Reggie James
Reggie is a 27 year old black man currently living in California. He has been playing video games for over 20 years and currently works as a hardware engineer. If you're looking to be offended you can follow him on twitter at TNAMEAT
If you’re still bummed out about Silent Hills being cancelled, you may not be completely out of luck. Konami may believe that mobile games are the future, but for those of us still living in reality, PC and consoles are still the best platforms for gaming. Many of us were excited about the pending release of Silent Hills, which was to star The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus in what was sure to be a blockbuster game. But after a falling out between Hideo Kojima and Konami, the game was abruptly scrapped.
Before being cancelled there was a playable teaser released in August allowing players to briefly take control of Norman Reedus and explore the world of the new Silent Hills. This teaser sparked interest in many people, but it also inspired concept artist and game developer Chris Kesler. Kesler has worked as a concept/environment artist on such projects as Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy & The Hobbit. Now he’s turned his attention to transforming his own home into the setting for a survival horror game.
I’m guessing he’ll become a light sleeper.
Kesler chose his house so that he could easily mimic a design to give it a more realistic look and also so he could save money. The closed off and small environment will be less expensive to create and will keep the game focused. According to an interview with Movie Pilot, Kesler noted that he felt “disturbed” by the Silent Hills playable teaser and that it was after that he discovered that his house was actually quite scary at night. If all of this comes together, it could make for a truly haunting experience. especially considering that Kesler has also mixed in some inspiration from the Amityville Murders:
I also knew I wanted to make something that’s somewhat reminiscent of the Amityville murders in New York in 1974. The entire family was murdered by the son/brother in their house… while they were sleeping. Horrific, really. One of the little girls was named ‘Allison’. That’s where that part comes from.
Uh, you have a little something on your chin…
Kesler started out this project alone, focusing primarily on the visual aspect of the game. As time went on though, his team kept growing, adding two programmers, an animator, a sound designer and a musician. There is currently no release date for the game, but you can Like their Facebook page to stay up to date with all developments.
Plans are to have Allison Road released for the PC and optimized for Oculus Rift technology. While there has been no official word yet, Kesler and his team will most likely port the game for console systems as well. It’s slightly ambitious for such a small team, but considering what they’re trying to accomplish, I’m rooting for them the whole way through. So while this may not be the game we all were expecting, it could just end up being the game we all wanted.
Read More: Will The Cancellation Of Silent Hills Be Good Or Bad For The Franchise?
