A Lesson That Sends Chills: Teacher Uses Hideo Kojima's Horror Game to Teach English

At a Japanese junior high school, an English teacher has come up with an unusual—and genuinely spooky—way to engage students: learning English by playing P.T., the infamous demo for the cancelled Silent Hills project led by Hideo Kojima.

According to Automaton, students were required to play the game in English. The teacher would pause at key moments and ask the class what action the character should take next. To do this, students used simple, everyday phrases like “walk around the room” or “answer the phone.” This approach created a tense yet engaging atmosphere, where kids practiced speaking English while experiencing genuine fear.

One moment that got a particularly strong reaction was when the in-game phone started ringing. The teacher encouraged students to communicate using “natural English expressions,” even as their nerves were tested.

P.T. was originally created as a playable teaser for Silent Hills, but in 2015, Konami cancelled the game following a dispute with Kojima. The demo was soon removed from PSN, but the teacher managed to secure a copy in time.

These days, Hideo Kojima is busy with new projects—including the horror game OD for Xbox Game Studios. He recently unveiled the first gameplay trailer, which fans noticed shares some similarities with P.T. The cast includes Sophia Lillis, Udo Kier, and Hunter Schafer, with a haunting knocking sound in the trailer that Kojima himself calls the “fear” at the heart of his new game.

Incidentally, Hideki Kamiya—the creator behind Okami, Resident Evil 2, Bayonetta, and Devil May Cry—has previously called on Kojima to make a new game in the spirit of P.T.