A surprise dropped on October 17th, when Genvid Entertainment premiered the trailer for the latest title in the massively popular Silent Hill series just in time for the Halloween season. The game, a “live series” title that mixes a streamed show’s format with a video game’s interaction to influence where the story goes, will be available on Android and iOS on October 31st.
The Hernandez family plummets into chaos as another death shakes their decimated rust-belt town in Pennsylvania. In a dying fishing village in Norway, the uneasy peace of the Johansen family is upended when their matriarch, Ingrid, dies under suspicious circumstances. Survival depends on them overcoming their darkest impulses and the machinations of a cult, as they discover the horror that connects them.
The most notable thing about the trailer is the almost overwhelming negative response from the fanbase. Indeed, a perusal of the trailer’s YouTube comment section alone is filled with nothing but pessimism for the upcoming game, with an insane 1000 likes to 4000 dislike ratio on the video. Even on the game’s Twitter page, it’s easy to find negative reception to the game’s announcement. The Silent Hill franchise, which has a remake of the iconic Silent Hill 2 by Bloober Team that has many fans worried for how faithfully Bloober Team will adapt the horror game pillar, has been in an odd spot lately.
After being kept dormant for over a decade with the last video game release being Silent Hill: Book of Memories in 2012, Konami has decided in the past few years to pull their classic horror franchise off the shelf and back on to the market. Of course there’s the aforementioned Silent Hill 2 Remake by Bloober Team as well as a new game with a release date yet to be announced, Silent Hill f, written by accomplished writer and When They Cry author Ryukishi07. Last year they also announced Silent Hill: Townfall, developed by No Code and now of course we have Silent Hill: Ascension.
It seems Konami is spreading its wings a bit with the Silent Hill franchise and are willing to experiment and give different developers and game genres access to the popular property, likely to see what works. The intense fan reaction to Ascension is likely due to the slightly underwhelming games in the franchise following Silent Hill 4 and then followed by a decade of silence. Though it should be noted that Konami trying new things with a new developer did give us Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a re-imagining of the first game and a game many note is a hidden gem in the series.
If you’re willing to experiment and give Silent Hill: Ascension a fair chance, then you can pre-install it for free on Android and iOS on their website here, with the full release coming right on Halloween this year on October 31st, with many more future members of the Silent Hill family to follow in the next few years