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CRTV - Version 7 vs Version 8
Sep 27, 2026, 05:31 AM
Changed the CRTV cosmetics to past tense now that the pre-order period has passed; added the in-hand controls, the enemy-alert pulse and reviewer-confirmed per-creature tuning
Sep 27, 2026, 05:35 AM
Added the official image of the two CRTV styles
11The CRTV is a pocket television Simon carries through SILENT HILL: Townfall, used to tune into unstable analog signals. It is the game's replacement for the series' handheld radio, and Screen Burn has said it is the single device the rest of the design was built around.22Official material puts the device at the centre of the story as well as the toolkit. Simon is described as "drawn into a journey shaped by cryptic messages received through a strange pocket television known as the CRTV and fragments of a past he can barely remember." What comes through the screen is written as messages rather than as interference: the signals mean something, and reading them is the point.44From Radio to Television66The idea of swapping the radio for something else was there from the start of development. "In the earliest stages, it was a standard radio, but we set a challenge for ourselves: how could we make the radio an active tool rather than a passive one?" Jon McKellan has said. Turning it into a device you watch as well as listen to opened up narrative presentation and stealth at the same time.88The physical design came from a real object. In Screen Burn's studio tour, McKellan holds up a very small handheld television and says it inspired the CRTV. The studio's earlier work leaned on interactive retro interfaces and VHS-style aesthetics, and McKellan has described analog technology as his visual calling card.1010There is a deliberate unease built into relying on it. "In a modern context, analog technology feels a bit unstable, unreliable, or hard to trust completely. We wanted to create a situation where players have to rely on this device to survive, even while feeling uneasy about relying on it too much."1212Tuning1414The CRTV is raised into view and tuned in real time; the player scrolls through frequencies looking for a usable signal rather than picking one from a menu. In the build played by press the tuning itself runs on the analogue triggers, with a couple of markers appearing along the bottom of the screen to hint at the signal to tune toward. On PlayStation 5 the tuning can be done with motion controls, twisting the device physically for better reception, and some puzzles require the CRTV to be tilted. A September 16, 2026 post co-written by the producer and the director describes using the motion controls to fine tune the CRTV as one option among the DualSense features, all customizable in the game's menu options, and the PlayStation Store lists the game as playable without motion controls. See PS5 Features for the controller side of that.1616The set itself is legible on screen, and enough of it is shown to read the controls.1919DetailWhat is shownBandsBoth VHF and UHF.Channel scaleA printed scale numbered 2 to 69 runs along the set.AerialA telescopic aerial that pulls up out of the casing.Tuning displayA "Fine Tune - Searching" state, with a horizontal slider across the screen and the UHF indicator lit.2121Seeing Threats2222Where the series radio warned passively through static, the CRTV is something you use. Tuning to certain signals lets Simon see creatures through walls and through fog, which turns it into the primary tool for reading a street before stepping into it. Used together with the peek system it is how most encounters get avoided rather than fought. The encounter side is covered on Combat and Stealth.2424PlayStation's own explainer of September 21, 2026 describes how it works in the hand: L1 holds the CRTV up in front of Simon so that both its screen and the world around it stay in view, tuning to different frequencies shows the positions of nearby enemies, and the DualSense gives a haptic pulse when a new enemy is near. Reviews of the released game add that creatures are tuned one at a time, a single creature per frequency, so tracking more than one means cycling through signals, and that the screen shows where a creature is and which way it faces even through walls.2626Finding the Way2828A tuned signal will often name or show the next place Simon needs to reach, and then leave him to find it. The player watches the footage, works out which building or street it depicts, and goes looking. In the gameplay trailer that loop plays out in the open: a signal resolves and the next chapter is Simon exploring the house it showed him. This is the CRTV's headline function in practice, and it is why the device and the map are the two things worth checking constantly.3030What resolves is a short video clip that loops rather than a spoken instruction, so the work is in reading the picture. The player watches it round, picks out whatever detail identifies a place, and goes looking for it. Press accounts describe the hints as deliberately indirect, which is what turns the device into a puzzle in its own right rather than a waypoint marker.3232Stripped back, the loop is simple: a signal resolves to a physical location, and the player travels there. The rest of what the device does hangs off that one movement, which is why it doubles as the game's puzzle spine as much as its navigation.3434The other half of getting there is the paper map, which is covered with the save system on Map and Saving. The device itself sits alongside the game's other carried objects on Items and Inventory.3636Story Signals3838Signals drifting around town also carry story fragments and clues. They relate directly to Zoe's past and to the island's, and some of them play as video recordings of events Simon does not remember. Store copy describes the effect as reliving past events and catching glimpses of everyday life in town. Narrative puzzles are built on top of these fragments rather than sitting apart from them.4040Getting the Device4343In the build shown to press, Simon finds the CRTV in a bedroom during the prologue, after being pulled into an underground structure and led, impossibly, to an apartment. Tuning it there is what gets him back to the streets of St. Amelia.4545Appearance4747Two cosmetics that change how the CRTV looks were offered as pre-order bonuses. Konami's launch announcement lists both as Standard Edition early purchase or pre-order bonus items.4949CosmeticHow it is obtainedCRTV Style: RustedPre-order bonus on every platform and edition. See Editions and Pre-Order Bonuses.CRTV Style: Beach EditionPre-order bonus, marked by Konami as a PlayStation 5 exclusive.51+How the signal footage was produced is a piece of art direction rather than a mechanic, and is covered on Art Direction and Presentation.
