The story behind Konami’s decision to cancel big-name horror game Silent Hills is the kind of thing that might make for an interesting video game industry book someday, particularly for the way it intersects with the still-mysterious circumstances that caused Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima’s split from the game publisher he had worked with for decades. But some people are still hooked on the bite-sized gameplay demo that first introduced Silent Hills to the world. Called P.T., the demo took players on a first-person tour of a secret-filled haunted house, but it can no longer be downloaded due to Silent Hills being canceled and Konami no longer needing to promote it.
Eager for an expanded take on P.T.’s thrills, fans threw money at a Kickstarter campaign for an indie game called Allison Road that looked very much like it could be a spiritual successor to that brilliant horror teaser. Surprisingly, though, Allison Road ended up with the same fate as Silent Hills after it got picked up by a real publisher, dropped by the real publisher, and then canceled altogether.
Now, much like the vengeful ghosts that you see walking through a spooky house in a first-person view, Allison Road has returned. According to IGN, creator Christian Kesler and his wife have founded a new independent production label and resumed work on Allison Road, with Kesler explaining that a lot of the core mechanics are already in place. His plan is to continue polishing up what he already has, and if he runs into issues that would be too hard for him to solve by himself, he’ll “go look for support.”
What that means is that Allison Road is still coming, but it’s probably a long ways off. Since this is the only chance people now have to play something remotely similar to Silent Hills or P.T. (other than Resident Evil 7, which suspiciously looks a little familiar), that’s probably better than nothing.