During The Game Awards, Hideo Kojima debuted his new upcoming game, “OD” There wasn’t much to go based on the trailer to know exactly what kind of game it was, outside of being a horror experience. Something that has been very common with games by Kojima production is that the director seemingly loves to dish out weird hints, and that’s exactly what he’s done with OD, as fans have noticed a set of letters hidden away in the mouths of the actors through the trailer. 

OD Trailer – Hideo Kojima

At first glance, this appears to be a trailer featuring talking and screaming floating heads. That’s because it is, and it left many in the gaming community mostly confused. And though this provides no details as to what kind of game we can expect from OD, fans have examined the trailer frame by frame, and to their shocking revelation, have discovered that letters have been secretly placed inside the mouths of the actors. 

ATAMI
byu/Turik2507 inOD_Kojima

A total of five letters have been found, which end up spelling “ATAMI.” For those unaware, Atami is a real-world city, located in Shizuoka. This is important because it has been long speculated that Atami is the location where the Silent Hill franchise is based, with further evidence being that Shizuoka when written in Japan, translates to “Silent Hill.”

If you think that’s a reach, then you should also take into account that Kojima and Jordan Peele appeared out of a door that was obviously a clear reference to P.T., Kojima’s canceled Silent Hill project, dubbed Silent Hills. 

Mind you, Kojima loves playing mind games on his fanbase, as previously seen with Death Stranding and the Metal Gear Solid franchise. 

My take? I don’t think it’s a Silent Hill game at all. While Kojima could have simply omitted it so as to not spoil the surprise, none of Konami’s logos or trademarks are featured anywhere in the trailer or on the official OD website. There hasn’t even been a single mention from Konami themselves on it, but again that could be to hide the surprise. Though I do feel they’ve been pretty forward about their projects as of late. 

I think the reason why we are seeing so many references to P.T. and Silent Hill is simply because Kojima wants to make the game he’s always wanted to do. What we are seeing are old ideas repurposed for OD. So while it may point to Silent Hill, I think this will be more of a spiritual successor of sorts to it. 

But that’s speculation. I do think we should keep them in check however, as you may end up being disappointed when it turns out not being a new Silent Hill game from the studio. Either way, I expect the next year to be a crazy one, as more and more new things get uncovered leading to OD’s release, whenever that might be.