A Korean ratings board listing has apparently confirmed the existence of a new Silent Hill game of some kind. The rating is for a game titled Silent Hill: The Short Message, although we don't know what platforms it'll be on or even what kind of game it'll be.
What do we know about this new Silent Hill game?
For years, rumors have persisted that Konami is working on a new Silent Hill game, possibly alongside Layers of Fear and The Medium developer Bloober Team. While this new Korean rating doesn't confirm Bloober Team's involvement, it does appear to verify the existence of a game called Silent Hill: The Short Message.
The listing, which is very brief and not particularly informative, lists regular Korean Konami publisher Uniana as The Short Message's publisher, suggesting that it could even be an in-house project developed by Konami itself. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all we've got right now, but the Korean ratings board is pretty reliable when it comes to unannounced games and release dates, so a new Silent Hill announcement could well be imminent.
What could leaks and rumors tell us about the new Silent Hill game?
Back in May, trusted leaker Dusk Golem revealed four images that were purportedly from a Silent Hill project of some kind. That leak refers to characters by the name of Anita and Maya, as well as a story revolving around "SMS messages", which would track with a game called Silent Hill: The Short Message.
The leak was subsequently hit with a DMCA takedown by Konami, suggesting that it's probably real. While we naturally can't confirm whether Silent Hill: A Short Message is indeed the game in Dusk Golem's leaks, the reference to messaging certainly does match up with the new game's title.
As well as those aforementioned Dusk Golem leaks, the same leaker also recently posted an image on a private Discord server showing a typically Silent Hill-esque corridor with an SMS messaging overlay. It seems like said overlay is going to be some kind of messaging system within the game, which, again, would work well with The Short Message as a title.
Dusk Golem subsequently deleted the image from the server, but not before it was grabbed by someone and subsequently found its way around the internet. A ResetEra user by the name of Zolbrod also provided a translation of the exchange in the messages, which you can see here. Given that Dusk Golem has previously said that they have material that could constitute massive story spoilers, we're not going to include the exchange here in case it forms part of those spoilers, but you can see it in the link.
It is worth mentioning that Konami has denied rumors it's working on a new Silent Hill game and has never officially confirmed a new mainline entry (or substantial spinoff) in the series. However, in early 2021, Bloober Team confirmed it was working alongside "a very famous gaming publisher" on an existing horror IP, and many fans immediately assumed this referred to Konami and Silent Hill.
Right now, we don't really have any idea exactly what Silent Hill: The Short Message is, nor what platforms it will appear on. Some on Twitter are speculating that the "CC-NV" designation beside the game refers to a console release, and if this is a new mainline Silent Hill game, it's reasonable to expect it to hit modern consoles and PC. Where Konami is concerned, though, all things are possible. We'll bring you more on this as soon as we get it.
