Silent Hill: Townfall incorporates multiple elements that draw players into its tense, unnerving world. In this post, we would like to present what developer Screen Burn focused on to realize this level of immersion, as well as how PS5 features are integrated in the game’s experience.
I would first like to give a brief introduction of the game for players who are learning about Silent Hill: Townfall for the first time. This is the first full-length game in the series that is presented in first-person, and this allows players to be truly immersed in the world that the game has to offer. The limited scope of vision in this perspective turns sound into a crucial element, and 3D audio convincingly recreates nearby sounds.
Simon, the protagonist, drifts through the cold seas and shores up on St. Amelia, wandering through the empty town with nothing but the objective to “put things right” to guide him. Replacing the iconic radio is a device called the CRTV, which players will hold in one hand to scout roaming monsters, search for clues to puzzles, and explore the island.
Screen Burn are masters of narrative-driven puzzles, and players will get to experience the story not just through cinematics alone, but also through various puzzles in a fragmented fashion. Scattered secrets and pieces of the story come together to gradually reveal a gruesome past. As a very socially conscious story in the series, the game will present a deep narrative between the individual and the corporate as well as the individual and society at large.
Building immersive horror
Generally, Silent Hill: Townfall’s style of horror is less about jump scares and gore, and more about tension and escalating uncertainty. Building that tension, sustaining it, and releasing just at the right time is one of the secret ingredients in all good horror. When that horror is interactive, and the player is free to explore at their own pace, you need complex visual, auditory and tactile systems to understand the current experience, deliver crafted moments, and react to the player’s actions.
Sound from all around
The sound design, background audio, and musical score all work together in harmony to create a truly nightmarish soundscape that conjures images and scenarios in the player’s head, even when they can’t see anything unusual in front of them.
Working with Audio Director Byron Bullock, and composer Pilotpriest, the team have gone to great efforts to ensure that the sound of the environments and its horrific inhabitants lift the believability when navigating the town, all delivered through complex and finely-tuned custom 3D audio systems, that truly give you a sense of depth and space.
A believable world to explore
St. Amelia is densely layered with true-to-the-era details, all drawn from our developers’ own experiences.
The town isn’t as dilapidated as many fans of the series will be used to. Instead, St. Amelia feels like a place that has recently gone through its own trauma, rather than left to rot after countless years of abandonment. Its world is recently lived in, and it’s deeply important to the story that players get a sense of the community that inhabits the island, and ultimately care about the issues it has faced, and what it stands to lose. That level of detail and storytelling in the environment pulls players in, and doesn’t let go.
Ray-traced lighting helps to not only paint these scenes in beautifully soft ambient lighting from the foggy world outside, but it also means the environments react believably with your flashlight, flashing alarm lights, or the sudden shocking change from the blue-grey fog to the bright red Otherworld, layered in pipes, alarm lights, broken buildings and stained walls.
Horror in your hands
The last piece of the puzzle is in your hands as you play. Using the array of features on the DualSense Controller, we give every swing of a weapon, pull of a trigger, or thud of a heavy footstep from a nearby enemy a tactile sensation via Haptic Feedback. You can feel the weight of the trigger of each weapon uniquely via Adaptive Triggers. You can even use the Motion Controls of the controller to fine tune the CRTV, or give aiming your firearms an intuitive feel, all customizable in the game’s menu options.
Ultimately, all of the lengths we go to are designed to have you forget you are playing a game, and instead immerse you in the moment, scared to move on, but compelled to continue. That rich, atmospheric experience complements the desire to know what truly unfolded in St. Amelia, and what Simon, Zoe and Richard have to do with it all…
Silent Hill: Townfall is a brand-new, first-person Silent Hill brought to life by the PS5. We hope players will find their minds flooded with all sorts of thoughts and emotions that come from being a member of the complex modern-day society. Please experience for yourself the deep contemplations and narrative journey that Simon embarks upon. The game launches on September 24, but we will continue to share updates on Silent Hill: Townfall, so stay tuned.
