It seems that there may be a new Silent Hill game in the works at last, and apparently some screenshots/concept art for it has leaked onto Reddit. Almost no hard information has leaked to accompany these images, so it’s a little difficult to just take the sources word for it. Still, it would be nice to see Silent Hill finally return after almost ten years.

It seems that this supposedly new Silent Hill game will star a young female protagonist of some sort, and one of the locations she’ll visit appears to be a school. This and the very overblown look of what I assume to be the Otherworld in the screenshots has me feeling a bit worried for this possible new game. For one, I doubt anyone from the original Team Silent is still around anymore; none of their trademark subtlety can be seen in these images. I kind of wonder if it’s even a Japanese studio making it, and that’s a concerning thought too since every foreign-developed Silent Hill has been underwhelming at best.

Then there’s this protagonist and what we see of her in these concepts. She seems young, has “I hate myself” taped to her forehead, and major locations appear to be a school and a very poorly kept home. Not to hard to guess that bullying and teenage depression are the most probable major themes here. In past games, all the main characters have been adults, and that’s actually rather important. An adult is old enough to have formed a solid world view and have made real mistakes in their life. In other words, they can have regrets significant enough to warrant an experience in Silent Hill. I really don’t think the same can be true for a teenager or even a college-age student.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t really know what was going on until I finally left school and started living in the real world. So, I find it difficult to believe that this protagonist will face anything truly thought-provoking. I mean it’s hard to arrive at any conclusions besides “yes, it’s bad” when it comes to things like bullying and depression.

Maybe I’m wrong and there’s going to be more than that, but I honestly don’t think much more can be done with such a young protagonist. Also, straight-up writing “I hate myself” on her forehead is a bit on the nose, don’t you agree? Already we know the general kind of delusion she’ll be suffering from (if the writers even bother to try adding that extra layer). Anyway, here’s hoping that there’s a lot more to this supposed new Silent Hill than teenage angst and an extremely red Otherworld.

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What do you think these images indicate? Are you seeing something similar or do you have a different take? What are you concerned about or hopeful for?

Image from Niche Gamer