Silent Hill sequence producer Motoi Okamoto says ‘because the sequence progressed, I felt that the essence of Japanese horror was misplaced’

Whereas the large information out of Konami’s Press Begin occasion was the welcome announcement that Bloober Workforce is remaking the unique Silent Hill, there was additionally a considerable behind-the-scenes phase on the upcoming Silent Hill F, which we’ll see lots earlier than a remake Konami did not even have footage of.

Silent Hill F is a prequel set in Showa-era Japan. Which is not the first time Silent Hill has left the city it is named after—the opening of Silent Hill 3, for example—however is taking a a lot additional journey, all the way in which to a small city known as Ebisugaoka.

“Silent Hill was a sequence that fused the essence of western horror and Japanese horror,” sequence producer Motoi Okamoto stated, “however because the sequence progressed, I felt that the essence of Japanese horror was misplaced. I started to really feel a need to create a Silent Hill with 100% essence of Japanese-style horror.”

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A part of what makes Silent Hill distinctive is that it is impressed by a lot American horror—the books of Stephen King, films like Jacob’s Ladder—however considered by a Japanese lens. It has streets named after Dean Koontz, Robert Bloch, Richard Bachman, and Ira Levin, but additionally borrows from the books of Ryū Murakami and Kōbō Abe, and the monsters you encounter there and the otherworld you journey to have designs that really feel like a Japanese tackle Clive Barker by way of David Lynch.

“The hallmark of Japanese horror isn’t merely grotesqueness however the coexistence of magnificence and the disturbing,” Okamoto went on to say. “We’re creating this title with the idea ‘discover the wonder in terror’.”

Al Yang, sport director at Silent Hill F growth studio Neobards, elaborated on that. “As a key idea in Silent Hill F is the thought of magnificence in terror. We created our visible designs to have a definite uneasiness to them, but additionally have a horrific allure that may make it so that you simply could not cease staring.” These designs are based mostly on ideas by Japanese artist Kera, who has labored on Spirit Hunter: NG and Magic: The Gathering.

Given how poorly acquired a lot of the Silent Hill video games made by American studios have been—particularly Homecoming, with its ex-Particular Forces protagonist making a pointy distinction to the abnormal folks beforehand featured within the sequence—having a sequel that is as Japanese as it may be is smart. Although I would miss oddities like having a college degree based mostly on visible reference taken from Kindergarten Cop.