Platform: PC
Also On: PS5, Xbox Series X
Publisher: Konami
Developer: NeoBards Entertainment, Inc.
Medium: Digital/Physical
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: M
Some time ago, we saw Konami tease a bunch of projects related to the Silent Hill franchise. We got announcements for the remake of Silent Hill 2, that story-driven Silent Hill Ascension project, and a teaser for a brand new game in the mainline Silent Hill series. We now know this secret project to be "Silent Hill f", a new entry set in Japan during the 60s. Under the exceptional penmanship of Ryukishi07, the story was set in stone to be something dark and extremely personal. You may be familiar with his work if you're experienced with the "When They Cry" series. Silent Hill f not only has big shoes to fill given the franchise it's associated with, but also because of its incredible story writer.
Fast forward a few years and here we are after the significantly anticipated release of Silent Hill f. If there's one thing Konami always manages to pull off in these games, it's the atmosphere. Taking a step away from the Western landscapes and cities we're used to, we find ourselves in the shoes of Hinako Shimizu, a young girl presumably in her mid-teens. After a familial dispute, we leave her family's homestead and make our way into the town of Ebisugaoka. Based upon the real Japanese town of Kanayama from the Gifu prefecture, the town aids the game with a certain eeriness and claustrophobic feel. Being in a town so full of winding alleys and tight spaces between buildings really lends to a feeling of being trapped and enclosed with no escape.
The fog covering the town only helps to make things even more unnerving, such is the case with every Silent Hill title. The air is thick with the pressure from this time period and its societal expectations, evident by the background comments of Hinako about women being forced to submit to men without a say in the matter. Ebisugaoka is chock full of buildings without people, the weight of societal oppression, and the supernatural that permeates every iteration of Silent Hill.
On top of the setting being incredibly unnerving, it's incredibly gorgeous. Silent Hill f looks beautiful, especially on PC where I was playing through it. It is notably one of the best performing Unreal Engine 5 games currently available, which is high praise given the state of games released using it. It manages excellent stability and visuals, all while running at a locked (and smooth) 60fps. I wish it could uncap and go above 60 frames per second, but it's really not a big deal for such a cinematic title. It looks great, plays well, and runs like a dream, so big praise to Konami for optimization on a modern Unreal Engine 5 game.
Really early on you can get a feel for the story and where it wants to sink its roots. Between Hinako's disdain for her family (except her sister, who you will slowly learn more about as you progress the game) and her eagerness to maintain her friendships, you can tell that she's a very troubled young woman undergoing extremely stressful situations. To add icing on that cake of misery, almost immediately one of Hinako's friends makes a comment about the lack of relationship between her and her best friend and "partner", Shu. Anybody growing up and being at that age during high school and whatnot can smell that jealousy subplot brewing from a mile away, so add that to the list of interpersonal themes you can expect to continue seeing from Ryukishi07. More and more of the knots in this plot thread will unravel as you play, with each one only serving to raise more questions than the last. It's one of those games you really have to play for yourself to experience the narrative, so I won't go into much more depth than that. Just do yourself a favor and avoid spoilers if you're remotely interested.
The story's all fantastic and all, but the gameplay is a little...iffy. It's fine and serviceable, but it doesn't really suit the theme or the horror. While yes, Silent Hill games do have you beating monsters with pipes and hammers and sometimes even just outright shooting them, there's a certain way that it's handled to not feel like it takes away from the fear and unease of the setting and the creatures inhabiting it. Silent Hill f's combat is mostly inoffensive, but with how ridiculous the dodge and parry mechanic is, you might as well be a little Japanese Terminator. The game does its best to steer you away from this by giving you weapons with durability to prevent you from killing everything that moves, but it's not really enough. The enemies pose very little danger regardless of your weapon status due to the absurdly strong perfect dodge. It effectively slows down time all the while filling your stamina bar back up and extends your evade distance (or at least so it seems). The general map exploration and what have you is what you'd expect from Silent Hill, so that's totally normal and fine, but the combat could've probably used some tweaking. It's not a massive issue or anything, but it does somewhat take you out of things. And that's until a certain story event happens later that drastically changes combat for specific sections of the game, effectively making you an unstoppable badass (to repeat: only for specific sections).
Konami's return to new titles is strong with Silent Hill f despite its shortcomings in the combat department. The setting is gorgeous and eerie with the music only adding to that, the voice acting is excellent (I played the Japanese dub of the game), and the story is downright gripping. Every new story beat had me eager to theorize with myself and uncover as much as I could of this narrative unfolding in front of me. It truly is a "must play" of the survival horror genre and I wholeheartedly believe this marks the comeback of Konami as a powerhouse in gaming once more.
Note: Konami provided us with a Silent Hill f review code for review purposes.
Score: 8.5
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