Third-person? Not even on the table, according to the team behind Silent Hill: Townfall. John McKellan, the project’s director, says the game was planned as a first-person horror from the very beginning and that stance hasn’t shifted during development.
Screen Burn’s familiarity with first-person work is part of the story, yes. The bigger reason is the portable CRTV device they designed: an in-world gizmo meant to function like the old Silent Hill radio, e.g., a tool for detecting threats and unpicking puzzles. McKellan argues that putting that device into a third-person game would almost force it into the HUD — think mini‑map territory — and that, in his view, would sap a lot of the intended atmosphere.
They’re clear that first-person makes the CRTV feel natural and pulls players closer to the moment. Screen Burn’s past titles, Stories Untold and Observation, show their comfort with this approach, and McKellan — who also worked as an artist on Alien: Isolation — points to how a first-person camera can become an integral part of a game’s identity. Whether that choice pays off for everyone remains to be seen.
Sources: gamespot