Aside from a few fascinating announcements, Konami’s quick (and…odd)Silent Hill presentation left many more questions unanswered. “Who is Ryukishi07?” is presumably near the top of that list of unanswered queries.
The first trailer for Silent Hill f a new Silent Hill game from Neobards Entertainment was shown by Konami at the conclusion of their most recent presentation (the developers of resident Evil Re: Verse).
Sadly, the trailer did not provide much information. Although the game plainly takes place in Japan and has a Midsommar-like folk horror vibe, this teaser was undoubtedly designed to be as ambiguous as possible.
However, Ryukishi07 is revealed to have written the story for Silent Hill F towards the conclusion of that preview. Depending on what you like to read, that name may or may not ring a bell, but it turns out that what we do know about Ryukishi07 may provide us a hint as to what to expect from Silent Hill f’s tale.
A Japanese author going by the pen name Ryukishi07 is arguably most recognized for his work on the When They Cry video game series. Actually, Ryukishi07 is a reference to Lenna, one of Final Fantasy V’s key protagonists, and the Dragoons in that game.
The author obviously has a passion for the industry even though it appears that he has only ever officially worked on one previous video game project (Natsu no Kagerou, which was ultimately terminated).
The character of Ryukishi07’s earlier works is what makes his participation so intriguing. Although there are evident differences between the author’s earlier works particular, a few themes and stylistic choices may be found in much of his writing.
Particularly, Ryukishi07 seems to enjoy murder mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie, has a wicked sense of humor, and occasionally has been known to go really, really dark with his explicit horror fiction.
Some of his work has an almost Grand Guignol look that would complement the Silent Hill series and what we saw in the Silent Hill trailer.
Interestingly, Ryukishi07 like video games with zombies as well (especially violent zombie games). He appears to bemoan the fact that Japanese viewers don’t actually find zombies to be all that popular, though.
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He once said in an interview that zombie games don’t receive the same amount of love in Japan as “girls’ panties,” therefore he said he “hoped we could produce a zombie game with females panties so it can gain love in Japan.” Take what you will from that.
Most notably, Ryukishi07 enjoys diverting his audience from the intended course through narrative red herrings, shaky narrators, and even the sporadic use of meta-storytelling deception.
His writing has been compared by some of his admirers to components of a D&D game rather than more conventional storytelling, which again does seem to make him an intriguing choice for a Silent Hill book.
If you’re expecting a genuine new Silent Hill plot, Ryukishi07 has even said in the past that he favors that kind of non-linear narrative design over simpler storytelling. This is probably the kind of stuff you want to hear.
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Knowing all of that, it’s simple to understand why many of Ryukishi07’s followers are so happy to learn that he is in fact developing a Silent Hill game. The Silent Hill trailer even contains hints of Ryukishi07’s earlier work, however hazy.
The current question is whether Ryukishi07 and the other members of the game’s team will be able to cope with the numerous responsibilities and demands that go with the “Silent Hill” moniker.
Before anyone gets very thrilled, the aforementioned unsolved questions must be resolved, but it appears like there may be a valid cause to be cautiously optimistic about a new Silent Hill game after all these years. Who could have imagined?