Silent Hill fans are sceptical about interactive series Ascension after our latest look
Silent Hill fans got a glimpse of upcoming interactive streaming series Silent Hill Ascension, but some have doubts about the project.
Since the initial announcement in October, little has been confirmed about the Ascension storyline other than the description “An Exploration of Intergenerational Trauma” from developer Genvid Entertainment.
A new Video by IGN delves a little deeper into the themes of ascension and goes deep into the trauma. Shiaw-Ling Lai, Production Manager at Genvid, describes the premise of the original Silent Hill games as “how a person’s individual trauma and unresolved issues can become very real threats and monsters that can harm you”. According to Lai, Genvid’s direction aims to examine trauma “from a broader perspective” — how might unresolved trauma affect the community around you and your descendants?
Shanon Ingles, lead author with co-developer Martian Brothel, describes Silent Hill as “a beautiful yet disturbing meditation on our human experience of trauma, guilt and fear and how difficult it is to come to terms with it”. It’s easy to “get lost in the fog of our own trauma,” says Ingles, “to be haunted by what happened to us and what we did.”
How this manifests in Ascension’s interpretation of these themes is that literal mists and literal beings haunt us because of our trauma. Reactions to the new information revealed in the video have been mixed Silent Hill Communityas many feel that Ascension lacks what made the original games interesting.
Gone is the lore about the Order, the religious cult that set in motion so many events in the titular city – instead, here the physical fog shows us how difficult it is to navigate trauma. Some fans point out the rudeness with which the trauma theme is presented, and others doubt that Ascension really understands the Silent Hill presented to us in the games.
Ascension’s focus on personal trauma, and particularly its impact on others, will take the form of a “collective delusion,” says Martin Montgomery, creative director at Genvid. “It’s not limited to just one person,” he explains, “an entire city is experiencing this shared craze.”
The divergence from the games’ depictions of Silent Hill and the unsubtleness with which the importance of the trauma is conveyed means that fans remain skeptical of Ascension, which is set for release later this year.
Ascension is part of Konami’s big comeback for the Silent Hill series, including a Silent Hill 2 remake.