Well-known horror film director Guillermo del Toro mentioned Silent Hill before his announcement for the nominees for the “Best Art Direction” category at the Game Awards 2021, and his statement leaves fans speculating the future of the Silent Hill series. At the Game Awards 2021, Guillermo del Toro announced the nominees for the “Best Art Direction” category, which included Deathloop, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Psychonauts 2, Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart, and The Artful Escape. Leading up to the announcement, del Toro mentioned the game series Silent Hill, where he stated, “You know, one franchise I love the art direction in? Silent Hill. I hope we get a new one of those.”
“You know, one franchise I love the art direction in? Silent Hill. I hope we get a new one of those.”
Del Toro’s statement comes as a surprise to viewers and fans of the Silent Hill series, given his history with Konami and his involvement with a particular Silent Hill project back in 2014.
Del Toro first got involved with the Silent Hill series in 2014, where he and Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima worked together on a project called P.T., which stands for “playable teaser.” P.T. was initially released on the PlayStation Store for the PS4 in 2014 and was expected to become full game called Silent Hills, a new addition to the Silent Hill series that del Toro and Kojima planned to direct and produce together. As a teaser, P.T. became a huge success and left many fans in anticipation for a new Silent Hill installment, where the last addition to the series was Silent Hill: Book of Memories back in 2012. However, the game unfortunately never came to fruition as Konami canceled Silent Hills and eventually removed P.T. from the PlayStation store in 2015, which was met with backlash from fans and endless P.T. fan remakes. That same year, Kojima parted ways with Konami and made Kojima Productions, which was a subsidiary of Konami, into an independent game studio.
Although del Toro slyly name-dropping Silent Hill at The Game Awards 2021 was unexpected, this isn’t the first time del Toro has expressed his opinions regarding Konami after the cancellation of P.T. At the 2016 Game Awards, del Toro shared his personal opinion about Konami on Twitter in response to Kojima revealing the trailer for Death Stranding, the first game developed by Kojima Productions since Kojima’s departure from Konami, where del Toro also made an appearance in the game.
Given the vagueness behind Guillermo del Toro’s statement regarding Silent Hill and his complicated history with Konami, one can’t help but hold onto hope about the possibility of a new installment in the series featuring a collaboration between him and Hideo Kojima. For now, fans can only wait and see what the future has in store for the Silent Hill series.