Silent Hill 5 is a soft reboot and the sixth numbered entry of the Silent Hill video game series, following the release of Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill Zero in 2004 and 2007, respectively. It was developed by Konami, and published by Konami and Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Masahiro Ito returns to the series, having previously worked on the first three installments as a core developer and provided concept art for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2, as well as longtime series composer and sound designer Akira Yamaoka.
Development[]
Concept and production[]
Since the Silent Hill series concluded with Silent Hills: Playable Teaser in 2015, Konami had shifted priority away from AAA console gaming, focusing their video game divisions more on mobile games, rereleases, and annual sports simulators. However, the company announced in 2019 that high-end console games are "most important" to their future, adding that "We challenge for innovative ideas and technology within our console games, so we will continue to put effort into [them]. We also plan to increase our portfolio. In addition to the multi-device titles for PES and Yu-Gi-Oh, we plan to work on projects with other globally known IPs in the near future."
On June 6, 2019, Silent Hill 1-3 artist and creature designer Masahiro Ito tweeted he had finished a creature design for an upcoming project that he hoped would not be cancelled. Konami Digital Entertainment renewed the Silent Hill trademark for video games and computer games on July 25, 2019, which was set to expire on December 6 of that year. On January 4, 2020, Ito officially announced that he was serving as a core member on an upcoming title, but again expressed concern over a potential cancellation.
After his departure from the series in 2003, Ito had grown bored of blood and rust effects. He also felt that the mysterious atmosphere of the earlier games had been lost, and was displeased with Pyramid Head's usage in later media. He would not work on another Silent Hill game unless it was not a direct sequel to an earlier title, had a distinct atmosphere of its own, and did not include Pyramid Head. Additionally, he wanted to explore a more "lyrical" form of horror that uses cherry blossoms as materials.
In January 2021, Konami's internal divisions underwent a major restructure. Their production departments and gaming divisions now reported directly to upper management to allow them to respond more quickly to market demands. On February 5, 2021, series composer Akira Yamaoka said in an interview that an upcoming title of his would be announced that summer and that "I’m quite sure it will be the one you've been hoping to hear about". On April 30, 2021, Konami announced that they had several key projects in development, but would not being attending E3 that year due to timing.
In the coming year, it was reported by several news outlets that Konami was developing multiple Silent Hill projects, including a main entry from a Japanese developer and partnered with Sony, a remake of Silent Hill 2 developed by Bloober Team, and an episodic anthology game partnered with Annapurna Interactive. In June 2022, Christophe Gans stated that Konami felt "galvanized" by the success of recent Resident Evil games and was planning a multimedia relaunch of Silent Hill.
Silent Hill: The Short Message[]
In 2022, screenshots from a playable teaser leaked under the title Sakura. It was reportedly scheduled for release in October 2021, but pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. Silent Hill: The Short Message was officially rated in South Korea in September 2022. In October 2022, Konami began hiring for upcoming Silent Hill projects, including an unannounced in-house game. In December 2022, The Short Message was rated in Taiwan, with an official synopsis that read:
Anita came to an abandoned apartment in order to meet her friend Maya, and somehow woke up to find herself trapped in it. She must escape her own fears and the monsters lurking in the corridors, discover the truth behind the events she's trapped in, and try to escape before her own trauma consumes her will to survive.
On August 2022, the Games Management Committee in Korea registered various statuses and classifications of Silent Hill: The Short Message.
On 6 November 2023 the Australian Classification Board (ACB) has posted the game’s full plot in its annual report. According to the ACB, Silent Hill: The Short Message is “an exploration‑based psychological horror game in which players control characters in an apartment building called The Villa in modern‑day Germany.”