Earlier last week, news broke that Bloober Team and Konami were teaming up for a strategic partnership, which of course has tongues wagging over a potential Silent Hill revival. Things have gotten even more interesting now that Twitter user Bobvids brought to light three Bloober Team projects that have received grants from the European Union’s Media Program over the course of several years.
Keep in mind that these have not been announced or acknowledged by Bloober Team. Furthermore, just because a project received a grant, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been seen to completion.
The first project is codenamed “H2O“, which turns out to have been 2019’s Layers of Fear 2. The project is described as a “hidden horror game” with “an intimate story revolving around a singular, specific character”, and features an artistic theme with “call-backs to Layers of Fear assets”. Given that Layers of Fear 2 took place on an ocean liner, the codename makes sense.
The second project is referred to as “BLACK”, and is a first-person title that features a mixture of exploration, survival and combat. The title will feature multiple endings, and features combat that “always poses a challenge and builds tension, suitable for a survival horror game.”
The last project is Dum Spiro, the title of which comes from a Latin sentence “dum spiro, spero” meaning “while I breathe, I hope”. The game takes place during 1941-44 in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto – a World War II ghetto established for Polish Jews. The player takes on the role of an imprisoned boy who “struggles against all odds in order to hide and save his little sister”. Dum Spiro will feature a branching plot divided into 3 acts, at the end of which the player must make a choice in determining which of the episodes they will play next. Your subsequent decisions affect the dilemmas you face in the following episode.
If you’re playing the Silent Hill sweepstakes, BLACK would be the more logical choice, though the description is vague enough that it could be another game entirely. Again, until Bloober Team or Konami say anything, it’s open to interpretation.