For us Silent Hill fans, it’s been a long time between drinks. After the collapse of Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills over a decade ago, I’d almost lost all hope. That is until Konami broadcasted a special Transmission a few years back that informed us that a WHOLE BUNCH of new Silent Hill adventures were heading our way!
Kicking off with the incredible Silent Hill 2 remake last year — sure it wet the appetite, but finally, we have an all new installment in the franchise: Silent Hill f.
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FOG TOWN – Narrative
On the surface, Silent Hill f could just be a story about a small mountain town in 1960’s Japan being overrun by mysterious and grotesque monsters. But as you dig deeper into the game, the narrative’s themes shine through the fog.
We meet our heroine, Hinako, immediately after she has had a huge argument with her parents, and is seeking out her schoolmates for some solace. All of a sudden a heavy fog engulfs her hometown, quickly followed by a bunch of nightmarish monsters. Your task is to help her find her friends and family and get out of Dodge (or Ebisugaoka.)
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Just as you would expect with a Silent Hill game, the story is riddled with metaphors and ambiguity. This can be frustrating for some, but magical for those who open their minds. Each player could take something completely different away from the game with every playthrough.
The narrative hits some deep notes. Demons in the game generally represent Hinanko’s own. Playing on the fears of a schoolgirl, some as simple as wondering if your friends like you — others a bit more serious like an abusive father. There’s even a demon that comes off as a handsy pervert.
Hinako is also battling herself throughout the game. Her younger self is struggling to hold on to the independent ideals of her youth. But she is evolving into womanhood, and fighting the urge to be what is expected of her: married off and unhappy. This is all masterfully woven together into the nightmare that is unfolding as the game moves along.
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DARK SHRINE – Level Design
Throughout the game you will jump between the ‘real’ world, Fog Town and the nightmare world, Dark Shrine. You’re never really sure what you’re seeing is real, or just a part of Hinako’s psyche breaking down.
Fog Town gives you a similar feel to Silent Hill 2’s gloomy streets, just in a Japanese setting. But the Dark Shrine feels a little different. Gone is the rotting warehouse and random gore of number 2’s Otherworld, replaced by a clean Japanese temple.
Konami did say they were leaning into the contrast between beauty and horror and they have nailed that brief. This game is gorgeous. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still creepy as hell, but it’s also not nearly as dark as the previous adventure in this world. Silent Hill 2 had you tip toeing through blacked out hallways as your flashlight faded away into the distance. What was waiting for you in those shadows was anybody’s guess.
Silent Hill f doesn’t really play with this mechanic, you can see the monsters coming for the most part (they got me a bunch of times with some good jump scares though). But I’ve got to say, the monsters are terrifying enough in their design alone.
NIGHTMARE FUEL – Monsters
The roster of creatures in Silent Hill f are nothing short of incredible. These walking nightmares come in the forms of demented porcelain doll scarecrows, faceless aberrations and pulsating mounds of flesh giving birth to more horrors that you can barely wrap your mind around.
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The first monster I saw actually terrified me. It’s been a long time since I could say any piece of media did that — I watch a lot of horror! I had no way to defend myself when this freak jumped out and erratically jittered after me through the fog as I ran for my life. My heart was thumping as I had the thought “I don’t need to play this game, I can just turn it off.” — I love it!
They do become a little less scary when you are able to arm yourself. The combat can be a bit clunky, and I found myself getting frustrated as my Stamina was constantly depleting — even after fully upgrading it. But once you’ve figured out the enemies movements and patterns, they’re not too difficult to take down.
THE MYSTERY UNFOLDS – Puzzles
A staple in any survival horror game, I have to applaud the variety of puzzles in Silent Hill f. In one section you’ll simply place items on the right plates in a shrine, another will having you running through a shrouded field filled with the deadly scarecrows — the twist being you have to interact with them as part of the puzzle to move forward.
The game allows you to choose your difficulty for both combat and puzzles, which means if you don’t want to tease your brain you can dumb them down.
I played on “Hard” mode, and for the most part the puzzles had me thinking, but weren’t too difficult that they stalled the game. I did get stumped by a cryptic mindboggler fairly early on, but once I figured out the first big clue I was able to look for similar things throughout the rest of the game.
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Not unlike other games in the genre also, you’re usually looking for a key or item that will get you through to the next section of play. Sometimes items were hard to spot, and on the first playthrough of a game like this, I take my time investigating every nook and cranny to make sure I have found everything. So I could get quite annoyed when I’d have to back track through entire stages in the hope of finding the missing MacGuffins.
ON THE HILL – Connection to other Silent Hill games
A lot of people are asking what the ‘f’ in Silent Hill f stands for, and the truth is I don’t really know. But some theories I’ve been reading up on suggest that it might stand for flower. This very well could be, as there is a red flower infused with fleshy growths that is taking over Hinako’s town throughout the game.
This could also lead to a connection with other games in the Silent Hill franchise. There is a large, white flower that you will come across, called Hakkokusou in this adventure, but widely known throughout the Silent Hill Universe as White Claudia. It is a perennial herb that contains hallucinogenic seeds, which could explain to the horrors you are experiencing… That’s my theory, anyway.
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Although Silent Hill f isn’t set in Silent Hill, it plays with the same themes and feel. Future instalments could reveal more — it’s all adding to the mystery!
WELCOME HOME – Final Thoughts
The mixture of deep themes around growing up, drug addiction, being what society expects you to be and horrific demons and atmosphere has me in love with this world all over again. When it comes to psychological horror games, Silent Hill f has really stretched the boundaries, setting a high bar for the Silent Hill franchise and horror games in general.
Just as Konami hoped, this is a truly beautiful horror and will have me contemplating its subliminal meanings for many moons to come. Silent Hill is back, baby!
Quest Daily scores Silent Hill f:
8.5/10
Silent Hill f is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam. It retails for around $120.
A review copy of the game was supplied to the writer for the purpose of this article.
