Silent Hill f Is a Radical and Needed Reinvention of the Horror Franchise

While last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake completely reinvigorated Konami’s classic horror franchise, this year’s Silent Hill f officially breaks new ground for the video game property. Developed by NeoBards Entertainment, Silent Hill f is the first mainline title in the series since 2012’s Silent Hill: Downpour, spinoffs and playable teasers notwithstanding. This ranges from a radical change in setting to new gameplay mechanics and sensibilities that rethinks the core concept of what a Silent Hill game can be.

Here’s why Silent Hill f is the biggest creative swing for the franchise since its debut, how the new game offers a fresh perspective on the series’ classic themes, and what Silent Hill f potentially means for Konami’s beloved psychological horror property moving forward.

Silent Hill Goes Global

For most of its in-game history, the primary setting for the Silent Hill games had been the small town of Silent Hill, Maine, a remote lakeside community perpetually shrouded in fog. The town is often depicted as being largely abandoned, with the monsters prowling its decrepit streets and buildings occasionally a garish reflection of the characters’ unresolved traumas and other mental issues. Silent Hill f changes up this common environment, completely eschewing the usual United States location to the fictional Japanese town of Ebisugaoka while effectively making the game a period piece by setting its story in the 1960s.

The town of Silent Hill had become a character in its own right, a haunting presence that subtly altered itself to punish its protagonist and reflect their mental health. By taking the action to Japan, Silent Hill f gets to build a new identity for the series from the ground up while retaining the overarching creepy aesthetics. It also gives a whole new level of culturally influenced folklore for the game to draw from when creating its monsters to challenge new protagonist Hinako Shimizu.

By taking Silent Hill outside of its namesake town, Konami has essentially opened up the entire world for the franchise to potentially set its stories in. At first glance, 1960s Ebisugaoka is as far away from the contemporary Silent Hill, Maine as a setting could get. The tonal elements are still prominently apparent, but Silent Hill f has completely rethought what is possible from a Silent Hill right down to its surrounding environment and time period.

The Psychology of Silent Hill

Of course, the change in setting doesn’t mean that the psychological aspect that Silent Hill is known for has been discarded. Instead, this element has also been expanded upon and revised, taking advantage of the change in scenery to reformat the context of these themes. Hinako certainly has her own traumas and mental hang-ups that she endures and carries throughout the story, but as seen in the trailers and sneak peeks at the game, she isn’t as thoroughly defined by them like James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 or Murphy Pendleton from Silent Hill: Downpour.

More than just being a narrative theme, the psychological element has spread directly into the gameplay mechanics for Silent Hill f, notably with a sanity meter. While this suggests similarities to the 2002 GameCube game Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, which had its own sanity meter causing characters to hallucinate when depleted, the sanity meter is relegated to the combat gameplay in Silent Hill f. Rather than being consumed when facing the constant horrors of the game, this sanity meter is used up whenever players use it to gain an edge in combat, with the meter restored at shrines.

How it’s incorporated into the game aside, a tormented psyche does play a prominent role throughout Silent Hill f and more than the omnipresent unsettling atmosphere permeating in the game. Hinako is taunted by monsters resembling her classmates and other people that she knows, blaming her for their current state as they stalk her in and around Ebisugaoka. As the game progresses, Hinako feels increasingly overwhelmed and exhausted from her experiences, something that her friends notice. The game tests Hinako’s mind and body like never before, retaining that franchise hallmark for emotional tragedy and intensity.

This is more subtly been in the case in preceding games but Silent Hill f makes this abundantly clear: Silent Hill is not so much a physical place but a troubled state of mind.

A New Future for Silent Hill

As cliche as it sounds, now more than ever is a great time to be a Silent Hill fan, even looking beyond Silent Hill f. For franchise purists, Konami released the widely acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake last year, with its developer Bloober Team confirmed to be working on a modern remake of the original 1999 game. In 2022, Annapurna Interactive, who has produced a diverse line of acclaimed games for years, announced its working on their own installment in the franchise, Silent Hill: Townfall.

For franchise fans who prefer their psychological horror to be firmly set within Silent Hill, Maine, there are both reimaginings of classic games and new games coming to satisfy that desire. But with Silent Hill f, the franchise feels the most expansive that it’s ever been, taking those fog-shrouded scares and stories beyond Twin Peaks-inspired America to effectively make Silent Hill fit wherever and whenever the developers want.

Like Metal Gear, Konami had kept Silent Hill on a shelf for years, leaving fans listless as both video game franchises went dormant. But more than just remaking past titles, as it has with Metal Gear Solid, Konami is making a concerted effort to build a future for Silent Hill. And with Silent Hill f leading the charge, this future is looking bright.

Developed by NeoBards Entertainment and published by Konami, Silent Hill f goes on sale September 25 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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