The '90s are a "perfect time for horror," says Silent Hill: Townfall dev who wants the game to make you feel technologically vulnerable

"There's a couple of different reasons for" Silent Hill: Townfall's 1996 setting, writer Jon McKellan tells GamesRadar+ at Gamescom 2026. But they're all meant to make you feel uncomfortable. "Some are narrative," McKellan continues, referencing the state of small, working class towns in Scotland during the post-Margaret Thatcher '90s. You don't have maps on your device to help you get around, but it's also not so far back that you don't have anything at all." Latest Videos FromGamesRadar+ "Especially, like, Screen Burn's history" – gameplay in developer's 2017 game Stories Untold utilizes '80s hardware – "our games are quite, you know, dealing with archaic technology and old computers, and we were able to bring some of that into Townfall by setting it in a period where that kind of tech is new for Silent Hill, but not too modern." The earliest Silent Hill games, which were shipped only a few years after real-life 1996, hardly get more tech-heavy than a twitchy flashlight and a rusted steel pipe.