For a brief period on Friday, the horror game developer known as Dusk Golem showcased a number of reportedly leaked images from an upcoming, unannounced Silent Hill game on Twitter. Shortly after posting, however, the images were taken down – with Dusk Golem claiming Konami swept in to hit them with a takedown notice, per Reset Era.
The screenshots posted are allegedly from an early build of the game, with Dusk Golem telling Kotaku that the ‘shots are a bit dated’ and likely come from around 2020. The first shot features a young woman who appears to be splitting into paper, and covered in self-made derogatory comments. The second shot is of a hallway lined with hundreds of sticky notes. Then, there’s a creepy red corridor occupied by what appears to be a young girl covered in paper.
Further leaked images reveal a messy bedroom, and a trash-covered home.
The only common factor between them appears to be the paper motif – which could indicate a horror story set in a school, or one inspired by growing up. It appears there are elements of self harm and bullying in the close up image of the young woman, but these allegedly leaked screenshots have been presented with no real context.
Read: Blue Box deletes tweets about upcoming game, Abandoned
Clues picked up from slang used on the game’s sticky notes (and seen on the young woman’s face) has many assuming the game will be set in Britain, but these rumours should be taken with a grain of salt. Dusk Golem told Kotaku they believe the images were legitimate based on their sources, but they were not specifically identified – and there is no solid word of the game’s existence just yet.
That said, Konami reportedly pulling the posts for copyright infringement is a key indicator that these images may actually be from a real Silent Hill sequel that’s yet to be detailed by the company. While the takedown was likely in an attempt to stop the images from spreading, it may have inadvertently legitimised the leak.
Should this game turn out to be real, it will be the first major Silent Hill project launched since the cancellation of the Norman Reedus-starring Silent Hills. Expectations for that game were extremely high following the launch of the highly-lauded P.T. demo, and it’s likely any new title in the franchise will be treated with a high level of scrutiny, given precedent.
At this stage, not much is known about the mystery Silent Hill game reportedly leaked by Dusk Golem. Should the leak represent a legitimate game, it’s highly likely we’ll hear more about it in June, when the games industry comes together for a number of ‘E3-lite’ video game showcases. Stay tuned on this one.