Silent Hill: Where Did It All Go Wrong?
All signs point to abandonment. Is it really too late to go back to Silent Hill?
Whilst Silent Hill and Resident Evil were often seen as fierce competitors since the early days, the rivalry was more of a friendly competition and one-upmanship. Both series' first iterations reshaped how we saw horror titles, went on to make stellar second offerings which are much revered today, before the laws of diminishing returns kicked in and series fatigue started to take over.
Yet whilst Capcom's darling reinvented itself a couple of times, namely with the 4th and 7th numbered titles, as well as a highly received remake of Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill hasn't had the same fortune. Not through lack of trying, with various attempts at rekindling the same horror, multiplayer and reimagined titles all failing to hit the highs it once held.
It could have been different, though, if a little Playable Teaser had been allowed to grow, instead of being the dismissed result of a messy divorce between company and director. It's been five years since "the feud", with nary a glimmer of any new titles in Konami's beloved franchise. The spark is still there, as evidenced by the inclusion in other titles, like Dead by Deadlight, but it just serves as a harsh reminder that we haven't had a good Silent Hill game in years.
So what happened? How did Konami go from rivalling Capcom in the horror stakes, favouring the more psychological horror instead, before its gradual decline into terrible horror/action games and a notable absence since? Let's take a trip back to Silent Hill...