Konami has released a 19-minute-long gameplay trailer for Silent Hill: Townfall, showing off what seem to be the opening moments of the game, delving into gameplay mechanics, and hinting at story elements that left me with far more intriguing questions than hard answers as to what this game is about.
The video starts by slowly introducing us to the fictional Scottish island of St. Amelia, as a voice tells a man named Simon that he has to set things right. In typical Silent Hill fashion, this message to Simon is vaguely menacing and everything’s covered in fog. Simon suddenly bursts out of the water, Bioshock style, and we’re off to the survival horror races.
Silent Hill: Townfall brings back the series’ staple radio, but because the game takes place in 1996, it’s not exactly a radio but rather one of those neat handheld CRTVs. Simon has to tune the TV until he gets a solid signal, then look for the building the TV displays, which is a neat way for the game to nudge you from objective to objective. The TV also has a station that acts like monster radar. When Simon’s tuned in, he can tell if enemies are nearby and what direction they’re coming from. Later on in the demo, Simon can use objects in the environment to distract enemies and sneak by them, but if that fails there’s always the other Silent Hill staple: gun.
Once Simon finds the first location, guided by a woman exhorting him to return to her, things get interesting. The first thing I noticed is that Simon is hooked up to an IV and has a blood bag strapped to his arm. Then, when he enters the house, there’s a locked human organ container with a note taped to it like, “here bro, you need this.” Then, just as I’m wondering what the fuck all is going on, the gameplay demo hits me with another bewildering moment. Simon is tasked with restoring power to the house. When he locates the breakerâ through typical Silent Hill actions including finding a flashlight, then finding batteries to power itâ there’s a contraption that asks him to insert a prepaid electricity card before the power can start running. What?
At the beginning of the demo there are hand-painted protest signs with slogans like “This town is ours” and “We need justice.” The presence of a prepay-by-the-watt meter suggested to me this was a town overrun by an expressly evil energy company and that’s what Simon has to put right somehow. I was wrong. After consulting with Kotaku‘s UK correspondent John Walker, I learned that’s a valid method some less-resourced folks in the UK use to get their power. Damn, they make y’all live like that? (She, the American, asks.)
It doesn’t sound sexy to say my biggest “what the fuck” moment watching a Silent Hill video came from learning how some Brits pay for their power, but I think Konami has done a really good job with this gameplay demo. It doesn’t provide a flashy exposition of what to expect in the game; sure, there are your typical “gotta find the combination to this lockbox” moments, but it’s well-executed from a craft perspective. I didn’t come away from the video hyped about beating monsters to death with a 2×4; rather, I’m excited to have been so thoroughly drawn into a world I want to understand, and left with questions I’m desperate to know the answers to.
Why is Simon strapped to an IV?
What the hell is he supposed to do with that organ?
If his goal is not to free the town from a rapacious energy company, what is it that he has to put right? I’ll find out when Silent Hill: Townfall releases on September 24th.