Silent Hill f (PlayStation 5)

Also available on Xbox Series X and Windows

Silent Hill is a series that, for years, has been near and dear to my heart.  Despite being made by a Japanese studio, the games have always taken place in the United States...until Silent Hill f.  Not only does Silent Hill f trade out the American setting for a Japanese setting, it also trades the modern day setting for the early 1960s.  While the setting may be a big shift for the series, the game still holds true to a lot of what makes Silent Hill unique.  That said, the gameplay does deviate from the norm in a couple of pretty major ways.

The thing that most sets Silent Hill f apart from the rest of the series mechanically is the combat.  While combat was always a part of Silent Hill, it was something that you generally wanted to avoid because ammo for your guns was so sparse.  In Silent Hill f, not only is combat more of an emphasis, but the combat itself is completely different.  There are no guns here; it’s all melee weapons that degrade over time and eventually break.  Some weapons deal little damage but attack quickly - the sickle and kitchen knife, for example - while others are extremely slow but deal devastating hits - the axe and steel pipe, for example.  There are also numerous parts of the game where avoiding enemies is not an option; your objective is to kill them all.  The bosses feel about the same as in the other games in terms of tension and difficulty, and that’s actually one of my complaints with the combat; there were some regular enemy fights that I found more difficult than some of the boss fights leading to an overall feeling of somewhat unbalanced difficulty.  It was never severe enough to impede my enjoyment of the game, but a boss battle shouldn’t feel like a step down in difficulty from the regular fights that you had to win to get to that boss.  That said, the boss fights were fantastic and often felt distinct from other Silent Hill bosses in both design and in the way they move and attack.

Like all Silent Hill games, Silent Hill f is steeped in symbolism and metaphor.  As usual for Silent Hill, you’re never quite sure what is real and what is in your character’s head.  The symbolism in Silent Hill f felt a little more cryptic in than in previous games, but that actually made it more interesting for me to ponder.  The biggest themes throughout the game are feminism and marriage; numerous texts in the game hint at arranged marriages and abusive marriages, and the main character - a young woman named Hinako - is fiercely independent in a culture that promotes submissive and obedient wives and daughters.  One of her constant struggles throughout the game is her attempt to retain her self-identity amid a world that expects her compliance.  Another omnipresent theme is Shinto mythology and Japanese folklore.  From ancient sacred trees to trickster kitsune, the spiritual heritage of Japanese culture is the major driving force behind most of the things you will experience in the game.

While the immediate themes of the game are very much tied to Japanese society in the early 1960s, the game’s more foundational themes that are present throughout the series - identity, trauma, guilt, shame, etc - are themes universal to the human experience that every player will be able to connect with in some way.  While it’s very different from the rest of the series in many ways, at its core, Silent Hill f is very much more of the Silent Hill experience we’ve come to know, love, and sometimes fear.  Like other Silent Hill games, the real horror comes not from the monsters trying to kill you but rather what those monsters represent - the protagonist’s regrets, her fears, her desires, and her shame.  Like other Silent Hill games, just as much of the game’s story and lore is told through notes and newspaper clippings found - or missed - throughout the game as it is in direct dialogue during gameplay and cut scenes.  Perhaps most importantly, like other Silent Hill games, the game’s world is made of the everyday buildings and homes we’re used to seeing but with a distinct sense of wrongness and dilapidation that builds a subtle but pervasive sense of unease from the start of the game until its conclusion.

Overall, Silent Hill f is an excellent horror experience and one I thoroughly enjoyed.  The atmosphere and art direction balance a uniquely Japanese aesthetic with staying true to what makes Silent Hill unique among horror franchises.  The emotionally charged storytelling immediately grabbed me and kept me snared until the final cutscene, and after that final cutscene, I had a strong desire to replay the game and see the other endings.  While Silent Hill is known for its numerous endings, I’ve never felt compelled to experience them the way I feel with Silent Hill f.  That said, it’s not a perfect game.  Combat can feel repetitive and clunky at times with an uneven difficulty curve, and the game does have some segments that feel like they drag a bit too much, hurting the game’s overall pacing.  That said, while it may not match the near-perfection of Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f is a strong entry in the series that dares to take it in a new direction.  For fans of the series or of psychological horror in general, I strongly recommend giving this game a shot.  It’s absolutely worth the price of admission and has more replay value than most of the series, in my opinion.

My Rating - A