Konami 'Moving Forward' With Silent Hill And Metal Gear Revivals
What do 70's robots, faceless nurses, and bare-chested vampires all have in common? If you get where we're going with this, you'll know it's the trifecta of Konami favourites that have helped make Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, and Silent Hill some of the greatest gaming franchises around.
While Konami was once king of the console castle, the big three have slipped into the realms of obscurity over the past decade - chewed up and spat out with lacklustre sequels or simply left to rot. Like the Belmont family frequently banishes Dracula to the crypt, Konami's biggest sellers have been left gathering dust. So, what's next?
What's going on with Konami?
According to VGC, there's good news, as Konami has an impressive roadmap for new entries and remade classics. Anonymous sources have told the site that a new Castlevania will be a "reimagining" of the series and is being handled internally at Konami's Japan studio.
Given the recent resurgence in popularity thanks to Netflix's Castlevania anime and the upcoming Advance Collection, it's about time the Belmont clan sharpened their stakes. Elsewhere, there was plenty of buzz that Bluepoint Games could be heading up a Metal Gear Solid remake. The fact Sony has just acquired Bluepoint takes that off the table, but apparently, an external studio in China IS building a MGS remake.
If this wasn't enough, remasters of the OG Metal Gear games could be coming to next-gen consoles. Finally, it wouldn't be Konami with a mention of Silent Hill. We were on the money with reports of multiple Silent Hill games. VGC reiterates that at least one of these has been outsourced to a "prominent" Japanese developer.
What's next for Konami?
If you can't wait for the much-hyped resurrection of Konami like a phoenix from the gaming ashes, you'll have to wait. Even though there were sketchy plans for all of the above to bowl us over at E3 2021, Konami apparently pulled out due to "timing" issues. Sources claim there were already "a number of key products" in the pipeline. Instead, VGC is confident Konami will make its announcement at next year's big gaming shows.
We're no stranger to Konami rumours. Following Hideo Kojima's very public split from the developer in 2015, he branched out on his own to set up Kojima Productions. There have been Konami games since then, but the general consensus is that Metal Gear Survive and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 are a far cry from their glory days. As for Silent Hill, the town has been left smouldering since Silent Hill: Book of Memories in 2012.
In recent years, Konami has moved more into Pachinko gambling games. Earlier this year, there were worrying reports a company restructure would see the developer completely bow out of creating first-party games, while others think the mysterious Abandoned is a placeholder for franchises Konami has "abandoned".
More cryptic than Hideo Kojima himself, we have no idea what's actually going on. At a time Konami is being dragged over the coals for the lacklustre release of eFootball, it could do with some good news. To be honest, we just want someone (we don't care who) to bring back Silent Hills.