Silent Hill f Review

Silent Hill has seen a tumultuous history when it comes to its releases. At the height of its popularity, the series on the PlayStation 2 easily rivalled Resident Evil, with a focus on psychological horror over Resident Evil’s survival horror. Unfortunately, it struggled with western developers after Silent Hill 4: The Room, seeing many failed attempts until the series went dormant in 2012 until last year’s excellent Silent Hill 2 Remake from Bloober Team.

The message was clear: Silent Hill was back, and with a new title in Silent Hill f, Konami is putting its primary horror franchise back in the limelight. There was a lot of cautious optimism going into the release, although with the setting shifting away from Silent Hill itself and into Japan for the first time. Additionally, it appeared to place a heavy emphasis on combat. So, the pressing question on everyone’s mind is, is this a true Silent Hill game?

Oh yes, it very much is, and rivals the very best in the series when it comes to its own brand of psychological horror.

Grab your pipe, because you’re about to delve into the beautiful, haunting madness that is Silent Hill f.

View Full-size

Silent Hill f tells a story that tackles difficult themes in 1960s Japan. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

Mysteries in Crimson

Set on the backdrop of 1960s Japan, in the secluded mountain town of Ebisugaoka, you take control of Shimizu Hinako, a high school girl who finds herself in a world where she wishes to be different than the one that conforms to the role of each gender during the current period. Women are supposed to be happy with providing a happy home for their husbands, regardless of the situation they find themselves in.

This couldn’t be truer for Hinako’s parents, whose drunken father terrorizes both Hinako and her mother, a mother who doesn’t stand up for herself. This is something Hinako refuses to live by, and it’s shaped her entire life. Hinako’s friends, too, conform to societal norms of the time, with Rinko fulfilling the role of your typical high schooler of the period, and Shu, Hinako’s best friend, who just happens to be a boy instead of a girl, something that is alluded to throughout the story.

It’s not long, however, until this sleepy town is visited by a mysterious fog that blankets it and begins to spawn monstrous creatures, and a deadly emergence of red spider lilies paints the town in crimson. As Hinako attempts to not only escape this nightmare, you’ll fully explore Ebisugaoka as it opens up gradually, all in an intrinsic detail that brings the era to life.

It may sound like this is a massive departure from the series identity, but it’s all here in its mysterious glory. Documents litter the streets and interiors of this town, hinting at everything not being as it seems or painting the picture of what society is like, and the people within it. The rich culture of this quaint town follows tradition, and shuns any that turns away from it, and Silent Hill f’s take on the series “otherworld” is fantastic too.

At different parts in the story, Hinako will find herself in a Dark Shrine, seemingly following the instructions of a mysterious man known as Fox Mask. As you may expect, this man is dressed in traditional garb as he leads Hinako through the areas that take on a far more sinister tone than that of Ebisugaoka’s empty streets.

The story continues to provide more questions just as it gives you some answers, and by the end of the story, you’re perhaps left with even more. Fortunately, another series staple, multiple endings, plays a much bigger role here, and just reaching the ending for the first time had me dive straight into my next playthrough. Silent Hill f is a heavy game that tackles some interesting themes boldly, and it’s a story that will stick with me for a long time and stands amongst the greatest in the series.

View Full-size

Hinako’s journal is constantly updated with useful information. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

View Full-size

Ebisugaoka is a fascinating place to explore. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

Hinako’s Journey

The game follows a familiar structure throughout most of its runtime. You’ll usually have an objective to fulfill in the town, such as getting across town to one of Hinako’s friends’ houses, and you’ll find blocked paths, doorways, and more along the way. This echoes back to the familiar exploration of the town of Silent Hill in past titles, although the narrow alleyways of Ebisugaoka really add to the claustrophobic vibe the town gives.

The map here, which is beautifully designed, is especially helpful as it will constantly update with landmarks and current routes that are blocked off. What may have been blocked off in your last section in the town may now be open, and you’ll often find new items and weapons awaiting you. As you may expect, you’ll find monsters roaming the foggy town, so you’re always kept on your toes.

After you complete your current objective, you’ll then find yourself in Silent Hill f’s closest version of the series’ traditional “otherworld” areas, which takes the form of a Dark and sinister Shrine. Each area of the shrine often has a particular theme, and you’ll come across many of the game’s puzzles here. Another change from when Hinako is exploring the town is that she will have access to specific weapons, which have unlimited durability (more on this later). As you may expect, this slight change means that you’ll find far more combat here.

View Full-size

Your map will constantly update with useful information. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

A Puzzling Conundrum

Puzzles are a series tradition when it comes to the Silent Hill series, and some of my fondest memories of playing through them are some iconic puzzles that have stood out (the one in the original Silent Hill’s school area still haunts me to this day). As you may expect, when taking a cursory look at the options presented when first starting a new game, you can choose the game’s difficulty for both Combat and Puzzles, with Hard being the default for Puzzles (there’s an easier and a more challenging setting here).

This should tell you all you need to know that the game intends to challenge you with its puzzles, and I’m happy to report that it doesn’t disappoint you in that department. Indeed, there was one particular puzzle that had me stumped for more than an hour at one point, even though the game gives you plenty of hints (at least on Hard) to find the solution. As you explore your surroundings, Hinako will jot down in her journal some notes about specific puzzles, all of which get their own page.

Once you access a puzzle, you can press the Touchpad to open the Journal page that relates to the specific puzzle you’re on, saving you from having to exit it and dive through menus. Puzzles will vary from picking up and examining objects more carefully to schoolyard secret codes, manipulating the light, and placing crests in specific locations. There’s a great variety to them, and the majority of them were challenging enough to really get you thinking. I’m excited to try them out on the game’s hardest puzzle difficulty (Lost in Fog) to see how they change.

View Full-size

One puzzle had me stumped for quite some time. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

Brute Force

As said at the top of this review, combat plays a heavy part in Silent Hill f, perhaps more so than any other title in the series. All of the combat is melee-based, with Hinako able to wield various weapons that all have their own durability gauge that decreases when you strike your enemy. The game is balanced around you finding new weapons constantly (you can hold and switch between three at a time), although you can find Toolkits that will restore some durability if you’re in a pinch or have gained some fondness with a particular weapon.

Hinako has two important resources for you to manage when it comes to combat: Stamina and Sanity. The first, Stamina, is what you may expect from most action games these days; it will decrease when you swing your weapon, of which you can use a light attack or a heavy attack. Heavy attacks are slower, but deal increased regular and stun damage. Light attacks are quicker and consume less Stamina, but as a result, the damage is a lot lower, to the point that I relied almost exclusively on heavy attacks on my playthrough.

The Sanity gauge, on the other hand, governs your ability to use Focus mode, which lets you concentrate on a target and see when an opportunity for a counterattack is available (an enemy will momentarily slow and glow red). These are extremely powerful and should be your go-to when fighting lesser enemies. Just beware that your Sanity gauge drains as you’re in Focus mode, and should you get struck while it’s temporarily drained, you’ll lose it permanently (it will otherwise restore slowly after exiting Focus mode).

Sanity can also be used to charge up a Focus Attack; a gauge around your weapon durability gauge will fill while in Focus mode, and when full, you can press the attack button to perform a unique, deadly attack that will deal heavy damage at the cost of permanently using up a bit of your Sanity. Every weapon type in the game has a unique attack and also has its own move set, too, encouraging you to play around with them. Outside of this, Hinako can dodge in combat at the expense of her Stamina, and should you time it just right, you can use a Perfect Dodge that will restore all of your Stamina that will allow you to continue the assault on your enemy.

While you do have the option to run from many enemy encounters, you are expected to engage in combat a lot, so it’s fortunate that it all feels satisfying to use. Silent Hill f features a number of boss encounters too, where you’ll really need to put all of the skills you’ve learned to use, as it can take a while sometimes to learn the attacks an enemy will use against you and when you should either dodge or press the attack.

As someone who is used to action games, the default combat difficulty (Story) was more than fine. There were some dicey moments, but with an abundance of healing items to find, I never once died as a result. I’d urge more experienced players to play on the higher combat difficulty at that point, where you’ll take more damage from enemy attacks, and managing your Sanity gauge becomes far more difficult and important.

View Full-size

You can perform counterattacks when enemies flash like this. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

View Full-size

The enemy designs are very on point for the Silent Hill series. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

Upgrading Hinako

Outside of this, there are several ways you can upgrade Hinako throughout the game. You can equip an Omamori, which acts like an accessory with passive effects. These can range from increasing your Max Health or Stamina, to increasing damage based on your weapon’s current durability or decreasing how quickly your Sanity drains when using Focus mode. There’s a lot of variety here, and it adds to the strategy of how you approach the game.

You’ll find Omamori out in the world, and you can also obtain some randomly by praying at a Hokora and using some of your Faith currency. These small Shinto Shrines act as Silent Hill f’s save points, and you can trade items in for Faith, be it your precious consumables or items whose only purpose is to trade for this currency. Still, you’ll need to think carefully if you want to use your Faith on drawing Omamori as there’s more to it than just this.

The way you upgrade Hinako is done exclusively by using Faith and Ema, small wooden plaques that are common ritual items that can be found when exploring. These will allow you to increase Hinoka’s Health, Stamina, and Sanity, or add more Omamori slots. This works well in always giving you something to chase throughout the entire journey and gives the feeling that you’re getting stronger for the later challenges.

Outside of this, Hinako has limited inventory space, and there are no item boxes to manage what you have. Instead, you’ll have to make a call when you donate items to the Hokora or to prioritize other items when you come across them. There are key items to be found as you explore that will increase your permanent inventory capacity.

View Full-size

There are a variety of weapons to play around with. ©Konami Digital Entertainment.

Final Thoughts

Silent Hill f features a strong voice cast, and although the game defaults to Japanese, the English cast more than holds their own here, with Hinoka’s performance especially very memorable. It does, however, bring up one of my small pet peeves, and that’s the lip syncing. It’s clear to see that it was designed with the Japanese language in mind, and it does look off when playing with the English audio track at times, unfortunately.

Additionally, if you’re someone who’s not a big fan of melee-based combat, that may harm your enjoyment of Silent Hill f a little, as there’s no getting around the fact that there is a lot of combat to be had. Across a playthrough that lasted me around 11 hours, of which I explored thoroughly, a lot of that was spent in combat, and you’ll need to be somewhat proficient when you take on some of the bosses.

It does, however, speak volumes that by the time I was done with Silent Hill f, these are the only real things I could somewhat question. What’s here is an incredible experience with a thought-provoking story, some genuinely disturbing horror at times, and what carries on the series’ legacy perfectly. Hopefully, this is just the start of what is to come with *Silent Hill *’s increasingly impressive comeback.

A Review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.