As Konami continues its return to gaming, Silent Hill continues to be a main focus for the Japanese gaming icon. With plans to continue the series as an annual event, Konami wants the franchise to keep exploring new cultures and interesting new stories. 

Following the release of Silent Hill F, which took the series to 1960s rural Japan, the next entry, Townfall, takes place in 1990s Scotland. As it turns out, exploring new cultures outside of the original series’ twist on Americana is an essential part of Konami’s plan to keep the series fresh and exciting. 

“We felt that if we kept focusing on the same setting, it would exhaust the team’s capabilities and cost the players,” series producer Motoi Okamoto explained in a recent discussion with The Gamer. 

As F and Townfall seek to twist away from the usual small town American setting, Okamoto explained that “it was an intentional choice to take it out of Japan” with different locales offering “a fresh perspective” on the series’ unique style of horror. 

“It would also provide opportunities for each developer to tell the kinds of stories that they feel are most suitable for them,” the producer continued. “So that they could take the right approach that works best for them. They could also focus on different kinds of culture and lore rooted in that setting.”

Silent Hill Townfall’s Scottish setting is core to the heart of its story, and core to the game’s Scottish writer and director Jon McKellan. “I think it would have been disingenuous for us to write a story set in another part of the world that we didn’t know so well,” the director explained while stating the the fictional town of St. Amelia – which is based on Fife’s St. Montana – maintains the importance of a Silent Hill locale that the town is a character in itself. 

“I think we wanted the town to be an important part of the story, an important part of the experience. And so we felt like we could bring a perspective, a backstory, something unique to us as a team. To bring to the series in a way that feels authentic and believable,” the game director said. 

McKellan explains that Konami has been largely hands-off with the development of Silent Hill Townfall. “What’s been really freeing is that the guys at Konami have been very open to letting us tell the story when we tell. And build the game design-wise, artistically. Build a game that fits the story best,” he said. 

“We haven’t felt shackled, we haven’t felt tied down. We’ve been given a good range of freedom to make the story what we want it to be. We were worried going into it. We weren’t sure what to expect, as I think everyone would be. But within the first couple of months of pre-production, we realized we had a great partnership. And we were going to be able to tell a really unique story.”

As it stands, Townfall’s Scottish setting and its 1990s timeframe is essential to its narrative and gameplay. It revives the experience of a working class Brit with charity pot dogs, electric key top-ups, and the dismal weather we’ve come to love. 

While new Silent Hill is still a little shackled to the past with Bloober Team’s fantastic but familiar remakes, its future is also focused on exploring themes anew. It’s exciting. Silent Hill certainly ran its course on the American setting, especially following the closure of Team Silent, but now the series has free reign to explore the horror of Silent Hill anywhere in the world.