GoKawiilContinuing a strong resurgence for the Silent Hill series, Konami and Screen Burn Interactive are bringing another different take on the dark horror series. The latter is best known for their narrative-led titles Stories Untold and Observation and they decided to set their horror scenario in the early '90s, on a remote isle off the coast of northern Scotland. Anyone who's been to the rugged beauty of Scotland can attest: it's an area that can make its own thick, mysterious fog. Ideal, then, for a Silent Hill chapter.
Silent Hill Townfall is set in St. Amelia, a fictional town made from photos, sketches and maps of actual Scottish villages. The level of detail is meticulous, with '90s-era phone boxes (not the cliched red ones you might think of), cars I haven't seen since my childhood and even kitchen interiors that scream nostalgia to me.
During a hands-off demo at Summer Game Fest 2026, we were told that being careful and cautious "is paramount to survival". The demo starts with protagonist Simon Ordell sitting in the middle of the fog with a intravenous cannula and hospital wrist ID band still attached. In a new take on the radios of the first few Silent Hill games, he's equipped with a portable TV and not much else.
Screen Burn Interactive has gone to great pains to replicate a true CRT display. While everything in-game is running on Unreal Engine 5, the team ran the visuals of the feed and integrated actual signal static for the TV's readout. According to director Jon Mckellan, what you're seeing on the CRTV is analog. The team ran footage and stills through an old broadcast monitor and older broadcast tech, and are even able to amp up the static at particularly dramatic moments.
As the game continues, a mysterious woman calls out ot Simon on the TV, asking him to "come back". You'll be able to pull out the handheld CRTV at any time; tuning into signals will 'lock' them into the device, making them easier to flit between. Signals will deliver narrative beats or teasers, while at other times, they can offer clues to the puzzles spread across the island. We saw the same repeated video clips that helped Simon navigate to what he thinks the woman on TV is hiding.
The CRTV is useful against the contorted monstrosities roaming the island, too. You can tune the TV to give an X-ray outline of threats, through walls and objects. The developers have also obsessed over the peeking mechanic. Despite it being a major departure for the Silent Hill game series, it's taken me until now to mention that Townfall is seemingly played entirely in first-person. Unsurprisingly, yes, it adds to the tension and unease. To avoid detection, the player can carefully control how they peer out from cover, combining the right bumper with the analog sticks to blend where Simon is looking and how far he's leaning.
The team at Screen Burn detailed how they've tried stripping away video game notifications and conventions that could break the atmosphere, especially in this new first-person perspective.
Simon rarely vocalizes his inner thoughts, but they're represented on screen. It's an obvious move away from awkward video game monologues — take note, Lara, Leon and the rest of you. To avoid those 'Objective updated' pop-ups, the team says it's tried to reach for "immersive solutions" like the foldable paper map, which Simon will occasionally add notes to in red pen.
During the demo, Simon discovers that the power system in the mysterious woman's home is down. After picking up a flashlight (and managing to find batteries for it in only minutes — pscch talk about immersion-breaking), Simon discovers that he'll have to pick up a pre-charged card from the local store. Map updated, he makes his way over to grab the card. McKellan says Townfall will feature a combination of the bizarre, high-concept puzzles that Silent Hill is known for and these more grounded obstacles.
Screen Burn Interactive
... continue reading