Silent Hill V taking cues from Gan's movie
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Aug 28th 2007 at 5:26PM }
SHV's central character is Alex Shepard, a 22-year-old wounded war vet, who abandons the care of a VA hospital after he experiences a premonition that his little bro is in danger. When he arrives home to a small New England town he finds brother and father missing, mom in a catatonic state, and ... a lot of damn fog. Though Alex's experiences in combat (not specified, but we've got a hunch...) will play into the game's psychological manifestations, The Collective apparently isn't out to make a political statement. Nope, the priority is still to frighten, and with this goal in mind, the dev team is bringing back the atmospheric screen grain filter, as well as incorporating some new effects like hairline cracks.
Taking advantage of Alex's military background, boss battles will also make an epic return. (The Collective is researching Zelda titles for inspiration.) And, of course, endings will be plentiful, determined less by singular actions and more so by gradual character choices (e.g., how the player treats NPCs). From the article, the right concepts are in place, now we're certain Konami is anxious to watch The Collective deliver.
[Via PS3 Fanboy]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mmurdock @ Aug 28th 2007 5:38PM
Awesome news. Is it possible this will beat Resident Evil 5 to launch?
muppetmeth @ Aug 28th 2007 8:33PM
No. As much as I love Silent Hill, I'd have to say RE5 has a lot more people looking forward to it. I'm not too crazy about SH5 either. I have this suspicion that The Collective will fuck SH up.
Red Pyramid Thing @ Aug 29th 2007 9:59AM
He was asking if it would release before RE5, to which the answer is yes. RE5 will come out 2009-2010, while SH5 will come out late 2008.
I'm personally very excited for both games. As much as I liked the original SH and RE, I'm liking how both series are heading in new directions while retaining some of those old school roots. That said, I'm a little more anxious for SH5 since it feels more fresh than RE5, which is basically a prettied-up RE4 (not a bad thing by any means, though).
Max @ Aug 28th 2007 5:40PM
Kinda excited, but it sucks the original team isn't working on it, AND...that the graphics look marginally better than the fourth one.
Warlord @ Aug 28th 2007 5:47PM
"The Collective is researching Zelda titles for inspiration."
Translation: we got ahold of a Wii, and have locked ourselves in on a marathon session of Twilight Princess.
OrganicShadow @ Aug 28th 2007 5:55PM
Officially no longer a huge Silent Hill fan.
I'm sorry, but one of the beautiful things about Silent Hill was the fact that it was all up to interpretation by the player, and there was no set "rules" as to what/why/how everything you were experiencing. The fact that the movie sort of forcefully wedged in this idea of their being two different worlds and now the Silent Hill team deciding they are going to just go with that is sickening.
There were no shifts like this in the other games. Everything was ALWAYS shitty and nasty and abandoned. Everything was mysterious and foggy, and you never really had anything to anchor you to "reality". The fact that there are now two different worlds completely smashes that concept, so now it really cheapens the whole idea of the game series IMO.
This sucks. A huge silent hill fan has just been heartbroken. Good job stupid fucking gans.
Lifted 0ne 4l9 @ Aug 28th 2007 6:01PM
there was 2 distinct worlds in SH4.
Ed @ Aug 28th 2007 6:53PM
yeah, i don't know what this guy is talking about. SH has always had 2 distinct worlds in it. There was normal world and there was rusty, creepy world. I don't see how a fluid transition between the two would ruin the game.
What really worried me was the fact that this guy was a solder, but given thought that can work. Just make him feel guilty for killing innocents or his fellow solders and you get new monsters!
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Aug 28th 2007 6:55PM
Uh, there have been two worlds in every Silent Hill game since the first -- Foggy Silent Hill and Dark Silent Hill. It was made pretty clear when you switched between them, especially in the third title. It's not something the movie came up with.
OrganicShadow @ Aug 29th 2007 4:16PM
Sorry, but there was never a "hey, the world is about to change k?" in ANY of the first 3 SH games. Played 5 minutes of the 4th one and uninstalled it BTW.
There was never an emphasis on there being two worlds, nor was there any dialog or reference to their being two worlds in any of the story or plot. Sure, there was the siren and there were times when things looked a lot more bizarre than other places, like on SH3 the further into the game you got, but there was never a "lightswitch-like" back and forth transition between the two like this is some kind of episode of sliders.
You can't deny that the makers of Silent Hill have done a great job of leaving most of it up to the player to decipher and interpret, so the fact that the movie is effecting the game and forcing Gans' personal interpretation of the story/plot/concept is just mind blowing. What makes it even more bizarre is the fact that supposedly a lot of people from Team Silent approved and encouraged Gans' decisions when making that wretched movie.
Also, to those trying to justify the movie's transition between worlds, if I remember correctly there was never a time in the first two Silent Hill games when there WEREN'T monsters. Regardless of these two "worlds" you keep describing there were monsters regardless. In the film they only exist in the "bad" world.
Sorry to say, but from the way SH4 turned out, the fact that Team Silent appears to be MIA on this project, and the fact that they are taking ideas from a deserved 28% movie on rottentomatoes.com seems to indicate that this installment in the series won't be any better off than SH4 was. I would have been perfectly happy with more SH2 clones(like SH3 pretty much was with the engine and gameplay).
Ed @ Aug 29th 2007 6:58PM
Again I don't understand this guy. When did they say it was going to be exactly like the movie? It wouldn't be much of a game if it was. And from what I remember, they did spell out the fact that there were two worlds in the games. And for God's sake, they're still developing this bloody game, so stop complaining!
Swifty @ Aug 28th 2007 6:07PM
Silent Hill becomes even more like Jacob's Ladder by incorporating elements of war?
rDr4g0n @ Aug 28th 2007 6:07PM
uh oh... the death of one of the most thought provoking and horrifically beautiful game series ever.
Jonah Falcon @ Aug 28th 2007 6:21PM
Where's Pinhead and the rest of the Cenobites?
DonsSword @ Aug 28th 2007 11:06PM
> There were no shifts like this in the other games.
Actually, SH1, SH2, and SH3 shifted between 3 worlds -- the real world via opening cut scenes, and in-game the worlds switched from the fog laden Silent Hill, and Hell Silent Hill, which was brought on with the air raid siren sound, just as in the movie. SH2 had less shifting, and SH3 allowed u to watch the shifts ala the movie.
NoHitHair @ Aug 28th 2007 6:43PM
Silent Hill 4 was awful. If I have to sit through more contrived uninspired plotlines and even a waft of first-person perspectives I doubt I'll ever even consider playing any further installments of Silent Hill.
They better not fuck this up. Let's try to remember Silent Hill 2.
Rabish12 @ Aug 28th 2007 10:15PM
The fact that someone with a Naruto avatar is complaining about uninspired plotlines: priceless.
As for the rest, I'm not really worried about it. Every game's had two distinct worlds (there was even one point in the first one, when you went to that carnival place, when it did a shift right while you were there), and while there were things that the movie got VERY wrong there are still several things it got right. Unless the developers from The Collective have never played any of the past Silent Hill titles, it should be easy to tell which elements to take from the movie, and stuff like motion capture is a very good place to start.
razikain @ Aug 28th 2007 6:45PM
Zelda?
Much as I'd like to see Silent Hill's take on a heart container, I think I'll settle for RE5.
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Aug 28th 2007 6:58PM
I'm one of the few that enjoyed Silent Hill 4, so perhaps I'm not as resistant to changes in the series. However, the EGM article makes mention of an evasive roll...
No no no. Playing a clutz made encounters with monsters all the more tense! Please don't turn me into an able combatant.
Mike @ Aug 28th 2007 10:41PM
I'm willing to bet that the "wounded" part of "wounded war vet" will come into the game. I doubt he will be in his top fighting condition. After all, he left the hospital before he was supposed to.
Nessuno @ Aug 28th 2007 7:06PM
I don't have much to say about the game, but I'd like to go on record as saying Silent Hill, the movie, is an EXCELLENT film, and an under-appreciated one at that.
Noxat @ Aug 28th 2007 7:07PM
I'm afraid that they're making Silent Hill too much in to "oooo look at the scary monster!" like the movie, instead of deeper, more psychological horror. SH2 was not intense because the monsters were so creepy (okay pyramid head was but still in a more subdued, who-knows-whats-under-that-pyramid way), it was the messed up plot, the characters, exploring creepy locations and lots and lots of ambient, eerie music and sounds.
Sad to say I think Silent Hill may have jumped the shark.
J L Y V @ Aug 28th 2007 7:22PM
Ewwwwww! Silent Hill is being touched by crappy western developers sticky dirty hands.
The series is doomed.
Skeith @ Aug 28th 2007 7:59PM
Translation: "JAPAN IS SUPERIOR! LOLOL"
bm @ Aug 28th 2007 7:53PM
So it's the game of the film.
Great, that must be why it looks like crap. I know I still won't be able to resist getting it, but...
OTAM @ Aug 28th 2007 8:11PM
Silent Hill is my favorite franchise ever. I LOVE this. Silent Hill 4 was a pile of shit,but I am SO STOKED for this.
This game is going to be epic win. I can't wait.
doke @ Aug 30th 2007 6:33PM
people don't uederstand. In changing worlds in the movie she had no control of when it happened. I have only played Origins, but i think that you can choose when you change worlds.
Joshua Martz @ Aug 28th 2007 9:19PM
I just want puzzles like those found in Hard Mode of SH3. Those were great, my roommate and I would sit down and try to figure those out for hours (boo walkthroughs).
Also, please please tell me we're going with relative movement (tank movement) like the first three games. When you have camera angles that change all the time, it's so much better to use relative movement.
jeffx @ Aug 28th 2007 10:35PM
Will this even get a JPN release?
andres @ Aug 29th 2007 12:16AM
I always thought that in SH2 there were no monsters. After all when James went up to Laura she laughed at him when he asked her how she stayed safe. The theory I developed was that those that had some great sin. James killing his wife, Eddie who also was a killer, and Angela committed arson. Thought they saw these monsters which were all manifestations of there minds. So there was the real world and then there was the world in there minds.
Also the Gans movie was actually quiet enjoyable. The story which did its best to follow a good story was ruined by the ending but the art direction was fantastic.
t_m @ Aug 29th 2007 12:22AM
The Collective????? sigh...
baby sea tuna @ Aug 29th 2007 8:35AM
WTF is with all The Collective hate? They made some of the best (non-Riddick) licensed games of last-gen. I don't really care about Silent Hill (I was always more of an RE fan) but I'm pretty sure they're not going to fuck it up.
I just hope they're still working on Harker, cause that one looks pretty cool.
doomcloud @ Aug 29th 2007 9:25AM
if pyramid head is deskinning people like in the movie, ill be happy
Hawke @ Aug 29th 2007 9:30AM
To be honest...
I am looking forward to this. I skipped on SH4, and while part of me NEEDS the creepy story, the atmosphere, etc, to really feel as though I'm playing Silent Hill and not some RE clone.... I still will probably play this one.
I'm actual,ly hoping though for something against THE TANK CONTROL style of movement - at least, not as blocky. Playing the SH0 demo and then going back to SH1 was like trying to play a 360 game with an NES controller. Just didn't feel very responsive, while SH0 felt more intuitive and easier to control.
More than anything, I hope the music doesn't falter. I was really enjoying Akira Yamoaka's work in SH3.
Oh, and Silent Hill always had that crossover of worlds. You'll likely be upset to know there's a direct manipulation of this in SH0 which uses mirrors to warp back and forth between the two... my main concern on this is a shadowman feel to it, and not so much the loss of control you get in other silent hills. (conflicting with my previous mention of wanting more control of character movements..)
also..
Silent Hill has frequently referenced to Jacob's Ladder. The character designs, the concepts of near-death, etc, and the series itself, took some influence from the movie...
And Kierkegaard.
And Freud. And a bunch of other stuff.
I did an in depth analysis on SH2 for a psych paper...
Anyways, my heart skipped a beat in terror upon reading; I think it's important for a series to continually make some changes to really succeed. Look at the massive differences of RE3 to RE4. Metroid to Prime.
etc.
etc.
Cerixus @ Aug 29th 2007 12:20PM
SH0? WTF?
teradoc @ Aug 29th 2007 1:45PM
Silent Hill Origins.
Coming to the PSP this November.
Sean @ Aug 29th 2007 10:17AM
I'll take a healthy dose of Pyramid Head sodomy, plz & ty.
teradoc @ Aug 29th 2007 1:51PM
According to http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184536 ,
Akira Yamoaka is returning for the music ^_^.
The article is very similar to the one posted here, but added some more opinions regarding the game play.
While I'm all for a game that emphasizes action, the waiting for action to occur in Silent Hill helped set the atmosphere.
(Slight RE4 spoilers!!!)
Too many enemies would create much desensitization - the only shock factor for me, in RE4, was the Regenerators, and that "boss" which as nigh necessary to freeze.
(eNd spoilers)
Fingers will be crossed - I'll likely pick it up, anyways, but if the fanbase feels unhappy with it, I'll hold off. As is, I'm at a point in life where I not only need to schedule time for myself to play games, but also what order I do.
HTD @ Sep 7th 2007 1:04PM
SH1 and SH2 both work on certain ideas to do with perception. In SH1 all the monsters are representations of Alessa's mind from killer dolls (bares for the UK) to the burnt atmosphere, all the areas reflect Alessa's world as she saw it, the school, the hospital.
SH2 which probably is the most faithful stay with this theory, pyramid head is James subconcious for Anger over what happened, literally stalking him like Guilt and Unavoidable.
SH3 I haven't played
SH4 was more to do with the religion of Silent Hill and has more of a spin off feel to it. I think it is a truely flawed game but it is also one of my favourite games I've ever played due to the fact Henry is stuck in a Nightmare world, even when in his apartment he is stuck there due to the door being locked and later the possession of the flat.
SHV isn't even out yet and although I think Gans interpretation was important for American audiences that need every last plot hole explained, it Just wasn't true in reflecting Harrys adventure, I liked the art and way it was directed but the overall story failed miserably. Terrible Movie... it left nothing to the imagination and wasn't even accurate.
Silent Hill 5 shouldnt be compared with any other Silent Hill game or Resident Evil (IMO RE1 - 3 changed drastically also just kept the same control system going for itself with minor improvement).
I think that even though Gans ideas were not right at all (see Jacobs Ladder for a good movie to compare), It is good that they are influenced by it if it means their vision for the game is strong.
SH4's only mistake was it was meant to be a stand alone game called the Room but got forced into being a Silent Hill game meaning its overall vision wasn't as strong as it had been.
We cannot judge Silent Hill 5 untill we play it, simple as that.
Ps. For fans of resident evil... these since re 2 have been action games with cheesy american heroes (Leon you rock) and are better than way, real horror fans get silent hill, so comparing RE to SH is like comparing Tekken to Shenmue, it just isn't that black and white.