As reported by GameWatch, Konami recently held a lecture titled “The Art of Producing Silent Hill” at Japan’s CEDEC 2026, where series producer Motoi Okamoto and other key development team members shared insights about the making of Silent Hill 2’s remake and the latest Silent Hill f.
Of note, Okamoto expressed the opinion that when it comes to games where narrative plays a crucial role, it’s essential for the producer to read books. Even more so, he considers it imperative for a producer to have read the majority of a writer’s body of work if commissioning them for the game’s scenario. This is, according to Okamoto, not only a matter of “basic respect,” but also necessary for understanding the writer’s style and various quirks, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Since every writer is capable of producing both hits and misses, he considers it the responsibility of the project’s decision-maker to fully understand the writer’s characteristics and actively engage with them.
For Silent Hill f, Konami brought Ryukishi07, famous for his work on the When They Cry visual novel series, on board to pen the scenario. Okamoto explains that there were several reasons behind this decision – Ryukishi07 had extensive experience writing horror; his past work suggested a strong affinity with the Silent Hill series; and lastly, Okamoto himself was personally a fan of his.
Citing the importance of “input” for creating games, Okamoto mentions that, “within the team, we put pressure on each other, especially among the scenario writers, to read at least 100 to 200 books a year.”
Considering this level of dedication, it’s going to be exciting to see whom Konami reaches out to for future Silent Hill entries, especially given Okamoto’s vow to keep experimenting with both story and gameplay with each new game in the series.
