P.T. Hack Confirms We're Always Being Followed
It's been over five years since P.T. dropped unexpectedly onto the PlayStation Store, and we're still discovering new things about the now-delisted Kojima Productions title. Like Lisa, the dead woman who routinely makes her presence known throughout the Playable Teaser. Did you know she's always following you, even when you can't see her? She is.
Twitter user Lance McDonald got into the guts of P.T. and found a way to freeze the camera in place, enabling the player character to move forward without the camera coming along. What he found was, well, troubling: Lisa is pretty much behind you for the entirety of the game, essentially becoming one with the player "as soon as you get the flashlight," according to McDonald.
And to prove it, McDonald provided a clip in which he locks the camera and continues down the hallway. After a few seconds, Lisa becomes visible, twitching violently while remaining just behind the player. The player model obviously can't be seen (the player is just a camera, as P.T. is a first-person game) but you can see the flashlight the game provides being pointed. And it gives you a sense of how closely Lisa is trailing you, and how attached she regardless of whether you're moving front to back or side to side.
She actually attaches to the player's back as soon as you get the flashlight, here, I demonstrate how you can see some strange shadows. I then lock the camera in place and walk forward, showing how she's always there... following you... pic.twitter.com/zarhwjNmZz
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) September 9, 2019
Who knew, right? This revelation somehow makes P.T. even creepier than it already was, and we weren't sure that was possible. And it also explains quite a bit about how P.T. is pulling off some of its tricks, like creating sounds that feel close enough to be right behind you (because they are) and casting shadows that make it seem as though Lisa is right over your shoulder (because she is).
And, in all honesty, it's a little strange. It seems as though Kojima and his team could've found a way to generate weird sounds and shadows without actually having to glue Lisa permanently to the player's back. But it's entirely possible Kojima knew that someone would make this discovery someday. Either that, or Kojima was convinced that the most authentic-feeling way to create a sense of being followed was to actually have Lisa's character model trail the player, just out of sight.
Over five years later, we're still peeling back the layers of P.T. and learning things about the game we didn't know before. That's really cool.
Lisa following the player is just one of the many secrets hidden within P.T. The game that itself was a secret project developed by Kojima Productions, which posed as an indie outfit named 7780s Studios in order to keep the origins of the Playable Teaser hidden. And we can only imagine what the full Silent Hills might have looked like had it ever seen the light of day. Kojima co-creating a horror title with Guillermo del Toro, starring Norman Reedus? That would be an incredible game in the present day, so you can imagine how it looked when it was teased back in 2014.
On one hand, we're disappointed that the game never made it to the finish line (thanks to all of that Konami and Kojima beef). On the other hand, though, maybe it's for the best. Learning that Lisa is so close to us in P.T. makes us feel a bit uneasy about picking up the game again.
At the least, we'll have Death Stranding to give us a taste of what could have been. That title — a PlayStation 4 exclusive — reunites Hideo Kojima with Norman Reedus and Guillermo del Toro, and also brings Mads Mikkelsen and a slew of other actors and actresses into the fold. And while it's not horror per se, it definitely has some creepy otherworldly stuff happening with floating ethereal beings and babies in tanks. Perhaps the Norman Reedus character Sam simply hikes from one jump scare to the next.
Perhaps Lisa will be following him around in Death Stranding, as well.
Should we learn any other secrets about P.T., we'll be sure to issue an update. In the meantime, you might want to familiarize yourself with the newest project coming from Kojima Productions. Death Stranding comes to the PlayStation 4 on Nov. 8, 2019, and odds are, we'll be learning a lot more about that title in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned.