Konami isn’t content to stick with the tried and true formula of naming their games with the title followed by what installment it is in the series, i.e. Silent Hill 8. That just reeks of lazy. The fourth game went by The Room and was followed by Shattered Memories, Origins and Homecoming. Is it just me or did the series start to go downhill ever since they dropped the number?

So it looks like Silent Hill 8 is no more as it’s been revealed in next month’s Elder Scrolls V centric edition of Game Informer that the game will henceforth be known as Silent Hill: Downpour. But there is a pretty damn exiting reason for this, head past the break to find out what it is as well as some brand new intel on the game. Some of you may have already predicted why the game will be called Downpour, and that’s because the game will have a strong focus on weather. It sounds like instead of the quick degradation of the environments that were taken from the Silent Hill film and used in Homecoming have been replaced by a water mechanic that does something similar (like it washes away the real world locale and replaces it with the Otherworld version). I’d like to see this in action but it already sounds like a refreshing change for the series.

Some more details include a Dead Space approach to traveling that will include a subway system to get across the much more expansive town of Silent Hill. And as opposed to Homecoming, Downpour’s combat is less about eviscerating your enemy as it is about incapacitating them and running away. You can also expect some sidequests, crazy water effects, breakable weapons, multiple puzzle difficulties and no weapon inventory.

The most exciting thing for me is the new weather system that could make the world of Silent Hill infinitely more interesting. Whether or not the foggy ambience we’ve grown used to has been replaced completely is yet to be answered. Add all that to the loss of longtime series composer Akira Yamaoka who’s been replaced by the very capable Dexter composer Dan Licht and if anything, Downpour’s looking to be a very different experience than what we’ve seen in any Silent Hill game to date.