Silent Hill is a legendary psychological horror series that has been around since the late 1990s, for better and for worse. As such, the announcement of a new game comes with a volatile mix of excitement and skepticism.
Regardless, Silent Hill f immediately found a compelling foothold thanks to a hair-raising teaser trailer, an all-new setting, and a hefty credits list which features franchise composer Akira Yamaoka and the prolific Japanese graphic novelist (who goes by the pen name) Ryukishi07. Now, after spending three hours through the game’s climactic opening during Gametrawling scom 2025, I’m ready to let go of my skepticism.
Silent Hill f doesn’t take place in the titular American town, and is instead set in the quaint town of Ebisugaoka, Japan in the 1960s. Once a thriving mining village, Ebisugaoka has since fallen into quiet disrepair and is shrouded in a thick, suffocating fog. It’s also home to the game’s protagonist, Hinako, whose home life is complicated to say the least.
Hinako’s father is harsh and sees her as outspoken and disrespectful, and her mother does little to protect her. While her sister offers some support by shielding Hinako from the oppressive dynamic, she, too, has abandoned her for marriage.
Hinako’s loneliness quickly framed my time with the demo, and as I began walking towards the town’s center, there was only my sloshing footsteps and the gentle breeze to keep me company.
Hallowed ground
Silent Hill f is gorgeous, and I spent as much time cowering from monsters as I did marveling at the meticulous set dressing and particle effects on show. Light streams pierced through the grey sky, illuminating muddy patches, while rust-speckled bikes and water pumps added to the environment’s lonely feel.
In lieu of bright red save points, Silent Hill f offers situationally appropriate miniature Shinto shrines called Hokora, which nestle nicely into the surrounding houses.
The thoughtful details continued throughout the demo, and as the empty hills gave way to the scrappy buildings of the town’s outer edges, sodden structures, stringy electrical wires, and patina-coated pipes maintained the hair-raising atmosphere.
Amongst the scenery, there are also tidbits of lore to collect. During my demo, I found a newspaper clipping dictating a deadly geyser incident, a doctor’s note warning of fox sightings, a magazine suggesting ‘woman is complete only when she is loved,’ and that’s just for starters.
As you begin to unravel Silent Hill f, you can also jump over to a diary to learn more about the characters – like Hinako’s best friend Shu – with each precious entry adding context to how Hinako sees the world around her.
In true Silent Hill style, the scenario surrounding its protagonist is immediately confusing. And, while themes such as isolation, mental health, and femininity are present, it’s clear that the key to fully understanding Hinako’s situation is going to require some in-depth sleuthing.
Eventually, the somewhat peaceful process of meandering gave way to a chase sequence as I came face-to-face with the crimson floral presence infecting the town.
Darting through alleys and climbing across rooftops, I eventually found peace. Though it wasn’t long before I discovered my first monster, whose wretched creaking form and tendrils of jet black, pin-straight hair stopped me in my tracks.
A deliberate dance
While much of Silent Hill f’s ambience feels in line with its predecessors, one area where it deviates is its combat. Your first few encounters center around managing your stamina and dodging away from attacks as you run. Soon enough, though, you find a handy pipe, and you can start to take out your rage on your twitchy opponent.
Despite its speedy visual impression, combat is actually relatively slow and surprisingly punishing in practice. Hinako wields only handheld weapons, and so you need to get close to an enemy to take them out, dodging all the while to avoid getting hit.
As both of these actions orbit around a singular stamina bar, you must balance your moves to avoid getting winded. Ergo, if you dodge too much, you can’t swipe at the baddie, and leave yourself open to attacks. This balancing act creates a careful tension that makes combat feel pleasantly frantic.
It’s not just stamina and health to consider, though, as Silent Hill f also features a Sanity Meter, which allows you to focus in combat to highlight prime moments to attack your opponent. As with Stamina, this system is a balancing act, and if you spend too long staring at the monsters, the sanity meter will run out, and you’ll be left to look for those opportunities on your own.
All these additional systems have the capacity to overwhelm, and yet in my experience so far, they were well-balanced and offered just enough friction to keep me engaged without wanting to tap out.
Another area where Silent Hill f diverges from its forebears is with the addition of an upgrade system, which sees players equip Omamori for buffs. These spiritual accessories can be found in the overworld or traded for at Hokoras, and provide essential benefits like boosts to your stamina or the ability to avoid damage while healing in combat.
Access to these upgrades is directly linked to how well you’ve scoured the map for goods to trade, which feels like a clever way to push players into dangerous spaces where they can uncover key narrative clues.
In addition to fighting off the malformed monsters, you’ll also need to solve a few head-scratchers. The first puzzle I encountered was relatively straightforward and involved inspecting strange wrapped objects and placing them on corresponding pedestals.
A second puzzle later involved wandering through poorly lit displays of Ema (wooden plaques) to find matching symbols that could be used to unlock a padlock. I’m keen not to spoil the solution as it was a lot of fun to figure out, though it’s safe to say it wasn’t overly complicated to solve – here’s hoping they grow in complication as the story progresses.
So far, Silent Hill f feels like a clever twist on the mythology of the series, pulling on similar psychological threads while adding in a few new features to keep things fresh. Only three hours in, I still feel lost and confused, though the pieces are starting to weave together in curious ways, and I’m eager to see the story through when it launches later this month.
