Plenty of fans were expecting answers when Blue Box Game Studio finally got the patch working for the Abandoned real-time experience app earlier today. The game has been theorized to be linked to Hideo Kojima and Konami and fans thought that the first bit of content added to the app would finally confirm or deny their suspicions. Unfortunately, the first teaser posted on the app was nothing more than the five-second teaser that was also put on Blue Box's Twitter account three days earlier. In short: no one is any closer to unraveling the mystery behind the game than they were before.
Whether Abandoned is linked to Kojima or Konami is still unclear, but at this point, it almost doesn't matter as the game seems to be worth a play either way. Blue Box Game Studios founder Hasan Kahraman has stated on multiple occasions that Abandoned has no connections to any other existing IPs, so it's very likely that the game is only linked to Kojima and Konami by coincidence. From the limited views that the public has gotten of Abandoned, it seems to be highly reminiscent of the Silent Hill series, so if it turns out to truly have no connection to it, the game might still be worth talking about.
Commitment to a Silent Hill Tone
If Abandoned actually is a new Silent Hill game, then fans will be desperate to play the first proper entry in the series in nearly 10 years. If it's not, however, then the game still seems to be evoking imagery and thematic elements from the series that Silent Hill fans really seem to like. There are plenty of games heavily inspired by the Silent Hill franchise, but nothing has gotten the series so right that people were convinced it was actually another entry in the series. Abandoned has done that, which means that hopefully, it will be a game on par with Silent Hill.
In terms of tone, the clips of Abandoned that are in the small handful of different trailers and teasers seem to really be in line with the cancelled Silent Hills. P.T. was the playable teaser for Silent Hills that saw the player exploring the same small hallway inside a house while constantly being stalked by a horrific ghost, Lisa. While less than an hour long, the teaser left such an impression on its players that fans still talk about it being one of the scariest horror experiences of all time.
Abandoned is taking that horrific tone and making it work for each of its trailers by taking its time. The small clips of the game that have been seen haven't been the scariest things in the entire world, but, like the first few loops of the hallway in P.T., is unsettling enough to make players want more.
Although Silent Hill fans are still waiting for closure from Konami that may never come, hopefully Abandoned can fill some of the empty space left by P.T. and the Silent Hill series. Abandoned may or may not have anything to do with Konami and Hideo Kojima, but if the connections end up being mere coincidences, then that doesn't mean fans should count it out entirely. So far, it's given Silent Hill fans a small taste of what could have been, which means Abandoned could keep that feeling going and deliver an experience worthy of the Silent Hill name. On the other hand, it could just be Silent Hills. Currently, it looks like everyone still has to wait and see.
Abandoned is slated to launch in 2021 for PS5 and PC.