SILENT HILL: Townfall began as a concept during the 2020 lockdown, was announced in October 2022, then went almost entirely quiet for more than three years before a full reveal in February 2026. Screen Burn has framed that gap itself as the end of one act and the start of another.
Concept and Announcement
The studio, then still called No Code, met Annapurna Interactive and Konami not long after shipping Observation in 2019. "We started working on a concept in lockdown," the studio wrote later. The project was announced publicly on October 20, 2022, with a teaser trailer that had gone up the previous day.
Very little published in the years that followed describes the game as it exists now. The 2026 reveal was presented in a substantially different form, so material from the 2022 to 2025 window should not be treated as a description of the current game. One thread does connect the two: Screen Burn and Konami have both confirmed that the February 2026 trailer picks up where the 2022 teaser left off, showing the same pocket television and finally revealing who it belongs to.
The Quiet Years
In September 2024, Annapurna Interactive's games staff resigned as a group after a failed negotiation to spin the division out. Reported headcounts differ, so no precise number is recorded here. Annapurna publicly confirmed that this project would continue: "We deeply apologize for any concerns about SILENT HILL: Townfall. SILENT HILL: Townfall will continue to be co-developed by KONAMI, Annapurna Interactive, and No Code." That statement predates the studio's rename, which is why it uses the older name.
On July 23, 2025, No Code became Screen Burn, and the studio used the announcement to acknowledge the silence directly: a decade in, still crafting a nightmare, a small team making a big game, and asking for patience. The reasoning behind the name change is on the Screen Burn page.
The 2026 Campaign
Date | Beat |
|---|---|
February 12, 2026 | State of Play reveal, alongside a SILENT HILL Transmission broadcast. The first full trailer, and the first look at first-person gameplay and the CRTV. |
February 13, 2026 | Konami confirms a 2026 release window. |
March 2 and 3, 2026 | Inside Screen Burn, a two-part studio documentary covering the Glasgow studio and location research on the Scottish east coast. |
April 7, 2026 | Composer announced, with the track "Home" released alongside footage of St. Amelia locations. |
June 2, 2026 | State of Play. Release date set to September 24, Zoe revealed, pre-orders open. |
June 3, 2026 | Konami press release with the full edition and pre-order breakdown. |
July 15, 2026 | Tokyo media premiere with Jon McKellan and Motoi Okamoto. |
July 29 and 30, 2026 | Hands-on preview embargo lifts, followed by developer interviews and a roundtable. |
August 19, 2026 | Gameplay trailer, over eighteen minutes long, covering two sections of the game with official chapter markers. |
Press who played the game did so in July 2026, in sessions of roughly three to four hours held at a hotel in Los Angeles, followed by developer roundtables. Those sessions covered the opening of the game only, and everything reported from them describes a pre-release build. The build was characterised as near-final.
Still to Come
A further trailer is scheduled for Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, 2026, with Konami running a booth from August 26 to 30 featuring an interactive Townfall experience. Neither has happened yet, and nothing about either should be treated as delivered. Launch follows on September 24, 2026.
Production Notes
Voice-over and motion capture were both recorded for the game. McKellan has described writing to the composer's demo tracks before either was captured, using the music to work out pacing and atmosphere first. Environment research trips to the Scottish coast fed directly into the art, and the engine and presentation choices are covered on Art Direction and Presentation.