Resident Evil and Silent Hill Surge as Townfall Launches on PS5 and PC

Townfall is developed by Screen Burn, the indie studio behind Observation. Players control a man named Simon who arrives in a small Scottish town that appears completely deserted and is covered in the series' signature fog. Creatures described by The Verge as screeching and ripped out of Hellraiser stalk the streets, and players must uncover what happened while trying to avoid being killed by mutated monsters.

The game has much in common with walking simulators such as Firewatch and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, The Verge said. Players explore abandoned homes and medical centers, read files and listen to phone messages that reveal the town's horrific history. Townfall also adds more traditional horror elements, including light combat and a heavy emphasis on stealth. Players often must sneak past unpredictable monsters and can hide in closets and sheds, with a handheld device showing where enemies are. The Verge compared the stealth to Alien: Isolation and described the experience as incredibly scary and still intrinsically like a Silent Hill game despite changes in gameplay and setting.

Konami's revival of Silent Hill followed a long dormancy after the 2015 cancellation of Silent Hills, a reboot led by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro. In 2022, Konami announced a series of projects signaling the franchise's return. The Silent Hill 2 remake introduced arguably the series' most beloved title to a new audience, while Silent Hill F offered a new setting and more RPG-focused gameplay. Not every project has succeeded: a film released earlier this year drew little fanfare, and The Verge wrote that the less said about the interactive TV series Ascension the better. In games, however, Silent Hill has been on a roll.

Resident Evil has followed a steady buildup that began with Resident Evil 7 nearly a decade ago, according to The Verge. The first-person perspective made its scares feel more visceral and jolted the series back to life. Since then, Capcom has alternated between remakes of classics such as Resident Evil 4 and new takes on the formula, including the vampire-tinged Village. This year's Requiem was a bold attempt to merge two types of Resident Evil games, mixing action with first-person terror.

The franchise's adaptation record has been uneven, including a largely forgettable live-action Netflix series. That may be changing. Last week, a film reboot titled simply Resident Evil premiered, directed by Weapons director Zach Cregger. It centers on a hapless delivery driver rather than iconic characters such as Leon or Claire, using him as a stand-in for a player who is terrible at survival horror games. The Verge said the result was equal parts hilarious and horrifying, with scenes including gore dripping from ceilings and a particularly terrifying long-limbed baby. The film also had the best box office opening in franchise history.

The returns of Resident Evil and Silent Hill come during an active period for horror, with breakout box office successes and a promising wave of streaming series. The Verge noted that the genre is having a moment, and that both franchises, despite being decades old, are hitting a fresh stride at the right time.