Silent Hill has never been afraid to reinvent itself.
With Silent Hill: Townfall, Konami is taking that idea even further. Instead of returning to the familiar streets of the original series, the game moves the nightmare to St. Amelia, a fictional Scottish island in 1996.
Developed by Scottish studio Screen Burn Interactive, formerly known as No Code, Townfall is a standalone psychological horror experience built around exploration, evasion, environmental puzzles, and an unusual piece of retro technology: a handheld CRTV.
The game launches on September 24, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Here's everything you need to know.
The Story: Simon Ordell and St. Amelia
Players take control of Simon Ordell, who is called back to the remote island of St. Amelia to "put things right."
The problem?
The town is almost completely deserted.
Simon repeatedly finds himself near the island's docks, surrounded by heavy fog and fragments of a past he struggles to understand. As he moves deeper into St. Amelia, those fragments begin revealing his connection to the town and its inhabitants.
Rather than simply throwing players into another haunted version of Silent Hill, Townfall builds its mystery around Simon himself.
The further he explores, the more the past begins to surface.
The Setting: Scotland, 1996
The game takes place on the fictional island town of St. Amelia, against the cold and isolated backdrop of Scotland in 1996.
That time period is important.
There are no smartphones.
No modern GPS.
No instant internet access.
No convenient way to search for answers when something goes horribly wrong.
Screen Burn has deliberately used the limitations of 1990s technology to make the player feel more vulnerable. The setting also draws on the social and political atmosphere of post-Thatcher Scotland, giving St. Amelia problems that extend beyond the supernatural.
The result is a different kind of Silent Hill environment.
Instead of relying entirely on the series' familiar industrial imagery, Townfall builds its horror around fog, isolation, abandoned spaces, coastal landscapes, and a community that has seemingly fallen apart.
First-Person Gameplay
One of the biggest changes is immediately obvious:
The entire game is played from a first person perspective.
This makes Townfall the first Silent Hill game to commit fully to first-person gameplay. Screen Burn specifically chose the perspective because it allowed the CRTV mechanic to become an integral part of exploration and puzzle-solving.
The perspective also changes how encounters feel.
Instead of watching Simon from behind, players experience the island directly through his eyes.
That means a dark corridor feels narrower.
A strange noise feels closer.
And when something suddenly appears in front of you, there is nowhere for the camera to hide.
The CRTV: A New Take on the Silent Hill Radio
If there's one mechanic that defines Townfall, it's the CRTV.
The handheld device looks like a tiny portable television, but it serves a much bigger purpose than simply displaying static.
Players can use it to tune into unstable signals and uncover information hidden within the environment. The device can also reveal clues, deliver cryptic transmissions, and contribute directly to the game's puzzles.
It's effectively Screen Burn's evolution of the classic Silent Hill radio.
But there's a crucial difference.
The traditional radio mainly told players that something dangerous was nearby.
The CRTV is much more interactive.
You're not simply listening for static.
You're looking at it.
That opens up possibilities for visual clues, strange broadcasts, environmental storytelling, and puzzles built around distorted footage.
Exploration, Puzzles and Survival
Townfall isn't designed around constant combat.
Instead, the core experience revolves around exploring St. Amelia, solving narrative puzzles, avoiding danger, and surviving encounters.
The official description emphasizes a limited collection of weapons and tools, while Screen Burn describes the experience as one where players must explore, evade and survive.
That doesn't mean combat has disappeared.
It hasn't.
But players shouldn't expect Townfall to become a traditional action-focused horror game.
Sometimes the smarter option is simply to get away.
Combat and Enemy Encounters
Although evasion is an important part of survival, Simon isn't completely defenseless.
The game features limited weapons and allows players to engage enemies when necessary. Recent previews describe combat as more frantic than the slower exploration sections, creating a contrast between careful investigation and sudden danger.
That balance is important to the game's identity.
If players could simply overpower every creature they encountered, much of the tension would disappear.
Instead, Townfall wants you to think about whether a confrontation is worth taking.
The Characters
Simon isn't the only important figure connected to St. Amelia.
Simon Ordell
Simon is the protagonist and the character through whose eyes players experience the island.
He returns to St. Amelia with a mysterious connection to the town and gradually uncovers pieces of a past he cannot fully remember.
Zoe
Zoe is a nurse whose voice reaches Simon through the CRTV.
Her messages provide Simon with guidance while also revealing more about the people and events surrounding St. Amelia. She is played by Kezia Burrows, who previously appeared in Screen Burn's Observation.
Richard
Terry O'Quinn provides the voice for Richard, another character connected to the mystery surrounding St. Amelia. Konami's recent cast reveal introduced him alongside Simon and Zoe.
A Standalone Silent Hill Story
Townfall is designed as a full-length, self-contained psychological horror experience.
That makes it approachable even if you've never played another Silent Hill game.
The developers aren't simply retelling an existing story. Instead, they're using the franchise's familiar themes mystery, tragedy, loss, psychological horror, and disturbing symbolism to tell a new story in a completely different location.
For longtime fans, that means there are familiar ideas to recognize.
For newcomers, it means you don't need years of franchise knowledge to understand the premise.
Why the 1990s Setting Matters
The 1996 setting isn't just an aesthetic choice.
Modern technology makes people feel safer.
If you're lost, you open a map.
If you don't know something, you search for it.
If something strange happens, you can call someone instantly.
Townfall removes those safety nets.
The developers have specifically said that placing the game in the 1990s helps create a sense of technological vulnerability.
That makes the CRTV even more interesting.
It's an outdated piece of technology being used to uncover things that perhaps shouldn't be seen at all.
Release Date and Platforms
Silent Hill: Townfall launches on September 24, 2026.
Platforms
- PlayStation 5
-
PC
- Steam
- Epic Games Store
The game is being developed by Screen Burn Interactive and co-published by Konami and Annapurna Interactive.
A physical version is also available for PlayStation 5, while PC players can purchase the digital version through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Upcoming Konami Press Start Showcase
There is already more Townfall information on the horizon.
Konami's Press Start publisher broadcast is scheduled for September 3, 2026, with Silent Hill: Townfall among the featured games.
The presentation will include new gameplay footage and developer video messages, with some footage being exclusive to the broadcast.
The showcase is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT and will run for roughly 30 minutes.
So even with the release date approaching, Konami isn't finished showing us what waits on St. Amelia.
What Makes Silent Hill: Townfall Different?
The biggest difference is that Townfall isn't trying to recreate the formula of the older games.
It's taking the core philosophy of Silent Hill and rebuilding it around:
- First-person exploration
- A 1996 Scottish setting
- The CRTV device
- Narrative driven puzzles
- Stealth and evasion
- Limited combat
- A self-contained psychological horror story
The CRTV is particularly important.
It's not just a replacement for the radio.
It's the mechanic around which much of the game's exploration and puzzle design has been built.
🎮 The Bottom Line
Silent Hill: Townfall is taking one of horror gaming's most recognizable formulas somewhere completely different.
A remote Scottish island.
A 1996 setting.
A protagonist searching through fragmented memories.
And a tiny television that may reveal things that are better left unseen.
Its first-person perspective and CRTV mechanic give Townfall an identity of its own, while its focus on psychological horror, mystery and loss keeps it rooted in the franchise's DNA.
With its September 24, 2026 release approaching, the biggest question isn't whether Townfall looks like the Silent Hill games we already know.
It's whether St. Amelia can become just as memorable.