While other survival titles, namely Resident Evil, have begun employing cooperative multiplayer in order to make the game more appealing, it looks like the forthcoming Silent Hill: Downpour will not be following that trend.

Earlier, it was reported that the game would be instituting some sort of multiplayer but, as it turns out, that rumor was simply the result of mistranslation. Developer Vatra Games acknowledges that at one point they were considering a multiplayer, but have since scrapped that idea.Much like Rocksteady Studios, who felt that implementing multiplayer into Batman: Arkham City would segregate the development team, Vatra decided not to pursue multiplayer in the interest of resource management. Sure, multiplayer has its advantages, especially in getting multiple gamers involved at once, but if it isn’t pursued with the full effort, it can end up taking away from the single player experience.

Devin Shatsky, producer on Silent Hill: Downpour, took to the forums of Hell Descent after a recent article from an Italian Xbox 360 magazine stated the title would be featuring multiplayer and cleared the air saying:

“Whoever that Italian interviewer was either took Radeks comments completely out of context, or it was lost in translation. As previously mentioned, we were (many moons ago) investigating a separate Multiplayer mode, but that was quickly extinguished when we costed it out and determined how much resource time it would detract from the core singleplayer experience.”

Nobody likes to see shoe-horned multiplayer, so it is probably for the best that Downpour stick to its creepy atmosphere — something that is very hard to create in cooperative play. It's also worth noting that the title bares a striking resemblance to Alan Wake this time around - hopefully it can find a larger market than Remedy's title.

Silent HIll 8

With a more established property, and a unique blend of both traversal and combat mechanics, the Silent Hill series is the premier place to get your thrills and chills. It might have been fun to play with a friend, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep someone close by in case things get a bit scary.

Would you have liked to see multiplayer in Silent Hill: Downpour? Now in its eighth entry, do you think the Silent Hill series is still a viable property?

Silent Hill: Downpour is slated for a Fall 2011 release on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Source: Hell Descent (via CVG)