Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito revealed that he never did much work on the canceled Silent Hill 5, as he was working on a game that was more similar to Grand Theft Auto at the time. Although Ito has long maintained that he was never actually part of the development of what would have become Silent Hill 5, he stated that he had designed a few concepts for creatures. That being said, it seems unlikely he was very involved with the rest of the game’s production.
Many fans are pained over the lack of Silent Hill games in recent years, and it seems that Silent Hill 5 may be part of the reason. The game was planned as a psychological horror title, taking inspiration from films like Jacob’s Ladder, and would’ve also played with the idea of daylight, instead of shrouding everything in darkness and fog. For whatever reason, Konami scrapped it in favor of more action-based Silent Hill games, likely after seeing the success of games like Resident Evil 4.
Longtime Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito says he doesn’t know much about the canceled fifth game, because he was the art director and lead animator of a canceled game that was similar to Grand Theft Auto at the time (via WiredupReport) This would’ve been around 2004, right as Grand Theft Auto was making big waves, so it’s no surprise that there were copycats popping up. The franchise dominated during this era, and there’s even rumors that the PS2-era GTA titles are being remastered very soon. Many tried to stack up against Rockstar’s crime franchise, but a lot of these projects failed or were outright canceled due to an inability to match Rockstar’s ambition. However, some franchises like Saints Row did manage to succeed.
Ito didn’t offer a title for the game, so it’s unclear if it was ever even announced. There were plenty of would-be Grand Theft Auto games such as This Is Vegas that could’ve been big hits, but many failed to come to fruition. Former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies left Rockstar Games a few years ago and is expected to be developing a game that will rival the open-world phenomenon.
Since Ito’s Grand Theft Auto–like game never released, he’s been working as a freelance artist. Meanwhile, fans are still yearning for more Silent Hill. A new Silent Hill is heavily rumored for PS5, but it’s been a rumor that has been making the rounds for years ever since Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills was axed during his rather public break-up with Konami. Whether or not Silent Hill ever really returns remains to be seen.
