Photo Credit: Courtesy Game Informer. Protagonist Simon Ordell in Silent Hill.
“Silent Hill: Townfall,” a new installment of the Silent Hill video game franchise, was released on Feb. 13 during Sony’s annual State of Play.
The Silent Hill video game series dates back to 1999. This iconic psychological horror franchise often follows the main protagonist traversing through a fog-laden town, encountering phenomena beyond their comprehension.
What makes the video games so popular is the unique settings each protagonist faces. The core of each plot is essentially the main character’s manifestation of whatever guilt and or trauma is haunting them, making a fresh and mind-bending story for each game.
The trailer released on YouTube in mid-February, revealing a new environment, terrifying enemies and a different perspective of play style. It introduced a first-person point of view, unlike the third-person perspective the previous other Silent Hill games.
“Silent Hill: Townfall” follows a new male protagonist, Simon Ordell. Set in the haunted town of St. Amelia, Simon first awakens with the determined goal to “make things right.”
The new game’s setting is the second in the entire franchise to be outside of America, as St. Amelia resides in the desolate coast of Scotland. The first game to be set outside of America was “Silent Hill: F,” with the story occurring in a fictional town in Japan.
Many fans are happy about the new approach to the game’s setting, claiming that this is exactly what the franchise needed in order to keep it alive and compelling. Reddit user XulManjy seemed to agree.
“I think it’s safe to say that outside of the remakes, the future of Silent Hill does [not] need to include Silent Hill the town,” XulManjy said on a Silent Hill subreddit. “The success of [Silent Hill: F] already proved that the general audience is okay with these types of locations and it will be no different with Townfall. It only just keeps things interesting.”
Fans of the community are already crafting theories and speculating ideas about the potential twists that could happen in the game, dissecting the trailer in hopes of receiving more information.
The new game’s main character, Ordell, is the franchise’s first-ever Black protagonist.
Overall, fans’ feedback towards Ordell has been positive. While there is still some discourse about the main character being Black, the majority of the Silent Hill community seems to be welcoming Ordell with open arms.
Reddit user Kyserham commented under a Silent Hill subreddit, greeting the new character.
“Another poor soul added to the list of tortured gaming protagonists. Welcome, Simon,” Kyserham said.
There is no set official release date for the game yet. However, it seems the new game has already received approval from the Silent Hill community based on what has been released so far.
