Keiichi Toyama, the mind behind Silent Hill, has revealed he’s currently working on a new game, but it likely won’t be a follow-up to last year’s Slitterhead. This update is particularly interesting because it reveals Toyama’s direction following Slitterhead, which didn’t quite reach the broad audience he had hoped for.
In a recent chat with Famitsu, Toyama shared that some players were confused about Slitterhead’s identity, and weren’t sure if it was horror or action, which might have affected its reach. Despite that, he’s proud of what his young team at Bokeh Game Studio accomplished. Sales weren’t the only goal, and he feels satisfied with the result.
He also mentioned it’s not the right moment to think about a sequel. But don’t count out a return to Slitterhead sometime down the line, the door isn’t closed. For now, the whole studio is focused on a fresh project, putting plans for multiple smaller games on hold.
Toyama left PlayStation in 2020 to start Bokeh Game Studio with Junya Okura (lead designer on Gravity Rush) and Kazunobu Sato (lead designer of Puppeteer). It seems going independent allowed Toyama to follow his passion for original games without the pressure of big budgets.
Honestly, I’m kinda curious what this new project will be like. Will it lean more into horror or something completely different? Toyama’s history shows he’s not afraid to surprise us. What do you think his next move will be?