History VideoGame / SilentHills

''Silent Hills'' was originally announced at Gamescom 2014 with a free, seemingly-unrelated demo called ''P.T.'' by upstart developer 7780s Studio, made available on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 directly after the announcement. Players who completed the demo's cryptic puzzles got to watch a cinematic teaser for ''Silent Hills'', which revealed ''P.T.'' to be a "'''P'''layable '''T'''easer" for a long-rumored new game in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series.

** The demo ends with a phone call on a black screen, identically to every ''Franchise/MetalGear'' game Kojima has developed since ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' in 1998. Doubly fitting since a radio to indicate the presence of monsters is a ''Franchise/SilentHill'' staple.

** [[OverlyLongGag Surprise!]] It's not a new IP; It's a new ''Silent Hill'' game!

%%* BigBad: Lisa.

* LookBehindYou: On the seventh and eighth loops the radio may prompt you: "Look behind you. I said, '''look behind you."'''. Doing so results in a jump scare by Lisa.

** There's references to the historical ''War of The Worlds'' broadcast in a radio message, although everything you hear (sans [[ArcWords the number "204863"]]) [[GratuitousForeignLanguage is in Swedish]]. Those references specify "75 years ago"...which is unusual, given that ''P.T.'' had actually been released 7''6'' years ago...

Unlike the other ''Silent Hill'' games that play in a third-person perspective, ''P.T.'' plays in first-person. The game takes place in a suburban home with a single hallway that you simply walk through to the end -- only to find yourself back where you started. As the hallway loops, it changes, with the home becoming more dark and grotesque the more it loops, and you will have to solve the various cryptic puzzles to advance while avoiding the ghost woman Lisa and learning the vague history of what seems to be the family that lived here.

* HellIsThatNoise: More than jump scares or creepy imagery, the ''P.T.'' demo is built on this. The most constant is the whining groan of the swinging lamp, but there's gurgles, groans, and the odd noises sometimes coming from the radio. Notable separate instances include the screaming from the fridge, the blood from it hitting the ground, the sink-fetus's breathing and the sounds from the vision in the shower.

Thanks to the falling out between Creator/{{Konami}} and Hideo Kojima[[note]]Kojima had long expressed a desire to move on from ''Metal Gear'' only to keep getting dragged back in willingly or not for each game after ''2,'' alongside reports that ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' had gone massively over-budget (to which Konami had responded with their infamous treatment of Kojima during development such as having him work separate from the rest of his team) and rumors that Kojima hadn't even asked Konami for permission to bring the IP back[[/note]], distribution of ''P.T.'' ceased on April 29, 2015. Konami officially cancelled ''Silent Hills'' soon after, then rescinded all digital licenses worldwide for ''P.T.'', making the game impossible to re-download (and near-impossible to play) regardless of whether someone had previously downloaded it. Needless to say, fans got pissed -- and started [[https://www.change.org/p/kojima-productions-continue-working-on-silent-hills an online petition]] to convince Konami that it should [[DevelopmentHell put the game back into development]]. Kojima, Del Toro, and Reedus at least would re-partner for Kojima's first project after leaving Konami, ''VideoGame/DeathStranding''. So as things stand now, the "playable teaser" will remain a standalone game.

** Of course, there's the use of the FOX engine itself.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Lisa certainly has all the qualities of one, minus the stringy hair. She appears to have BoyishShortHair that exposes her [[NightmareFace horrifying]] [[SlasherSmile face]].

** Of course, there's the use of the [=FOX=] engine itself.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Lisa certainly has all the qualities of one, minus the stringy hair. She appears to have BoyishShortHair that exposes her [[NightmareFace horrifying]] [[SlasherSmile face]].

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: The teaser has you being hunted by Lisa, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin stringy-haired female ghost]] that haunts various areas of a hallway.

* SlasherSmile: The ghost, Lisa, constantly bears this expression.

* IronicHell: One interpretation of PT: you're playing as one of the fathers who murdered his own family, trapped forever in the house where you killed them. This is reinforced by the fact that [[spoiler:during the red-hall speed-run loop, after reliving the murder, the voice on the radio is revealed to be ''the fetus in the sink'', who mentions that the main character's wife had gotten a job at the grocery store 10 months back, and only because the manager there liked how she looked in a skirt.]] So, the odds are even higher that in ''that'' case of PaterFamilicide, it was because [[spoiler:the man's wife had gotten pregnant from an affair with said manager, and the fetus in the sink was the manager's rather than the husband's.]]

* RapeAndRevenge: Figurative, in that [[PaterFamilicide the murder]] ''[[PaterFamilicide was]]'' [[PaterFamilicide "the rape"]] -- the husband having controlled her offspring by [[KillEmAll killing them all]], out of his own insecurity that [[ThatThingIsNotMyChild the baby might not be his]].

* MythologyGag:

* DoorHandleScare: A door handle suddenly starts to move [[https://youtu.be/8vtrGF0ZTRc?t=363 here]].

* DrowningMySorrows: “You got fired, so you drowned your sorrows in booze.”

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When the protagonist is first [[YouWakeUpInARoom waking up]], you can [[https://youtu.be/84rcDyvadT4?t=21 just barely]] see [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Lisa]] peeking out from the other side of the door, long before any of her more obvious {{Jump Scare}}s.

*** Take ten steps in any direction and you'll hear something behind you. Stop moving, you will hear a baby laugh. (“Non mi mossi più nell’attesa inerte.” / “I stopped moving, waiting motionless.”)
*** After the noise stops but the radio is still on, speak into your microphone. The baby will laugh again. (“Sussurrei seu nome, mas o vento da noite levou sua voz embora.” / “I whispered his name, but the wind of the night took his voice away.”).
*** Your controller will start vibrating (“Poi il suo indice scivolò sulla mia mano.” / “Then his index finger slipped onto my hand.” — “つめたい手でした からだがふるえました” / “It was a cold hand. My body was trembling.”)
*** Continue to remain still till the vibration stops and the baby laughs a third time. (“Never moving a step, his hand in mine, I waited for it to pass.”)
*** The phone will ring. Examine it, then leave the hallway as usual. (“Und durch Nebel schwindenden Bewusstseins glaubte ich, ein Telefon zu hören.” / “And through mists of fading consciousness, I thought I heard a phone.”)

* IronicHell: One interpretation of PT: you're playing as one of the fathers who murdered his own family, trapped forever in the house where you killed them. This is reinforced by the fact that [[spoiler: during the red-hall speed-run loop, after reliving the murder, the voice on the radio is revealed to be ''the fetus in the sink'', who mentions that the main character's wife had gotten a job at the grocery store 10 months back, and only because the manager there liked how she looked in a skirt.]] So the odds are even higher that in ''that'' case of PaterFamilicide, it was because [[spoiler: the man's wife had gotten pregnant from an affair with said manager, and the fetus in the sink was the manager's rather than the husband's.]]

* TheReveal: Built into ''P.T.'' After completing the "final loop", you find out that you've just finished playing a "'''P'''layable '''T'''easer" for Creator/HideoKojima and Creator/GuillermoDelToro's new ''Silent Hill'' game.
* RiddleForTheAges: It's unknown ''what'' really ''Silent Hills'' was going to be, considering the ending of ''P.T'' states that the teaser doesn't reflect the final result. Although one could argue that the TGS trailer did show what people were to expect. But again, it's unknown.

* SelfContainedDemo: ''P.T.'' was meant to be this to a new ''Silent Hill'' game. However the game ended up being cancelled, and eventually ''P.T.'' itself was pulled from the Playstation Store.
* ShoutOut:

** Kojima is known for screwing with the graphical interface in his games. One even results in a black screen, stating "these bugs must be fixed before the final game is released", and then the player restarts.

* VideoGameDemake: One fan has [[https://youtu.be/ea8NEYoknCw recreated the demo]] as a 1998 Playstation 1 game.

* WhamShot: Creator/NormanReedus' face reveal at the very end, as well as the reveal of the ’’Silent Hills’’ title card.

* AdultFear:
** The news broadcast on the radio talks about multiple familicides perpetrated by fathers. The family that is the main subject of the broadcast (presumably Lisa's family) goes over the husband shooting his pregnant wife, his son, his daughter, and even the wife's unborn child. The broadcaster posits social issues such as unemployment and childcare as probable causes for the familicides.
** The crying baby sound can really get to somebody who's currently taking care of a baby. Or anyone, really.
** Losing one's job and remaining jobless for nearly a year.
** One of the loops has a baby locked in a fridge dangling from the ceiling, crying out in fear/agony, with blood pouring out of the fridge. Nothing can be done to save it.
** Fear of being sexually harassed in one's workplace, or of a loved one suffering the same.
** Your significant other is pregnant and the father is potentially someone else.
** The horrifying location the ''P.T.'' teaser is set? [[OminousMundanity An ordinary-looking]] suburban home.

* BigBad: Lisa.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Possibly a direct allusion to the internal turmoil that Kojima faced with the corporate bosses who wound up getting the game canned in the first place. In this case, [[FridgeBrilliance the murdered son is Kojima, the father who killed everyone is Konami, and the wife/fetus represents Silent Hills itself.]] This gets even crazier once you realize that Konami's official statement was that Silent Hills was in an "embryonic state" of development when it was canceled, which makes the fetus allusion [[MindScrew even more blatant.]]