Keiichiro Toyama, best known as the creator of the Silent Hill video game franchise, will be joining Suda51 and Swery on their upcoming indie horror game titled Hotel Barcelona. Backed by funding from Devolver Digital, the trio are going to be making something new and mysterious that’s sure to be a unique experience — especially with the creator of Silent Hill on board.
An IGN Japan stream had some of gaming’s most legendary talent at the same table, notably the creators of No More Heroes and Deadly Premonition. The pair were talking about potential upcoming products, one of which was a food-themed PlayStation VR game that they canceled as reported by IGN. Now, the pair is working on a brand-new indie horror game that they say is being funded by Devolver Digital — and the creator of Silent Hill will be collaborating with them.
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Titled Hotel Barcelona, the game will apparently feature a magazine writer who is visiting a cool new hotel which shortly descends into a horror experience. However, the pair have said that they’d like to make something “light and easy to play”, so I imagine you won’t be juggling a bunch of herbs and running from a murderous giant in a trenchcoat.
Apparently, everything they’ve come up with for this game so far was decided in a 30-minute brainstorm session prior to the livestream kicking off. Practically flying by the seat of their pants, they mentioned several things they would like to see, such as placing the game’s location in Tokyo, South Africa, or Venezuela.
This off-the-cuff style of game development culminated in what ultimately became a really interesting collaboration. Suda51 and Swery apparently like to go out drinking with Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, so they shot him a text live on air and asked him if he’s like to work with them. Amazingly, he said yes.
According to the pair of developers, Devolver Digital has allocated roughly a $1 million budget for them to make this game. Amusingly, Devolver says that this is “news to [them],” so take that information with a grain of salt; something could have been lost in translation. It’s not likely to be some massive AAA experience, but it will undeniably be something interesting. You can watch the livestream below.
