Konami is working with Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and film director Guillermo Del Toro on a new Silent Hill game. The announcement came from an unlikely source: rather than reveal the news outright at Sony's pre-Gamescom press conference last night, the news instead came from an interactive teaser released for free to PS4 gamers.
The P.T. playable demo, which led players around a deserted house from a first person perspective, interspersed with trademark static radio signals and shock moments, was credited to 7780s Studio - a company that didn't exist before last night's event. Kojima has used this trick before, using the ficticious developer Moby Dick Studios to announce the Phantom Pain - the game that would eventually be revealed as Metal Gear Solid 5.
If a player makes it to the end of the demo, a character is shown walking down a foggy city street as the names Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro appear on screen. Eventually, the character turns around, revealing a digital version of The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. A title card with Akira Yamaoka's Silent Hill theme playing in the background suggests the game will be called Silent Hills.
Despite admitting that he's a "scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies," Kojima told Eurogamer that he would love to help the series continue. "If I can help by supervising or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect." It seems that the new game will indeed use the Fox engine, currently used to power Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and set to be used for the Phantom Pain next year.
Little else is known about the game so far, with Kojima focusing on Metal Gear Solid 5 at Gamescom this week rather than the upcoming project. It's also unknown what role Guillermo Del Toro will play, but we expect plenty more information to start appearing once development has wrapped on The Phantom Pain early next year.