If you are a fan of Silent Hill then you should have been following the news recently as Konami announced various features, locations and information regarding the eighth instalment of the beloved survival horror series. Unlike the recent Homecoming, thankfully the creators behind Silent Hill: Downpour have stated that the game is a new chapter in the Silent Hill series, and extremely distant from it's predecessors. This hopefully means no more battering of the popular nemesis Pyramid Head, thank god! Because the fanboy-ish clinging to his character is absolutely ridiculous, and really took the series downhill when he became it's posterchild.

Instead Konami have turned to Vatra Games, a little known Czech company banded together of retiring 2K Czech employees, with the promises made on the title already and without a Pyramid Head in sight, will Vatra prove that Eastern European companies are truly fantastic at making games.

Silent Hill: Downpour focuses on Murphy Pendleton who is left stranded in the woods of Silent Hill after the prison transport vehicle he was riding in has a bit of an accident. Murphy will have to arm himself with ordinary objects in order to battle the monsters in his mind as he walks through the foggy locations of Silent Hill that are promised to be all-new environments that players will never have before seen.

One very big difference with Downpour that differs to previous games in the series is that it will not have an inventory system, meaning that Murphy can only pick up one weapon at a time, and weapons will not necessarily last you a life time; a very tasking and brilliant mechanic for Survival Horror games that will bring Silent Hill back to the base fear of being unable to stockpile weapons.

The new screenshots that Konami have unveiled showing us the locations of The Diner and The Devil's Pit look absolutely beautiful, and it looks like Silent Hill has taken a gander at Alan Wake's spectacular environments for the sleepy suburban town. Although most will bemoan the downfall of the series for the leave of Akira Yamaoka there’s no fear that Silent Hill: Downpour will be nothing other than spectacular, from the screenshots to the back to basics vibe that Konami are sending out. Hell, even with the music composition handed to Daniel Licht, who scores music for Dexter, it seems like Silent Hill can't fail.

I personally couldn't be more pleased with the news regarding Downpour, and it will hopefully bring the series back to the high plain in which it used to sit; firmly placed in the genre of survival horror rather than action-based adventure. Finally the series will take back its focus to a thought-provoking storyline alongside insanely difficult puzzles intent on leaving you screaming in frustration, so why would should you fear anything?

Silent Hill: Downpour is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2011 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, we seriously can't wait for the long awaited return of Silent Hill to the true Survival Horror genre.