Hideo Kojima Seemingly Hid a Silent Hill References in His OD Trailer

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Hideo Kojima formally revealed his next game, OD (Overdose), at The Game Awards last week. And while there is plenty to say about it, such as the fact that Jordan Peele and Euphoria actress Hunter Schafer are tied to the project, the biggest surprise appears to be what may be Silent Hill references in the trailer.

The first one that many people quickly pointed out was at the 1:14 timestamp in the trailer. You can see a door through actress Sophia Lillis’ eyes. Many have quickly pointed out that it appears to be a reference or easter egg of sorts for the opening scene of P.T. — the playable teaser for the canceled game Silent Hills, which Kojima was working on before his falling out with Konami.

It does not help that Kojima would appear on stage walking through a door similar to the one shown in the first few seconds of P.T. after the OD trailer premiered at The Game Awards.

HIDEO KOJIMA PT REFERENCE WE ARE SO BACK pic.twitter.com/syN8UFGyqI

— esteemed colleague (@carcrashsaint) December 8, 2023

Then fans on Reddit spotted the quick shot of an MRI brain scan and suggested that the glimpse of it was referring to the brightness slider that P.T. had to adjust the brightness.

Now, you are probably thinking those two references could be a stretch. But the next reference, as spotted by Central Xbox is in the OD trailer. When actor Udo Kier appears, fans notice that letters appear in his mouth. Now, those who spotted this had to slow down the trailer and adjust the brightness, but analyzing the frames closely; it was discovered that those letters spelled the word “Atami.”

Foi descoberto que durante o trailer de OD, algumas letras aparecem durante os frames. Elas formam a palavra Atami, que é uma cidade em Shizuoka, em JP é 静岡

Separando os kanjis e pegando sua tradução literal, nós temos:
静: quieto, silencioso (silent, quiet)
岡: colina (hill) pic.twitter.com/e47ESzlokM

— Central Xbox (@centralxboxbr) December 11, 2023

As Central Xbox notes, Atami is a city located in the Shizuoka prefecture of Japan, but the account also pointed out that a loose English translation when separating the kanjis of Shizouka means “silent hill.”

Kojima and his studio worked on Silent Hills from 2012 until 2015 when Konami officially canceled the project. The game would have included actor Norman Reedus as the main protagonist, and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was also tied to the project. In the years since, P.T. — which was pitched as a platable test demo — has become popular obsession, with fans porting it to numerous platforms. Kojima remains estranged from Konami, but fans continue to have plenty of conspiracy theories over whether he’ll eventually return to the series.

OD, for its part, does not have a release date. For more, check out everything else announced at The Game Awards.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.