Ya Es Oficial: Silent Hill Origings: ¡¡no Es Ramake!! Y Primeras Imagenes

Silent Hill franchise literally reinvented survival horror, where the true monster that wasn't necessarily the grotesque creatures that came at you on the screen, but the entire town that you found yourself in. The town of Silent Hill felt alive and malevolent, which added to the tension whenever your surroundings went from something familiar to the extremely strange. Now the place you would never want to visit is revisiting its roots as it leaps from consoles to the PSP with Silent Hill Origins.

We got a chance to take a look at this original tale, which reveals the history about what turned Silent Hill into such an incredibly twisted town to begin with. The story will center around a lone truck driver who's in the middle of a routine delivery and finds himself trapped in the city limits. Unfortunately, this man has an extremely troubled past, and as we discovered, had severe hallucinations and delusional episodes. As the town begins its descent into the madness that grips its streets and buildings, the player will be forced to confront these hallucinations as well as the strange monsters that inhabit Silent Hill.

Konami has gone out of its way to redefine the series to take advantage of the PSP, particularly with a new gameplay feature called the Barricade System. In previous Silent Hill titles, you essentially had to fight or flee, as there wasn't really a way to avoid pursuing monsters. With the Barricade System, you have the option to manipulate the environment, pushing furniture, scattered debris and other objects together to create obstacles that will impede their progress, giving you a little bit of sanctuary from the beasts for a short while.

We also gained some clues into the horror that the main character may have to come to grips with. Many of the images that we obtained show a number of hospital scenes, which seems to indicate at least a period of institutionalization when he was younger. It would also appear that the town seems to be feeding off of these traumatic memories, as a number of the monsters seem influenced by the mentally ill or infirmed. One creature appeared as if it was in a straightjacket, while another seemed fused to an off-kilter wheelchair.

With new control and combat schemes, as well as a new camera that's been specifically optimized for the PSP's button layout and a musical score by series composer Akira Yamaoka, Silent Hill Origins will be coming out next year. We'll have more details on this portable fright fest soon, but for now, check out some of these screens.