The Stranger Things 3 trailer has arrived, offering fans of the Netflix series a closer look at its upcoming third season. However, one eagle-eyed Hideo Kojima fan has noticed some key similarities between the trailer and the legendary developer’s Silent Hills/P.T. concept trailer. Kojima himself seemingly supports this theory, sharing it with his Twitter followers.
Twitter user SMaojinxTPOWx made the observation, tweeting: “This [Stranger Things 3] trailer is literally referencing Silent Hills P.T. Concept Trailer, The toys walking down the hallway, even the radio matches the one from MGSV that plays the 204863 Easter Egg Tape.”
In the 2014 Silent Hills concept trailer, toys are shown making their way down a creepy corridor towards an appropriately terrifying slug creature. In the Stranger Things 3 trailer, toys are also shown scuttling down a hallway, seemingly acting of their own free will and scaring Dustin in the process. The two scenes may conclude differently — in the Silent Hills concept trailer the slug creature is shown murdering a half-naked man, while in Stranger Things 3 Dustin is being pranked by his friends — but the general concept is the same.
Comparisons of the two trailers were shared by the user, highlighting their similarities:
— S-Maojin-xTPOWx (@SMaojinxTPOWx) March 20, 2019
Additionally, the radio that made its way into Metal Gear Solid V as part of a P.T. Easter egg was also present and correct in the Strangers Things 3 trailer:
— S-Maojin-xTPOWx (@SMaojinxTPOWx) March 20, 2019
It’s unknown if Stranger Things 3 creators Matt and Ross Duffer took inspiration from the Silent Hills trailer and Hideo Kojima’s work, or if this is all a happy coincidence. However, Matt Duffer has previously stated that Stranger Things was inspired by the Silent Hill franchise in several interviews.
In an interview with AV Club, Matt said: “There are so many other influences in there, too. We play a lot of video games — there’s a Silent Hill vibe.” In another interview with Variety, he said: We talked about “Silent Hill,” the video games were an inspiration, and “Alien” was an inspiration, in terms of the look.”
It isn’t that much of a stretch, then, to assume that the Duffer Brothers watched the Silent Hills trailer and liked what they saw. We’ll have to wait until Stranger Things 3‘s Netflix premiere on July 4, 2019, to see if there are any more spooky Silent Hill references — maybe we’ll see Pyramid Head wandering the Upside Down?
