Late last year it was revealed that Silent Hill co-creator Keiichiro Toyama and several developers had left Sony Japan Studio to form their own team, Bokeh Game Studio. At the time, it was said Bokeh Studio’s first game would be “mainly action,” but beyond that, not much was revealed. In a new video, which you can watch below, Toyama reveals some new details about his next game, and thankfully for Silent Hills fans, it seems it will have a stronger horror flavor than previously hinted.
Regarding our first game, I have multiple directions for my works. The [direction] I took is quite dark, far from my more recent titles. It’s like I’m coming back to my roots, towards horror. This is where I’m taking my first title. However, rather than something deeply rooted in horror, I want to keep an entertaining note. While keeping elements from horror, I want the player to feel exhilarated when playing the game.
The video above features an array of concept art, presumably for the new game, showing a variety of bizarrely twisted and mutated people, so it does seem like Toyama is pushing the horror elements pretty hard in some respects. Toyama also hints the game may take notes from Japanese movies and games like Battle Royale and Danganronpa, in which characters have to survive twisted “death games”…
I like to read comics as a form of entertainment, and recently you see a trend for “death game” type of content. These works tend to add entertainment to somewhat brutal worlds. I naturally took that approach. You have these regular people driven into irrational situations. They’re on the edge emotionally, while dealing with action or drama. This influenced me, and I think it will show in my next game.
Finally, Toyama also teases he’s really focusing on the city and environment his next game takes place in. We’ll see if it ends up as memorable as the misty streets of Silent Hill!
What do you think? Looking forward to the first game from Bokeh Game Studios?
