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Silent Hill f’s Writers Faced a 200-Book Annual Reading Goal

Producer Motoi Okamoto said Konami's team studied writers' work closely before hiring them, including Ryukishi07 for his familiarity with the series.

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Silent Hill f producer Motoi Okamoto said the game’s scenario writers were pushed to read between 100 and 200 books every year. The goal was to build a team with a deep understanding of storytelling, rather than one that only knew the basics of the craft.

The comments came during Konami’s lecture, “The Art of Producing Silent Hill.” In Automaton Media’s report on the lecture, Okamoto explained that reading was especially important for a producer working on a narrative-focused horror game.

Okamoto also described reading a prospective writer’s work as a matter of “basic respect.” Reputation alone was not enough. Studying a writer’s books gave the team a clearer sense of that person’s strengths, weaknesses, and stylistic details before bringing them onto a project.

That approach played a role in Konami’s decision to hire Japanese horror writer Ryukishi07 for Silent Hill f. His work on Hirugashi When They Cry showed the team that he already understood the series and the kind of psychological horror it could support.

Okamoto said the reading target applied especially to the scenario writers, with members of the team putting pressure on one another to keep up with the demanding pace. For a game built around an unusual setting, layered characters, and a story rooted in 1960s Japan, that preparation gave the writing staff plenty of material to draw from.

Silent Hill f was Konami’s first new mainline Silent Hill game in more than a decade, and its storytelling became one of the areas most praised by players and critics. The team’s reading list may never be made public, but Okamoto’s comments offer a rare look at how seriously Konami approached the game’s literary and narrative foundations.

Konami has also said it wants each future Silent Hill project to have its own identity instead of treating Silent Hill f as a template. That leaves room for different writers, influences, and reading lists to shape whatever comes next.

What do you think about a studio setting a reading goal this demanding for its writers? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.

Silent Hill f is a survival horror game published by Konami as part of the Silent Hill series.
It is set in rural Japan during the 1960s, marking a departure from the franchise’s traditional Western settings. The story is written by Ryukishi07 and focuses on psychological horror, social pressure, and transformation.