Silent Hills had the potential to haunt players even outside of the game. Had it not been canceled by Konami, the game could have been the most terrifying title on the market.
Released in 2014, P.T. is the “playable teaser” for Silent Hills. This reboot was meant to take the influential Silent Hill series in an entirely new direction with hyper-realistic graphics and a first-person perspective. By solving a series of cryptic puzzles in P.T.’s looping corridor, players can uncover a disturbing murderous plot all while being hunted by the horrifying apparition, Lisa. Despite being just a short demo for a game that was eventually canceled, P.T. became wildly popular. The strange behavior of the game’s antagonist, the eerily realistic environment, and the mysterious plot culminated into a critically acclaimed horror title without ever becoming a full game. Among its many unique scares however there is one remnant of the developer’s original fourth wall breaking intentions -the false crash message that forces players to reboot the game in order to continue.
One developer who was working on Silent Hills before its cancellation revealed that the game would have interacted with players even when they weren’t playing. Players would reportedly have to sign an agreement to allow access to their email, phone, and even smart house systems. Silent Hills would send players threatening texts, emails, and flicker the lights in their homes. As immersive as the concept sounds, this sort of real-life haunting would no doubt lead to legal issues.
To make the messages truly frightening, their content would need to be both unsettling and their origins anonymous. While it is disappointing that Silent Hills was canceled so early on, there are other horror games that have attempted similarly ambitious features. Released in 2002, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is another horror game that toyed with reaching out of the screen. As one of the first titles to feature a sanity meter, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem would trick players with increasingly severe hallucinations including fake crashes, twisted camera perspectives, and even false alerts that their memory cards were corrupted.
Since 2002 consoles have essentially become home entertainment systems. Access to streaming services and email are now an inherent function of new consoles. This opens the door for concepts like that of Silent Hills to follow players into the real world. Considering a Silent Hill title for the PS5 is likely in development, there may still be hope for this style of haunting.
Source: YouTube