Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of the Silent Hill, Siren, and the Gravity Rush series, has shared concept art from the first game by Bokeh Game Studio.
As previously reported, Toyama left Sony Japan Studio in early December 2020, forming his own independent game development studio- Bokeh Game Studio.
As CEO of Bokeh Game Studio, Toyama is CEO and was joined by Sato Kazunobu and Junya Okura. Both of them also left Sony Japan Studio, and joined Bokeh as COO and CTO, respectively.
Now, in a video on Bokeh Game Studio’s official YouTube channel, Toyama discussed his career and upcoming projects. He reveals that while he loved playing games as a child, he never imagined going into a career of making them. After going to art school, he then considered becoming a creator as more developers sought young and fresh talent. He was surprised how naturally the job came to him.
Toyama explains how he founded Bokeh Game Studio to make games in his own style, and focused on particular audiences rather than the widest audience possible. He compared this to Sony, where he says their audiences have become wider. “I aspire to make IPs that fans can enjoy even ten, twenty years after they’re released.”
Toyama then explains a little bit about Bokeh Game Studio’s first game. Based on what he says and the concept art shown, it seems it will have horror elements, but may focus on still entertaining and exciting the player in other ways.
“Regarding our first game, I have multiple directions for my works. The one I took is quite dark, far from my more recent titles. It’s like I’m coming back to my roots, for example towards horror. My ideas were starting to go that direction. This is where I’m taking my first title.
However, rather than something deeply rooted into horror, I want to keep an entertainment note. While keeping elements from horror, I want the player to feel exhilarated when playing the game.
The view I have of horror is the everyday life being shaken. Rather than showing scary things, it should question our position, make us challenge the fact that we’re living peacefully. I like bringing this type o thoughts in my concepts. I would like that to be the theme of my next game.”
Continuing, Toyama explains how he often reads comics, and the trend of the “death game” genre (Toyama likely means manga here). He describes how they add brutality to entertainment is something he enjoys, and how he “took that approach.”
He explains how those stories involve regular people driven into irrational situations, who are emotionally on the edge when dealing with action or drama. This is something Toyama will show in his next game, but he never explicitly states it will be a death game style of story.
Discussing how his games often involve how people “evolve” within a city or village, he explains he was also inspired by such locations this time as well, including from a trip to an Asian city. Toyama explains he started by building up the game’s locations.
Toyama also discussed his love of photography, and how he tries to capture how he feels with them. Thanks to the nostalgia they bring back, Toyama revealed he keeps a camera on him at all times. He explains how photography is the only ay he can easily express his interpretation of the world.
You can find the full video below.
