Isn't the rumor that he was working on a silent hill reboot? Maybe he didn't agree with the direction it was going and someone else from the team took over.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Keiichiro Toyama: "I founded Bokeh Game Studio in order to keep making games in my own style", first game is "quite dark"
- Thread starter stryke
- Start date
some other new art works from the video
Bokeh Game Studio CEO Keiichiro Toyama discusses first game in ‘Focus’ creator spotlight
Bokeh Game Studio, the new studio founded by Silent Hill, SIREN, and Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama, has published a nine-minute “Focus” video introducing the CEO and creative di…www.gematsu.com
I'm already scared. 😱
Wishing him and the studio the best, its scary and exciting to go off and do your own thing. One particular point that stood out to me is where he shortly talked about game creation and photography and control of his vision. When automation tools take off for gaming, it's going to be one hell of a golden age for creatives in this space.
Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.
Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.
It's pretty funny if he left Sony to "keep making games in his own style" while he's also making one of his own style of games for Sony even after he left.
It feels like he was feeling creatively stifled and limited at Sony, hence leaving to start his own studio to make a horror game...but he's also making a horror game for Sony? Like none of it really lines up or makes logical sense.
You bet he has. Silent Hill, Siren, Gravity Rush.
It is a different relationship if you are first, second or third party.
I just don't see why he would want to work on two horror games at the same time. Or why he would make one horror game for Sony, quit halfway through and leave to make his own horror game, but KEEP CONSULTING on the first one.
It feels to me like the genesis of this whole rumor was Toyama tried to get a horror project together at Sony last year, the project either got cancelled or failed to get greenlit mid-year and Toyama left as a result, taking some of his ideas with him to start his own studio.
I just can't see him doing both.
But that's effective to establish the characters through gameplay. They're not trained soldiers like Resident Evil, they're regular people. At least if we're talking about Siren and Silent Hill. I'd like to see more games where the gameplay and controls matched the theme and characters to achieve ludonarrative resonance.
Nah, I finished Siren 2 recently and these characters are way clunkier than normal people.
He takes it too far.
So you have reasonable expectations of what is happening with that rumor unlike most of the people still perpetuating it. I'm just glad he is still making video games, it doesn't have to be Silent Hill for it to be good.
agreed. it's just hard to believe the creator of a series being given the chance to work on the series again after 20 years, and then leave before it's announced, much less released.
It's probably a deliberate choice to do that considering 4 of his horror games are like that, and people are free to have their interpretations on whether they like it or not. I'd be more surprised if his next horror games had very responsive controls and combat.
Hope it succeeds, I'm all for more horror games, especially from someone with the pedigree like Toyama. Does seem to put the kibosh on some of the Silent Hill stuff, otherwise it would be very weird for him to leave Sony.
Didn't he previously state he made Gravity Rush because him and his team were fatigued with working on horror material for so long? I suppose he got over that fatigue with Gravity Rush and wants back in? He's good at horror so it's probably a good call but I really grew to like his team's style with Gravity Rush. It was definitely much more enjoyable for me than Siren was.
Not surprised that he'd go back to horror, but the games of his I have personally played and am very very fond of are both Gravity Rush games. So in a way that's disappointing to hear, but I'll keep an eye out and see if I can stomach it since I've been interested in both SH and Siren anyway.
Got around to watching the video with English subtitles and some points I thought were interesting.
Founded the new studio so that he could keep making his style of games. He feels that the IPs he makes can be enjoyed long after they come out. Talked about how games are made for mass audiences now, but his games have always found their own audiences.
The new game has dark horror elements, but he wants the player to feel exhilarated while playing it. He wants that mix between horror & fun & exciting.
He enjoys comics and he's enjoyed the death game genre, how it takes normal people and puts them in exciting & unusual life or death situations. He thinks that the new game will be inspired by that.
The city or town that a game take place in is crucial (definitely true of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush). Talked about how many Asian cities have a touch of exotic mixed with modern. He wants to capture that.
He's a big fan of photography (which you could probably guess from the name of the studio).
Founded the new studio so that he could keep making his style of games. He feels that the IPs he makes can be enjoyed long after they come out. Talked about how games are made for mass audiences now, but his games have always found their own audiences.
The new game has dark horror elements, but he wants the player to feel exhilarated while playing it. He wants that mix between horror & fun & exciting.
He enjoys comics and he's enjoyed the death game genre, how it takes normal people and puts them in exciting & unusual life or death situations. He thinks that the new game will be inspired by that.
The city or town that a game take place in is crucial (definitely true of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush). Talked about how many Asian cities have a touch of exotic mixed with modern. He wants to capture that.
He's a big fan of photography (which you could probably guess from the name of the studio).
It's worth noting that they have previously said their first game will not be a pure horror title. So for those expecting silent hill or siren don't set your expectations there.
I'm more into Gravity Rush than both Silent Hill and SIREN, so the idea of "horror themes but focused on entertainment rather than pure horror" sounds fantastic to me. While I'm not that into pure horror, I find the horror inspiration to be a godsend for good enemy design and variety. His description of what defines horror from his perspective also fits very nicely with my own preferences. Fuan no Tane is probably my single favorite horror thing ever.
Whatever it is, I'm definitely supporting them. I've been a little disappointed with Sony's first party output since pretty much Gravity Rush 2, so whenever one of the people responsible for making the games that made me care about their output in the first place branches off, I have to put my money where my mouth is. Just recently played Gravity Rush 2 for the first time, it was a very uneven game, with some of the worst chapters of both games by far. But it also had some incredibly high highs, and I definitely don't regret playing it, and it'll leave an impression on me for sure.
Whatever it is, I'm definitely supporting them. I've been a little disappointed with Sony's first party output since pretty much Gravity Rush 2, so whenever one of the people responsible for making the games that made me care about their output in the first place branches off, I have to put my money where my mouth is. Just recently played Gravity Rush 2 for the first time, it was a very uneven game, with some of the worst chapters of both games by far. But it also had some incredibly high highs, and I definitely don't regret playing it, and it'll leave an impression on me for sure.
You mean the game you could not stop port begging about on the old place? 🤣
I doubt it would happen, but if Microsoft did pick them up, that would just add to the ridiculousness of their portfolio; having both the creator of Resident Evil AND the creator of Silent Hill on the pay roll. More than happy with them being independent, but it's just a funny thought.
Everyone wants to jump on the samurai ninja trend.
But this looks like some hiphop ninja with soundtrack from DJ Krush and some triphop.
Those dense apartment houses and that closes airplane reminds me of the first Ghost in The Shell movie aswell as Tekkon Kinkreet and Kowloon in Hong Kong (which propably inspired Gravity Rush)
And I can see som French Belgian visual novel inspirations too in that watered down colors.
But this looks like some hiphop ninja with soundtrack from DJ Krush and some triphop.
Those dense apartment houses and that closes airplane reminds me of the first Ghost in The Shell movie aswell as Tekkon Kinkreet and Kowloon in Hong Kong (which propably inspired Gravity Rush)
And I can see som French Belgian visual novel inspirations too in that watered down colors.
We need more independent Japanese studios. They really make the most interesting looking games outside of indie studios.