It has been a couple of months since fans have heard any official news fromSilent Hillcreator Keiichiro Toyama. Most would likely recall the announcement stating that his new company, Bokeh Game Studio, iscurrently producing a new horror title. Now, another interview has been published by the company, and this time, founder, producer, and COO of Bokeh Game Studio, Kazunobu Sato, shares more about his game development journey, including some details about their ongoing project.
Sato is mostly known for his work on the horror seriesSiren, which can be considered by fans as one of thebest horror games during its time period. Originally working on the characters for theSirenseries, he eventually came into the role of game producer for Sony Interactive Entertainment’sThe Last Guardian. However, according to Sato, when Toyama had approached him about a new project, he had decided to come onboard to help found and become producer for Bokeh Game Studio.
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In a spotlight video published on the official Bokeh Game Studio YouTube channel, Sato outlined a brief history of his experience as a game writer and then producer. At around the nine minute mark, Sato talks about the upcominghorror title he is working on with Toyama. When Toyama presented him with the game’s concept, he initially thought it would make for a “terrible game.” He says this because of how the game will “mess with the player’s mind.” This comes from the fact that the gameplay will have players make choices, and for each choice they make, there must be a sacrifice. And according to Sato, these sacrifices will scale highly within the game, therefore making each choice quite painful, and mentally stressful, for the player.
He also talked a bit about first meeting Toyama for a job interview. Albeit beinganother fan of theSilent Hillseries, Sato shared that he did not know until after the interview that he was talking face-to-face with Toyama already. Being both a founder and producer of Bokeh Game Studio, he was very transparent about issues of balancing funds that ensure the production of a good quality video game, while also keeping the company afloat during the middle of the pandemic.
With the amount of horror games in the market today such asPhasmophobia,The Medium, andResident Evil Village, it seems the audience is ripe for anotherSilent Hill-esque title. Unfortunately fans will have to wait longer for official news as Bokeh Game Studio has yet to announce the actual name and release date of their upcoming game.
