We’ve all seen these Silent Hill f previews showcasing the game’s all-too-familiar combat system. You’d expect a survival horror title, especially one with as long a tradition as Silent Hill has, to be more tense and atmospheric. But nope, it’s a Soulslike, and the devs think that’s fine.
As per IGN, via GameSpark, Motoi Okamoto, Silent Hill‘s series producer, wanted to implement more action and entertainment into f since its inception. This wish was so strong that Konami decided to go for NeoBards and ask them to develop the game, due to the studio being “tremendously good at making action games.”
One would expect Silent Hill to be developed by tremendously good horror developers, but in a world filled to the brink with action, entertainment, and, most recently, Soulslikes, that’s just how things are.
And speaking of Soulslike gameplay, which appears to also be a large part of Silent Hill f given the gameplay previews we’ve seen recently, it was added into the game because it’s, surprise surprise, popular with modern players.
“The Silent Hill series isn’t considered a game that has entertaining action per se, but as we’re opening our doors to new players, we began to wonder what it would be like if we added more of those elements into the game… Challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays, so I believed that if we implemented such elements into the game, it would resonate well even with people who are new to the series,” Okamoto said.
So, yeah, Silent Hill f is an action-oriented horror game, a standalone in the series, developed by a studio well versed in action games and filled with Soulslike elements because, apparently, the modern player cannot stand to play a game without being entertained and actioned all the time.
Now I get it, we don’t want the same thing as we’ve had with countless other horror games, not even the same as older Silent Hill titles. But turning an otherwise tense, atmospheric, hauntingly horrifying game into an action-oriented title with Soulslike elements simply doesn’t ring right to me.
Let’s hope the vision turns out fine in the end, at least.
