera pulled away to show him walking through a quasi-fantastical prison setting, a giant construction of rusted iron.

The Vatra team revealed that the music would be by composer Dan Licht, who does music for TV serial killer drama Dexter.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Silent-Hal #1 2 years ago

    @chimneyleaf

    If I remember right, that's pretty much how Silent Hill 2 was on the normal difficulty setting. Pretty much everything expect bosses went down in 2-3 pistol shots.

    Anyway, I like the idea of playing as a convict of some kind. The premise has shades of the The Suffering games if anyone remembers those.

  • Hunam #2 2 years ago

    Dan Licht has some mighty big shoes to fill.

  • bad09 #3 2 years ago

    Like Resi they should lay this series to rest, they messed it up enough. Time to move on and keep the memories intact.

  • ReapingAngel #4 2 years ago

    @Hunam
    Completely agree with you

  • laharl80 #5 2 years ago

    Can we please have some real survival horror.
    One shot kills isn't very scary is it.
    There hasn't been a decent survival horror game since Project Zero 3.
    Silent Hill better not go the way of Resi 4 & 5.

  • mkreku #6 2 years ago

    Hey, Mafia was made by a Czech studio! Continue reading, you jerk! :p

  • sfp_noodle #7 2 years ago

    For me, the series peaked with number 3. The original for me remains the best. The ssecond one was also excellent and the third was truely terrifying. It lost it's way after that. Didn't even bother trying out homecoming. What made Konami think it was a good idea to outsource development to an unknown and unproven studio? As it stands, I'd rather have XBLA/PSN releases of the first 3 games than a whole new one. If you want to do another Silent Hill game Konami, do it yourself. Don't ruin a great franchise by handing it over to people who have no idea what they're doing.

  • Ninja_Tino #8 2 years ago

    Survival-horror is actually one of the trickiest genres to get right. Ammo conservation is obviously a huge aspect, particularly in older Resi's, but give too much and it's just a shooter and give to little and it's a frustrating shambles. Are enemies just one shot kill? Do they require loads of bullets in 'em? Does frequently pumping enemies full of lead consequently lose the horror aspect? Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, for all its niggles, at least attempted something different, as well as something perhaps more in vein with survival-horror than anything before it. If this Silent Hill, or any spooky game, can really be a true survival-horror then it would be amongst the most intense and memorable games of all time. Here's hoping.

  • LR100 #9 2 years ago

    Silent Hill fans probably puked at the sentence about the soundtrack.

  • laharl80 #10 2 years ago

    @Ninja_Tino
    The Project Zero series manages fine with no guns and is easily the scariest survival horror series out there.
    If you have only a lead pipe or a camera to protect you it ups the fear of death and creates scares.
    Whats scarier? Rambo or Ju-on?

  • BillyBrush #11 2 years ago

    It looks awful in the trailer

  • BBIAJ #12 2 years ago

    @A3RO_DYNAMIK:

    Capcom shouldn't have anything to do with Silent Hill, I'm betting Konami would have something to say about that if they did!

  • SeesThroughAll #13 2 years ago

    Will be a marvellous game to play with the light off and using motion control for the flashlight, sounds good.
    And both versions will be just as immersive in this regard!

  • Tomo #14 2 years ago

    I still need to play SH1, 2, 3 and to a lesser extent 4 and 5 :/

  • Tomo #15 2 years ago

    Trailer: [link url=http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-silent-hill/700166
    ]http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-201...[/link]

    Having just watched that, I think the only thing he shoots and kills in one shot is actually another human...

  • Zebula77 #16 2 years ago

    I'll always be optimistic towards a new Silent Hill, as it's probably my fave game series, but I don't like the fact that Akira Yamaoka isn't doing the music or sound-effects - arguably 50% of the appeal of horror games.

    Still, Dexter is my fave TV show, and Licht's music is really rather good. We'll see.

    I'm just hoping it'll be more like number two than say, number three or five. First two SH games will always be my faves.

  • Mr_Brown #17 2 years ago

    It annoys me that they are still focusing on combat, this was never an important aspect of the game. Really do wish they would allow a japanese developer to make this...

  • GreyBeard #18 2 years ago

    I thought the trailer was pretty damn good, it looks a lot more low-key and atmospheric than I expected.

  • XdarXideX #19 2 years ago

    Yep... Silent Hill really should be laid to rest. I've been a fan from the start and I even enjoyed SH4 and Origins, but Homecoming set the series on an entirely new path and because of that it's lost its Silent Hill-ness.

  • killyourtv #20 2 years ago

    During Silent Hill 1 - 3 this was one of my favourite gaming series. 4 was okay I guess.

    Then they Konami stopped the in-house development and passed the series off to some outsiders, and a part of me died. Things were never the same again.

  • Paulie_P #21 2 years ago

    Please be good. Please be good. Please be good.

  • Jim_Lahey #22 2 years ago

    Trailer looks interesting. Got to be better than the mess that was homecoming. Shame Climax are not getting another shot . Though not perfect they at least nailed the unsettleling atmosphere that Silent Hill was renowned for. Wont be the same without the master and last remaining tie to the series , Akira Yamaoka.

    Silent-Hal

    The Suffering games were awesome. Gutted that Midway never made a next gen 3rd installment.

  • Bulbatron #23 2 years ago

    The trailer looks pretty good. Let's hope it turns out better than - well, everything that came after Silent Hill 3.

  • drhickman1983 #24 2 years ago

    I'm a huge fan of 1-3, 2 being my favourite due to the way the monsters are really tied into James's own psyche, found that psychological aspect more interesting than the cult stuff in 1 and 3. Though 1 provided possibly the most genuinely terrifying moments in any game I've played. 4 was dissapointing, and haven't played any since.

    This new game might be interesting. Hard to tell from the little known so far. It could end up being some kind of looking for redemption tale, which could possibly have shades of James's story from 2. If they focus on the protaganists inner demons / turmoil, and have them manifest as monsters that actually relate the character, I might be give it a go. If it turns out to be a simple try-to-escape tale with monsters who are wierd and freaky for the sake of it, I'll lose interest very quickly. And hope the game isn't too combat focused, it doesn't seem to be a major point in the trailer so we can hope at least.

    Graphically, the tone seems decent enough, quite like the torch effect, but the characters seem slightly wooden. In terms of actual facial expression they seemed no better than 2, and actually worse than 3 (might be the rose tinted spectacles effect). As for the music being done by Licht and not Yamaoka... I'm prepared to give it a go, though I'd prefer a return to the harsh, atonal industrial noise of the first game.