It has been an extensive period of time since the gaming community has seen a new Silent Hill title, and longtime fans of the series have started to become restless. With rumors and fan speculation largely dominating the discourse surrounding Silent Hill, it seems unlikely that a new installment in the series will happen anytime soon. That said, the creator of one of the most beloved entries in Silent Hill has some good news for horror fans.
The Silent Hill franchise as of late has been going through a serious drought in terms of new content or games. Ever since the cancellation of Silent Hills back in April of 2015, fans of the horror franchise have been eagerly awaiting for some kind of return. Though, now it seems that wish may finally be realized, just not necessarily in terms of Silent Hill in its official form.
Sam Barlow was the lead designer and writer behind Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Barlow would later go on to create subsequent horror titles such as Her Story and Telling Lies, but Shattered Memories remains an important and memorable title in the library of Silent Hill games. Now, it appears that Barlow is currently working on a spiritual successor to Shattered Memories.
On Twitter, Barlow commented saying that an interviewer specifically asked him about a follow-up to Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and couldn't respond because according to him, he is currently working on pitching that idea right now. Barlow would go on to later post that the Shattered Memories follow-up is not the same as Barlow's current project "Project A███████", but is presumably the game that will be worked on after that game has come out.
This is certainly big news for those who enjoyed Shattered Memories. While this may not be the new Silent Hill game that a lot of people had been hoping for, it still gives plenty of fans of both the franchise and Shattered Memories something to look forward to. If Barlow manages to deliver in the same capacity as his previous games, then it is sure to be a chilling, yet enjoyable experience.
It is nice to see all of these different studios start to fill in the vacuum that Silent Hill left behind with games like The Medium, Allison Road, and Lost in Vivo. That being said, there are still plenty of people who would love to see Silent Hill return in some capacity. Even if it's just remakes of the previous games, similar to the new Resident Evil remakes.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is available now for PS2, PSP, and Wii.