It’s understandable to feel anxiety about a new Silent Hill game. After a long list of duds (e.g. Silent Hill HD Collection, Downpour, Book of Memories) and the heartbreaking cancellation of a bold take on the franchise (Silent Hills), Silent Hill seemed like a series without clear direction or voice. But after last year’s lovely Silent Hill 2 remake, there was a new spark of hope.
Silent Hill f keeps hope alive: It’s a powerful, beautiful, and devastating new entry in Konami’s long-running psychological horror franchise. f honors the spirit of Silent Hill, while taking enough chances with its formula to feel optimistic about future entries from Konami.
For even the most casual of Silent Hill fans, it’s a must-play.
Silent Hill f’s most radical change is its setting. Unlike previous games that were primarily set in modern New England, f explores the fictional Japanese village of Ebusigaoka, a once-prosperous mining town that has since been largely abandoned, becoming a “sad little town,” according to its protagonist.
Ebusigaoka in its natural form is charming and occasionally beautiful. Beyond the tightly packed homes and businesses in the town center, there are pathways that lead to serene pockets of nature and tucked-away shrines, all of it gorgeously rendered with a fine mist and bright green mosses. At times, it feels like virtual tourism to a tiny charming village. But early in the game, Ebusigaoka transforms: A menacing fog, crimson red flora, and tumorous masses consume the town, the start of a nightmare for its playable character, Hinako Shimizu.
Hinako is an ordinary and restrained high school girl, formerly a cheerful and energetic child who has been broken down by cultural norms and an overbearing father. Her quiet struggle and confusion about her standing in society and among her friend group are subtly explained through interactions with her classmates and in her in-game journal. But much about Hinako and why she suffers through the nightmarish events of the game remain mysterious — even after a full playthrough of Silent Hill f.
Silent Hill f is played across two worlds: Ebusigaoka, and a mysterious liminal space known as the Dark Shrine. In Ebisugaoka, Hinako searches for answers alongside her friends, visiting locations familiar to her (her middle school, friends’ homes). In the Dark Shrine, which she is called to often during moments of great duress, she is guided by a mysterious figure known only as Fox Mask who purports to help ease her mental anguish through a series of tests and rituals.
Piecing together what happens — and why — between these two worlds is one of Silent Hill f’s great puzzles. Clues are left scattered on notes, carved into wood and rock, and exposed through Hinako’s journal, which fills itself out in a compelling way. I desperately searched for every scrap of paper and storytelling artifact to flesh out the game’s mysterious narrative, carefully reading new revelations from Hinako about herself and others. And at the end I was only barely sated — a second playthrough of Silent Hill f is not only suggested, it’s practically warranted if you want to really know what the hell is going on here.
Hinako is an atypical protagonist for the Silent Hill franchise, even when it comes to combat. Like many other characters in the series, she is not a trained combatant — but she is more powerful than any other hero or heroine we’ve controlled in this franchise. Yes, she can swing a steel pipe at a flesh monster until it expires, but being capable in combat requires concentration, patience, and stamina. Virtually all the action in Silent Hill f is performed dangerously up close via melee weapon, including baseball bats, kitchen knives, and the odd ceremonial dagger. Many of Hinako’s melee weapons can damage and break, leading to tense moments where your best option when faced with a monster is to flee.
Silent Hill f has elicited some pre-release hand-wringing over its supposed “Soulslike” combat. Yes, there are dodge moves, counterattacks, and light/heavy attacks performed with shoulder buttons on a controller. But any comparison to the gameplay of Dark Souls or Elden Ring is overblown. Mechanics like a stamina meter and charged melee attacks have been in early Silent Hill games; they’re just more exposed in f.
But Silent Hill f’s combat gets boring after a while. Especially during the final few hours, where the game throws three or more enemies at you simultaneously, combat can be a slog. At my breaking point, I wound up avoiding enemies not out of caution or fear, but out of pure annoyance. Some of that comes down to enemy variety; there aren’t that many enemy archetypes to fight, and (at least on “Story” difficulty mode) don’t meaningfully change their tactics over time.
Hinako’s abilities do change throughout the game though. At shrines (which also serve as save points), Hinako can exchange artifacts and food items as offerings, earning Faith, which can then be spent on upgrades. These upgrades include extra health and stamina, and the ability to equip additional charms called omamori that confer special boosts.
These omamori perks are quite compelling, and I found myself switching them in and out to suit my current needs. One useful omamori reduces the amount of damage a weapon takes, but only when using light attacks. Another gives Hinako a small refill of health after slaying an enemy. And while some omamori can be found throughout Ebusigaoka and the Dark Shrine, some can only be earned “gacha” style by spending Faith to earn a random one. It’s a fun system, and I found myself investing in it heavily on my first playthrough.
Silent Hill f’s upgrade system presents some intriguing trade-offs as you play: Should you hold onto food that might offer a health or stamina refill, or save it for an offering at a shrine? You can only carry so much, after all. And is it worth saving up for better, more expensive omamori, or buying what you can now to be more survivable? No matter which path you choose, the upgrade system encourages exploration and careful resource management, while also offering some flexibility to match your play style.
None of those upgrades will help you with Silent Hill f’s clever and occasionally flummoxing puzzles, though. While many of them follow a common structure (find this crest, find the right slot for it), they are almost always lavishly presented, often as scrolls, paintings, or traditional Japanese cultural items. Some of the best are like small narratives from which you’ll need to divine solutions, and thankfully there are three difficulties to choose from: Story (the easiest), Hard, and Lost in the Fog (a challenging, unlockable difficulty). I have no shame in admitting that even in hard mode, I turned to my very intelligent wife to help me decipher some of the game’s puzzles.
What may be unsatisfying for many players of Silent Hill f is the game’s story, which is — faithful to the series — opaque and disjointed. As I wrapped my first 13-hour playthrough of the game (on Story mode difficulty), I was left more confused than gratified. But I also knew that a New Game Plus playthrough would offer new story revelations and experiences, including variations on enemies and previously unavailable quests. Sure enough, within minutes of starting a second run with my cleared-game save, I knew a lot more about Hinako’s life and the events that lead to the game’s first ending. With four additional unlockable endings, there’s certainly more to chew on. And I’m currently chowing down.
There’s a lot I love about Silent Hill f, despite my initial dissatisfaction with some of its story. It is an absolutely gorgeous game, with stellar art direction and character design, expertly rendered with near-photorealistic (but still dreamy) detail. Konami, developer NeoBards, and writer Ryukishi07 make many bold, stylistic choices; it’s refreshing to have new voices tackling Silent Hill stories. Music from series mainstay Akira Yamaoka and newcomer Kensuke Inage offer a mélange of styles; classic Silent Hill sounds, both melodic and dissonant, blend beautifully with traditional Japanese music styles.
Silent Hill f’s creators make strong choices in subject matter. While the franchise has not shied away from graphic violence and adult topics, f trades in intense themes of abuse, gender discrimination, torture, and self harm. The graphic violence on display is a step beyond what the Silent Hill games have been known for — the content warning that prefaces the game’s title screen should be taken quite seriously.
Perhaps the best, most important element that Silent Hill f gets right is the hold it has on me after just one full playthrough. I can’t stop thinking about it. I can stop playing. I can’t wait to see the reactions to its story, its most gruesome and gory moments, its thoughtful puzzle design. I can’t not peek down every alleyway or side room as I replay it, hoping to find some new morsel of story — or something even weirder — as I try to solve its final puzzle: What really happened to Hinako in Silent Hill f?
Silent Hill f will be released Sept. 25 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PS5 using a prerelease download code provided by Konami. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
