Silent Hill f marks a major departure for the series, in setting, story, and gameplay. This is the first game to shift away from the titular American town. Instead, it takes place in the fictional locale of Ebisugaoka, Japan, a once-thriving mining town on the decline. You play as Hinako Shimizu, a teenage girl who’s also the youngest protagonist in the series’ history.
(Credit: Konami/PCMag)
The protagonist’s youth doesn’t defang the story, as Silent Hill f wastes no time thrusting Hinako and her friends into their personal hells. Once the familiar franchise fog creeps into town, a wave of red spider lilies crashes behind it, warping Ebisugaoka and its inhabitants with a sickly red and pink glow.
Horror fans might immediately draw parallels to older horror games like Siren or Fatal Frame, and even manga like Junji Ito’s Uzumaki. Many of the series’ hallmarks appear throughout this release, but the game never feels like it’s tapping into a nostalgia for those older titles. Instead, Silent Hill f takes its protagonist to haunting grounds squarely her own, using Japanese folklore, myths, and other legends to paint the unnerving small town.
Hinako grapples with coming of age in Japan’s Showa era. Although that serves as the lynchpin of Hinako’s journey through both her decaying town and the Otherworld, a strange realm that manifests itself through Hinako’s fears and anxieties, the teenager’s journey is rooted in more than just angst. Repression, self-harm, substance abuse, bullying, jealousy, emotional abuse, and even allusions to grooming, among other terrors of the fog, keep the tensions high from start to finish.
The story, penned by Japanese writer and artist Ryukishi07, is a slow burn and dense with detail. It’s almost M. Night Shyamalanian in nature (and I mean that as a compliment to both parties). It may seem a bit plodding and even confusing at first, as if story beats and character motivations are missing. But when these details eventually make their appearance, you realize they’ve been hiding in plain sight the whole time.
(Credit: Konami/PCMag)
I imagine that many players will be blindsided by the game’s ending, but if you’re like me, your shock will quickly give way to the game’s brilliance. I sat with the conclusion well after the credits rolled, before jumping right back in for a second playthrough for more. Without delving into spoilers, Hinako’s transformation during f’s conclusion is a ride like no other in the Silent Hill line. And in the same vein as Nier Automata, you must play Silent Hill f multiple times to experience the full breadth of what’s on offer.
And it’s been years since you could say that about a Silent Hill game. While the aesthetics of Silent Hill have long been understood and even emulated in titles like The Medium, the series hasn’t challenged its audience like this in a long time. Last year’s remake of Silent Hill 2 was a reminder of the psychological horror that makes the series so compelling, but Silent Hill f weaves something even richer, and that’s because Hinako’s horrors are not as far-fetched as previous games. Even if you consider the time period, the oppressive nature of traditional gender roles and how they rack Hinako’s psyche will likely resonate with many different people today.
Silent Hill f succeeds because the horror comes from what the game doesn’t show or tell you. Whether that’s from the sound of monsters scuttling about in the fog or what the characters do and don’t say, the terror stems from the anxiety that builds around Hinako (and in turn, the player), until it explodes.
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