Gaming’s biggest horror series are more vital than ever

Resident Evil and Silent Hill are both thriving with new spins on survival horror.

Resident Evil and Silent Hill are both thriving with new spins on survival horror.

by

Andrew Webster

Sep 25, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

Image: Annapurna Interactive

Andrew Webster

is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.

For the third year in a row, I’ve been scared out of my wits by a newSilent Hillgame. First it wasthe modern remake ofSilent Hill 2, thenthe Japan-set spinoffSilent Hill F. Now I find myself slowly crawling through a quaint Scottish town inSilent Hill: Townfall, trying my best not to get brutally murdered by demonic creatures chasing me through the streets. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a franchise that once seemed like it was on life support. And when you combine it with a strong run fromResident Evilacross gamesandfilm, you have gaming’s two biggest horror franchises both at the height of their powers.

ForResident Evil, it’s been a steady buildup, but it really startedwithResident Evil 7nearly a decade ago. It jolted the series back to life with a first-person perspective that made its scares feel more visceral. Since then, Capcom has settled on an effective strategy of alternating between bottom-up remakes of classics likeResident Evil 4, and new spins on the formula, like thevampire-tingedVillage. This has allowed the studio to be more experimental with the mainline titles; this year’sRequiem, for instance, was a bold attempt to merge two types ofResident Evilgames together,mixing straight-up action with first-person terror.

Resident Evilhas always had an uneven track record when it comes to adaptations,like the largely forgettable live-action Netflix series. But that may be changing. Last week a reboot of the film series premiered, called simplyResident Evil, helmed byWeaponsdirector Zach Cregger. It explored the zombie franchise from a new viewpoint: Instead of following iconic characters like Leon or Claire, it was centered on a hapless delivery driver who served as a stand-in for a player who is terrible at survival horror games. LiketheExit 8movie,Resident Evilexplores its source material through the lens of the player.The result was equal parts hilarious and horrifying— there were scenes where gore dripped from ceilings, and a particularly terrifying long-limbed baby — and it also hadthe best box office opening in franchise history.

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Silent Hillhas followed a similar trajectory, albeit on a smaller scale. After lying largely dormant followingthe 2015 cancellation ofSilent Hills, a reboot led by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, Konami signaled a return for the franchise witha series of announcements in 2022. Not everything has been a winner — a film came out earlier this year with little fanfare, and the less said aboutthe bizarre interactive TV seriesAscensionthe better — but when it comes to gamesSilent Hillhas been on a roll. TheSilent Hill 2remake set the stage, introducing arguably the most beloved title in the series to a new audience, whileSilent Hill Foffered a freshly horrifying experience through its setting and more RPG-focused gameplay.

Townfalllikewise expands the idea of what aSilent Hillgame can be. It launches this week on the PS5 and PC, and is developed by Screen Burn, an indie studio known for games likeObservation. You play as a man named Simon who arrives at a small Scottish town where it’s immediately evident something is wrong; it seems completely deserted and is shrouded in the classicSilent Hillfog. Oh yeah, and screeching creatures ripped out ofHellraiserstalk the streets. From there you have to figure out what actually happened, and try your best not to die at the hands of a mutated monstrosity.

What’s most notable aboutTownfallis how it plays. It has much in common with “walking simulator” games likeFirewatchandEverybody’s Gone to the Rapture, where the experience is about exploring a space and uncovering a story organically. Here that means poking around in abandoned homes and medical centers, reading through files and listening to phone messages that reveal the extent of the town’s horrific history. The game then layers on more traditional horror elements.

There’s some light combat, but mostly there’s a big focus on stealth: to get where you need to go you’ll often have to sneak past unpredictable monsters, who hunt mindlessly while screeching and writhing in pain. This plays out a little likeAlien: Isolation; you have a handheld device that tells you where enemies are, and you can hide in closets and sheds in hopes they don’t spot you. It’s incredibly scary, and still feels intrinsically like aSilent Hillgame, despite the shifts in gameplay and setting.

The triumphant return ofResident EvilandSilent Hillis coming at a particularly exciting time for horror, withbreakout successes at the box officeanda promising waveofstreaming series. The genre is having a moment — and despite being around for decades, both series are hitting a fresh stride at just the right time

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