Silent Hill: Ascension Is From The Minds Of Dead By Daylight And J.J. Abrams
On Oct. 19, Konami held a live event called "Silent Hill Transmission." The studio announced several new projects during this event, most notably the long-rumored "Silent Hill 2" remake. While a return to the franchise's most popular entry is certainly reason for fans to celebrate, Konami has also brought to light several new "Silent Hill" projects, such as a new game from Annapurna and Observation, that illustrate the studio's commitment to bringing the franchise back in a big way.
Out of all of these announcements, perhaps the most mysterious is a collaboration between J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Games, a company that specializes in "Massively Interactive Live Events" called Genvid, and the creators of "Dead by Daylight," Behavior Interactive. This new project is called "Silent Hill: Ascension."
However, "Ascension" isn't a traditional video game or a movie, but rather something the studios are referring to as a "live experience." During the event, Genvid CEO Jacob Navok introduced "Ascension," stating, "I'm going to show you a new kind of 'Silent Hill,' an experience that you haven't seen up until now." What that means exactly is anyone's guess this early on. Navok and the representatives from Konami seemed to be deliberately vague about what kind of experience this will be, but there were a few indications of what this new "Silent Hill" property might have in store.
A live event where survival is on the line
Those who want to start attempting to deconstruct what "Silent Hill: Ascension" is should begin by examining the trailer. It opens with the word "Live'" flashing across the screen. Viewers then see a series of what look like instant messages being sent back and forth. When the final message tells the others to run, the screen cuts to a tall humanoid monster with a mutated head and armored shoulders, carrying what appears to be a staff with a sword blade as its base. This seems to indicate that the objective in "Ascension" will be to survive this monster, or other threats, by communicating with each other via text messages. The trailer closes by stating that "Ascension" will go live some time in 2023 and revealing the URL for ascension.com, where fans can sign up for updates.
Navok explained that the game is inspired by the feeling one would get from watching livestreams of horror games or going to see frightening movie with friends. "'Ascension' takes that feeling of communal fear to a massive scale," said Navok. "It's a live, real-time interactive series where millions of fans will watch together as the chilling story unfolds. You can change its outcomes and even be a part of scenes." He then explained that decisions made in the game are final and will shape the canon of the "Silent Hill" story forever.