The hills have voices: the new Silent Hill has become a hit among Russians

Over 1 million copies were sold worldwide in three days after the release of Silent Hill. In Russia, fans bought out the first batch, so retailers made additional shipments of discs to stores. Interest in the novelty is due not only to the quality of the game itself, but also to the fact that there have been no full-fledged fresh projects in the main series since 2012, when the disastrous Silent Hill: Downpour was released. The new part of the psychological horror has already outstripped Downpour in all respects.

What is Silent Hill?

Silent Hill 2 is a new installment in the cult series of survival horror games developed by NeoBards Entertainment studio. It was released worldwide on September 25, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S platforms, received positive critical reviews, and became the fastest-selling game in the entire franchise, selling over one million copies in three days after release. The PS5 version was provided to Izvestia by the Russian distributor of video games and consoles, Achivka.

The game takes place in Japan in the 1960s, in the fictional city of Ebisugaoka. The main character is schoolgirl Hinako Shimizu, who experiences the same thing as the heroes of all the previous Silent Hills: internal conflict and isolation from the outside world. And things don't look good in her family: her mother is submissive to her despotic father, and her older sister left home after marriage. To cope with loneliness, Hinako spends time with friends.

Frightening events are starting to happen in the city. There is an attack by a mysterious creature dressed in a traditional shiromuku wedding outfit. Scarlet spider flowers bloom all around. Hinako loses consciousness and finds herself in a mysterious Dark Sanctuary, where she meets a mysterious Fox Mask, a creature that offers her a way out of pain through rituals, renunciation of the past and the destruction of ties with friends.

The narrative is based, as in previous games in the series, on the alternation of two worlds — the real and the otherworldly. Hinako returns to Ebisugaoka, from where she tries to save her friends, but insurmountable obstacles arise on the way. In dreams and hallucinations, Hinako replaces her own hand with a fox's, gets branded and puts on a mask hiding her face. The Fox Mask convinces her to kill her friends, but the spirit living in the Hinako doll warns her that this creature cannot be trusted.

As events unfold, the heroine's personality splits: one part, the human part, strives to keep her sanity and escape, the other, the fox part, longs for power and subordination. The gamer's choice determines the ending of the game. By the way, there are five of them here: from the dramatic to the very strange.

Why the game became successful

According to the head of the department of "Game development and gaming community" of the company "M.Video" by Sergey Mezin, they saw interest in the return of the Silent Hill franchise last year, when a successful remake of the second part was released. Some young video game fans are convinced that movies have become the foundation for creating games, and not the other way around, he noted.

The new game arrived in a number of online stores last week simultaneously with the rest of the world. Despite the specific genre, the novelty is in steady demand. Some retailers have even made an additional supply of discs.

The creation of Silent Hill marked the return of the series to its Japanese roots. Konami publishing originally set the task of making a game based entirely on the aesthetics of Japanese horror. The famous screenwriter Ryukishi07, the author of the visual novels Higurashi When They Cry, was invited to do this. He concentrated on creating a strong female character who not only suffers, but also makes active decisions.

The artist Kera, who worked on the visual style, moved away from the classic "rusty" aesthetics of Silent Hill towards more lively but disturbing images. The design of the monsters has absorbed Japanese folklore and symbolism, from wedding rituals to the fox fauna as the embodiment of cunning and transformation. Visually, the city of Ebisugaoka is inspired by the real Kanayama district in the city of Gero (Gifu Prefecture), and the developers personally traveled there to convey the authenticity of the area.

The sound design, as in the previous installments of the series, has become an important part of the atmosphere. Composer Akira Yamaoka, in tandem with Kensuke Inage, Dai and Xaki, created a soundtrack featuring a combination of ambient, Japanese court music and disturbing sound textures recorded in real locations. Yamaoka sought to preserve the spirit of the series, while Inage was responsible for the music of the Dark World, introducing elements of folklore and horror into it.

The new Silent Hill inn has become a truly bold and innovative product in many ways. She not only expanded the boundaries of the genre, but also demonstrated how the cultural context and the author's vision can give a cult series a new breath. Experts interviewed by Izvestia attribute its success not only to the fact that the previous major release in the series was back in 2012: Silent Hill: Downpour. Additional excitement around the novelty may be associated with the imminent release of a new film in the cinematic universe: "Return to Silent Hill." Its premiere is scheduled for January 2026, and in Russia the picture will be released simultaneously with the whole world.