It’s been more than 10 years since the last Silent Hill title, but Konami has finally broken its silence. Thanks to the Silent Hill Transmission event, this long-dormant horror franchise was given new life in the form of a remake, three new games, and even a film. Each of these projects are quite different, and since so little is known about all of them (aside from perhaps the Silent Hill 2 remake), confusion among fans is understandable.
Silent Hill Ascension is by far the most experimental game the franchise will have seen. Based on the trailer and a few additional details that were laid out, it is clear that every one of the upcoming games will be taking the series in their own direction. However, Silent Hill Ascension still has people scratching their heads — and not in a good way. While we can’t clear up everything right now, here’s everything we do know about Silent Hill Ascension.
Further reading
- Silent Hill 2 remake: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
- Silent Hill f: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more
- Trying to find the right scares for you? Here’s a guide to horror game subgenres
Release date
While no specific date was given, this will eventually be a very vital piece of information. For the moment, though, Silent Hill Ascension looks to be the first of the announced titles to be coming out as it is slated to hit sometime in 2023.
Platforms
This is another one we don’t have a real answer for. However, due to the nature of what the game is supposedly going to be, we can predict it will be on PC and likely mobile, with consoles honestly feeling like a toss-up at this point.
Trailers
We did get a very quick teaser for Silent Hill Ascension that shows off just how different this game will actually be.
It starts with a video going live, and people in some sort of chat or text group chiming in. A few people comment, asking questions, and then giving suggestions to “RUN!!!” We get a look at a large, shadowy monster with a large spear of some sort. More texts are shown, notably one asking if they are able to save “her?” The only name listed in the texts is Amina, who we presume to be the main character of Silent Hill Ascension.
The trailer ends with the release window of 2023 and the message to “Face your trauma together.”
While that’s all we can really say about the plot so far, it does seem like whatever it turns out being will be influenced by audience interaction.
Gameplay
This is the biggest question mark for Silent Hill Ascension. This game is listed as a “live event,” so the gameplay might just be confined to watching, chatting, and perhaps voting or somehow influencing the direction the narrative takes. Many people speculate it will be framed like a stream, and those in the chat will be more passive observers working together to try and figure out what’s going on and what the character, perhaps Amina, should do.
Another possibility is that Silent Hill Ascension will be something like an alternate reality game, or ARG. These types of games usually stretch out over long periods of time where players kind of roleplay in real life as being part of the game. In Silent Hill Ascension, if it works this way, players might get a text or see Anima starting to stream and need to join in to see what’s going on and how they can help.
Whatever Silent Hill Ascension ends up being, it will clearly be a drastic departure from anything Silent Hill has done in the past.
Multiplayer
Yes, Silent Hill Ascension will be built around multiplayer. Again, we don’t know how, but clearly multiple people chatting and participating in the live event (or events) is the entire point of the game.
Preorder
This is another tricky one. We actually don’t think you will be able to preorder Silent Hill Ascension at all. Being a live event, which you probably only have a small time frame to participate in or not, we doubt players will need to pay for Silent Hill Ascension at all. Still, this is all speculation. We’ll keep you updated once more concrete details come out.
