If you missed Sony‘s latest State of Play earlier this week, you missed out on a lot of content ranging from, “Oh that’s interesting” to, “So that’s a game, then?” But we’d like to take a moment to shed some light on one of the bigger highlights of the presentation, Konami. The once legendary gaming developer has had some intense ups and downs over the last decade and a half or so, and there presence at the “State of Play” shows they are coming back in a big way.
To understand why their announcements were so big, we need to jump back to 2014 when the release of the massively successful game demo, “P.T.’ This teaser for what was going to be “Silent Hills” had the company riding high on a wave of excitement from fans. The fact that Hideo Kojima would be making a “Silent Hill” game was setting the internet afire back then. Until it was cancelled that is. Kojima got fired, Konami started shifting to making pachinko and slot machines and the company became a shell of its former self.
From Pachinko to Prestige: Konami’s Unexpected Comeback
The last few years have seen the company improving and making some smart decisions. They’ve released several wonderful compilations of their classic game series including Castlevania, Contra, and Metal Gear Solid along with the new Silent Hill title, “Silent Hill f” and the highly praised and successful remake of “Silent Hill 2.”
This sets the stage for what we got from the “State of Play.” We finally got confirmation of what’s coming in “Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2” This wasn’t too much of a surprise to be honest. After all, the first collection was labelled “Vol. 1,” and left out several games. Now we know that the 2nd volume will release on August 27th, 2026 and contain “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (HD Collection Version)” and the Game Boy Color title, “Metal Gear: Ghost Babel” (originally simply titled “Metal Gear Solid“).
What was truly surprising though was the announcement of “Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse,” For the first time in number of years, we’re actually getting a 2D Castlevania title again. The franchise has seen some resurgence thanks to DLC add ons for “Dead Cells” and “Vampire Survivors” but now it’s actually back. Fittingly enough, its being designed by Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the two companies responsible for “Dead Cells” and the aforementioned DLC. It’s due out this year.
More Silent Hill
Then, not as surprising but still noteworthy, we have a new addition to the “Silent Hill” franchise on the way in the form of “Silent Hill Townfall.” Picking up a page from the previous entry, it doesn’t actually take place in the titular town and instead features a protagonist going through some terrifying ordeals in the Scottish town of St. Amelia. It also breaks from tradition by taking place in first person. A future “Transmission” event from Konami will disperse more information about the title, but consider us intrigued at the very least for the game’s arrival later this year.
So, yeah. Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Castlevania? This could be Konami‘s biggest year since the days of the original PlayStation. It’s about damn time.
