Silent Hill Townfall Finally Delivers On P.T.’s Lost Potential

Silent Hill: Townfall is shaping up to be the spookiest game in the series, but only because it’s borrowing notes from another horror giant, Resident Evil.

GAMINGbible got to see a special gameplay presentation at this year’s Summer Game Fest, and we were thoroughly impressed. The next Silent Hill is in good hands with Annapurna Interactive.

Later this year, fans are going to be treated to the scariest setting the series has ever seen…Scotland. The story follows Simon, who’s been called to a mysterious town blanketed in fog to face his demons. You know, classic Silent Hill stuff.

The demo we were shown featured Simon sleuthing his way through town, with a pocket television that acts as the game’s radio from Silent Hill 2.

For whatever reason, the TV can receive messages that deliver exposition but also show you vague images of where to go next. It’s also instrumental in the detection and tracking of enemies.

Following the demo, a couple of things have stuck with us. The first being the pay-as-you-go electricity meter linked to one of the game’s puzzles (the realest thing we’ve seen in a Silent Hill game so far), and the game’s chosen perspective.

Silent Hill: Townfall will be played entirely in first-person, and while you could argue this is a shameless attempt at mooching off Resident Evil’s latest success stories, it actually goes further.

First-person enables Simon to bob and tilt his head, allowing you to peer around corners, but it’ll also be utilised when searching for supplies/clues. One example we saw will have players scanning a bathroom cupboard with Simon’s actual eyes rather than just mashing A/X to pick up whatever item is inside. You need to actually look for what you’re after, which will likely lead to some blood-chilling moments when you’ve got monsters breathing down your neck.

It also feels like the closest we’re going to get to P.T., the famous PlayStation 4 tech demo for the cancelled Hideo Kojima game Silent Hills.

Like Silent Hill Townfall, the demo was also played in first-person, though it’s unclear if Silent Hills would have been the same.

Either way, it gave us a taste of what this legendary psychological horror franchise would be like if it were presented in first-person, and the preview we got at SGF has us wishing it’d been done sooner.

Silent Hill: Townfall launches on 24 September and might just be the spookiest title yet. We’ll be topping up the leccy meter in anticipation.