Silent Hill: The Short Message Story Details Leak

Silent Hill: The Short Message hasn't been announced, but we sure know a lot about it.

By Tanner Dedmon

Konami hasn't officially announced a game called Silent Hill: The Short Message despite multiple leaks that have pointed to its existence. Many other Silent Hill games and different experiences in the works, but The Short Message is not among those that are listed on Konami's site nor anywhere else in an official capacity. This week, another of those leaks occurred once again while giving us plenty of new information about the game's characters, plot, and some of the sensitive content it contains that'll inevitably earn it a "Mature" rating as well as the regional equivalents of that classification.

We have the Australian Classification Board to thank for this newest leak regarding Silent Hill: The Short Message. The Australian games committee published a report this week talking about some games that'd gotten the MA 15+ rating with Silent HIll: The Short Message among those. As is usual for these kinds of classifications, content descriptions and a broad overview of the plot were provided alongside the rating.

Silent Hill: The Short Message Leaks

Before getting into the gruesomeness of the new Silent Hill game, the Australian Classification Board first set the scene for what the game is actually about. You play as Anita in the game, a character mentioned previously in past Silent Hill: The Short Message leaks. In true Silent Hill fashion, Anita looks to unravel a mystery before being besieged by psychological horrors and torment.

"An exploration‑based psychological horror game in which players control characters in an apartment building called The Villa in modern‑day Germany," the Australian Classification Board document spotted by Redditor silent-mario said. "The player assumes the role of a young woman, Anita, who must explore The Villa through first‑person gameplay in order to collect clues and uncover what has happened to her friend."

According to the Australian Classification Board, the game frequently depicts imagery related to suicide and self-harm, though it apparently also includes messages directed at players that urge people to seek out help if they themselves are considering those harmful actions. Given the context of these depictions of suicide and self-harm as well as the intervening notices, the Australian board gave it the MA 15+ rating.

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"Throughout the game, cut‑scenes depicting self‑harm and suicide are followed by black screens which feature white text encouraging players to seek treatment and help if they are at risk of self‑harm and suicide and to offer support if they see people around them struggling. In the Board's opinion, depictions of suicide and self‑harm within the game occur in the broader context of discourse exploring issues revolving around mental health which encourages players to seek help or offer support to those in need. As such, the impact of the depictions does not exceed strong in impact and can be accommodated within the MA15+ classification."

Other official Silent Hill projects Konami has in the works that actually have been announced include the Silent Hill 2 remake which may now actually have a release date. There's also the very different Silent Hill: Ascension community experience and other projects such as a new movie.

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