The nightmarish series began back in 1999 when gamers were introduced to the eponymous American town of Silent Hill and its population of hellish monstrosities. The success of that first game sparked four main sequels alongside multiple spin-offs and expansion editions.
According to the rumours Konami is also in the process of creating a companion, narrative adventure release to compliment the rebooted series.
Perhaps a reboot of the series will mean a return to the roots of psychological horror.
Joe Holloran
There is no official word yet from Konami to either confirm or deny these reports. The move is seen by many industry insiders as a bold, but necessary gambit following the mixed response to their digital-release only games like Contra: Rogue Corps.
The reboot comes 16 years after the fourth addition to the franchise and eight years since the much-maligned spin-off Silent Hill: Book of Memories.
A common complaint among fans of the series is that as more and more titles were released, the once-simple but highly effective story became needlessly convoluted and more focused on shock value than narrative depth.
Perhaps a reboot of the series will mean Keiichiro Toyama and his team will return to the roots of psychological horror, puzzles and detective work that made it so revolutionary over two decades ago.
But what made those original games so ground-breaking? While the game was by no means the first survival horror game, what Silent Hill did was to base the monsters in the psyche of everyday man or women in this case.
Rather than shotgunning down countless Zombies and demons, the monsters of Silent Hill were manifestations of the darkest parts of humanity. With creatures acting as a physical embodiment of everything from the horrors of rape to the guilt and grief caused by the loss of a child.
No game before or since has quite managed to be quite as unsettling an experience to play as Silent Hill. Fans, myself included, will be holding out hope that this renewed series manages to return the franchise to its psychological horror based origins so it can mess with the minds of gamers of a whole new generation.
Featured image credit: Haris Krikelis (Flickr)