Few game locations are remarkably creepy as Silent Hill. The fog-covered town full of monsters and hellish sights has long been considered one of the most iconic horror game settings, and one of its most notorious locations is coming to Dead by Daylight in the Anniversary update.
“This one is based on the Midwich Elementary School, from Silent Hill 1. We recreated the layout of the map as it was on Playstation 1 (with a few different metrics to sustain our gameplay experience), but really, really close to the original,” explains Game Director Mathieu Cote. “We also made it a mix of interior and exterior locations – we previously had interior maps and we had exterior maps, but we rarely have both in the same one, so that will add another layer of surprise to the players.”
Dead by Daylight New Map - Silent Hill
As part of Silent Hill’s long history and complex plots, the developers had to adapt the way they usually build maps. Instead of the vague, weird killing grounds of past, they needed to add the little details that Silent Hill fans love while keeping the gameplay intact.
“Usually, our maps are meant to be like something you would see in a bad dream,” Cote says. “So you go into a house, and it’s the nightmare version of a house – there’s a lot of shadows and dark space and not a lot of details, because everything is a bit vague. But in this, we added a lot of details to the new map, because we want people to see all those winks and easter eggs and secrets and unlockable things we see in the game, because that detail is what Silent Hill is about and we’re real fans of that franchise.”
“We were able to go really deep with the lore of Silent Hill,” he continues, “and Konami was pretty open to this, so as a survivor, if you have the time between opening the door and getting murdered, you might be able to spot a few of these hidden gems we put everywhere.”
When asked about Silent Hill’s air horns and the city’s hell version, Cote implied they would play a part but kept the cards close to his chest to surprise players. He did, however, explain how the signature fog would come into play.
“Fog is obviously hugely important, especially the kind that limits view distance. We had to work on each part of the map to strike a balance between the interior and exterior locations, so the distance at which you are spotted is roughly the same. So the exterior portion has patches of fog in the ground where you can hide, while the interior portion of the map has shadows where you can hide and corridors that limit your view”
The Silent Hill map will be available from today in Dead by Daylight’s Public Test Build on Steam, and officially launch in June 16 as part of the Silent Hill chapter.
