Set in 1960s Japan

[saevitia]

According to Silent Hill's official twitter, the game's setting is 1960s japan.

https://twitter.com/SilentHill/status/1 ... q-tPcrAAAA

[Jonipoon]

Damn, you beat me to it, haha!

Well, this official confirmation rejects my initial guess of it just being the main character's manifestations within the Otherworld.

[fudgestix]

I loved what I saw in the trailer, but it gave me stronger Siren vibes than SH.

That's not a bad thing, but it makes me wonder if this was always a silent hill project or if it's been repurposed to fit with Konami's hype train.

[Wigeke]

The bit with the girl floating and stuff was growing on her gave me some Fatal Frame vibes as well. She could have been the main bad ghost of a new FF game.

[Jonipoon]

I loved what I saw in the trailer, but it gave me stronger Siren vibes than SH.

That's not a bad thing, but it makes me wonder if this was always a silent hill project or if it's been repurposed to fit with Konami's hype train.

I thought of that too, especially since some of Siren takes place in the 1970's. I'm honestly not entirely on board with the idea of a Silent Hill game taking place in Japan.

[Wigeke]

I think the fact that it's in the 60s is more interesting than the fact that it's on Japan. Will be cool to see something pre SH1.

[Jonipoon]

^Definitely. The pre-digital world is much scarier IMO. When I see the hysterical chat messages in the trailer for Silent Hill: Ascension, I just feel cringe.

[jdnation]

There could be a twist to it....

Just waiting for that one character to say, "This looks like Japan to you?"

[phantomess]

Anyone else find this whole thing pretty ironic since Silent Hill had originally been horror made by a Japanese group that was specifically aiming to make WESTERN horror?

It doesn't particularly look/feel like my style or super Silent Hillish, but that trailer is way too little to judge it on, and of course I'll be buying and playing it regardless. There was at least a brief clip that had kind of Silent-Hillish vibes. It's strange to think story-wise how this will be happening in Japan, so that will be interesting to see.

[The Adversary]

According to my timeline, the early 1960s is when "People linked to the development of Silent Hill begin to mysteriously die."

This is given in-game via dialogue between Lisa and Harry. She says, "Last time I heard anything about [the cult] was, gosh, years ago. . . When several people connected with developing the town died in accidents."

I got that from Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle, which indicates that "around 20 years ago [. . . t]he staff of a company that was working on developing the town as a sightseeing area died mysteriously one after the other."

Maybe that's our connection.

[Jonipoon]

Well, besides Silent Hill 4: The Room, there hasn’t really been any game in the series with a huge focus on Japanese horror. And that game still kept a steady foothold in what came before.

While the origin behind the power of the town is vagely connected to native American worshipping, most of Silent Hill is based on Christian and Jewish demonology and Western occultism.

I’m a bit confused as to what this means for the lore of the series. If the power of town of Silent Hill can be found in many places throughout the world, what’s the point in calling it Silent Hill?

[The Adversary]

I have a feeling there will still be a strong connection to '60s Japan and Silent Hill. We know from Heather the power of the town can follow her, and that the Otherworld can invade nearby towns not called Silent Hill, such as Ashfield and Shepherd's Glen. Even SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM was barely set in Silent Hill, yet it still has it in its title.

[jdnation]

SH3 and 4, prove that the SH phenomena can be taken outside of the town via some kind of means.

It is the timeline that is interesting, but Silent Hill's history does suggest that strange stuff happened in the past.

Could be as easy as someone from Japan visiting America in the past and bringing something back.

[phantomess]

Sorry if I made it sound like I thought the entire series had taken place 100% in Silent Hill! Lol. I just find Japan to be pretty surprising, but I'm assuming they'll tie it in somehow. Still interested to see how.

Well, besides Silent Hill 4: The Room, there hasn’t really been any game in the series with a huge focus on Japanese horror. And that game still kept a steady foothold in what came before.

Wait, SH4 had a huge focus on Japanese horror? I think the only connection I made as being Japanese-themed was the style of Cynthia's ghost.

[Jonipoon]

^Yup. First of all it was partly influenced by the Japanese crime phenomenon coin-locker babies, in which infants are left abandoned in public lockers. Then you have the overall focus of being completely isolated from society in your own apartment, which has very strong ties to Japanese society. The themes around peeping at women and being watched is also very Japanese. Lastly, it introduced the concept of ghosts which is the main focus of Japanese folk horror, specifically the onryō which literaly means 'vengeful spirit'. Contrary to Western-style ghosts that are usually transparent and not able to inflict direct physical harm, these are fully see-through ghosts that are capable of causing harm, sometimes even carrying objects like knives (or how about a shovel)? I'm sure there's more that I can't think of at the moment.

[LittleNightma]

I’m waiting for one of the characters to say that they, “Once visited a rural, American town that was beginning to grow into a tourist attraction.”

[silentevil1989]

Set in Japan, I like that. So far SHf is checking all the right boxes.

[Droo]

It's a setting that makes more sense than the rumours going around that one of the new games was going to take place in England.

Although that could still be true of Townfall or another yet to be released project.

[leftshoe18]

I think it was Annapurna's project (which we now know is Townfall) that had the England rumor connected to it. Like you said, that could still turn out to be true.

[Jonipoon]

My wild speculation is that the main character is actually an older woman, and this young girl is just a projection of her younger self. She fears growing old and rotting away, hence the fungi and flowers growing out of her body. She is actually in Silent Hill, but it manifests itself as a version of the rural Japanese town from her childhood.