The breakup between video game director Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami has not been pretty. While nothing has been officially confirmed, shake-ups at Konami have seemingly put a huge strain on its relationship with Kojima (who happens to be the man behind Metal Gear Solid). Most of the resulting changes have been relatively inconsequential... but there has been one major casualty.
Silent Hills, otherwise known as P.T., was cancelled earlier this year. Again, nothing official has been released, but it's likely that the strained relations between Konami and Kojima is the true culprit behind its cancellation. It's not every day that a single demo can help revitalize an entire genre, but that's what happened with P.T. — and now it's gone, just like that.
Sadly, it doesn't look like P.T. will be coming back anytime soon... but that doesn't mean all hope is lost. In the wake of P.T.'s premature cancellation, another production has stepped up, almost as if it's looking to take P.T.'s place. From the look of things, Allison Road might be just as scary as the game that seemingly inspired it.
A 13-minute demo of the game was just uploaded to YouTube. One thing was immediately apparent: Allison Road looks a lot like Silent Hills. At first, that may sound like criticism, but the comparison is far from negative. P.T. was absolutely horrifying, and if Allison Road can hit the same sorts of notes, then fans still lamenting the cancellation may actually have something to look forward to.
Judging by the video, the team is definitely on the right track: the demo focuses on building tension (something that P.T. did brilliantly), and slowly introduces horror into an otherwise familiar location.
That said, it's not as if Allison Road is a carbon copy of Kojima's playable teaser. There's a big focus on interacting with the environment, and Allison Road is a far less linear experience. On top of that, the team has already confirmed that the game will feature some sort of inventory system — another distinct difference from what fans experienced in P.T.
All in all, it looks like Allison Road could end up being a worthy successor to Silent Hills. There's still a lot of placeholder assets, but even in this early state, Allison Road is horrifying — it's hard to argue the quality of the demo. With any luck, Allison Road might just be able to fill the void that P.T. left behind.
Hopefully, it won't be too much longer before fans can try the game out for themselves: Allison Road has been in development since last year, though no word on a release date has been given.
For more information on Allison Road, head on over to the game's official Facebook page.
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