It's unfortunate that 2008's uninspiring Homecoming is the only Silent Hill game available digitally on PC—particularly when Team Silent's offerings between 1999-2004 are considered some of the best examples of the survival horror genre. It's more unfortunate still that despite almost being revived by Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima, 2012's disappointing Downpour may be the last we ever see of the series' renowned psychological terror.
Speaking at Gamescom, however, series composer and integral member of Team Silent Akira Yamaoka said he would "love" to see the series revived, and that while he's currently very happy working alongside Suda 51 at Grasshopper Manufacture, he's "not against" a Team Silent reformation.
Our conversation comes off the back of Yamaoka's recently-announcement involvement with Wargaming's World of Tanks, however the esteemed composer is more than happy to discuss some of his favourite earlier work on Silent Hill.
"I can't really say if there will be another Silent Hill or not," he tells me via a translator. "First of all, I'm happy that fans of the series around the world are still asking us questions about it. Personally, of course, I'd love this to happen, but I obviously couldn't say for sure [either way]."
I press Yamaoka about Team Silent, and suggest that by expressing his desire to see the series recapture its past, it would appear he's open to getting the band back together.
"I'm not against it," he affirms. "But it's hard to say because everyone has evolved, and maybe the mindset has changed as well. Also the technology and the games industry as a whole has changed as well. Even if we got back together I'm not even sure we could do something great so it's very hard to say at the moment."
I then ask Yamaoka for his thoughts on Kojima's ill-fated Silent Hills. Fans of the series, myself included, were left wanting following the Metal Gear creator's spat with Konami and while Death Stranding does look interesting, Silent Hills looked oh-so-promising.
"It's hard to say, everyone was really sad about that, so I kind of followed the mood of everybody else," says Yamaoka, while laughing loudly. "Since everyone was saying: it's a shame, it's too bad—maybe it is a shame and it is too bad."
Look out for our full interview with Akira Yamaoka later this week—wherein he discusses Team Silent, working with Grasshopper and Suda 51, and his most recent involvement with Wargaming on World of Tanks.
