Silent Hill: Townfall Ditches the Radio for a Handheld CRTV, Out Sept 24
Silent Hill: Townfall is retiring the franchise’s trademark portable radio in favour of a hand-tuned CRT television, a device the developers call the “CRTV,” according to Sony’s PlayStation Blog. The upcoming first-person spin-off, developed by Glasgow studio Screen Burn Interactive and published by Konami with Annapurna Interactive, is due on PlayStation 5 and PC on September 24.
From Passive Static to a Hand-Tuned Signal
For more than two decades the crackle of a portable radio has told Silent Hill players that something monstrous was nearby, a mechanic connected to the crackle of static from a portable radio that dates back even to the original Silent Hill on PlayStation 1, as connected to the franchise as its iconic fog. Screen Burn is tearing that formula up rather than simply updating it.
Sony’s own description of the change is blunt: “the Silent Hill radio has often been a passive device, alerting the player to nearby enemies through the sound of static,” but “the CRTV takes this concept further.” Rather than just buzzing to signal danger, it is “a useful tool in encounters – allowing Simon to ‘see’ through the environment and locate nearby threats” while also picking up broadcasts scattered across the town that unlock story details and guide players through puzzles.
Game Informer’s hands-off preview of the demo confirms the device is more than a gimmick, describing it as “Townfall’s reinvention of the classic Silent Hill radio and the game’s centerpiece mechanic.” During exploration the CRTV effectively works “as a compass of sorts; following the static signal eventually leads him to a house.”
Director Jon McKellan on Evolving a 25-Year-Old Trope
Writer and director Jon McKellan explained the studio’s thinking directly on the PlayStation Blog. “Drawing on our previous experience designing interactive ‘retro’ user interfaces and VHS-style aesthetics, we wanted to take the handheld radio – an iconic tool of the Silent Hill series – and evolve it in our own way,” he said, adding that the result is “the ‘CRTV’ – a lovingly crafted device that uses real retro technology and innovative techniques to produce the gritty, authentic audio and video used throughout the game.”
The authenticity goes beyond design language. According to Game Informer’s preview, Screen Burn went as far as to record the CRTV’s videos using old cameras and equipment to create footage that matches the appropriate quality. Combined with a soundscape where there’s no music and the ambient noises that occasionally break the oppressive silence can be startling, the approach signals a deliberately stripped-back, analogue kind of dread rather than a modern HUD-driven warning system.
Simon Ordell, St. Amelia, and a Medical-Horror Hook
Townfall swaps the franchise’s familiar American-gothic backdrop for Screen Burn’s home turf. The story follows protagonist Simon Ordell, who investigates the fictional Scottish coastal town of St. Amelia in 1996 with help from nurse Zoe Ellis. GameSpot’s coverage of the reveal notes this marks the third Silent Hill game in three years following a 12-year gap between mainline titles, after Bloober Team’s remake and NeoBards’ Silent Hill f.
Behind the scenes, McKellan brings pedigree from another survival-horror landmark: he spent years at Creative Assembly on Alien Isolation before co-founding the studio behind Townfall, formerly known as No Code and best recognised for the sci-fi adventure Observation. That background appears to inform the game’s approach to danger, where, per Horror Obsessive’s reporting, combat exists but is framed as a last resort rather than the primary way of dealing with threats.
Stealth Over Firepower, First-Person Over Fixed Cameras
Screen Burn is also shifting the series to a first-person viewpoint for the first time, a change 80.lv’s hands-off preview says makes the CRTV concept land harder: the move to a first-person perspective has generated discussion among fans, but it also makes the CRTV concept significantly more effective, according to comments Screen Burn has made about the perspective. In practice, the device appears to double as a detection tool during encounters, with one demo segment showing the screen full of static acting almost like an X-ray or thermal detection device, sensing creatures through walls.
Horror Obsessive’s preview frames the CRTV as the game’s real conceptual core, noting it has to be pointed and tuned by hand, turning navigation itself into a source of tension, and that stealth is the actual language of the game, with the CRTV as how players speak it. That framing lines up with 80.lv’s read that the tool has shifted purpose entirely: where Silent Hill’s radio informed players that danger was nearby, Townfall’s CRTV appears designed to help players understand what that danger is, and how to avoid it.
A Scottish Setting Lands Alongside a Franchise-Wide Revival
Townfall’s confirmed September 24 date puts it right in the middle of a busy stretch for the series across film and games, following the 2024 Silent Hill 2 remake, last year’s Silent Hill f, and this year’s theatrical Return to Silent Hill. For Australian and New Zealand players who already track the franchise’s PlayStation-led rollouts closely, the PS5-and-PC-only launch window mirrors how Silent Hill f and the Silent Hill 2 remake reached the region, with local storefront listings expected to firm up closer to release.
Whether swapping a beloved radio for a hand-tuned television proves to be the series’ next great idea or its riskiest gamble won’t be clear until the full campaign is playable. But on the evidence of Screen Burn’s demos so far, Townfall is betting that dread built from a tool players have to work for beats one that simply beeps when danger is close.
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