If you're devastated Silent Hills isn’t happening, you’re not alone - so is Guillermo Del Toro.

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“ It’s a truly great mythology and too great a storytelling arena to let die."

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Last month Konami officially cancelled the much-anticipated collaboration between the Hollywood director and Hideo Kojima. While a lot of the details remain obscured, it's a consequence of the undisclosed issues surrounding Kojima and his long-term publisher.While speaking to Del Toro about his next movie, Crimson Peak, I told him how devastated I was by Silent Hills sudden cancellation. "We are, too," he replied. "The collaboration between Kojima and myself, the meetings, and the friendship that was developing was beautiful. We had an agreement on where to go. We had an agreement on how we were going to push the new platforms. We were having a blast.”Konami has stated it's "committed to new Silent Hill titles”, but what would Del Toro and Kojima’s entry into the long-running franchise have been like? What did they want to achieve?Here’s what Del Toro told IGN:“What we wanted to do with the game – and we were very much in agreement on this – was to take the technology and make it as cutting-edge as we could in creating terror in the house. The idea was very, very atmosphere-drenched.“But what made Silent Hill so great was that you had the atmosphere but then you a pay-off with a very active, very intense series of moments. We wanted to do some stuff that I’m pretty sure – just in case it ever comes back, which honestly I would love for somebody to change their mind and we can do it – but in case it comes back there was some stuff that was very new, and I wouldn’t want to spoil it.“Norman [Reedus, the Walking Dead actor who was attached to play the lead role] was super happy, Hideo was super happy, and so was I. I know there’s a petition going on the internet and it’s gathering signatures. I would add my signature to it, and hope that someone pays attention.”It’s all the more galling for Del Toro since P.T. – the interactive teaser for Silent Hills released at Gamescom last year – proved to be such a hit.“P.T. was downloaded enormously, which shows that people have a passion [for the series].” And it's one in which Del Toro shares. “[Silent Hill] hit me at the right time when I played the first one and the second. It’s a truly great mythology and too great a storytelling arena to let die. It’s too good.” cancelled in 2012 following the demise of its publisher THQ – he’s unsure if he’ll ever make a game.“Well, you know, I’ve tried twice and I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to the form. In one instance, the company went down, and in the second, the completely unexpected happened, which was Kojima and Konami separating. It’s kind of left me reeling.”Del Toro told me one of the reasons he’s been so thrown by the experience was the abrupt nature of the cancellation and Konami’s treatment of P.T., quickly removing it from the PlayStation Store and even preventing people from re-downloading the experience if they already had it in their library. “Honestly that’s what surprised me. It was a sort of scorched earth approach. It was not a gentle and ambiguous cancellation."Speaking to Del Toro, it's clear he's disappointed by how quickly the project unravelled, that he'll never be able to work with Kojima, or play with the Silent Hill mythology, but what's more detectable in his words and tone of voice is just how much enthusiasm he still possesses for the project that will never be.“Hideo and I have been in touch," he told me at the end of our interview. "And he knows he would be the only guy I would follow to the ends of the earth on anything. I think if anything can be rescued, I will be more than happy.”

Daniel is IGN's Games Editor over in London. He writes about games, movies, and talks about Superheroes and Star Wars. If you like any of those things, follow him on Twitter