Konami and Genvid Entertainment have released a new video that explains how the interactive horror streaming series Silent Hill Ascension will work when it premieres at 9am GMT+8 on 1 November 2023; and it’s actually quite convoluted for no reason.

The premiere of Silent Hill Ascension will run about 45 minutes, with normal nightly episodes spanning about 5 to 15 minutes.

Silent Hill Ascension will be free to watch and interact with. The app , available from the App Store and Google Play, is also free to download. However, there is also an option to purchase a season pass, which unlocks a long list of in-game cosmetics, including stickers and character customization options.

Weirdly, viewers will be able to show off those cosmetics through cameo contests, and their in-app avatars will have the opportunity to show up as extras and in speaking roles.

Here’s how Silent Hill Ascension works:

The series will play out nightly, with new episodes premiering at 9am GMT+8. As episodes stream, viewers can vote in real-time, spending what are called Influence Points, or IP (styled as ?? in the app), to sway decisions. The more points you have, the stronger your influence.

IP can be purchased directly and unlocked through the season pass, but there are free ways to earn the points. In addition to its branching narrative scenes, Ascension has moments called Endurance Scenes, real-time QTEs that viewers can participate in to decide characters’ fate (and earn them IP).

Silent Hill Ascension also includes daily puzzles that will let players earn IP. These puzzles include things like a rhythm game in which players strum a guitar (to Akira Yamaoka Silent Hill songs, no less), lockboxes, hash puzzles, and a classic tile puzzle game. These puzzles can also be helpful in aiding the characters of Ascension, restoring their in-game Hope meter to keep them in play.

The Silent Hill Ascension season pass costs US$19.99, which contains six months of content. That six-month window includes the original 16-week playthrough of the interactive series, and new game plus-style replays, which will offer different outcomes.

Silent Hill Ascension can be streamed on Android and iOS devices, or through the official website here. Ascension will also stream as “packaged episodes,” factoring in viewers’ decisions, on a weekly basis through the Sony Pictures Core app, which is available on PS4, PS5, Sony’s Bravia televisions, and select Xperia smartphones.

It all sounds really confusing and convoluted. Why couldn’t have Konami released a game similar to Supermassive’s Until Dawn/The Quarry or a Telltale-like game? We’ll have to wait and see if all of this will be a hit with fans of the franchise.

Check out the trailer below: