Konami return to Silent Hill franchise already not looking good

https://www.ign.com/articles/silent-hill-ascension-microtransactions-spark-major-backlash-among-fans

Silent Hill: Ascension, an interactive streaming series that premiered on Halloween, has Silent Hill fans up in arms after being hit with unexpected microtransactions.

While the series, a group-based choose-your-own-adventure, is "free" to experience, it does include microtransactions, including the $20 Founder's Pack. This features the Season Pass, access to all the in-game puzzles, and some in-game cosmetics, such as exclusive emotes. You can give it a look in the image below.

Silent Hill fans took to X/Twitter and Reddit to express their frustrations with Ascension, complaining that there's something of a pay-to-win issue here. The framework of Ascension is voting, as a group in real time, to determine what happens next. As Polygon reports, though, viewers spend what are called Influence Points (or IP) to sway the decisions. You can pay real money to obtain the digital currency, and the more IP you have, the more sway you have in the decisions.

Genvid CEO Jacob Navok previously told Polygon that that doesn'tautomatically mean you can just outspend your fellow Silent Hill fans in order to sway the decisions, but many are finding a different experience.

"I think the worst thing about Silent Hill Ascension is the currency," @SmoughTown wrote on X/Twitter. "The WHOLE POINT of this webseries is to vote on what happens...but voting is done by this digital currency."

"So.. Why Vote at all if the Wealthiest get to Decide?," asked u/gladias9 on Reddit.

Others have pointed out that you cannot access some puzzles early if you do not have the Season Pass. Redditor u/Donzo_Army posted a screenshotof the situation in question, lamenting "Everything is money. Always money."

"After waiting so long we get this," they added. "And the episode was horrible too. Quick time events were laggy. Story was bad. Animation looked ugly. The more money you have the more chance you have to get your vote to win. So dissapointed."

While microtranstions have been the biggest point of contention, fans of Silent Hill have also expressed their apprehensions about the other new games in development.

"Doesn't fill me with confidence for the SH2 remake, I won't lie," Redditor u/fiittzzyy wrote, although a reply correctly points out that Silent Hill 2 Remake is being made by an entirely different developer. OtherRedditorsare also still hopeful about the other Silent Hill projects.

Another Redditor, u/Altruistic-Ease-6684, expressed frustration not just over the microtransactions, but rather, that they argue it was the "worst use of time energy and effort" they have ever seen: "The time and effort of this could have very easily went to a 6-8 hour game experience instead of a 25 hour viewing experience," they added.

Damn, that sucks.. thought Konami was serious about returning to gaming. This has me concerned about the rest of the games they’re working. What do you think, SW?

MGS Vol 1 and now this? Oh, Konami...

This is a PS5 exclusive no?

Oh Konami. 😂

No thank you.

All Konami is good for is to collectively shit on them across the whole social media🤣They're a meme.

Its weird that a Japanese dev can be as greedy as the worst in the west.

People need to let SH die in peace, the series is a failure, with such low sales numbers I don't know how they keep making games.

Sony can own this one, it's on their Sony app for streaming UHD content, whatever its called.

Yikes... Frightening in all the wrong ways if you're a fan of SH.

@last_lap: Silent Hill and Terminator are bizarre franchises that haven't been good since the second entry, don't really make money, and yet they trying.

The SH franchise covering every iteration, HD remasters and the like has sold 9 million copies total and has been on nearly every device in the last 2 decades.

Its niche at best, and a total failure at worst, best let the series die already.

Konami is a very strange company. They seemed to want to pull out of video game development altogether not long ago. Now they just want to milk Metal Gear and Silent Hill to death with so many releases and not show them the proper care.

Game looks like absolute effing ass to begin with. Who cares if it's MT'd up the wazoo.

Seems like preview to an upcoming Silent Hill 2 disaster... hope Sony sents their team to look over the remake.

Konami and their tradition of mediocrity

@sakaixx: Yeah like they did with the KOTOR remake...oh wait.

I stop caring for Konami ever since Kojima left. I still treasure Silent Hill but hey, I ain't complaining if were ever gonna get a new game, I can always go back replaying classic SH titles anytime and that's good enough for me.

Screw off Konami. You lost your way years ago.

Pretending to be surprised

Not looking good for us or Konami? People are probably throwing cash on that abomination as we speak.