A Classic Horror Franchise Is Back – And Two New Releases Have Proved It

The horror genre in gaming has always been an interesting blend of wild new swings and classic IP. Franchises like Resident Evil often dominate the sales charts, while surprise hits like Five Nights at Freddy’s prove just how quickly an indie creation can become a cultural phenomenon. The established series with the best recent track record might be Silent Hill, which returned from a ten-year lull to release four games between 2024 and 2026.

It was a bold move by Konami, a clear effort to win back older fans and impress younger players with a full-throated commitment to reviving the series. It’s also proven to be a smart move: as reported by Gematsu, Konami’s recent sales figures for both the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f prove that there is an audience ready and waiting for more explorations of the creepy series. These recent hits are just the start of a potential resurgence for the franchise, given the plans Konami has for the future.

Silent Hill Has Never Been More Popular

Debuting in 1999, Silent Hill has been a fixture of the horror genre for approaching thirty years. As with most major franchises, there have been highs and lows since then — but it’s hard to think of a better time to be a Silent Hill fan than right now. The biggest lows aren’t hard to track down. After a string of critical disappointments in the latter half of the 2000s compared to the earlier entries in the series, Silent Hill fans had a real drought during the 2010s. After Silent Hill: Downpour in 2012, fans got hyped for Hideo Kojima’s P.T. in 2014. Despite the immense and immediate popularity of the playable demo, the game itself was never completed.

After that, it took another decade for a new Silent Hill game to come out — with 2024 seeing the release of the free-to-play Silent Hill: The Short Message by HexaDrive and Konami, as well as the Silent Hill 2 remake by Bloober Team. Since then, Konami has refocused its attention on the series, which has paid off incredibly well for the publisher. The series has been earning better sales than ever, with the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f both earning solid reviews from critics and amazing sales among players.

The Silent Hill 2 remake, which introduced a new generation of players to James Sunderland, has reached 6 million players globally since it was launched in October of 2024. Meanwhile, Silent Hill f has earned over 2 million sales in less than a year, speaking to the popularity of both games. These successes have also drawn younger players more into the world of Silent Hill, bringing back renewed attention to older titles in the series. As a long-time fan of the series, it’s exciting to see the series getting more attention in the last two years than it had for an entire decade previously — but what’s even more promising is the open future the series has going forward.

Silent Hill’s Resurgence Is Just Getting Started

The new success of Silent Hill as a franchise has Konami more excited than ever about the franchise’s prospects. The publisher is now barreling towards more Silent Hill titles at a regular pace, with two games confirmed to be in active development — Bloober Team’s remake of the first Silent Hill, as well as Screen Burn Interactive’s Silent Hill: Townfall. The latter is set to release later this year, making sure both new and older fans of the franchise who burned through Silent Hill f have another excuse to revisit the series. This builds on the announcement from last year that Konami intends to have a new Silent Hill out every year going forward.

That’s an ambitious move, but one that is bolstered by the publisher’s embrace of different developers for different titles. Bloober Team, HexaDrive, and NeoBards Entertainment all approached the franchise in differing ways, with unique visual touches and narrative approaches filtered through the franchise’s trademark horror aesthetic and foggy settings. The fact that Silent Hill avoids continuity for the most part and leans more heavily into stand-alone stories plays to Konami’s advantage here, as it allows for different takes on the series that help prevent the kind of overexposure that could make the series more tiring than exciting.

If the next entries in the series can build off of Silent Hill‘s recent success, it could accelerate even more quickly, bringing in more developers or more thoroughly experimenting with what Silent Hill can be. Silent Hill f and Silent Hill 2‘s remake proved the series knows how to revisit the past while still embracing the new, something that can honor the history of the franchise without being too beholden to it. It looks like gamers en masse agree, which (with a couple more great games) could set up Silent Hill‘s new golden age just in time for its 30th birthday.