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Here’s Why Silent Hill: Townfall Is A First-Person Game

Silent Hill: Townfall makes some big changes from the usual Silent Hill experience that fans have come to expect, not only with its Scottish setting, but also with its first-person perspective. While this gameplay style is unusual for Silent Hill (we still remember you, PT), it turns out there was really no debate about whether it was right for Townfall. Speaking at a media roundtable event that GameSpot attended, director Jon McKellan said that from the very start, Silent Hill: Townfall was planned as a first-person game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm1Z1IFTtX4 "It was first-person from day one for us," McKellan said. "Our previous games were first-person, [and] the stuff I'd worked on before that was first-person, so it's something we felt we understood and knew pretty well." Yet developer Screen Burn's familiarity with first-person games wasn't the only factor that contributed to this decision. McKellan went on to explain that one of the game's central mechanics, Simon's handheld CRTV, also necessitated this perspective. As with previous Silent Hill titles' radios, Townfall's CRTV serves as a means for solving puzzles and finding threats in survival-horror game. However, the tool's visual nature meant utilizing the device outside of a first-person perspective felt "out of place." "You know, there is no way to hold that in front of the player in third-person without having to render it onto a UI, and that starts to feel like a mini-map, you know--something that feels really out of place for Silent Hill," McKellan added. "So for us, the combination of those features was like, 'This feels like the right way to go.'" Prior to its work on Silent Hill: Townfall, Screen Burn developed the games Stories Untold and Observation. McKellan was also an artist on Alien: Isolation, which certainly made the most of its first-person perspective. Silent Hill: Townfall releases for PS5 and PC on September 24.

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Silent Hill: Townfall Devs Were Given The Freedom To Make Their Own Kind Of Horror 

Glasgow-based developer Screen Burn has been around for over a decade, and Silent Hill: Townfall is the studio's highest-profile game to date. The studio has produced a few cult-classics over the years like Stories Untold and Observation, but with its Silent Hill spin-off, the team has described being handed the keys to Konami's premier survival-horror franchise as a "confidence builder." Silent Hill Townfall was announced during Konami's dedicated 2022 livestream for the series, which also saw the announcement of the games Silent Hill f and Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake. According to Silent Hill Townfall game director Jon McKellan, Screen Burn was largely given free rein over the project, with oversight on it being focused on making certain that the game complemented its spooky brethren. https://youtu.be/OLV6S7j8vZk "We had our head down for the majority of this. Like, I think even from the first teaser in 2022 when all the games were kind of announced at the same time, you know, working with these guys, it's always been easy. It's always been kind of letting us cook, so to speak, like just we had talked through story, we talked through the vibes and the goals of the game that we had, and these guys were obviously making sure that nothing overlapped too much or that things would kind of like complement each other in a way." "We weren't kind of like connected to Silent Hill 2, to Silent Hill F--like we weren't getting involved in that or really aware of what was happening. We were just kind of like making sure that we were focused on our game and that we trusted these guys to raise anything if it was a concern, should the games not complement each other in some way or overlap too much. Overall, it felt like it gave us the creative freedom to do what we do, and knowing there's a little bit of oversight there to make sure we don't like accidentally make the same story as another one, given that we're all drawing from the same pool of reference." The release of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill F has also been a "net positive" for Screen Burn, and while the studio knows that it's being expected to live up to the high standard set by those games, the warm reception to those titles has left the developer feeling confident. "I think just as Silent Hill 2 was coming out, like seeing what they'd done and being like--as a fan of the original--being blown away by what they did with the remake," McKellan said. "And then with Silent Hill F, the left turn that took is just great to see. It gave us confidence as well, seeing those games do really well, [it] gave us confidence that people were accepting of the new Silent Hill and that the fans were here for it. So, it's always been like a confidence builder for us. Now the spotlight's on us, so now we're terrified! But yeah, it's been overall a net positive, like we've enjoyed being part of the franchise, obviously, and happy to be the next installment." Unlike the previous games, Silent Hill Townfall is a first-person survival-horror. It does share one idea with Silent Hill f, moving the series out of the US and taking it to the fictional Scottish town of St. Amelia. For more on the game, you can read up on why Konami has published so many Silent Hill games lately, Screen Burn's ambition to make people talk about Townfall for the next 20 years, and the decision to make it a first-person experience.

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for_one_night_only_games - Live on Twitch

For One Night Only 🎮A live showcase celebrating UK games - featuring new trailers, exclusive reveals and developer interviews from studios across the UK. 📅 Streaming live July 29. https://fono.games.

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For One Night Only Is a New Showcase Celebrating UK Video Game Talent, Here’s How To Watch. - IGN

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