A Stunningly Immersive Horror Experience

Immersing your self in Silent Hill f is like ingesting a powerfully aromatic tea steeped in bloody metaphor and symbolism. The primary new, full Silent Hill sport in 13 years, f wields a strong, standalone narrative concerning the expectations of gender-based roles, the problem of sustaining relationships within the presence of such roles, and the foggy nature of transitioning from teenage life into maturity.

The sport satisfyingly eschews surface-level storytelling by way of its varied twists and turns. As if retreating into its personal mysterious fog, f isn’t straightforward to completely perceive at first. Varied plot threads and themes intersect and overlap in a dreamlike vogue. By the sport’s ending (of which there are a number of), I had so many questions that weren’t answered–in a good method. I walked away uncertain of what I had skilled, the place the metaphors started and ended, and simply what precisely occurred on this sleepy mountainside village. Silent Hill f is a beautiful and beautiful work of psychological horror that had me determined to relive its narrative once more after the credit rolled. And I don’t assume I’ll cease till I squeeze each drop out of this sport.

In its moment-to-moment gameplay, Silent Hill f challenges you to combat or evade varied horrifying monsters, clear up cryptic puzzles, and try and piece collectively a sophisticated, bi-directional narrative of resistance and submission, each towards supernatural horrors and the pressures society locations on individuals, notably girls. Silent Hill f takes just a few huge dangers in its relocation of the collection to a brand new setting and in its barely extra action-focused fight, however these components all repay and earn their keep. Its story, although ripe for pitfalls in the way it depicts violence and subjugation of ladies, manages to ship a shellshock of a horror expertise with a wealthy environment and unsettling story that entertains by itself phrases, and terrifies with depictions of violence and repression which can be all too resonant with our experiences of the actual world.

Developed by a studio new to the collection and following the profitable remake of Silent Hill 2, f sees Silent Hill pack its luggage and take us on a visit to a fictional rural mountainside village in Japan known as Ebisugaoka. Set within the Sixties, the sport’s narrative facilities the expertise of residing as a lady in a society that values us just for our potential to be married.

Silent Hill f casts you within the function of teenager Hinako Shimizu as she navigates an unfolding and perplexing set of ghastly horrors. Considerably of a tomboy, Hinako is at odds with what the inflexible expectations her society, and household, place on her as somebody assigned feminine at delivery. Early on, we study that Hinako’s sister has left dwelling after being married off, and that her alcoholic, abusive, and financially reckless father has related needs for her.

After a bitter argument along with her dad and mom, she leaves dwelling to seek out her village slowly being overtaken by a thick fog; unusual floral and fleshy overgrowths; contorted, animated mannequins wielding large kitchen knives; and all types of different unspeakable horrors.

Hinako shortly realizes that the one resolution is to flee the city she as soon as known as dwelling, now remodeled right into a hellscape. Puzzles and hostile creatures stand in her method as she travels by way of foggy streets and alleyways, deserted buildings, and a nightmare-esque realm often called the Darkish Shrine.

The monsters stalking the oppressive alleyways of Ebisugaoka and the mire of the Darkish Shrine aren’t the one issues conserving Hinako firm. She’s joined by three pals: two different teenage women named Sakuko and Rinko, and a boy named Shu. Collectively, the 4 of them should survive an indescribable nightmare as they seek for a method out of the altered city. Hinako additionally comes to fulfill one other particular person who guarantees to assist her, a mysterious and charming gentleman referred to in writing as merely Fox Masks.

f’s narrative ups and downs can encourage a bloodlust in you that makes Hinako’s  maneuverability and lethality–which far exceed these of her usually clunky predecessor protagonists–all of the extra rewarding. A sometimes-frustrating weapon degradation system retains the survival a part of the horror grounded, however in moments when the story crammed me with an emotional urgency, I used to be excited to be a extra nimble and lethal fighter.

A metal pipe and the audacity to persist

In fight, Hinako is on her personal on the subject of coping with the menacing creatures of the fog. Way more cellular than protagonists in survival horror video games normally are, I fearful that Hinako’s dexterity would possibly dilute the shambling dread typically related to the style, however f earns its proper to a extra action-focused fight system.

It’s not that Hinako seems like an elite soldier or one thing; the digicam controls, fast dodge transfer, and stamina meter make her really feel locked in to her survival, however the fight retains a way of vulnerability important for speaking terror and dread. f’s fight will be somewhat fluid and snappy when it desires to be. As in trendy soulslikes, you possibly can goal a single enemy at a time which retains the fight centered and intense. Hinako’s beneficiant and speedy dodge prices her stamina, as do her gentle and heavy assaults.

Nonetheless, weapon shortage and degradation make any scuffle with the sport’s varied monsters dangerous. Not each combat with a random wandering monster is price having, however throughout scripted battles or when it is smart to eliminate a creature, you’ll have to take action whereas managing your stamina meter as you dash, dodge, and assault. Dodge on the proper time when an enemy strikes and also you’ll refill your stamina to renew your assault or expedite your retreat.

Hinako additionally has a meter for her “Sanity,” which permits her to make use of particular “Focus” strikes equivalent to a counterattack and a charged-up model of her gentle melee strike. As you progress, you’ll be capable of enhance your well being, stamina, and sanity meters by providing varied objects at shrines which double as save factors. You too can increase Hinako’s skills with omamori discovered within the surroundings or drawn from a shrine; these advantages embody boons like elevated max well being, recovering well being when defeating an enemy, a faster cost of Hinako’s assaults, and extra. These mild augmentations of Hinako’s skills provide a welcome micro stage of adjustment over the problem that I’m certain I’ll lean into extra in my Onerous mode run.

You may eat varied gadgets to replenish your meters, although whereas it labored wonderful when taking part in with mouse and keyboard, I discovered that even after 20 hours, merchandise administration whereas utilizing a controller felt cumbersome.

Except for some creatures that waited round corners to leap me, I might usually hear monsters earlier than I noticed them, their presence normally revealed by the sounds of painful moans, clanking footsteps, or the mild and satisfying static that performs whenever you’re within the proximity of an enemy. The audio cues jogged my memory to examine my well being stage and weapon situation, all whereas observing just a few exit methods if I all of a sudden discovered myself in over my head. In every scuffle, apart from the scripted situations that have you ever combating bosses or enemies it’s a must to defeat earlier than you possibly can proceed, fight remained as intense and methodical as I prefer it in a survival horror sport.

• Again-of-the-box quote:

  “The f is for enjoyable! Freaky! and Fuuuu….”

• Developer:

  Neobards Leisure

• Sort of sport:

  Third-person motion horror.

• Favored:

  Highly effective story, darkish and evocative visuals, satisfying fight.

• Disliked:

  Weapon degradation is a bit too quick, merchandise menu will be complicated.

• Platforms:

  PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, Home windows PC (Performed)

• Launch date:

  Commonplace version: September 25, 2025 / Deluxe version: September 23, 2025

• Performed:

  22 hours protecting the principle story as soon as by way of and a few third of the best way by way of New Recreation Plus.

There’s a contact of construct crafting in f, nevertheless it doesn’t dominate the sport the best way you’d discover in Darkish Souls or different related video games. Apart out of your three meters, you gained’t want to fret about Hinako’s stats or fuss an excessive amount of over which weapons you’re carrying. And in contrast to extra action-focused video games, your central activity isn’t to defeat enemies, it’s to survive them. That typically means killing them, nevertheless it’s not clever to spend all of your time and assets on each monster in your path. In truth, you’ll shortly end up screwed if you happen to take that method.

Coping with enemies remains to be a problem regardless of how fast Hinako will be, and weapon degradation was an early sore spot for me. Fragile weapons mix nicely with the sense of dread the sport’s aesthetic conjures and properly limits your capabilities inside the in any other case somewhat clean fight system. This grounds the sport, although some later sections allow you to minimize free on monsters in a satisfying, vengeful method. The sport gives two sorts of issue at first, “Story” and “Onerous,” and you may set the fight issue and puzzle issue impartial of one another. On my first run, I performed “Story” for fight and “Onerous” for puzzles.

This alternative let me be fairly sloppy in fight and nonetheless solely die a handful of occasions. My second run, on Onerous mode, has confirmed a harder problem, although it hardly ever feels unfair (my Onerous mode run is a bit bit simpler provided that I’m making the most of the stat carryover from New Recreation Plus). That mentioned, I can already anticipate some late-game segments would possibly border on frustration. We’ll see how that goes for me.

At first, I discovered the unexpectedly speedy fight to be a bit discordant with the premise of being a teenage woman taking up vicious, otherworldly monsters, typically with little greater than a metal pipe. The fantastically darkish and plush environment of the sport crammed me with the dread I want from this style, however as soon as fight began, I discovered myself feeling virtually a bit too superhuman in how deftly I might dodge out of the best way of a bloody knife.

As Hinako’s story and wrestle progressed, nevertheless, I discovered f’s fight system to mesh nicely along with her emotional state. Hinako makes it clear early on that she gained’t go down with no combat, and a childhood spent largely taking part in tough with boys alongside along with her expertise in observe and subject present she’s not afraid of a scuffle or two. The fight additionally, at occasions, gave me a way of energy over some monsters in a method that satisfyingly intersects with the sport’s themes. I used to be skeptical of its method to fight in these early skirmishes, however f earns its speedier battles with satisfying emotional arcs.

Combating off bloody bastards isn’t the one problem forward of you in Ebisugaoka both. True to its type as a Silent Hill sport, f options an assortment of puzzles you’ll have to resolve, every one a deal with containing some great 3D fashions and psychological challenges that aren’t straightforward to brute power your method by way of. You’ll acquire clues in your journal which aren’t all the time the obvious, and lots of of those puzzles stumped me at first. In two instances, I used to be compelled to get assist from individuals to determine them out, however this was largely out of a necessity to complete the sport in a well timed vogue.

Whereas I typically love survival horror video games for the distinctive intersection of terror and problem they supply, I usually discover the wrestle of survival solely as attention-grabbing because the surroundings they’re set in and the story they weave. And on this regard, Silent Hill f doesn’t disappoint.

A darkish narrative to commit your self to

To be sincere, the much less I say concerning the particulars of Silent Hill f’s narrative, the higher. You may solely expertise this sport the primary time by way of as soon as, and as quickly as you do, all the pieces you simply skilled will get reframed, and never in a concrete, simply digestible method. f resisted my makes an attempt to grasp it, left me with horrific depictions of violence strung up on narrative threads that contain real-world, relatable struggles of being a lady in society, what the worth that society ascribes to her even means, the affect of cultural traditions, and a worry of the unknown. All through the sport, mythology creeps into actuality to make you doubt your individual reasoning thoughts. That is all set to a captivatingly darkish but stunning soundtrack from collection composer Akira Yamaoka.

And whereas the sport options troublesome and lasting depictions of violence and struggling, Silent Hill f by no means seems like torture porn. Its gore by no means feels frivolous. That it manages to tug this off in a sport centered on the violence imposed on girls in a conservative society is a testomony to the standard of writing on show right here. Silent Hill f delivers gut-wrenching metaphors and symbols of resistance and submission that terrify and excite unexpectedly.

I felt this acutely in the course of the sport’s Darkish Shrine segments. The realm’s imposing and ominous fox statues and masks encourage an alluring sense of empowerment and safety, however additionally they felt like a transparent warning that I used to be seconds away from being snatched up of their jaws. The identical is true of Fox Masks, who seems early on as a heroic determine, however quickly appears to have an agenda of his personal that will not have Hinako’s finest pursuits in thoughts. His piercing, glowing eyes and soft-spoken voice had me hypnotized as a lot as they did Hinako. As she adopted him into the depths of the unknown, so too did I.

f’s narrative stays satisfyingly onerous to foretell all through the entire journey. As quickly as I believed I had a way of what was occurring, the story would resist falling into the predictable plot patterns I’d begun to anticipate. Even the premise of rebelling towards the gendered expectations of womanhood is dealt with in a much more complicated method than you would possibly anticipate. It’s not only a story of Hinako giving the proverbial center finger to what society asks of her. Although she is rebelling and is aware of how her gender renders her a second-class citizen, themes of dedication, of holding onto who you might be as you type bonds with different individuals, and simply what it means to maintain any sort of relationship within the face of wrestle swirl round within the fog in ways in which I typically discovered deeply relatable.

One scene particularly involving a bloody reconfiguration of a personality’s physique elements struck me so squarely in its depiction of dedication and bodily trauma that it’s change into a brand new metaphor for the way I view a specific chapter of my very own life. Although it depicts individuals of a special tradition and time, there’s a universally human story on the core of f.

Even when f hits its narrative climax, once I thought I understood as a lot as I probably might from a single playthrough, the ending that I ended up triggering based mostly on what appeared a traditional, non-consequential resolution early on revealed one of the surprising twists I’ve encountered in latest reminiscence. And nonetheless, true to the luxurious depths of obfuscating fog Silent Hill is thought for, I barely perceive what occurred. However I couldn’t take a look at the story the identical method twice after experiencing it. My very own innocence was robbed.

Along with what’s revealed by way of your interactions and encounters with different characters and your journey by way of Ebisugaoka, a substantial quantity of worldbuilding can be present in collectible notes scattered all through the sport’s world and in different bits of environmental storytelling. No significant playthrough of Silent Hill f might be full with out accumulating and studying as lots of them as potential–and New Recreation Plus will give you new surprises right here, too. These notes are all concise, written nicely sufficient, and don’t really feel overbearing. They’re nicely price pausing the motion for.

These paperwork embody girls’s etiquette magazines, beer advertisements that promise a sure standing of masculinity to those that eat it, and meditations on kitsune no yomeiri and different components of Japanese tradition and folklore, in addition to fictional accounts of the historical past of the sport’s setting. All of it strings collectively a darkish, kaleidoscopic narrative net that stirs intrigue and sparks the creativeness. That it’s set within the Sixties additionally positions the characters and the city itself  between a rural, agrarian surroundings with conservative cultural values and affectations, and an encroaching layer of modernization by way of increasing industrial improvement and scientific drugs. Silent Hill f isn’t about any considered one of this stuff individually, however its varied narrative layers allow you to drift amongst them as you’ll a sequence of thematically related desires.

Silent Hill f is bold in its wishes. It asks for permission to deviate from the collection’ conventional setting whereas providing up faster, extra action-focused fight. It leaves behind its titular setting in favor of a brand new horizon. It succeeds on all these fronts as a spin-off that explores Silent Hill’s traditional gloom and inside psychological wrestle, toying with themes of friendship, gendered expectations, dedication, and particular person price like a cat, or a fox, taking part in with its prey. It’s a horrorscape I used to be petrified of and but unable to look away from, one which’s resonated with me lengthy after the credit rolled, and that shortly pulled me again in for an additional journey down the depressing foggy alleyways of this unusual mountainside village.