There’s a free, new Silent Hill game, and you can play it now

No, it’s not Ascension, thankfully

Konami unveiled a new Silent Hill game at the January 2024 State of Play, and you can play it now on PS5. Konami called the new Silent Hill game, officially named Silent Hill: The Short Message, a “contemporary vision” of what the classic horror game franchise can be, and it sounds like they mean that for themselves as much as they do for consumers.

“This game started as something like an experimental project – an opportunity for us to try out different things, see what worked and what didn’t, and grow and polish our horror game expertise,” producer Motoi Okamoto said in a PlayStation Blog post. 

“We also had a lot of people who were relatively new in their career but still loved Silent Hill, and who really wanted to be involved in making a horror game, so we used this as a way for our team to build hands-on experience, too.”

Unlike with Silent Hill Ascension, which quickly showed its true colors as a gigantic mess, Konami made The Message and worked in the series’ signature blend of psychological horror with a small glimmer of hope. Okamoto said the main theme centers on struggles that young people face living their lives online, where even the slightest setback or problem can send them spiraling into despair.

“These are young people who are finding themselves up against a whole tide of serious issues,” Okamoto said. “We chose to set our story around young characters like this. Characters who are genuinely suffering and lost, where even one more minor setback can wind up pushing them even deeper into a spiral of anguish. But, in the same way, even the smallest kindness can be the thing that pulls them back from the brink. And that’s what also makes this game a message, from us to everyone living with that ever-present conflict and pressure.”