Don't know who Ryukishi07 is? Let me tell you about him!

[NanayaShiki]

Seeing Ryukishi07's name attached as the writer for this game is definitely my biggest takeaway from the whole event. I've been a fan of this man's work for like half my life at this point. He's very well known in the Visual Novel scene (or Sound Novel, as he usually likes to call his works for some reason). But this isn't exactly a name that a lot of people not familiar with that world would immediately recognize. So let me tell you a tiny bit about his past stories and why this could be a reason to get very excited.

I think the most consistent way to describe Ryukishi's work is that he is very good at telling tragic stories. Sometimes they are meant to be scary and sometimes they are meant to be emotional but the most consistent through line is that they are almost always tragic. He is also well known for experimenting with story-telling and leaving certain key things up to the audience to figure out. As you can probably tell, this all sounds like a perfect fit for Silent Hill.

I'll get a little more specific, first by showing off the three major entries in his "When They Cry" franchise, his most well-known and well received work.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry)
This is very much Ryukishi's breakout work. It tells the story of a group of friends, ranging from children to teenagers, in a small Japanese town in the 80s. At the start we follow Keiichi Maebara who only just recently moved to town. Throughout the first "Episode" of the Sound Novel, Keiichi begins to uncover dark secrets about the town's past. Disappearances, murders, political drama, and most importantly the legend behind the ancient God said to reside in the town. The more he discovers the more he begins to suspect everything and everyone around him. A series of mysterious incidents begin to fuel paranoia and Keiichi becomes convinced he dug too deep and is next in line to be killed.

The story goes from there and I won't spoil it here. The main story takes place across eight different "Episodes" but since then there's been tons of spin-offs and additional chapters. Multiple anime adaptations, anime sequels, mobile games. It's turned into a franchise in it's own right. Personally, I think a lot of the supplementary material is kind of bad and I'm not a fan of any of the anime stuff, but the original Sound Novels are pretty good. Ryukishi does a good job at building suspense and paranoia and while the series does get a little wackier as the plot gets more complicated, that ability to create tension is never lost. There's some really uncomfortable and tense scenes throughout the whole thing. It's a pretty good indie horror project.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry)
Umineko trades in the small town horror of Higurashi for a mystery story set within a family mansion on an isolated island. Battler Ushiromiya has only recently made amends with his large and rich family and is attending their annual family meeting for the first time since he was a child. What initially starts out as a heartwarming reunion quickly gives way to drama as the family argues over the inheritance of the family's aging head. Things take a tragic turn in the morning when several family members are found dead. What follows is one of the most tense and suspenseful murder mysteries I've ever read. As someone continues to pick them off one by one, Battler is forced to confront the possibility that one of his family members might be the culprit. Or perhaps the island's long standing legends of magic are true and they've witnessed the return of a cruel Witch.

And as with Higurashi, that's the first "Episode" of 8. While Higurashi is note-worthy because of it's expert use of suspense and horror, Umineko is note-worthy because it's biggest selling point is it's experimental approach to story. There's like three different levels of narrative happening at once and to say things get "meta" would be an understatement. I will not spoil where this goes but trust me when I say it ends up as something very different from anything I've written about it above. This is unlike any story I've ever read and it can only work as a Visual/Sound novel. There are anime and manga adaptations and they are all bad. I do not say this lightly but Umineko is one of my favorite stories of all time, if not perhaps my Number 1. It was hugely influential to how I approach stories and media when I read it back in 2009-2012. While not everything about it may hold up now that I'm a bit older, I can still say with confidence that Ryukishi07 displays here that he is willing to do things with the format of his stories that nobody else is. Umineko will have you questioning everything you see as you piece together crumbs to uncover the true narrative behind everything. I cannot express how excited I am for talent like that to be applied to Silent Hill.

Ciconia no Naku Koro ni (When the Storks Cry)
It's a bit weird to talk about this one because it's still ongoing. He's written the first episode of a planned four total. It was put on indefinite hiatus following the COVID pandemic, though. But to give an example of how it stands against the others. This is a futuristic sci-fi story set after World War III. A group of young soldiers across various different cultural and personal backgrounds come together as both friends and co-workers to try and prevent the start of World War IV. It's a very different kind of story from the previous ones and personally I don't like it nearly as much as Umineko so far. But what I think stands out about it is that it shows Ryukishi has become an expert at writing characters with complex backgrounds and is able to use them to set the stage for his inevitable tragedy (really, it gets VERY tragic).

That's all we have for the When They Cry series, but to quickly give reference to some of his other works.

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni (On the Night the Red Spider Lily Blooms)
This is a horror anthology series. Less connected by an ongoing narrative and more of a thematic one. Higanbana is where a lot of his horror roots with Higurashi ended up as he expanded into the mystery and sci-fi genres with later When They Cry games. What's interesting is the Spider Lily thematic connection. We can definitely see this cropping back up in Silent Hill f.

Rose Gun Days
An alternative history action story set in a post-WWII Japan. It's very different from his previous work, perhaps closest to Ciconia despite the difference in time period and genre. But what this story shows is that Ryukishi is very steeped in Japan as a setting. While Umineko and Ciconia have a bit more of an expanded scope in terms of culture, with Silent Hill f being the first Silent Hill title set in Japan... and Japan of the 1960s no less, I think this story being set in Japan in the 40s is worth noting. He's clearly adept at writing about the Japan of the past.


I will leave it there for now. He's written other work but I think these are the primary ones that will give context to how he might approach Silent Hill. Of course, these are all anime-style Visual Novels, which is very different from what Silent Hill f is going to be. But the expertise he's shown in writing both interesting experimental fiction that forces the reader to think and theorize AND writing very suspenseful horror stories seems like a match made in heaven for Silent Hill to me. There is cause to be very very excited.

[Agent of God]

Thank you for this info. By coincidence my wife told me about Higurashi no Naku Koro ni just two weeks ago and just by the description of the title I kind of "felt" the atmosphere and it stayed in my mind as something I should definitely check out.
Now I have to check the guy's work out.
Sounds like an interesting writer to pair with Silent Hill.

[leftshoe18]

Thank you for the write up. Sounds like a great pick to helm a Silent Hill story!

[jdnation]

I'll likely check out the Higurashi anime on Crunchyroll, understanding that as others have said the anime/manga adaptations don't capture the original as well, so I'll keep that in mind.

Seems Ryukishi's visual novel circle are considered 'prominent developer' in Japan, though on the more doujin/indy level. Which is why no-one would've guessed. So they are developing it's story with Taiwan's Neobards putting in the main game work.

I'm very excited to see this project!

[NanayaShiki]

I'll likely check out the Higurashi anime on Crunchyroll, understanding that as others have said the anime/manga adaptations don't capture the original as well, so I'll keep that in mind.

I'd honestly recommend against that. The anime adaptations are bad and completely miss the mark on what works about the VNs. You won't really get a feel for how he writes that way at all. Though I understand not everyone has the time or patience for like 80 hours of reading.

[Wigeke]

I'll likely check out the Higurashi anime on Crunchyroll, understanding that as others have said the anime/manga adaptations don't capture the original as well, so I'll keep that in mind.

I'd honestly recommend against that. The anime adaptations are bad and completely miss the mark on what works about the VNs. You won't really get a feel for how he writes that way at all. Though I understand not everyone has the time or patience for like 80 hours of reading.

What's the best platform the get the VNs?

[NanayaShiki]

What's the best platform the get the VNs?

All three When They Cry series are available via PC on Steam. You might need to look into how to patch in the improved artwork from other releases if the original indie art isn't for you but there's plenty of guides out there on how to do so. Higurashi has a very slow start but the horror payoff is worth it. Umineko is more immediately interesting and goes to more interesting places but only has sprinkles of horror. They're both worth checking out at the very least. Might not be everyone's thing but they're very unique experiences.

[Prisoner]

I’m in your boat, Nanaya. I’m thrilled to bits to see him on this project. It was my biggest takeaway from the announcement too. He certainly understands world building for a town, he’s very good at it…!
For anyone just getting into his work, please keep the original art. Even if the illustrations are not as objectively good, I think they’re more expressive. And I happen to like those goofy ham hands, but maybe they’ve grown on me. I find it charming, maybe you will too.

PS, did you see that we’re finally getting a Mahoutsukai no Yoru localization? It’s a very good year for announcements like this.