Slitterhead Just Destroyed Our Hopes Of A Silent Hill Revival
Those ever-present rumours of Silent Hill rival have once again been shushed, as the announcement of Bokeh Game Studios' Slitterhead at The Game Awards might've just banished Pyramid Head back to the depths of hell.
For many, this year's Game Awards was a last chance saloon for 2021's gaming announcements. While we got plenty in the form of a Wonder Woman game, a Breath of the Wild-inspired Sonic outing, and our first look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's gameplay, Silent Hill was, well... silent.
Why Has Slitterhead Killed Off Silent Hill?
Alongside the reveal of an asymmetrical horror based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there were more horror hopes thanks to the announcement of Bokeh Game Studios' Slitterhead. The big pull here is that Siren, Gravity Rush, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama is on directorial duties.
Further putting the nail in the coffin, Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka is providing the music for Slitterhead. With so many of those that helped make Silent Hill the frightening favourite it is today now working on Slitterhead, it's pretty much thrown our hopes of a reunion out of the window. Before you do that whole "What if Slitterhead is a secret Silent Hill game?" spiel, we just ain't buying it.
As recently as last week, there was wild speculation Hideo Kojima could be resurrecting Silent Hills after the project kicked the bucket when he split from Konami to form Kojima Productions in 2015. Sadly, a blurry shot of Norman Reedus isn't enough to make it gospel, and with Kojima sitting out The Game Awards, we're back to square one.
What Is Slitterhead?
Toyama has promised players will "feel exhilarated when playing," while Slitterhead will lean into the ever-growing "death game" sub-genre. Unlike the close-quarters horror of Silent Hill that's swirled in smog, Slitterhead takes place in a Cyberpunk-inspired backdrop. There are some Silent Hill-esque monsters, but basically, Slitterhead is a lot noisier than the forgotten franchise.
We were previously told that Toyama would return to his horror roots, and we now know that's Slitterhead. He last worked on a horror title for the PlayStation-exclusive Siren: Blood Curse in 2008, so this project has been a long time coming.
Where does this leave Silent Hill though? Through pretty much all of 2021, we've heard word that multiple Silent Hill games are in development, with everything from remasters to reboots being floated. Even though Konami AND Kojima have come up multiple times, but at the time of writing, neither side has made a move.
There are still those that think Blue Box Games' Abandoned could be a placeholder for Silent Hill and Metal Gear revivals, but let's remember the launch app has been delayed indefinitely. In the meantime, Slitterhead could fill that Silent Hill-shaped hole in our heartless corpses in 2023. Oh well, at least we'll always get to look at Pyramid Head's nerfed ass in Dead by Daylight.