Remember last week when rumours began swirling that we’d get new trailers from the numerous Silent Hill projects “really soon, before June”? Well, we did, albeit just one thus far – Silent Hill: Ascension.
Ascension was one of the more mysterious projects announced alongside the news that Bloober Team was remaking Silent Hill 2, and there’s not been much else said about it since, despite the release date originally pointing to early 2023.
Now, however, we’ve got an “official trailer” – which is more than we had last time – and confirmation that it’s still on track to release at some point later this year.
“Redemption, suffering, or damnation? The actions of millions will determine the outcomes of Silent Hill: Ascension. Genvid presents a new interactive series, coming in 2023,” is all the video description says, although a later press release confirms that the game will “expand the Silent Hill universe, explore intergenerational trauma, and give the audience the power to impact Silent Hill canon forever”. Oo-er.
It’s interestingly described as a “streaming series” rather than a game – which is a tad perplexing, given the trailer clearly looks like a game – and claims to feature “multiple main characters around the world as they confront horrors unleashed in their communities”, which sounds a little like Supermassive’s Until Dawn and Dark Pictures multi-lead horror adventures.
“In Silent Hill: Ascension, the actions of millions will determine the outcome,” developer Genvid teases. “By the time the last scene streams, which characters have survived? Will those who are left be redeemed, damned, or suffer? Even the project’s creators do not know how Silent Hill: Ascension will end. Instead, the character’s fates are in the audience’s hands.”
Genvid’s “real-time interactive system” will reportedly enable “millions of people to help characters survive and change those characters’ fates” and the series will feature “daily can’t-miss live story moments where each day is different than the last based on audience actions”.
After what feels like an eternity of leaks, Konami officially revived its long-dormant Silent Hill series with a flurry of activity in October, starting with a remake of horror masterpiece Silent Hill 2, which is being developed by Bloober Team for PC and PS5 as a timed console exclusive.
Bloober Team – the studio behind the likes of The Medium, Layers of Fear, and Observer – has been rumoured to be involved in a Silent Hill revival as far back as June last year, when it announced a partnership with Konami to create a new game. Rumours that the project would be a Silent Hill 2 remake began to coalesce following a series of leaks earlier this year.
Bloober recently said the remake will be “faithful to the original title” with a “safe approach” to changes.
