After the controversy surrounding Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear Solid 5, Konami began to focus much more on the mobile gaming and Pachinko markets rather than the traditional games that made it famous. But just today, Konami surfaced once again like a Sasquatch out of the forest to remind players that it does, in fact, still publish traditional games. The company’s Silent Hill showcase revealed a whole host of new projects for Konami’s long-mismanaged horror IP. One of these projects functions not as a video game per se, but rather as an “interactive streaming series,” and it goes by the name Silent Hill: Ascension.
The trailer revealed during the showcase does not describe much about this streaming series, as it mostly depicts a streaming chat where users send cryptic messages to each other about saving “her.” According to the trailer’s description, Silent Hill: Ascension will allow players to contribute to the series’ canon in some way.
Canonized fan fiction
This project resulted from a collaboration between Bad Robot Games, Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive, streaming tech company Genvid, and film and television company DJ2 Entertainment. A segment after the trailer announcement reveals that the creators took inspiration from the shared feeling of fear that friends experience when watching a horror movie or something similar together. Fans will watch the story develop and influence its outcomes through various decisions. And unlike your usual video game, these decisions have a permanent effect on the story, so fans’ influence on series’ canon cannot be changed after the fact.
The idea of letting fans play a part in the further development of Silent Hill’s canon sounds at least interesting if a bit strange, but we can only wait and see how this eclectic band of creators will execute the concept. Whether or not this and the other announced Silent Hill projects will restore the goodwill Konami abandoned in recent years remains an open question. Silent Hill: Ascension will begin streaming at some point next year.
