E3 2021 and the Summer Game Fest have ended and one surprising game seems to be a focus online -- Silent Hill. No, nothing Silent Hill has been announced, but fans of Hideo Kojima are caught up in a conspiracy theory tied to an indie studio and its horror game, Abandoned. Then, as speculation reaches a peak regarding a possible association between Silent Hill, Kojima, and Abandoned, Konami enters the picture to announce new Silent Hill merchandise.
"Something wicked is rolling into our shop next week," excitedly proclaims the official Konami merchandise shop's Twitter account. The announcement goes on to confirm that Konami is launching an official Silent Hill merchandise collection, starting with a limited-edition skateboard. It's the kind of announcement that could be tied into a separate game announcement, or so many Silent Hill fans very much want to believe. Or it could simply be an incredibly poorly timed promotion.
If it wasn't already clear, there's no substantial reason to believe that Konami has a Silent Hill game to announce soon. The Konami merchandise announcement is either poorly timed or intentionally dropped to capitalize on the current wild speculation that's being spread online. That said, there's always the possibility that Konami is hinting at a Silent Hill announcement. After all, there have been more reliable rumors of a Silent Hill game being in development (or even two) over the past year or two.
What's drawing Silent Hill fans' attention aren't those older rumors, however. It's a complicated conspiracy theory tied to the game Abandoned from indie team Blue Box Studios. During E3 2021, Blue Box posted a message that could be mistakenly implied to mean it was working on a Silent Hill game. Fans ran with this and, despite a Blue Box apology over the confusion, manufactured an ARG that persuaded many that Hideo Kojima was even tied to the project. None of the speculation has proven accurate so far, though it's oddly compelling and fun to follow.
The good to come out of the situation is that, despite the oddity of the situation, it's all surprisingly positive and fun. Even Konami's merchandise tweet, which could reignite wanton speculation, is largely being taken in good fun.
Whether a new Silent Hill game will be announced in the near future remains to be seen. At one time, Sony was rumored to have a team at Sony Japan Studio working on a Silent Hill game, which was followed by Sony "reorganizing" the studio. Bloober Team is also rumored to be working on a major horror game franchise, though whether it's Silent Hill or something else is a mystery. As for Kojima, he's rumored to be working on a project with Xbox, which seems like an odd partnership for Konami to third-wheel in. Suffice to say, until an announcement is made, Silent Hill fans should probably try not to build up any unnecessary expectations.
Silent Hill has no currently announced projects in development.