Guillermo del Toro Laments Konami’s “Scorched Earth” Approach to Silent Hills

With the cancellation of Silent Hills, and the imminent end of both the Metal Gear Solid series and creator Hideo Kojima’s time at the company, Konami is trashing its most popular franchises and working collaboration over a petty feud and a desire to move into mobile gaming and gambling.

Silent Hills, one of the pawns sacrificed during this upheaval, was greatly anticipated: a reboot of Silent Hill, co-directed by Kojima and horror auteur Guillermo del Toro, and starring The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus. The game’s demo, P.T., downloaded over one million times, was recently pulled from both the PlayStation Store and the online servers, so it cannot be re-downloaded.

During “An Evening with Guillermo del Toro” last month, the director spoke for the first time about the cancellation of Silent Hills, saying that it “[broke] his greasy heart”.

Now, del Toro has given a candid interview to IGN regarding the end Silent Hills, with the director admitting that he was very invested in it, and had developed a close relationship with Kojima during its development.

When IGN’s Daniel Krupa told del Toro that he was devastated by the game’s cancellation, he replied: “We are, too. The collaboration between Kojima and myself, the meetings, and the friendship that was developing was beautiful. We had an agreement on where to go. We had an agreement on how we were going to push the new platforms. We were having a blast.”

“What we wanted to do with the game – and we were very much in agreement on this – was to take the technology and make it as cutting-edge as we could in creating terror in the house. The idea was very, very atmosphere-drenched.

“But what made Silent Hill so great was that you had the atmosphere but then you a pay-off with a very active, very intense series of moments. We wanted to do some stuff that I’m pretty sure – just in case it ever comes back, which honestly I would love for somebody to change their mind and we can do it – but in case it comes back there was some stuff that was very new, and I wouldn’t want to spoil it.

“Norman [Reedus] was super happy, Hideo was super happy, and so was I. I know there’s a petition going on the internet and it’s gathering signatures. I would add my signature to it, and hope that someone pays attention.”

“P.T. was downloaded enormously, which shows that people have a passion [for the series]. Silent Hill] hit me at the right time when I played the first one and the second. It’s a truly great mythology and too great a storytelling arena to let die. It’s too good.”

The manner in which Konami cancelled the game seems to have unsettled del Toro, about which he said, “Honestly that’s what surprised me. It was a sort of scorched earth approach. It was not a gentle and ambiguous cancellation.”

Finally, he admits that he has remained in contact with Kojima and that, if possible, he would be open to returning to Silent Hills should the rights somehow be rescued from Konami, saying, “Hideo and I have been in touch, and he knows he would be the only guy I would follow to the ends of the earth on anything. I think if anything can be rescued, I will be more than happy.”

Thank you IGN for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Forbes.