Ever since the release of its first game back in 1999, Silent Hill has become an iconic horror video game franchise. It's no secret that Silent Hill was Konami's response to Resident Evil, but the two franchises soon became two very different games. The former is focused on supernatural psychological horror, while the latter revolves around science fiction survival horror.
However, unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill's last game, Silent Hill Downpour, was released back in 2012, which means that it has been eight years since Konami released a new Silent Hill game. Of course, Silent Hill fans would know all too well that Konami was working on a new game in the franchise some years called Silent Hills, but that was later canceled. Now, it appears that the fate of the Silent Hill franchise remains unknown, but it appears that Konami is making subtle actions to bring Silent Hill back to the consciousness of players.
So what exactly is Konami up to?
At the moment, Konami hasn't revealed any official plans regarding the Silent Hill franchise. However, it is worth knowing that there has been a series of events that suggest that Konami is trying to create some buzz around Silent Hill. First, there was Dead by Daylight adding Silent Hill content back in July. It is currently unknown how the partnership between Konami and Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive came to be, but adding Silent Hill content such as Pyramid Head and many others to the popular asymmetric survival horror game is a good way to re-ignite interest to a franchise that has been in hiatus for nearly a decade now.
The Cryptic Tweet
Of course, it is worth knowing that Dead by Daylight has been partnering with many other horror franchises for its DLC content, and it is likely that the addition of Silent Hill content is just that. However, at exactly the first of August, Konami released a tweet containing audio of Silent Hill 2's iconic siren. The tweet's caption reads "Close your eyes. Always scary. Silent Hill 2 Siren." Of course, this led many to believe that Konami was about to announce something Silent Hill related, and the tweet quickly drew attention among fans of the psychological horror franchise.
However, Konami quickly issued a statement saying that the tweet doesn't really mean anything apart from the studio wanting to share "the noise and feel of being hunted" in relation to the Dead by Daylight crossover. Konami then posted another tweet apologizing again and then casually pointing players to a new Silent Hill Twitter account that was just made last July. Again, this could just be nothing; however, another Silent Hill incident occurred online just one day after the Twitter debacle.
The Creepy Discovery
In a Reddit post, a Silent Hill fan made a shocking discovery about Silent Hill 2, which was first released nearly 20 years ago. The fan claims that they were just randomly looking at Silent Hill 2 screenshots and noticed something funky on one of the images taken from the game's intro where protagonist James Sutherland was looking at himself in a bathroom mirror. The fan decided to take the photo to an image processor and increase its brightness where they discovered that James wasn't looking at himself. Instead, he was looking directly at the player.
The discovery quickly blew up online, especially since it has taken players nearly two decades to discover the small Silent Hill detail. At the moment, Konami still hasn't made any comments about this, which begs the question, is Konami behind this fan discovery? When looking at the grander scheme of things, it seems too random that a fan was just casually browsing screenshots of a twenty-year-old game and happen to stumble upon this minuscule detail that is very difficult to see when given the dark lighting in the original photo.
Of course, this is not to discredit the Redditor who made the discovery, because it is likely that it is a genuine find. However, one can't shake off the feeling that this may be Konami's genius way of bringing back Silent Hill in a subtle manner, especially since the discovery of the photo happened just a day later after that cryptic tweet that Konami posted about the Silent Hill x Dead by Daylight crossover.
Is Silent Hill Releasing a New Game or a Remake?
At the moment, the prospect of Konami releasing a new Silent Hill game or even a remake of an old title is still pure speculation. It's difficult to predict what lies ahead for the Silent Hill franchise given that Konami hasn't made any official intention to dust off the series from its long hiatus. However, if a new game is coming, it wouldn't be unlikely if it will be a remake of Silent Hill 2. Looking at the events that were previously discussed above, every single one of them is somewhat related to Silent Hill 2.
First, the Dead by Daylight crossover heavily features the iconic Pyramid Head, which was first introduced in Silent Hill 2. Then there is the cryptic tweet containing creepy audio from Silent Hill 2, and lastly, the photo that was discovered by a fan was also taken from Silent Hill 2's intro. Of course, if Konami would remake a Silent Hill game, Silent Hill 2 is the most prime candidate given that many would agree that it is the best entry in the franchise. However, it is important for players to know that these are all pure speculation, and it is probably best to wait for Konami to actually announce something.