P.T. Opens the Gateway to Hell in the Survival Horror Genre

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Clive Barker, the creative mind behind Hellraiser, once made a compelling analysis when he addressed the issue of horror in literature: “[Horror fiction] shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion.” Once described by legendary novelist Stephen King as “the future of horror,” Barker’s comment pinpointed some of the profound effects that horror can have when it’s implemented correctly, and how these can result in some truly bleak-looking scenarios.

Horror, as a concept, is fascinating for how it can effortlessly be incorporated within the narrative of any medium (whether the title completely centres on it or not), but it’s hard for any individual to master how complex the genre varies in other forms of storytelling — Clive Barker is a notable example, specifically for how Hellraiser (based on his critically acclaimed horror novel The Hellbound Heart) became a cult classic while Clive Barker’s Jericho failed horribly to replicate his success in video games. Of course, gaming has seen its fair share of success and failure when it comes to a genre such as horror, but one title has recently offered us a sneak peak at a truly ambitious and unique project: P.T..

P.T., announced in August this year during Sony’s press conference at Gamescom, is a project which is headed by 7780s Studio, with it offering PlayStation users the opportunity to “Experience the world’s first interactive teaser.” I think it’s safe to assume that the emotional responses from people who experienced P.T. at the end of the Gamescom trailer made everyone believe they were hired actors — I mean, it’s plausible to think like this, especially when some of the reactions seemed excessively overdramatic for selling the concept of P.T. — but jumping straight into the teaser replicated a horror atmosphere that some of the iconic horror films from the 1980s offered.

Finishing the teaser felt like I had endured a nightmarish Haunting in Connecticut-esque situation, but an even bigger shock came at the end when it was revealed that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Blade II, etc.) are collaborating on a new Silent Hill title, with it featuring The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus. Dubbed as Silent Hills, the entire experience made me think that this title has the potential to refine what some may consider as a hit-or-miss genre, and, in the process, have an ever wider implication on video games as a whole.

First off, Silent Hills’ entire marketing strategy was such a simple but effective way of drawing in almost everyone’s attention. Just as Kojima attempted to dupe gamers in the past with a new title developed by Moby Dick Studios in 2012 — which we later learned was the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — the same method was re-implemented but with greater effect, mainly for the case that this wasn’t a Metal Gear Solid title and people wouldn’t automatically attach someone like Kojima to the project.

It can’t be overlooked for how luring P.T.’s minute-long teaser was for attracting someone’s attention and resulting in a word-of-mouth marketing campaign (even more effective with the internet’s predominant influence over the past two decades), which is a similar approach that Christopher Nolan, for example, adopted with The Dark Knight in 2008 and, more recently, his upcoming sci-fi thriller, Interstellar.

P.T. is a title that demonstrated a return to old-school horror puzzles that people thrived on doing in classic Silent Hill and Resident Evil titles, which added a nostalgic experience where people communicated to solve these difficult challenges and, most importantly, meant that they had to always be on their guard even when they’re trying to solve them. Additionally, the player not having any weapons on them made the teaser feel exactly like a horror cliché, where the hero/heroine would walk down a dark, dingy corridor unarmed and someone/something is waiting to give them the fright of their life at any minute — one of the reasons why Outlast was one of the best horror titles I had experience in a while. The strange, demonic creatures in P.T. did enough of this in the teaser to prove that it’s a horror title that will make you do exactly what Hideo Kojima said it would: “make you s**t your pants.”

Just as Kojima explained at Gamescom 2014 that P.T. actually stood for “playable teaser,” it reiterated that he has continued to innovate during his time in the industry. Every person I spoke to seemed to have had a different experience from P.T., which made it even more interesting to discuss the slight variations that each one of us encountered in the teaser. Being an “interactive teaser,” P.T. offered a very a unique feature that meant none of the actual gameplay would be in Silent Hills, meaning that it bypassed a lot of flaws with demos where they allow players to sample an actual mission from the game and, in the process, remove the same impact it would have on them during their initial playthrough when the title is released — the Resident Evil 5 demo had the same effect on me in 2012, which made it feel more like a trivial task to do the same segment yet again.

If there was ever an instance where someone went on Google and tried searching ‘define current-generation graphics,’ the first result, in my opinion, would be simply described by two words: Fox Engine. Kojima Productions’ Fox Engine is currently the benchmark for creating the visuals that are truly breathtaking, with it in use for Pro Evolution Soccer 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and, of course, Silent Hills. The attention to detail in every single pixel onscreen is phenomenal, with P.T. being presented as a title which feels like the environment to create an authentic horror experience for players to immerse themselves in. Additionally, it’s sharp textures and stunning visuals makes the early preview even more exciting to see the Fox Engine in full force in the final product.

Hideo Kojima’s résumé boasts his exceptional writing capabilities from the Metal Gear Solid franchise, but when it comes to a project outside of his illustrious series, gamers are ready to see if the director has the skills of matching it in a completely different genre. However, examining Metal Gear Solid does show the subtle themes of horror combined within the title, and this is highlighted in the corridor where Gray Fox butchered the Genome Soldiers on his way for a friendly chat with Otacon, which reinforced a Japanese-esque horror element through the use of eerie music and, well, all the dead bodies plastered on the corridor walls. Kojima even tweeted about the use of horror in foreign films and how he utilised this in P.T.:

“But unknown foreign horror films were scary as hell as it lacks info. I intentionally aimed the lack of info to gain fear for “PT”.”

I completely agreed with Kojima on this tweet, as knowing very little information about certain elements within the title makes the target audience question the origins of something, without ever knowing its true purpose. For example, there was once a point when not knowing why Hannibal Lecter ate people reinforced the character’s chilling presence in The Silence of the Lambs, specifically for how we tried to establish what his actual motive was for doing what he did, but never being able to pinpoint the precise answer on the subject.

Reiterating Clive Barker’s name once again, his demonic Cenobite, Pinhead, delivered one of my favourite lines of all time in Hellbound: Hellraiser II: “It is not hands that summon us. It is desire.” Taking his comment into context, there is always a longing for us to venture deep into unknown territory and search out these other beings, which Remy de Gourmont, a French poet and novelist, summed up perfectly: “Demons are like obedient dogs; they come when they are called.” The player did exactly this when they wandered down the same narrow corridor and summoned the spirit to appear in front of them.

P.T. was only a small appetiser of what to expect from the minds of Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro working on a rebooted horror franchise, but it was enough for me to realise that this is an ambitious project with high expectations from the entire gaming community. Interactive teaser is the way forward for developers to really draw in a wider audience towards their product during the early stages of development, considering there are a broad range of benefits that I’ve already covered. No doubt Silent Hills is set to return to its roots within the Silent Hill franchise and reinvigorate the horror genre in the process — and I can’t wait to see what’s achieved after experiencing the horror thrills during P.T..