Silent Hill: Townfall developers explain why they chose first-person horror
After Sony's event ended last night, where we got our first look at the gameplay from the upcoming Silent Hill: Townfall, it was time for a real deep dive into the game. Konami organised a nearly 30-minute Silent Hill Transmission where we got to meet the team behind the title and hear more about the ideas behind it.
Beyond the usual PR talk about it being the biggest and most ambitious game in the series to date (what sequel in any game series is ever described as anything less?), we learned that the goal is to deliver a more modern interpretation of the classic concept. The most obvious thing is that Konami, like Capcom did with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, has chosen to go with a first-person perspective.
Lead game designer Graeme McKellan explains why they chose to go with the first-person perspective this time around:
"Very early on, we agreed that we wanted to present this game in first-person. And first-person, you have a more limited field of view. There are things happening off-screen, which you're not always aware of, and as we know in horror, what happens off-screen is sometimes more scary than what happens right in front of you. How we use the perspective to induce the horror, anxiety, and fear but then at the same time trying to find the balance to that."
Another piece of news is that this is the third studio to do this after Bloober Team delivered Silent Hill 2 Remake in 2024 and NeoBards Entertainment created Silent Hill f in 2025. This time, Screen Burn Interactive is responsible for development, and the publishing is shared by Annapurna and Konami. Writer and creator Jon McKellan (brother of the aforementioned Graeme) says they've been given free rein to create the adventure, trying to combine psychological horror with the series' characteristic analogue aesthetic. The goal is to respect the foundations of the series, but to freshen it up and modernise it in other ways.
Jon goes so far as to say that the Silent Hill series is the reason he and his brother became game developers:
"We see this project not only as our biggest and most ambitious game yet, but as a love letter to the series that inspired many of the team, myself included, to become game developers in the first place!"
Silent Hill: Townfall has been announced for PC and PlayStation 5. Whether it will also be available on other formats when it launches later this year, or whether there will be some kind of time exclusivity involved (as with Silent Hill 2 Remake), remains to be seen.
Check out the full Silent Hill Transmission for plenty of juicy details.
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPE5XdS1OBw</social>
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