Hideo Kojima
The way Silent Hills was announced was very much Kojima. This was the same guy who threw us all for a loop with The Phantom Pain, which also looked like a horror game until the Internet found out it was Metal Gear Solid V. His latest bout of trickery used similar tactics — a fake trailer for a fake game with a fake studio behind it — but it may also be the most clever and effective unveiling of a game I’ve seen so far. Bravo.
As for what Kojima brings to this, it’d really be easier to talk about what he doesn’t offer. I noticed some complaints regarding his, err… over-complicated storytelling, but if this demo is any indication of the direction the game is taking, the story will be nice and dark. I won’t ruin it if you haven’t played the demo yet, but it’s definitely intriguing.
Whether or not you enjoy his writing, there’s no denying that Kojima’s ridiculously adept at creating believable worlds that feel real, are visually interesting (eye protein, as Del Toro would say) and fun to explore. He’s recently taken Metal Gear Solid in a more open-world direction, and after Vatra’s work with Downpour I imagine he’ll want to build on that foundation. And because this game will be powered by the new-and-improved FOX Engine, that means lots of pretty stuff to look at and monsters that squish realistically when you bludgeon them to death with a crowbar.
Oh, and perhaps most importantly, with Kojima behind Silent Hills, that means it will get the promotion it deserves. Kojima doesn’t go “small”, he leaps over “big” in an effort to sprint toward “gargantuan”. Monolithic, even. I assure you, this game will get a substantial push.
