It wasn’t too long ago that the game industry was practically set on fire by the release of the demo of Hideo Kojima’s then-upcoming Silent Hills title, Silent Hills: Playable Trailer. The title, generally referred to as PT, never became a full game after being cancelled by Konami.
While the cancellation certainly managed to stop fans from ever getting their hands on the full game, it only galvanized public support of the game itself, as well as the franchise as a whole and anything else Kojima would ever have his hands in. Still to this day, fans upload theories of the game and videos of playthroughs, continuously stoking the constant hype train around the “dead” game.
Recently, Kojima confirmed that he’s working on his next title, having now released the long-awaited Death Stranding. Because of this, everyone is expecting to see the next new horror title out of the famous developer, with a strong eye looking to see if it could be PT’s spiritual successor.
Those rumors have been emboldened today with the comments of Masahiro Ito, a designer that worked with Kojima on the Silent Hill series long ago. Ito posted some vague but pointedly-blunt tweets that have those in the know buzzing.
I'm working on a title as a core member. I hope the title won't be cancelled.
— 伊藤暢達/Masahiro Ito (@adsk4) January 4, 2020
Given that PT’s cancellation is one of the most well-known events in gaming of the last decade, one doesn’t have to make too great of a leap of logic to wonder if Ito could be referring to PT with his cryptic tweet. It could very well be that after putting so much work into PT only to have it cancelled, he’s simply poking fun at himself and the events of the past.
However, given the ties of both PT’s cancellation and Ito himself to Kojima, many fans are taking the “joke” as a subtle confession of collaboration with everyone’s favorite horror guru.
Death Stranding released late last year to a bit of controversy. Much of the game felt unfinished with constant game-breaking bugs and glitches occurring frequently to break up the monotony of what many considered to be boring gameplay. The backlash even brought Kojima himself to say that those in the West wouldn’t like the game because it wasn’t a first-person shooter, seeming to claim that his game was above their tastes.
Regardless of Death Stranding’s reputation, it could be very likely that we see Kojima’s next horror title soon, and Ito’s hands could be working on it as well.
