Silent Hill: The Short Message plot details emerge thanks to the Australian ratings board
Still no official word about the game, though.
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Silent Hill: The Short Message was first leaked last year, and now it's cropped up again thanks to the Australian rating board.
Prior to the announcement of all those new Silent Hill projects last year, including the Silent Hill 2 remake, a game by the name of Silent Hill: The Short Message was revealed thanks to the Korean ratings board. But, when the new Silent Hill games were revealed, The Short Message was nowhere to be found. It doesn't seem like it's dead yet, though, as the plot for the game has leaked on the Australian Classification Board.
An obvious spoiler warning ahead, but also a content warning, as the plot description does detail instances of self-harm and suicide.
Earlier today, Reddit user silent-mario shared to the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit that the Australian Classification Board's annual report had been released, where The Short Message was listed and detailed. The report notes that the game is currently rated MA 15+ (meaning you have to be 15 or older to legally buy the game), and that it contains "strong suicide themes, horror violence and coarse language."
A description of the game was also provided, explaining that it's set in an apartment building called The Villa, somewhere in modern-day Germany, where "the player assumes the role of a young woman, Anita, who must explore The Villa through first‑person gameplay in order to collect clues and uncover what has happened to her friend…
"Throughout the game, cutscenes depicting self-harm and suicide are followed by black screens which feature white text encouraging players to seek treatment and help is they are at risk of self-harm and suicide and to offer support if they see people around them struggling."
It should be noted that these instances of self-harm are seemingly depicted on screen, as well as someone attempting to commit suicide, in both first and third-person.
There are obviously multiple new Silent Hill projects in the works, so it's entirely possible this is just one that hasn't been revealed yet, so we'll have to wait for Konami to take the lead on this one.