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 recreation 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 its varied twists and turns. As if retreating into its personal mysterious fog, f isn’t simple to completely perceive at first. Varied plot threads and themes intersect and overlap in a dreamlike trend. By the sport’s ending (of which there are a number of), I had so many questions that weren’t answered–in a great way. I walked away not sure 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 recreation. In its moment-to-moment gameplay, Silent Hill f challenges you to struggle or evade varied horrifying monsters, clear up cryptic puzzles, and try to piece collectively a sophisticated, bi-directional narrative of resistance and submission, each towards supernatural horrors and the pressures society locations on folks, notably ladies. Silent Hill f takes a number of large dangers in its relocation of the sequence 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 girls, manages to ship a shellshock of a horror expertise with a wealthy ambiance and unsettling story that entertains by itself phrases, and terrifies with depictions of violence and repression which are all too resonant with our experiences of the true world.
Developed by a studio new to the sequence and following the profitable remake of Silent Hill 2, f sees Silent Hill pack its baggage and take us on a visit to a fictional rural mountainside village in Japan referred to as Ebisugaoka. Set within the Sixties, the sport’s narrative facilities the expertise of residing as a girl in a society that values us just for our potential to be married.
Silent Hill f casts you within the position 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 start. Early on, we study that Hinako’s sister has left house after being married off, and that her alcoholic, abusive, and financially reckless father has related needs for her.
© Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku After a bitter argument along with her dad and mom, she leaves house to search out her village slowly being overtaken by a thick fog; unusual floral and fleshy overgrowths; contorted, animated mannequins wielding large kitchen knives; and all kinds of different unspeakable horrors.
Hinako shortly realizes that the one resolution is to flee the city she as soon as referred to as house, now remodeled right into a hellscape. Puzzles and hostile creatures stand in her means as she travels by 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 maintaining Hinako firm. She’s joined by three associates: two different teenage ladies named Sakuko and Rinko, and a boy named Shu. Collectively, the 4 of them should survive an indescribable nightmare as they seek for a means out of the altered city. Hinako additionally comes to satisfy 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 typically 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 stuffed 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 in the case of coping with the menacing creatures of the fog. Much more cellular than protagonists in survival horror video games often are, I frightened that Hinako’s dexterity may dilute the shambling dread typically related to the style, however f earns its proper to a extra action-focused fight system.
© © Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku It’s not that Hinako looks like an elite soldier or one thing; the digital camera 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 fashionable soulslikes, you may 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 struggle with a random wandering monster is value having, however throughout scripted battles or when it is sensible 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 corresponding to a counterattack and a charged-up model of her gentle melee strike. As you progress, you’ll have the ability to enhance your well being, stamina, and sanity meters by providing varied objects at shrines which double as save factors. You can even increase Hinako’s talents with omamori discovered within the surroundings or drawn from a shrine; these advantages embrace boons like elevated max well being, recovering well being when defeating an enemy, a faster cost of Hinako’s assaults, and extra. These light augmentations of Hinako’s talents supply a welcome micro degree of adjustment over the issue that I’m certain I’ll lean into extra in my Exhausting mode run. You possibly can eat varied objects to replenish your meters, although whereas it labored fantastic when enjoying with mouse and keyboard, I discovered that even after 20 hours, merchandise administration whereas utilizing a controller felt cumbersome. Apart from some creatures that waited round corners to leap me, I might usually hear monsters earlier than I noticed them, their presence often revealed by the sounds of painful moans, clanking footsteps, or the light and satisfying static that performs if you’re within the proximity of an enemy. The audio cues jogged my memory to verify my well being degree and weapon situation, all whereas observing a number of exit methods if I immediately discovered myself in over my head. In every scuffle, apart from the scripted situations that have you ever combating bosses or enemies you must defeat earlier than you may proceed, fight remained as intense and methodical as I prefer it in a survival horror recreation. Again-of-the-box quote: “The f is for enjoyable! Freaky! and Fuuuu….” Developer: Neobards Leisure Kind of recreation: Third-person motion horror. Preferred: 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 Sequence X/S, Home windows PC (Performed) Launch date: Customary version: September 25, 2025 / Deluxe version: September 23, 2025 Performed: 22 hours protecting the principle story as soon as by and a couple of third of the best way by New Sport 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 job isn’t to defeat enemies, it’s to outlive them. That generally means killing them, nevertheless it’s not sensible to spend all of your time and assets on each monster in your path. The truth is, you’ll shortly end up screwed for those who take that strategy.
Coping with enemies continues to be a problem regardless of how fast Hinako will be, and weapon degradation was an early sore spot for me. Fragile weapons mix properly with the sense of dread the sport’s aesthetic conjures and properly limits your capabilities throughout the in any other case somewhat easy fight system. This grounds the sport, although some later sections allow you to reduce unfastened on monsters in a satisfying, vengeful means. The sport presents two sorts of issue at first, “Story” and “Exhausting,” and you’ll set the fight issue and puzzle issue unbiased of one another. On my first run, I performed “Story” for fight and “Exhausting” for puzzles. © Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku This alternative let me be fairly sloppy in fight and nonetheless solely die a handful of occasions. My second run, on Exhausting mode, has confirmed a more durable problem, although it not often feels unfair (my Exhausting mode run is slightly bit simpler on condition that I’m making the most of the stat carryover from New Sport Plus). That stated, I can already anticipate some late-game segments may border on frustration. We’ll see how that goes for me. At first, I discovered the unexpectedly speedy fight to be slightly discordant with the premise of being a teenage lady taking up vicious, otherworldly monsters, typically with little greater than a metal pipe. The superbly darkish and luxurious ambiance of the sport stuffed me with the dread I want from this style, however as soon as fight began, I discovered myself feeling nearly 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 properly along with her emotional state. Hinako makes it clear early on that she gained’t go down and not using a struggle, and a childhood spent principally enjoying tough with boys alongside along with her expertise in monitor 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 means that satisfyingly intersects with the sport’s themes. I used to be skeptical of its strategy 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 kind as a Silent Hill recreation, f options an assortment of puzzles you’ll have to unravel, every one a deal with containing some fantastic 3D fashions and psychological challenges that aren’t simple to brute power your means by. You’ll acquire clues in your journal which aren’t at all times the obvious, and lots of of those puzzles stumped me at first. In two instances, I used to be compelled to get assist from folks to determine them out, however this was principally out of a necessity to complete the sport in a well timed trend. 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 fascinating 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 © Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku To be sincere, the much less I say concerning the particulars of Silent Hill f’s narrative, the higher. You possibly can solely expertise this recreation the primary time by 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 means. 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 girl in society, what the worth that society ascribes to her even means, the affect of cultural traditions, and a concern 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 lovely soundtrack from sequence composer Akira Yamaoka. And whereas the sport options tough and lasting depictions of violence and struggling, Silent Hill f by no means looks like torture porn. Its gore by no means feels frivolous. That it manages to tug this off in a recreation centered on the violence imposed on ladies 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 abruptly.
I felt this acutely throughout the recreation’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. © Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku f’s narrative stays satisfyingly onerous to foretell all through the entire journey. As quickly as I assumed 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 means than you may count on. 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 acutely aware of how her gender renders her a second-class citizen, themes of dedication, of holding onto who you’re as you kind bonds with different folks, and simply what it means to maintain any type of relationship within the face of wrestle swirl round within the fog in ways in which I typically discovered deeply relatable. One scene specifically 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 develop into a brand new metaphor for the way I view a selected chapter of my very own life. Although it depicts folks of a distinct 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 primarily based on what appeared a traditional, non-consequential determination early on revealed some of the sudden twists I’ve encountered in current 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 means twice after experiencing it. My very own innocence was robbed.
© Screenshot: NeoBards Leisure / Claire Jackson / Kotaku Along with what’s revealed by your interactions and encounters with different characters and your journey by Ebisugaoka, a substantial quantity of worldbuilding can also 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 shall be full with out accumulating and studying as lots of them as attainable–and New Sport Plus will give you new surprises right here, too. These notes are all concise, written properly sufficient, and don’t really feel overbearing. They’re properly value pausing the motion for. These paperwork embrace ladies’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 increasing industrial improvement and scientific drugs. Silent Hill f isn’t about any considered one of these items individually, however its varied narrative layers allow you to drift amongst them as you’d a sequence of thematically related desires. Silent Hill f is formidable in its needs. It asks for permission to deviate from the sequence’ 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 basic gloom and inside psychological wrestle, toying with themes of friendship, gendered expectations, dedication, and particular person value like a cat, or a fox, enjoying with its prey. It’s a horrorscape I used to be afraid 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 one more journey down the depressing foggy alleyways of this unusual mountainside village.
