Kojima fans convinced OD is a secret Silent Hill game

Kojima fans convinced OD is a secret Silent Hill game
Kojima Productions | Konami

Written by 

Tom Chapman

Published 

11th Dec 2023 10:48

With the dust settling on The Game Awards, we can finally take a breather and take stock of what was revealed. Alongside a God of War Ragnarok DLC, Arkane's Blade, and a closer look at Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga, Hideo Kojima's OD took the spotlight.

The former Konami beau has been branching out on his own, leaving behind the legacy of Metal Gear and Silent Hill to found Kojima Productions. Instead of showing us more of Death Stranding 2, Kojima revealed a brand-new title, OD. No one really knows what it is, but now, there's a wild theory it's resurrecting the ghosts of the past.

Fans think OD is a secret Silent Hill game

After lying dormant for over a decade, Silent Hill is hardly living up to its namesake these days. As well as the chose-your-own-adventure Silent Hill: Ascension, there's the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, Silent Hill f, a movie reboot, and whatever Silent Hill: Townfall is.

You might think there's not much room for more visits to that tormented town, but it looks like OD was hiding an obscure reference to Kojima's canned Silent Hills. As one of the great "what if?" video games, Silent Hills was Kojima's last venture before leaving Konami.

This gritty reboot was going to star The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, and as well as a glossy cinematic trailer, we got the P.T. (Playable Teaser) demo. That's all long ago, but in the OD trailer, a series of mysterious letters have appeared in the mouth of Udo Kier's unnamed character.

The five separate frames spell out the word Atami, which is a town in Shizuoka. When you translate the Japanese meaning, it's "Quiet Hill" or "Silent Hill.' While the OP is confident Kojima wouldn't touch the IP again, we aren't so sure.

Could we be bringing back Silent Hills?

Silent Hills trailer and ghost woman
Click to enlarge
Konami

Is Kojima simply trolling us all, or are we genuinely about to see the rebirth of Silent Hills? When the man himself appeared at The Game Awards, fans noted another potential Silent Hills Easter egg in the form of the door he stepped out of.

It's unclear where the rights would even lie for Silent Hills, meaning any form of resurrection would involve a brokered deal with Konami. Still, it would be a lucrative move for both sides to rejoin and bring this much-hyped project back from the depths of development hell.

The odds are stacked against a Silent Hills revival, as while P.T. was a PlayStation exclusive, OD is coming to Xbox. There's also been no news of Reedus coming back, so we're sprinkling this one with a heavy pinch of salt. Then again, Kojima is the master of deception, and let's be honest, stranger things have happened in the world of gaming.

Tom Chapman
About the author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
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