Silent Hills ’ cancellation didn’t kill Hideo Kojima’s desires to create another horror game, but the nightmares he got from working on the title did.
Kojima gave IGN a straightforward reason why he doesn’t like the creative process when developing a horror game: he scares easily. He would imagine terrifying situations, go home and his mind would run wild with them at night.
"I think the most effective way to scare someone is to show them something that's slightly out of the ordinary," Kojima told IGN explaining his creative process for doomed Silent Hills . "Slightly off, but at first glance, they don't know what it is about it that is unusual. When you do something like this, it confuses the mind, and that becomes unnerving for the person who sees it.”
Kojima added, "Also, the unknown. When there's no information available for something, it's more frightening. An example would be a bungee jump. If you've done it more than one time, it's never as scary as the first time. Something that no one has any preconceptions about is the scariest thing.”
That’s a lot to go home with every night. Just look at games like Resident Evil 7 biohazard that turn seemingly mundane into something worthy of your nightmares. A house isn’t scary, but when you turn down the brightness and add some random footsteps, it will make you crap your pants.
Still, we can’t help but be curious as to what Kojima and director Guillermo del Toro had envisioned for Silent Hills . The game’s demo featuring Norman Reedus was everything Kojima described during his interview with IGN. The first walk through of the Silent Hills house was normal. The second look featured something off and you just kept going down the rabbit hole until you were out of the loop.
What Kojima definitely made clear in his interview with IGN was his upcoming title Death Stranding is not a horror game. Death Stranding won’t be Silent Hills reincarnated. Maybe Kojima will make a horror game in the future. Whatever he decides, we have faith Kojima’s work will be magical.
