Silent Hill: Townfall officially launches on September 24, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and PC. The release date was announced during PlayStation’s State of Play on June 2, 2026, alongside a new gameplay trailer introducing a fresh character and deeper look at the game’s systems.
Silent Hill: Townfall has an official launch date: September 24, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Steam, and Epic Games Store. Developer Screen Burn Interactive and publishers Konami and Annapurna Interactive announced the date during PlayStation’s State of Play on June 2, 2026, releasing a new trailer packed with fresh gameplay footage, a new named character, and the clearest look yet at what kind of horror experience Townfall will be. The Silent Hill franchise has sold over 17.1 million copies worldwide as of March 2026, and Townfall arrives as the third consecutive year of new mainline releases following Silent Hill 2 (2024) and Silent Hill f (2025).
What the New State of Play Trailer Revealed
Each Townfall trailer has been designed to continue directly where the previous one ended, gradually assembling a clearer picture of the game. The June 2 trailer did exactly that while delivering two significant new pieces of information.
First, a face and name were finally attached to the mysterious voice previously heard through Simon’s CRTV device. Zoe is a nurse working at a local family clinic in St. Amelia. She calls out to Simon to return to the island while simultaneously asking, “what are you doing here?” The contradiction sits at the center of the game’s psychological premise: Simon does not recognise St. Amelia, and he does not know Zoe, yet he is somehow compelled to be there.
Second, the trailer offered the first glimpse of a new creature stalking Simon through the Otherworld. Konami confirmed that not all enemies can be defeated in combat; some require pure evasion, making the CRTV and peek mechanic essential for survival rather than optional tools.
Gameplay: First-Person Horror with the CRTV at Its Core
Townfall is the first full-length Silent Hill game built entirely around a first-person perspective. Screen Burn director Jon McKellan said the choice was deliberate and design-essential rather than a stylistic experiment. A narrower field of view means players are frequently unaware of what is happening just out of sight, which is precisely where much of the franchise’s most effective horror has always lived.
The centrepiece mechanic is the CRTV, a handheld portable television that replaces the series’ iconic radio. While the original Silent Hill radio was largely passive, buzzing with static as enemies drew close, the CRTV does three distinct things at once. It actively outlines the silhouettes of nearby threats through walls and cover, picks up analogue signals from around St. Amelia that advance the story, and guides Simon through narrative-tied puzzles. On PS5, players can physically twist the DualSense controller to fine-tune the CRTV’s signal reception, creating a tactile feedback loop that would be impossible in third-person.
Survival in St. Amelia operates across three overlapping strategies:
- Stealth: Use the CRTV and the intuitive peek mechanic to assess enemy positions before committing to movement. Getting spotted triggers a full chase with severe consequences.
- Combat: Melee weapons such as planks and pipes are available alongside firearms. Fights are described as frenetic and visceral rather than tactical, keeping tension high at close range.
- Puzzles: Narrative-driven challenges are woven directly into the story rather than sitting as separate mechanical layers. Each puzzle was designed alongside the script, meaning solutions carry narrative weight and reveal something real about Simon’s connection to the town.
Multiple endings have been confirmed. Player choices throughout the game shape the final outcome and the emotional impression it leaves behind.
Setting and Story: Scotland, 1996, and a Town That Refuses to Stay Quiet
The game takes place in St. Amelia, a fictional island town on the Scottish coast, set in 1996. Simon Ordell repeatedly wakes up near the water at the town’s docks with no memory of how he arrived and no recognisable connection to the place. Driven to understand his situation, he begins uncovering fragments of a buried past as the fog-drenched town refuses to release him. The cyclical structure of Simon returning to the same starting point mirrors the franchise’s long tradition of using environment as psychological mirror.
St. Amelia was built with direct reference to St Monans, a real coastal village in Fife on Scotland’s east coast. Screen Burn documented the village’s street corners, bench placements, light quality, and coastal smell to reconstruct it as faithfully as possible. The intent was to make the game world feel genuinely grounded before the horror takes hold, because the dread works best when the familiar begins to fracture.
The score was composed by Pilotpriest, a Canadian composer and filmmaker known for his analogue synthesiser work. The soundtrack is fully dynamic, building and releasing tension in real time based on whether Simon is hiding, running, or fighting.
Developer Background: Screen Burn Interactive
Screen Burn Interactive is a Glasgow-based independent studio founded in 2015 under the name No Code. The studio rebranded to Screen Burn in July 2025 ahead of Townfall’s ramp toward launch. Their previous catalogue establishes exactly the kind of creative DNA Townfall is built on: Stories Untold (2017) used retro interface aesthetics to tell a fractured horror narrative, and Observation (2019) won a BAFTA Award for its claustrophobic, systems-driven approach to psychological tension. Both qualities are present in Townfall’s design DNA.
The game is built on Unreal Engine 5, enabling the detailed environmental fidelity that St. Amelia’s fog-layered streets require.
Platforms, Editions, and Pre-Order Details
At launch, Townfall is confirmed for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store only. Xbox Series X|S has not been announced. For context, the Silent Hill 2 remake launched on PS5 and PC in October 2024 and did not arrive on Xbox until approximately 13 months later, so a delayed Xbox release is plausible, but no version has been confirmed or dated.
| Edition | Price (USD) | What’s Included |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Edition | $49.99 | Full game, pre-order bonuses: CRTV Rusted skin, CRTV Beach Edition skin |
| Deluxe Edition | $59.99 | Full game, 48-hour early access (from Sep 21), Simon Alternate outfit, digital artbook, digital soundtrack via Bonus Application |
| Physical Edition (EMEA) | Retail pricing | Standard physical content plus an exclusive SteelBook at select retailers (Amazon UK, MediaMarkt DE, MicroMania FR, GAME Spain, Game Life IT, ZGames ME) |
Pre-orders opened on June 3, 2026. The Deluxe Edition’s early access window begins September 21, two days before the general PC unlock date on Steam and three days before the full PS5 launch on September 24.
PS5-Specific Features
Screen Burn put notable effort into the DualSense integration. Adaptive triggers replicate the resistance of firearms. Haptic feedback communicates the weight of approaching creature footsteps while Simon is hiding, giving players a physical warning layer that supplements the CRTV’s visual information. The motion-control feature for signal-tuning is perhaps the most distinctive implementation: physically rotating the controller mimics the act of adjusting the CRTV’s antenna, making the device feel like something Simon is actually holding.
What Players Are Asking
Is this connected to the original Silent Hill story?
No. Townfall is a fully self-contained entry in the franchise. It does not require knowledge of earlier games and features an entirely new protagonist, setting, and storyline. The game operates on the principle that Silent Hill is a psychological phenomenon, not a fixed location, meaning its horror can surface anywhere, including a remote Scottish island in 1996.
How long is the game?
No official runtime has been provided. Screen Burn describes it as a “full-length” experience. Based on the scope described and the studio’s previous work, a main story completion somewhere between 8 and 12 hours is a reasonable expectation, with multiple endings extending replay value.
Does it support multiple languages?
Steam lists 13 supported languages, with English confirmed for both full audio and subtitles. French, Italian, German, and Spanish are confirmed for interface and subtitles. Full language support details beyond that will be clearer closer to launch.
What are the PC system requirements?
Minimum specifications target 1080p at 30fps on Low settings: Windows 11, an RTX 2060 Super or RX 6600, 16 GB RAM, and 75 GB storage. Recommended specifications target 4K at 30fps on High settings using DLSS, FSR, or TSR: RTX 3080 or RX 7800 XT, and 32 GB RAM. Both tiers require DirectX 12.
Will it come to Nintendo Switch 2?
No Switch 2 version has been announced. Current platform confirmations are limited to PS5 and PC.
