Silent Hill: The Short Message Plot Leaks Prior To Announcement

While a slew of Silent Hill games and even movies were confirmed during the Silent Hill Transmission last year, Silent Hill: The Short Message wasn't one of them. However, fans have uncovered a myriad of information about the likely upcoming game, even recently discovering the entire plot for Silent Hill: The Short Message in the Australian Classification Board's annual report. The news comes a little over a year after South Korea's rating board initially leaked the game's title in September 2022.

The board's description of The Short Message goes on to call the title an "exploration‑based psychological horror game" in which players control a character named Anita as she explores a German apartment building called The Villa in first-person.  Throughout the game, players will "collect clues and uncover what has happened to [Anita's] friend."

The report calls Silent Hill: Transmission a computer game, mentioning that it'll be rated MA 15+ and will likely be available on PC, much like the Silent Hill 2 remake. The game will feature "strong suicide themes, horror violence, and coarse language" - all things one would expect from a Silent Hill game. Based on the description, it also touches on topics of abuse.

According to the Australian Classification Board's report, the game handles these heavy topics as gracefully as possible, earning Silent Hill: The Short Message its MA 15+ rating in Australia.

"Throughout the game, cut scenes depicting self‑harm and suicide are followed by black screens which feature white text encouraging players to seek treatment and help if they are at risk of self‑harm and suicide and to offer support if they see people around them struggling,"  the report reads, "In the Board’s opinion, depictions of suicide and self‑harm within the game occur in the broader context of discourse exploring issues revolving around mental health which encourages players to seek help or offer support to those in need."