Date: 2004–07
Developer: Konami (Team Silent)
After Silent Hill 4: The Room the Japanese developer team, Team Silent, continued working on the Silent Hill franchise and its next installment, presumably for the then-next-gen consoles – PS3 and Xbox 360.
Tsuboyama: We're not sure which hardware we'll put it out on, but we will play it on the best one, be it PS3, be it Xbox 2.[1]
The game at one moment was rumored to be called "Shadows" which was denied by the team, however the team hinted they were exploring the concept of "scary daytime".
Imamura: Maybe I'll get in trouble for this, so Konami Japan don't fire me, but we are interested in playing with the idea of 'light'... as in 'daylight' and shadows. Ever since the pre-production of SH2, we wanted to start a SH in a normal environment - daylight, people going about their business, just normality. What happens when you make that normality rot all around you? It is possible to make a normal sunny day really creepy. Just look at films like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or even one of our favorites, Jacobs Ladder.
GW: A significant hint to SH5? No more 'otherworld'?
Imamura: I'm not saying that. In fact, the lack of a more dramatic 'otherworld' in SH4 bothered a lot of fans, so we intend to have a very impressive 'otherworld' with the next generation power. I'm just saying a possibility in how a game could start. That's all I can say.[2]
Yamaoka: It’s a hard idea to explain, but you really have to look at the scene to understand. In a way like the Resident Evil 5 trailer where it was not the middle of the night and the vision was clear but the fear was still there. It will not be the same but that is an explanation of the idea of having fear in daylight. It is a concept that we are working on at the moment still.[3]
The game was also supposed to distance from the underwhelming more combat-oriented Silent Hill 4: The Room and return to Silent Hill 2-like psychological horror.
GW: What was the original scenario for SH3? Are you allowed to divulge that?
Yamaoka: Unfortunately no, since we plan on using it for a future game. (laughing) It was much more along the lines of the second, where the main character was a damaged human being, summoned to the town for a very specific reason. It was, or should say is, the darkest story we have come up with.
Imamura: I'm sure a lot would have to be cut. Just the preliminary scenario had elements that would most likely not be approved by the ratings boards.[2]
Famitsu: Our number one question is about Silent Hill 5. How far has the production come along, as it was announced a few years ago.
Yamaoka: I cannot say much about the development of the game but I can say we are working on a new unique idea of fear in daylight and the game will play like Silent Hill 2’s psychological roots.[3]
GamePro: Akira, its good to have you here to dicuss. Silent Hill has a very unique fanbase caused by the obvious unique **** and settings of the games, will this be continued in Silent Hill 5?
Yamaoka: At the moment I cannot reveal much detail on the story, or our progress, but I can tell you that this game will resemble Silent Hill 2 in the terms of the way the player is directed and the characters' behavoir.[4]
Little else is known about the game. In early 2007 Akira Yamoka and Masashi Tsuboyama were still giving interviews to the press regarding Silent Hill 5, however, Konami lost faith in the Japanese team and the original project was canned. Production of Silent Hill 5 was handed to the American game studio The Collective and the new game was officially presented at E3 2007 on July 12 as Silent Hill V. This project evolved into Silent Hill: Homecoming
by Double Helix (merger between The Collective and Shiny Entertainment) and was released next year with the sole involvement of Akira Yamaoka as the game's composer, while the original Team Silent at Konami was no more. |