Townfall is not the first time the series has strayed away from the original game’s location in America, 2025’s Silent Hill f was set in 1960s rural Japan.
This sparked a conversation about whether a game can be part of the series yet not be set in or around the fictional eponymous town.
The series’ lead producer at Konami Motoi Okamoto told me the team were looking at various areas to potentially set the next games, from “other parts of Europe” to “Latin America”.
Games journalist and self-proclaimed “Silent Hillian” Vikki Blake told me the latest game exceeded her expectations, though she’s still not convinced these newer games truly fit under the Silent Hill name.
After my playthrough, I can see why Konami are pushing ahead with the idea to let other studios breathe new life into the franchise and take it to different destinations.
Townfall is a brutal, grim journey – uneven in parts, but clever – and full of immense tension and inventive game design, the kind that is needed to push a nearly 30-year-old franchise forward.
Okamoto has also expressed his desire, external to release a Silent Hill game every year – whether that be a remaster, remake, or entirely new material.
If more new studios can keep the games feeling as fresh as this, we may eventually become like one of the series’ many troubled protagonists – forgetting why we ever needed the titular town at all.