It's no secret that the once brilliant Silent Hill series could do with a change, but if a recent rumor turns out to be true, a refresh on a most dramatic scale is coming. The latest chapter in the survival horror series could be going all FPS on our asses.
The rumor comes courtesy of new Silent Hill developer Vatra Games. The studio has revealed that it is working on a first-person-shooter for Q1 2011. It is the only project listed by Vatra, which seems to indicate that the "unnamed" FPS and Silent Hill's latest chapter are one and the same thing.
If true, this would mark a drastic alteration to the franchise, but frankly, it's not one I personally find egregious. Silent Hill needs to do something to regain its position as a leading psychological horror game, and if Vatra can do that with an FPS, by all means let them. What do you think, though? Are you already groaning at the idea of another game becoming an FPS, or are does a potential genre switch for Silent Hill entice you?
New Silent Hill Game an FPS [Rely on Horror via Steph Louise K's CBlog]
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But there aren't too many horror FPS games, so this could be a good thing.
I hope anyway.
That said, if they can turn it into some sort of Penumbra kind of thing, then ... YES, PLEASE.
That's almost exactly what I was having in mind.
Puzzle solving was my favorite part of SH, you can't solve puzzles in an FPS game, or can you....hrmmmm
Condemned showed that it can be done, and be pants-shittingly terrifying at the same time. And that series was (mostly) grounded in real-world situations and opponents. Silent Hill has to conform to no such limitations.
This feels an awful lot like the trepidation a lot of us felt when we first heard about the perspective shift that Nintendo was allowing Retro to try out for the first Metroid Prime. That turned out pretty well, if I may be allowed a massive understatement.
Here's hoping the new developer can grasp what makes Silent Hill "Silent Hill."
Buuut, I'm talking crazy talk. I doubt they could get that right.
look...how.....well....that........turned........out.........
:/
Now Silent Hill can do the Condemned/SH 4 when in the apartment thing and just stay in first person when exploring that would be fine but a real FPS would make me cry. Nothing like seeing one of your favorite franchise raped by bad ideas. Seriously not strong enough profanity in the English language to express my hate of this if it comes to pass.
I believe it was called Shattered Memories or something. They should do that again.
I enjoyed Shattered Memories as well. It was thought-provoking and did quite a number of things well. The chase sequences were annoying but tolerable, because I was hooked by the story telling and psychological stuff. It was a ballsy change of direction (and I find it fascinating they managed to get a greenlight on such an artsy fartsy game) but I think it was ultimately a good choice.
Silent Hill 2 has been a blessing for the fans, it's a flat-out masterpiece for sure, but a curse for the developers. The bar was raised so high it's been impossible for them to execute anything even close to that quality with further installments. Shattered Memories is the series second-best in my opinion, but still doesn't even hold a candle to SH2.
The only problem is that someone going into Silent Hill shouldn't be a pro gunslinger, pulling off headshots left and right.. I propose a handicap. Perhaps, at the beginning of the game, your crossair is extremely wide... like you'd have difficult time aiming as a noob at shooting would, so you might be likely to avoid some combat like the series is known for. Add some light RPG elements to enhance abilities such as shooting (aka narrowing the crossair) and I think you'd have a game that works.
Jesus talk about reaction-bait!
Exactly, I thought of the first Bioshock as well.
I don't know if Silent Hill needs 'a drastic change'. Today, that's usually a euphemism for a MP-heavy, 5 hour single-player campaign with incredibly striped down gameplay. 'Silent Hill' does need a good freaking game in the series to refresh interest, something it hasn't had in awhile. There's nothing about FPS that says that it has to play like Quake. First-person exploration in a exploration-heavy series is a pretty good idea. Instead of a drawn-back 3rd person camera angle that allows you to always see action around the character, the player's view is restricted to the game avatar's 'eyes'. Hear a noise to the side, and the player will have to frantically turn left and right to catch a glimpse of whatever horror is lurking in the shadows, a real opportunity for great scares/audio work. To me, that's even more 'horror-immersive' than 3rd person perspective. You can have slow-paced combat that doesn't even have to be the highlight.