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Silent Hill: The Short Message

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Silent Hill: The Short Message is a 2024 psychological horror game co-developed by Konami Digital Entertainment and HexaDrive, and published by Konami. Written by Kiichi Kanoh from a story by series producer Motoi Okamoto, it is the first major installment of the series since Silent Hill: Downpour (2012), the first horror game developed by Konami since Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004), and the second short-form title after the defunct Silent Hills: Playable Teaser (2015). It sees the return of developers who worked on the earliest installments, including creature designer Masahiro Ito, music and sound designer Akira Yamaoka, and translator Jeremy Blaustein.

Okamoto joined Konami and became the series producer after leaving another company in 2018. The Short Message subsequently began as a research-and-development project. HexaDrive was approached to port the original Silent Hill games to modern platforms, but were unsatisfied with the offer and counter-proposed a remake of Silent Hill 2. Konami began production on a remake under Bloober Team in 2019 but this opened the door for their collaboration on The Short Message.

The story focuses on a teenage girl named Anita, who struggles with suicidal thoughts and searches an abandoned apartment complex for her friend Maya. She finds herself plagued by supernatural occurrences and stalked by a creature manifested from her subconscious thoughts. Okamoto and Kanoh wanted to tap into the fears of a contemporary audience and make a Silent Hill game that young people could relate to. It explores themes of social isolation, school bullying, cyberharassment, and the psychological impact of social media.

The gameplay is presented from a first-person camera perspective, focusing on exploration, chase sequences, and communicating with other characters on an in-game cellphone. It was developed as a playable teaser for a full-length video game, but underwent revisions through production and truncated into a standalone story. Several plot points and alternate endings were removed, the level design was overhauled, and the cellphone mechanic was downsized from an earlier iteration.

The game was announced during a PlayStation livestream on January 31, 2024, and released worldwide digitally on the same day, coinciding with marketing for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the premise and atmosphere but often criticized the character models, voice acting, chase sequences, and implementation of its themes.

Plot[]

Silent Hill: The Short Message is set in the fictional economically depressed town of Kettenstadt, Germany, within an abandoned apartment complex called the "Villa", a popular graffiti hot spot and infamous suicide spot among teenage girls. A young woman named Anita receives a message from her friend and Internet-famous graffiti artist Maya, known online as C.B. (Cherry Blossom), to meet in the Villa, and upon entering, she follows a trail of Maya's artworks throughout the building. During her search, she has flashbacks regarding the online harassment she experienced while trying to be as popular online as Maya. Over the course of the game, she is chased by a monster which is covered by blooming cherry blossoms. Despite attempting to contact Maya over text, she receives no response.

She receives a call from her friend Amelie, who reminds Anita that Maya is already dead, having jumped off the roof of the Villa some time ago. Anita is shocked she would forget something so important and wonders who is texting her using Maya's name. She winds up on the roof and discovers Maya's final art piece. Jealous of the number of followers Maya has, Anita decides to leap off the roof in an attempt to emulate her.

However, instead of dying, she awakens back inside the Villa where she started. Maya messages Anita, telling her that neither of them can leave until Anita finds "it". Anita is forced to explore the Villa again, which is in a more dilapidated state with Maya's artworks vandalized. For a period, she relives memories of Maya being bullied at school, before returning at the Villa. Anita finds an artwork of Maya's she had never seen before, one depicting Amelie. Anita recalls how Maya was always much closer to Amelie than her, and that she felt ignored by Maya.

Continuing on, Anita is in her school library where she learns about how Kettenstadt was supposedly cursed by a Japanese witch after her death. Anita finds a letter written by Maya begging Amelie for help, and recalls that she purposely withheld the letter from Amelie due to her jealousy over Maya's close friendship with her, which she believes led to Maya's suicide. Her journey leads her back to the roof, where she admits her guilt regarding Maya's death to Amelie over the phone, before jumping off the roof a second time.

Anita awakens back in the Villa. Exploring the building once again, Anita is in her old family home, and recalls how her mother both neglected and abused her and her younger brother by locking them in the closet. This culminated in Anita's brother dying while locked up, and her mother attempting to hide his body in the refrigerator before Anita escaped and reported her to the police. She discovers that Maya was planning to make an artwork depicting her as well, meaning Maya had not been ignoring her.

The monster chases Anita for a final time again before she finds herself back on the roof and again apologizes to Amelie for not realizing how much both she and Maya valued their friendship with her. Anita considers jumping off the roof, but stops herself at the last second which dispels the fog surrounding the Villa, returning Anita to reality. Sometime later, a social media post by Amelie indicates that both she and Anita have left Kettenstadt for college to start new lives.

Production[]

Development[]

22525-motoi-okamoto

Motoi Okamoto spearheaded the relaunch of the Silent Hill franchise.

After the cancellation of Silent Hills in 2015, the Silent Hill series underwent a period of dormancy. Konami staff were interested in producing new installments, but were stalled by internal disagreement on what direction it should take.[1] Motoi Okamoto joined Konami and became the series producer after leaving Entersphere in 2018.[2][1] The development of the film Return to Silent Hill by Christophe Gans and Victor Hadida served as a catalyst for the revival of the game series.[3]

It had been nearly two decades since Konami developed a full-fledged horror title, 2004's Silent Hill 4: The Room. Okamoto was concerned that their expertise in the genre had dulled since its release. The Short Message began as a research-and-development project for their internal team to accumulate experience, experiment with ideas, and refine their abilities for the development of future titles.[4][5] Since this was their first horror project in decades, Konami chose to co-develop with a partner in Japan.[4][6]

Third party studio HexaDrive was approached by Konami to port the original Silent Hill games, but countered their offer by proposing a remake of Silent Hill 2. They developed a playable demo over several months as a proof-of-concept, but were turned down in favor of a competing pitch from Bloober Team. Despite this, they left an impression on Konami, and about half a year later, were approached to partner on The Short Message.[4][6]

Themes and design[]

In the early stages of development, Okamoto decided that The Short Message would explore a different kind of horror than previous installments, tapping into the fears of a contemporary audience. The intended focus of the story is "young people growing up in a difficult world", exploring themes of school bullying, cyberharassment, social isolation, and the psychological impact of social media. The premise was influenced by Okamoto's observations during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he described: "I saw a lot of conflict, a lot of bullying and dogpiles. Meanwhile, suicide numbers were rising. So I thought, this feeling of isolation on social media, where you can be so connected and yet so alone, maybe this could be a whole new kind of fear."[4]

The story is set outside of the titular town because Okamoto wanted to make the series synonymous with the psychological horror genre instead of a location. Jacob Navok, who worked with him on Silent Hill: Ascension, explained "Growing the franchise means that you can't set everything in Silent Hill, in the same way that Biohazard broke past Raccoon City."[7][1] Kiichi Kanoh wrote the script for the scenario.[4] The game, at one point titled Playable Concept: Sakura,[8] was intended to be a playable teaser for a full-length title with elaborated plot details and over twenty characters, including Anita's classmates and their ancestors.[5] An outline was developed for the earlier incarnation of the story.

Outline Excerpt
[A game about trying to resist anxiety and oppression, about the prevention of suicide]

The story of Anita... (Anita Planert (Female, 17 years old))

I search for the truth behind my "best friend's" suicide...

She has no presence in her class and escapes into delusions. Due to her poor home environment, she's cut her wrists many times. It's all repeating for her.

A "Best Friend" committed suicide. A week later, some of Anita's classmates visited the abandoned apartment complex where the suicide took place. It is said to be illegally occupied by delinquents and squaters, who've painted its walls with a rough history. Covered in graffiti, it was a place where many disturbing rumors began to surface due to its strange atmosphere.

The delinquents of Anita' class plan to hold a night party there and contribute to the growing art of the building.

My “best friend’s" SNS account continued to be updated even after her death. Was it someone's idea of a prank? But for what purpose...

Anita couldn't think of any motive for her "best friend's" suicide. She'd thought about it many times, but she couldn't imagine she'd do something like this.

A flower stand had been set up at the site she had jumped in her memory. After seeing this, Anita decides, "I will find out the truth behind her suicide.

“My best friend” was a free spirit who lived as herself. For Anita, who is at the bottom of the class caste, she envied that freedom. She easily had transcended the barrier of caste, she was a good friend to many in the class, and who was very social and understanding to others.

She was someone I admired.

Anita took inspiration from the graffiti, documents, and various items she found during her time in the abandoned apartment. She posts on SNS using "keywords". By choosing specific "keywords, her classmates respond in different ways, and begin to divulge facts that Anita didn't know before.

The truth about members of the upper class caste with whom I had no connection until now slowly begins to unravel.

As Anita uncovers it, she begins to identify a person she believes drove her "best friend" to commit suicide and "accuses" him on social media. 'I did it! It was all his fault!'

But Anita doesn't know this loose understanding isn't the truth she seeks.

Someone on Anita's SNS messages reached out to her, saying the words, "Witch's Curse". Those words strike sudden anxiety in me. My world begins to seem as if it is turning inside out, and a strange-looking "something" appears to me wearing a hood.

Anita escapes to the rooftop, seeing the graffiti piece atop there. As fear, anxiety, guilt begin to grip her, she becomes drawn to the idea of suicide herself. And then she takes flight...

After her first death, Anita wakes up in her apartment again. Was her previous experience a dream?

As she continues her search and investigation, someone appears on SNS who will cooperate with Anita. The world is different from last time, a horrifying past the town's trying to hide begins to become clear.

[9]


A plotline involving the Order, a religious cult from the original games, was largely deleted: they were on the verge of extinction and desperate to recruit new members after the events of earlier games.[note 1] They expanded their membership worldwide by using the internet and radical political ideologies as recruitment mechanisms. Teachers and students at Anita's school were recruited, one such member being the boy mentioned in Maya's Letter.[9][10][11]

The history of the German villa, "the Silent Hill Phenomenon," and the witch's curse were linked to each other and explored in greater detail. One of the Order's religious parables describes a girl who was kept safe in a stone castle that had been purified of monsters. Interpreting this through a hateful lens, the cult performs a ritual to tap into Silent Hill's Otherworld in spaces that are susceptible to supernatural phenomena, such as the villa. Unwilling participants, including immigrant and lower class students from the school, are sacrificed by being sent to these locations to be "purified," which keeps the Otherworld active by contributing to the "brain fog."[9][note 2]

TSMSNSScrapped

In a scrapped portion of the game, the player is tasked by Amelie with taking pictures of graffiti.

It featured a robust text message mechanic, with the player speaking to several characters on Anita's cellphone and selecting autofill options for dialogue responses. The player would search the environments for keywords and take pictures, which would influence the autofill feature. This was trimmed to only two characters and no dialogue options; in the finalized game, the player character will text responses that are predetermined within the story.[9]

The story had a darker tone with multiple endings. The first loop would take place mostly in the real world, where the player would search the villa for keywords and engage with the cellphone mechanic. The second loop took place in a decrepit version of the villa, with the level design working dynamically with a stalker enemy. The third and final loop would take place fully in the Otherworld. The game included an ARG element and a total three endings that could be unlocked: a "normal" ending, a "bad" ending, and a "true" ending. The true ending could only be achieved by solving the ARG, which was planned to announce Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2.[9][5]

It was truncated to a single ending because of its short length. The ending was originally darker than the final version because Okamoto thought a happy ending would be unsuitable for the series. However, this was changed due to concerns with the subject matter from Konami's overseas staff and his desire to instill a sense of hope.[9][5] Kiinoh researched the topics of mental illness and suicide, and imagined himself as the characters while developing the script. His writing helped turn Okamoto's ideas into a more uplifting story, which Okamoto thought was an improvement: "it says that deep down, people really do want to live. Even a girl who's so lost that she's serious considering suicide."[4]

The creation of Anita, Maya, and Amelie was a process of trial-and-error. Thought went into the nature of Anita and Maya's relationship, and how much of it was friendship versus infatuation.[4] Maya's scenes were filmed in live action to create a sense of distance between Maya and Anita, and a feeling that Anita cannot enter her world.[5] Kiinoh considered it a failure of society that their lives took such a dark turn, rather than a personal moral flaw, and guided Anita towards a happier ending.[4]

Junya Morita directed the live action and computer-generated cutscenes.[12] While the plot is set in Germany, the protagonists are portrayed as fourth generation Japanese immigrants because the developers wanted to incorporate some of their culture into the game.[5] The live action sequences also had to be filmed in Japan due to constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The development team experimented with mixing 3D computer-generated textures and images with the live action footage. The sticky notes in the background were live action and filmed using genuine sticky notes. The English voiceover was recorded overseas,[5] and localized in part by Jeremy Blaustein, who worked on Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4: The Room as the English supervisor.[13][14]

TSMFPS

The gameplay is presented from a first-person perspective.

The team chose a first-person camera perspective because successful independent horror games released around that time made use of it, and in the hopes of increasing player immersion. Unlike previous installments in the series (barring Shattered Memories and Silent Hills: Playable Teaser), the game omits combat as a mechanic, instead emphasizing monster evasion and chase sequences. Okamoto felt that running away from the central enemy would be fun for the game's length, as opposed to a full-length title where it would become exhausting and stressful.[5]

Riki Miyatani, HexaDrive's level design director, was tasked with designing the playable portions of the game from story outlines provided by Konami. She worked with Okamoto and often suggested tweaks to the script to accommodate the gameplay design. The themes reminded her of the novel No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, which she related to during a painful time in her life, and served as a creative influence on her contributions.[6] The final chase sequence, taking place before the player character faces her trauma, was designed to be the most difficult portion of the game.[5]

Art direction[]

Pyramid Head 2013

Masahiro Ito re-envisioned Pyramid Head to be killed in the opening scene of a cancelled sequel: "If someone really wanna use Pyramid Head, he will need to get a new impressive direction which users accept."[15]

Masahiro Ito, one of the lead art designers of the first three Silent Hill games, returned as a conceptual artist for the monster and Otherworld design. After leaving Konami in 2006,[16][17] he was displeased with the use of Pyramid Head in the later Silent Hill media, having designed the creature to serve a specific purpose in Silent Hill 2. He felt that his significance was misunderstood[18][19][20][21] and that Konami would be unwilling to exclude him from future titles because of his popularity.[22]

In 2013, he created a new version of Pyramid Head for a cancelled sequel in which he was killed by the angel Valtiel in the opening scene.[23][24][25] Since the project dissolved, he decided that he would only return to the series if it is not a direct sequel to an earlier installment, and he can either kill Pyramid Head in the opening scene or simply not use him.[26][27][28][29] In 2018, he expressed an interest in creating a new horror icon, as well as using cherry blossoms as materials and taking a "lyrical" approach to the genre, as opposed to gore.[30][22][31][32]

Ito2016vrhorrorgamecancelled

Elements of unused monster designs from a cancelled PlayStation VR[33] horror title were repurposed for The Short Message.

The lead monster of The Short Message was designed to reflect anxieties of the internet generation. Ito's use of cherry blossoms was influenced by Japanese culture, where the plant's beauty is often juxtaposed with death and somber imagery. Okamoto likened it to social media, "When we see a lot of excitement around something online, it looks wonderful and friendly, but when you look on an individual level, you'll find a lot of malice as part of it."[4]

The wooden branches on the creature's extremities were borrowed from unused monster designs that Ito developed for a cancelled horror game in 2016. To create an uncanny walking motion, the branches on the feet are slightly different lengths, while the branches on the hands are of identical length.[34][35][36] A scarecrow was used as reference material,[37] and the blossoms on the feet were inspired by a stock photo of barnacles growing on a wooden post.[38] Character artist Mitsunobu Ochi sculpted the in-game model, adapting Ito's concept art.[39][40]

SILENT HILL The Short Message Hallway

An abnormally long hallway represents Anita's reluctance to acknowledge her role in Maya's suicide.[6]

Since a retelling of Silent Hill 2 was developed concurrently, the designers felt that there was no point in creating a similar Otherworld.[5] With the villa, they aimed to create a realistic "lived in" space, which included adding trash and dirt to many of the interiors. Okamoto wanted the tight corridors to convey feelings of social pressure and "being cornered by society."[5] The environments were designed to parallel Anita's mental state, gradually changing from a normal location to a manifestation of her emotions.[6] The game is made intentionally bright on default settings so that graphical details are plainly visible.[5]

Casting[]

Fadile Waked, Haruka Sakaguchi, Debora Uehara, and Tony Hosokawa provided the motion capture for Anita, Maya, Amelie, and Anita's mother, respectively. The vocals were performed by Jeannie Tirado (Anita), Anne Yatco (Maya), Brendan Arteaga Walsh (Amelie), Larissa Gallagher (Anita's mother), Brenna Larsen, Jay Preston, and Andrew Russell (classmates). Sakaguchi considered Maya to be the most challenging role of her career.[12][41]

Music and sound design[]

See also: Silent Hill: The Short Message Original Soundtrack
Tsmsoundtrack

Silent Hill: The Short Message Original Soundtrack.

Takanori Kaneko served as the audio director, while Akira Yamaoka, who worked on the original games, returned to compose the music and sound design. Yamaoka avoided common horror conventions when creating the sounds of the game, stating "When you want to create fear or create scary moments, there's this tendency to want to give the audio this expository slant, so it tells you explicitly 'this is scary.' But when it comes to Silent Hill, I've always tried to avoid putting those explicit clues in. That actually creates a gap in what you expect." He wanted to create a sense of weirdness and disorientation in the player. Kaneko discerned where to place the music and sound design in the game after receiving them from Yamaoka, which allowed both of them to improvise.[42]

Release[]

“ The original purpose was for research and development, and we also wanted young game players to be able to play easily, so we made it free. Although the Silent Hill series is extremely popular, there has been a gap of over ten years, so even if you know the name, I don't think there are many people who have actually touched it.
— Motoi Okamoto[5]
 ”

Konami slowed their AAA video game output during the eighth generation of video game consoles. The president of their European division, Masami Saso, announced in September 2019 that high-end console games were "most important" to their ninth generation output and they planned to work on projects with globally-known intellectual properties in the near future.[43] On June 6, 2019, Ito tweeted that he had finished a creature design for an upcoming project that he hoped would not be cancelled.[44][45][46] Konami renewed the Silent Hill trademark for video games and computer games on July 25, 2019, which was set to expire on December 6 of that year.[47] On January 4, 2020, Ito officially announced that he was serving as a core member on an upcoming title, but again expressed concern over a potential cancellation.[48][49]

On January 21, 2020, journalist Ryan Stanford, known online as "Dusk Golem," reported that Konami was developing multiple Silent Hill titles and had been seeking pitches from studios since 2018.[50] On the same day, publication Rely on Horror reported from their sources that a Silent Hill project was in development.[51] Konami responded to the reports on January 27, telling Eurogamer that "We cannot share anything at this point, but we are listening to customer feedback and considering ways to provide the next title."[50]

In January 2021, Konami's internal divisions underwent a major restructure. Their production departments and gaming divisions now reported directly to upper management to allow them to respond more quickly to market demands.[52][53] On February 5, 2021, Yamaoka said in an interview that an upcoming title of his would be announced that summer and that "I’m quite sure it will be the one you've been hoping to hear about".[54] On February 18, it was reported by Video Games Chronicle that a Silent Hill game had been outsourced to a "prominent Japanese developer" and that it was "something of a departure" from previous entries.[55] Konami announced on April 30 that they had several key projects in development, but would not being attending E3 that year due to timing.[56]

Between May and September 2022, screenshots from Playable Concept: Sakura were leaked onto social media platforms by Stanford. The initial images were taken down in compliance with copyright strikes from Konami.[57][58] Stanford alleged that it was intended to be released in Summer 2021, but delayed to October 2021 and subsequently delayed even further.[59] In August 2022, Silent Hill: The Short Message was rated in South Korea.[60][61][62] It was rated in Taiwan the following December,[63] before being removed from the Taiwanese Rating Board's database in April 2023.[64] A report from the Australian Classification Board in November 2023 revealed that the game had also been rated in Australia.[65][66]

Coinciding with marketing for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2, the game was officially announced with a launch trailer during a PlayStation State of Play livestream on January 31, 2024. It was released as a free download on the PlayStation Store the same day,[67][68][69] and was confirmed to have one-year timed exclusivity on the console.[70][71] On February 6, 2024, Konami announced that it had surpassed one million downloads from consumers.[72] It further surpassed two million downloads by February 11,[73] and three million by July 30.[74]

On February 16, 2024, Konami hosted a poll on social media allowing fans to decide the canonical name of the creature that stalks Anita.[75] "Sakura Head" won the poll.[76] Merchandise company Gecco Corp produced a 1/6 scale statue of the creature based on concept sketches provided by Ito, who also painted the artwork for the packaging.[77][78][79] The Official Soundtrack was released in CD format in Japan on May 11 and digitally worldwide on May 13.[80][81]

Reception[]

The Short Message received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[82] Vandal's Juan Rubio considered it an uneven game, criticizing the animations and map design, but wrote that it captured the essence of the series better than the post-Team Silent installments.[83] Screen Rant's Christopher Teuton criticized the "tedious" gameplay and "on-the-nose" dialogue but commended the thematic elements, stating "How well it handles these topics will vary depending on a person's own relationship with them. For what it's worth, as someone who struggled with suicide for the first two decades of my life, I thought Silent Hill: The Short Message ultimately did a good job in both its depiction."[84]

Keengamer's Javier Bonilla compared it favorably to the oldest Silent Hill titles, opining that it was a game destined to be misinterpreted, "The game transmits a sensation that most people will never understand because even if being a considerably 'privileged' teenager is tough enough, society can't understand it and thus cannot feel empathy for them. And that has been paradoxically accurate in both the public reception of the game in real life and the teenage horror story it tells inside of it." However, he was critical of the character models and some of the sound design.[85] Siliconera's Kazuma Hashimoto considered it the closest thing to an authentic Silent Hill game since the Team Silent era and noted the dialogue to be somewhat realistic for the characters' ages. However, she found the voice acting and controls to be unpolished.[86]

Several publications found the themes to be heavy-handed. GameSpew's Richard Seagrave considered the messaging "ham-fisted," but praised the game for capturing the look and feel of the series.[87] The Gaming Bolt's Ravi Sinha complimented the narrative and atmosphere, but criticized the dialogue and thematic execution.[88] Eurogamer's Vikki Blake was disappointed with the chase sequences and perceived lack of subtext, stating that the handling of the themes lacked subtlety. However, she found Anita's story to be impactful and said that it "shows glimmers of the classic horror series at its best."[89] Games Radar +'s Leon Hurley described it as a good omen for the Silent Hill series but an imperfect game, adding that the blatant writing undermined its intent.[90]

In a negative review, GameSpot's Mark Delaney referred to the story as stale and forgettable, explaining that it learned the wrong lessons from Silent Hills: Playable Teaser and relied too heavily on horror game tropes.[91] LevelUp's Luis Sanchez also deemed it unoriginal and unmemorable, and said that the lack of subtlety was uncharacteristic of the series.[92] Game Reactor's Conny Andersson rated it with a 4/10 review score, stating that the story was too repetitive, the gameplay was monotonous, and that it "lacked too much" to feel like a Silent Hill game.[93]

Hardcore Gamer's Kyle LeClair wrote that it had a lot of good story ideas, characters, and world-building, but squandered its potential with weak presentation and derivative gameplay.[94] Metro's David Jenkins believed that it felt like a Silent Hill game, but the voice acting, chase sequences, and lack of subtlety dealt a significant blow, calling it "middling."[95] CGMagazine's Jordan Biordi described it as "an amateurish, borderline offensive game that makes a mockery of the franchise’s once-great legacy." He took umbrage with the storytelling, which he felt was unsubtle and clumsily delivered, and the themes, which he, as someone who had experienced depression, thought were handled without tact or nuance.[96]

Gallery[]

Playable Concept: Sakura[]

Marketing[]

Stills[]

Behind the scenes[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.ign.com/articles/silent-hill-2-remake-world-exclusive-deep-dive-interview
  2. ↑ https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/10/random-former-luigis-mansion-dev-is-now-heading-up-the-silent-hill-franchise
  3. ↑ https://youtu.be/oRvRWBQNrSI?t=1526
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmzi0VLlhbI
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 https://www.famitsu.com/news/202402/09332546.html
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iLPupH_UNU
  7. ↑ https://www.resetera.com/threads/silent-hill-ascension-official-trailer-interactive-series-2023.724482/page-5?post=106694784#post-106694784
  8. ↑ https://www.resetera.com/threads/spoilers-silent-hill-more-pics-leaked-from-sh2r-and-playable-concept-sakura.628339/
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 https://imgur.com/a/TbkSpfv
  10. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/silenthill/comments/14qti3k/new_plot_details_from_silent_hill_the_short/
  11. ↑ https://x.com/AestheticGamer1/status/1789675972301828299
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUQPIf_YPxg
  13. ↑ Silent Hill: The Short Message - "End credits". Hexadrive, Konami Digital Entertainment
  14. ↑ https://x.com/JeremyBlaustein/status/1753226260841664977
  15. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/867814682907648001
  16. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/979051593344606208
  17. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1585330084680200192
  18. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1462284454609633281
  19. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1636212028246466561
  20. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1179228198388862976
  21. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1216647897267097600
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 https://x.com/adsk4/status/1039930319015632897?lang=en
  23. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1163360591123103744
  24. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/867815131555676160
  25. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/903624651116392448
  26. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/867501554554724352?lang=en
  27. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/959357636570374145
  28. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/903266428744118272
  29. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/903521794920816640
  30. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1039876264532762626
  31. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1040344748895068160
  32. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/986642154293313536
  33. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1753422517010882610
  34. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1754934119128301643
  35. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1754641534056833138
  36. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1753405307949392372
  37. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1753928375964762538
  38. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1777014797470712050
  39. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1762232659038879864
  40. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1753070981953048661
  41. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHdtgZJVU8
  42. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZM1C6QcJow
  43. ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mobile-pes-and-esports-the-three-pillars-of-konami
  44. ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1143989087671504896
  45. ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1144187964966100994
  46. ↑ https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1143991198438178816
  47. ↑ https://gamerant.com/silent-hill-trademark-renewal/
  48. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/adsk4/status/1213576172518268931
  49. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/2020/01/05/silent-hill-masahiro-ito-next-game-tease-director
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 https://www.eurogamer.net/report-konami-has-two-new-silent-hill-games-in-development
  51. ↑ https://www.relyonhorror.com/latest-news/rumor-multiple-silent-hill-titles-in-development/
  52. ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/konami-restructuring-internal-departments-has-not-dissolved-games-development-teams
  53. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/no-konami-hasnt-shut-down-its-gaming-division
  54. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3650964/silent-hill-composer-akira-yamaoka-teases-next-project-coming-this-summer-in-now-deleted-interview/
  55. ↑ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/bloober-team-hints-it-could-be-working-on-silent-hill-but-its-not-the-only-one/
  56. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/konami-is-working-on-a-number-of-key-projects-but-wont-attend-e3-2021
  57. ↑ https://kotaku.com/silent-hill-leaked-images-dusk-golem-konami-dmca-takedo-1848922770
  58. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3730431/more-leaked-images-purportedly-from-the-silent-hill-2-remake-and-silent-hill-sakura-appear-online/
  59. ↑ https://www.resetera.com/threads/spoilers-silent-hill-more-pics-leaked-from-sh2r-and-playable-concept-sakura.628339/page-4#post-92723953
  60. ↑ https://www.grac.or.kr/Statistics/Popup/Pop_StatisticsDetails.aspx?6defc9baa54c2501a5ede03a67fc9da5a6c813a6a053e8e5ec12581d53453bb0
  61. ↑ https://www.grac.or.kr/Statistics/Popup/Pop_ReasonInfo.aspx?6defc9baa54c2501a5ede03a67fc9da5a6c813a6a053e8e5ec12581d53453bb0
  62. ↑ https://www.grac.or.kr/Statistics/Popup/Pop_GameHistory.aspx?3075f50b0a2c630a3a7e4d27ab4be372
  63. ↑ https://www.gematsu.com/2022/12/silent-hill-the-short-message-rated-for-ps5-in-taiwan
  64. ↑ https://wccftech.com/silent-hill-the-short-message-was-removed-from-the-taiwanese-rating-boards-database/
  65. ↑ https://insider-gaming.com/major-silent-hill-the-short-message-plot-details-leak-online/
  66. ↑ https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/media-and-news/news/classification-board-and-review-board-annual-report-2022-23-released
  67. ↑ https://blog.playstation.com/2024/01/31/silent-hill-the-short-message-now-available-free-on-ps5-new-silent-hill-2-remake-trailer-revealed/
  68. ↑ https://www.konami.com/games/eu/en/topics/17730/
  69. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/24057447/silent-hill-short-message-sony-state-of-play-january-2024
  70. ↑ https://gamerant.com/silent-hill-2-remake-ps5-timed-exclusive-how-long/
  71. ↑ https://i.imgur.com/CiDmIhe.jpeg (Archive)
  72. ↑ https://x.com/Konami/status/1754919659869241401
  73. ↑ https://x.com/silenthill_jp/status/1756890876272398740
  74. ↑ https://x.com/silenthill_jp/status/1818436411961286705
  75. ↑ https://x.com/silenthill_jp/status/1818436411961286705
  76. ↑ https://x.com/silenthill_jp/status/1760212903255540201
  77. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1778542705062363211
  78. ↑ https://x.com/Gecco_Corp/status/1816536857469157892
  79. ↑ https://x.com/adsk4/status/1813341764318789644
  80. ↑ https://x.com/konamistyle/status/1762659416250470603
  81. ↑ https://x.com/SilentHill/status/1790060893599825938
  82. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/silent-hill-the-short-message/
  83. ↑ https://vandal.elespanol.com/analisis/ps5/silent-hill-the-short-message/160857#p-89
  84. ↑ https://screenrant.com/silent-hill-short-message-review-ps5/
  85. ↑ https://www.keengamer.com/articles/reviews/ps5-reviews/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-the-modern-misunderstood-return-of-the-series/
  86. ↑ https://www.siliconera.com/review-silent-hill-the-short-message-is-a-true-silent-hill-game/
  87. ↑ https://www.gamespew.com/2024/02/silent-hill-the-short-message-review/
  88. ↑ https://gamingbolt.com/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-how-to-save-a-life
  89. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/silent-hill-the-short-message-review
  90. ↑ https://www.gamesradar.com/silent-hill-the-short-message-review/
  91. ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-in-my-restless-dreams-i-flee-that-town/1900-6418173/
  92. ↑ https://www.levelup.com/PlayStation-5/juegos/774745/Silent-Hill-The-Short-Message/review
  93. ↑ https://www.gamereactor.eu/silent-hill-the-short-message-1355553/
  94. ↑ https://hardcoregamer.com/review-silent-hill-the-short-message/
  95. ↑ https://metro.co.uk/2024/02/02/silent-hill-short-message-review-scare-free-20211943/
  96. ↑ https://www.cgmagonline.com/review/game/silent-hill-the-short-message-ps5/
Notes
  1. ↑ This aligns with the status quo established in Silent Hill 4: The Room, which dealt with the fallout of the Order's defeat in Silent Hill 3. However, it is unclear if this was the cause of their near extinction in The Short Message or a separate plot development.
  2. ↑ Although cut from the game, the stone castle myth appeared in the animated series Silent Hill: Ascension as a parable within the Foundation's religion. This institution venerates a deity called the Purifier.

Bibliography[]

  • The plot synopsis of this article incorporates material derived from the "Silent Hill: The Short Message" article from Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. (September 2024)

External Links[]

Silent Hill games v · e · d
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Silent Hill: The Short Message
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