The PlayStation 5 is only half a year old, and has already racked up an impressive list of PS5 exclusives to its name. From Returnal to Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, new titles seem to be hitting Sony's newest home console at a steady pace, with the promise of even more content in the future. Another project, simply titled Abandoned, was announced out of the blue earlier this year with a brief, yet intriguing teaser trailer. Developed by a small indie team at a company called "BlueBox Game Studios," the teaser shows footage from a first person perspective, with a voiceover narration hinting at a haunting, intense survival horror experience.
Outside of the trailer for Abandoned, little else is known about the project outside of some sparse details regarding the company, and the promise of more information coming soon. The game does seem promising in its own right, however a series of recent Twitter posts by BlueBox Game Studios have resulted in speculation that the project is far more than it is claiming to be. In fact, there have been claims and connections made by gamers that Abandoned is actually an elaborate ruse and in fact the new Silent Hill game in disguise.
Before advancing, it is important to remember that all of this is purely speculation at the time of writing this article. BlueBox Studio could have made an honest mistake, with its responses to questions truly genuine in stating that it has no affiliation with Hideo Kojima or the Silent Hill IP. However, the bizarre series of events that have occurred recently regarding the project are at least worth being placed under a microscope for further investigation.
Abandoned - The Mystery PS5 Exclusive
On April 7, 2021, the official PlayStation YouTube channel uploaded a gameplay teaser for what appears to be a small indie game. As mentioned, this title is called Abandoned, and presents itself as a first person survival horror video game. The announcement came out of the blue, with little indication of its prior development or what the game will eventually shape up to be. While it isn't unusual for indie games to be surprise revealed with little to no warning, it is some of the surrounding details that adds a new layer of speculation to the true nature of what Abandoned really is.
From the get go, Abandoned is being marketed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive with full backing from Sony for marketing and development. The game page on PlayStation blog also delves further into some of the details pertaining to the gameplay and overall tone of the experience. Abandoned is aiming to deliver a truly realistic first person experience, full of dread and nerve wracking situations.
The title claims to take full advantage of features inside the DualSense controller, the PS5's 3D audio capabilities, as well as the horsepower in the console itself, delivering photo-realistic graphics. While indie games have delivered some impressive titles over the years, the level of ambition on display for Abandoned seems extremely high for what is claimed to be a very small team.
Abandoned - The Possible Silent Hill Connection
There were suggestions upon the initial reveal that Abandoned may have been Silent Hill-related in some way, but these notions seemed to fade away as time went on. However, this rushed back and hit a fever pitch on June 16, when the Twitter account for BlueBox Game Studios posted an extremely bizarre, questionable update on its page. The team teased the official title of the game was to be revealed soon, and offered a hint that the final name would begin with an "S" and end with and "L." Of course, this could spell out anything, and its important not to immediately assume "Silent Hill" as the title, however, the rabbit hole of speculation runs even deeper.
The official website for BlueBox Game Studios is completely barren, almost an unfinished template for further updates and designed to be finalized later. The studio has seemingly worked on no prior games, and is apparently working under the direction of a game director named Hasan Kahraman. This individual has no profile picture on his LinkedIn profile, nor is there information on his past work prior to the development of Abandoned. It's possible that he simply hasn't updated his online profile, but it is worth noticing that the initials of his name match that of Hideo Kojima's (H.K), possibly serving as a sneaky alias to keep the game under wraps.
While this may seem like grasping at straws, it is worth noting that this isn't the first time Hideo Kojima has pulled a tricky stunt like this when advertising one of his projects. Back in 2012, prior to the proper announcement of Metal Gear Solid 5, the game was teased as a new IP, simply titled The Phantom Pain. Furthermore, the project was claimed to be in production by a new team at "Moby Dick Studio," under the direction of a designer named Joakim Mogren. It was later revealed that this was all a gag, and the name Joakim Mogren was an anagram for Hideo Kojima.
It is important to reiterate that this is all a guessing game at this point in time, until more information regarding Abandoned is unveiled. BlueBox Game Studios apologized for its Twitter post, claiming it never meant to cause such a frenzy for fans of Silent Hill. Still, there are some interesting coincidences at play here, so it will be very intriguing when Abandoned posts more details about the game in the near future.
Abandoned is slated to launch in Q4 of 2021, exclusively on PS5.