1) Silent Hills
Call me ignorant, but I’m not sure canceling a game that, for all intents and purposes, had the potential to be an award-winning masterpiece, was a wise business decision on your part, Konami. I mean, you, better than most, know all too well how talented Silent Hills‘ intended director is considered to be, so something must have gone terribly wrong to justify the reboot’s obliteration, especially when you take into account that its proof of concept alone was enough to cause a frenzy of excitement and anticipation.
Despite P.T.’s, excuse the pun, largely silent arrival on PlayStation 4 back in 2014, the demo instantly attracted a massive amount of publicity and media attention, not for the slyly-hidden reveal starring Normal Reedus at its conclusion, but the content leading up to that moment. Rarely, if ever, do games, let alone demos, whip up a storm of such epic proportions, but P.T., owing to its pitch-perfect design and direction by Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, birthed an entirely new breed of survival horror.
As an avid fan of the genre, I like to think I’ve become desensitized to its numerous tropes over the years, but P.T. evoked an entirely alien sense of fear in me that, on more than one occasion, came dangerously close to causing early onset incontinence. Alas, regardless of the critical acclaim leveled at Silent Hills‘ playable teaser, the entire project ended up becoming nothing more than collateral damage as a result of Kojima and Konami’s split.
Not in recent memory, can I recall any more tragic case of wasted potential in the industry’s history, an event that I hope never repeats itself.
But hey, it’s not all bad. Norman Reedus’ partnership with Kojima survived Silent Hills‘ cancellation at least, and the actor’s talent is now being put to good use in the latter’s enigmatic new game, Death Stranding. Silver linings, and all that.