Silent Hill f Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, & PC)

Within the genre of horror games are psychological horror games, which are, in my opinion, the most terrifying of them all. These games don’t just settle for jump scares and launching grotesque monsters in your face. They don’t even settle for having terrifying monsters chase you relentlessly. Instead, they derive their unquenchable thirst for fear and anxiety from the feeling of the unknown. The sense of dread that someone is always watching your every step. Someone lurking in the shadows waiting to strike when you least expect it. 

Because of the obscured vision of the night and shadows often in these games, you’re forced to remain in constant alert that at any moment you can become fodder for the cannon. Few games cultivated a consistent eerie atmosphere in terrifying, monster-ridden locations. Few games besides Resident Evil and Silent Hill: the OGs of the survival-horror world. While the latter has supplemented the unsettling with vicious combat, Silent Hill has always thrust its efforts into effortless helplessness and despair. It’s a masterful art of psychological horror that fans of the series can attest to, revived recently in the excellent Silent Hill 2 Remake. 

Whether you’ve stuck with Silent Hill from its ‘90s roots or are looking to hop on the bandwagon of the modern foray of recent entries, you should come out of the latest title pleased with Konami and unabashedly hopeful for the future of the franchise. Find out why in our Silent Hill f review below.

Meaningless Tomorrows

With Silent Hill f, uncertainty purged many minds over whether Konami truly can maintain the high streak momentum of Silent Hill 2 Remake and classic entries in the series. Moving away from rural USA to 1960s Japan, and incorporating more action sequences, are just a few of the concerns fans raise that would steer the franchise away from its roots. Happy to say, though, that the review embargoes have squashed all doubts and suspicions. Rest easy, now, as Silent Hill f is very much Silent Hill, if not better. It’s been a risky endeavor, but one that pays off handsomely by the credits roll. 

Without delving too deep into the story, you’ll be thrust into a high school, hormonal teenager’s shoes. She’s your protagonist whom you control throughout your unnerving exploration of 1960s Japan. The specific setting is in your rural hometown of Ebisugaoka, enshrouded in Silent Hill’s signature fog and out-of-this-world monstrosities. At first, so many questions will linger about your protagonist’s motivations and their relations to her family and three close friends, most especially when the story momentum veers deeper and deeper into the otherworldly and strange. 

Yet, it’s the eerie silence littered with ominous sounds and music that pushes you forward into wanting to learn more. The unsettling fog that hugs you blind, wanting to make a quick turn back to unearth the thing that’s watching you, or keep moving forward and hope you catch a break on resources. Consumables and makeshift weapons are, indeed, what spearhead your bravery into lurching further and further into the unknown. Through the bloody mess afoot and the flowery abominations spawning around you. The cherry blossom growth that can eat you alive. It’s the hope of finding supplies and weapons to shield yourself from death.

Eyes Wide Open

And supplies, you will find, though scarce and rare. Flimsy weapons, useless against the abominations of facial blobs and floral ghast. What’s a baseball bat going to do, bashing over and over into the torso of a gigantic, beastly creature? A crowbar or an axe that breaks after overuse. They can be fixed with a repair toolkit, but those are scarce to find, too. Medical supplies will come in handy. So, you want to stock up on those. But when your inventory space begins to act out, demanding an upgrade to grant you more storage slots, your frustration dials up a notch. When your stamina and health are at risk, and only exchanging your measly collectibles at the shrines can earn you extra buffs. But scarcity, man. Scarcity of supplies.

It seems, then, that Silent Hill f is out to get you. Not just launching beastly monstrosities spewing gut bile at you, but also trying your patience with its meager survival remedies. And yes, you will love every minute of it. Narrowly surviving by the skin of your teeth. This isn’t the kind of game to be deliberately seeking out monstrosities. It’s the game of running and hiding; however, whenever you can. And that’s where learning the map comes in. The narrow corners you can squeeze through, the shrines you can gain a boost of health and stamina, and the houses holding supplies. You go out of your way to explore not simply out of curiosity but for survival, too. 

Beneath the Beautiful

And it’s good that the map and visual design are fantastic. This is an inviting world to want to comb every nook and cranny of, with its intricacies and constant surprises. Even when you’re hoping to find supplies or running away from monsters, you just might discover a document or note left behind by the town’s residents. They are no more, seemingly vanished into thin air, and the only way to learn about them is to keenly gather the clues and information dispersed throughout the environment. And soon, what was previously unknown reveals itself to be a surprising twist and revelation. An oppressive truth buried deep, and at times, best left unearthened. 

There are complex and mature themes here akin to Silent Hill. Where guilt and grief dominated previous entries, gender inequality, toxic relationships between characters, and more take root. And it’s so exciting unraveling these intertwined threads; even when you roll the credits, you want to come back and pursue alternate pathways, with each new playthrough revealing a new secret. As a whole, Silent Hill f’s story makes for an unsettling and tantalizing tale in equal measure. But only for those willing to go the extra mile to unearth every twist hidden beneath the surface –not that you’ll need much motivation to do so. 

Some of these narrative threads are intertwined with the puzzles, which are appreciated across the franchise. They will test your smarts, resulting in a satisfying breakthrough, and will never be too frustrating to crack. Some may be easy, even, and take minimal time to pursue. Whether it’s retrieving a key or solving an environmental puzzle about discovering a hidden spot, most puzzles do well to change the pace of exploration and combat. 

Clobbering Time

And lastly, the combat. No guns here, I’m afraid, though, will you really miss it with how Silent Hill’s combat is never its strongest suit? The same goes for Silent Hill f, which, while it has its exhilarating moments, winds up the weakest link. And I’m not mad at it. Psychological horrors build their fear and anxiety from combat tools you can hardly do much with. Sure, you can dodge enemies, mastering a perfect dodge to restore stamina. You can even attack, whether a light or heavy strike, with your makeshift melee weapons and inflict damage, provided you learn the enemy’s attack patterns. Even the counterattacks need accurate timing to inflict damage. 

It’s a give-and-take setup, nailing dodges and counterattacks to replenish stamina and health. And you have a sanity meter, too, that drains when performing certain attacks, but is replenished using consumables and passive buffs. There are layers to Silent Hill f’s combat that I commend Konami for, but never too powerful to forget the kind of world you’re in, and that’s a constantly dangerous location in which your guard is always up, and you’re always fearing for your life.

Verdict

Best believe, Konami is back. And not just exactly as it were collaborating with Kojima, but actually taking risks with the franchise. From moving the franchise a continent away to focusing on melee combat alone, and no guns, the end product appears to have paid off. Sure, there are imperfect areas that may cause frustration. Your inventory management will be a pain, and the combat can feel clumsy at times. But let’s be honest, here. Is that all too surprising? 

With a high school teenager as your protagonist, I can understand limiting her power and skill. The way she strikes enemies and shifts between moods can annoy some players. Yet, all of that made me relate to her more. The authenticity and genuineness of that complicated stage in life, and then throw all sorts of horrifying trauma and monstrosities your way. 

In the end, Silent Hill f’s story and exploration are a satisfactory run, even if it takes a minute to fully kick in. And to get the most out of your experience, you might need multiple run-throughs. Every one of them, cranked up in difficulty, though, or exploring alternate paths, proves ultimately satisfying, thanks largely to the unsettling visual and sound design. It never stops, that constant sense of dread, even if you’ve beaten Silent Hill f once or twice already.