For nearly a decade, Silent Hill was considered a dead franchise following the cancellation of Silent Hills and subsequent delisting of P.T. While I was already upset with Konami’s actions after their treatment of Hideo Kojima (who would have directed Silent Hills with Guillermo del Toro) came to light, the idea that the series would remain dormant didn’t affect me as much until I actually played through every main game back-to-back, as well as multiple times each. In a very timely coincidence, however, Konami would announce a full-on series revival in late 2022, which would include a new movie as well as multiple new video game projects. The official start of this revival would start with Silent Hill: The Short Message (TSM), a short experimental concept game that received a surprise release after Sony’s State of Play on January 31, 2024, the 25th anniversary of the original Silent Hill’s release (according to Konami, at least). Naturally, as someone excited at the prospect of more Silent Hill content, I downloaded TSM the instant I learned of its surprise release and played through it shortly after. While it’s not a perfect experience, and not as good as some of the series’ highs, TSM still felt like a step in the right direction and gave me confidence about the future of the revival.
