Silent Hill Ascension was announced in 2022 as a “massively interactive live event,” featuring art and sound design from JJ Abram’s Bad Robot Games studio. We didn’t have a whole lot to go on at the time except that it looked to be a sort of “Twitch Plays” take on Silent Hill: The announcement said Ascension will “immerse participants around the globe in the psychological horror at the heart of Silent Hill in an unparalleled way—by putting an all-new Silent Hill story and characters into the hands of the audience as the narrative unfolds, live on multiple platforms.”
Today we have a slightly clearer idea of what’s in store courtesy of developer Genvid Entertainment, which described the series as following multiple people from around the world as they’re “tormented by new and terrifying Silent Hill monsters.” The hook, of course, is the interactive element: Genvid’s “real-time interactive system” will enable viewers “to help characters survive and change those characters’ fates.”
“We are pleased to tell a new interactive story, in never-before-explored locations, alongside new characters that will be introduced to fans of the Silent Hill universe,” Konami producer Motoi Okamoto said. “It is you who will decide the fate of multiple main characters, which will unfold simultaneously around the globe.”
There’s no insight into how any of this will work, but I would expect it to be something similar to Genvid’s previous live event, The Walking Dead: Last Mile, which appeared exclusively on Facebook in 2022. In that, viewers played mini-games to earn “Influence Points,” which they could then bid on various in-game decisions. A full recap of that game, including a rundown of everyone who died because of everyone’s crappy decisions, was posted in November.
The new Silent Hill Ascension trailer has the look of a Silent Hill game, but I’m not sure how the actual experience will hold up in a shared environment. Fear emerges from isolation, not betting on whether some sad dad should be sliced up by a Dollar Store Freddie Krueger. Which isn’t to say that wouldn’t be fun, and as someone who enthusiastically cheers for pro wrestling heels I think I could have a very good time making life as miserable as possible for as many as possible—in the game, of course. But does that make for a “real” Silent Hill experience? I suspect not.
Platforms and a release date for Silent Hill Ascension have not yet been announced, but it’s expected to go live later this year.