Silent Hill: The Short Message – Konami's oft-leaked “contemporary psychological horror” spin on its long-dormant series – has finally been given its official unveiling, along with confirmation it's free and out today on PlayStation 5.
The Short Message – which first surfaced in September 2022 via a South Korea ratings board listing – made its formal debut during tonight's PlayStation State of Play showcase, with its announcement trailer revealing a first-person experience focusing on a young woman and featuring heavy interactions with her mobile phone.
“Silent Hill: The Short Message is a new, short-form Silent Hill title, featuring a young, contemporary protagonist,” Konami explains over on the PlayStation Blog. “In 2022, we announced a revival for the Silent Hill series, along with several new titles in development, and this marks the first of that new wave of games to be released.”
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Konami explains that The Short Message – developed in conjunction with HexaDrive – is an attempt at making a “new, modern Silent Hill” game exploring “contemporary problems”.
“We ended up looking at how modern youth communicate online and through phones,” it continues, “and the role that could play in a psychological horror story. For instance, a frightening thing about social media is how even insignificant individual comments can, in masse, build and build until they become this overwhelming wave of hate crashing down on you.”
“We chose to set our story around young characters…who are genuinely suffering and lost, where even one more minor setback can wind up pushing them even deeper into a spiral of anguish. But, in the same way, even the smallest kindness can be the thing that pulls them back from the brink. And that's what also makes this game a message, from us to everyone living with that ever-present conflict and pressure.”
Silent Hill: The Short Message hasn't yet appeared on the PlayStation Store, but hopefully it'll be available for download soon.
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