I am a big Silent Hill fan. If you were to write a slash fiction story where Pyramid Head and I share a night of otherworldly passion after he looks at me with his come hither helmet grate, beckoning me to polish his great sword, I would be okay with that. Too much time has passed since I last visited that foggy resort town and its seedy, red-tinted underbelly. This needs to change, because I’m filled with loneliness right now and only this series can remedy it.

Basically, there’s a tetrahedron-shaped hole in my heart, Konami, and I’d very much like to say that it’s gone now.

But before this can happen, we need to set some ground rules. So after the break I’ve compiled a list of six super easy things I’d like to see (or not see) in the next game so my reunion with Silent Hill and its disturbed denizens can be a happy one.



No More Unsolicited Pyramid Head Cameos

After reading all of the above, this may come off a little strange. I love me some Pyramid Head, but his myriad appearances have become a pet peeve of mine.

For the unfamiliar, Pyramid Head was introduced in Silent Hill 2 as a manifestation of James’s need to be punished for Mary’s death. He should have been a one-off, but his instant popularity led to appearances in a half dozen other games. I understand the desire to wring every last drop of awesome that oozes out of this poor guy, but it needs to stop.

Nemesis didn’t return after Resident Evil 3 — this doesn’t count his appearances in games like Operation Raccoon City which take place during that same time-frame — and Umbrella easily could have mass-produced him, maybe even stowed a few away to whip out in Resident Evil 7. Capcom had a solid reason to bring him back as often as they liked. Granted, they abused the hell out of Albert Wesker until he ate a rocket in Resident Evil 5, but for every time we were forced to gaze upon his familiar face and wonder whether it’s naturally hairless or just an unfortunate side-effect of all those laboratory engineered viruses he keeps ingesting, a new big baddie was introduced.

All I’m saying is don’t be afraid to introduce a new badass.

Continue Vatra’s Good Work

Sadly, Vatra Games is no more. A few glaring issues aside, I think the developer did a fantastic job in taking the series in an exciting new direction. Downpour’s more open and dynamic world should’ve only been the beginning, because it can be pushed much further. Downpour gave players the freedom to explore the areas we wanted to explore, to scour every inch of that abandoned resort town for a new side quest or a better weapon. The unpredictability that stemmed from Downpour’s sudden rainstorms, which made the enemies more agitated and prone to violence, added a lot to the combat as well.

If Kojima has a role in the development of the next game, I can see these features (especially the open world format) being expanded upon. If he isn’t, I still hope this is a path Konami continues to pursue.