Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has been name-dropping Konami's Silent Hill series lately, mentioning the franchise alongside his studio's Fox Engine, the technology that powers his next game, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. All that talk about Silent Hill has gotten the attention of Konami execs, it seems.
Kojima has boasted that Kojima Productions' Fox Engine is suited for more than just stealth action games and could be used for a future Silent Hill title.
"In the past I've mentioned Silent Hill in interviews, and as a result of that the president of Konami rung me up and said he'd like me to make the next Silent Hill," Kojima said at the Eurogamer Expo, according to a recap from Eurogamer.
Kojima added that he's something of a "scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies," but that that might work to his advantage in developing a Silent Hill game.
"I think Silent Hill has a certain atmosphere," Kojima added. "I think it has to continue, and I'd love to help it continue, and if I can help by supervising or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect."
Kojima helped oversee development of Konami's efforts to reboot the Castlevania franchise. Kojima Productions worked with Spanish studio MercurySteam on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Based on Kojima's comments, taking on a similar role on a Silent Hill project seems conceivable.
Creative duties on the Silent Hill franchise have bounced between developers over the course of this generation, with Climax Studios, Double Helix, Vatra Games, and WayForward all taking a crack at keeping the horror series alive. Critical reception to those titles has been mixed, with the most recent entry, Silent Hill Downpour, scoring in the mid-60s, based on Metacritic aggregate.
Comments
Silent Hill has always being about cinematic experiences rather than good gameplay.
It’s would be good to have someone like Kojima on board, but his specialties are convoluted stories and cinematic narratives. Silent Hill needs clever gameplay; I hope Kojima doesn’t go the Revengeance way.
By Nemus on 09.27.12 7:31pm
Isn’t Silent Hill is all about complex stories? That’s what Kojima excel at. He’s able to create mindscrew stories if he want to.
By Gigawings on 09.28.12 5:58am
I’m not sure what to think of t his…
By Entegy on 09.27.12 7:58pm
I’d like to seem him give it a try, even though I did love Downpour.
By Earthbound_X on 09.27.12 9:48pm
This would actually make me consider buying a Silent Hill game again. I don’t know if Kojima san’s MG skills would transfer to the survival horror genre, but it’s certainly an intriguing idea. What have they got to lose? It’s not as if they could kill that franchise more than they already have.
By Dragon Mage Drake on 09.28.12 1:05am
Was there ever much life to the series? Outside of 2 and 3, every other SH game has been “meh.”
At this point it feels like they’re statistical outliers, flukes if you will… rather than a series that ever had potential.
By Lynith on 09.28.12 11:10am