As somebody who cherished Bloober Crew’s 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2, I’m comfortable to report that whereas being made by a wholly totally different developer, Silent Hill f boasts that very same stage of high quality and polish. From story to worldbuilding, from graphics to fight and exploration, Taiwan-based developer Neobards has crafted an expertise that meets the excessive bar set by the Polish developer, albeit in a drastically totally different setting.
As I began strolling the dense but abandoned streets of Ebisugaoka, it was instantly obvious simply how detailed and well-realized this fictional distant city within the mountains of rural Japan within the Sixties is. With an immersive over-the-shoulder view and no UI on display screen throughout exploration, Silent Hill f is a recreation that tells a convincing story by its visuals.
Admittedly, I used to be initially skeptical of Konami’s choice to entrust a non-Japanese developer to create a recreation set in Japan, however 5 hours of really enjoying Silent Hill f shattered such prejudices. Ebisugaoka is undoubtedly one of the spectacular up to date Japanese townscapes I’ve ever seen in a online game, and that comes from somebody who has lived in Japan for the vast majority of his life and loves video games like Shenmue, Persona, and Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Exploring a Japanese mountain village
One of many few minor points I had with the Silent Hill 2 remake was that almost all of its playtime is spent inside buildings and services. Whereas these functioned as well-designed dungeons filled with horrifying enemies to struggle and complicated puzzles to resolve, the rise in quantity in comparison with the 2001 unique made it really feel like exploration of the particular city of Silent Hill was restricted.
Due to this fact, I used to be pleasantly shocked that the overwhelming majority of my playtime with Silent Hill f was spent exploring Ebisugaoka. Previous picket homes with tin roofs line the slender alleys, scattered with bicycles, flower pots, and mailboxes. Small streams and footpaths between rice fields gently cleared the path to the village. Fences alongside the river and concrete stairways following the slopes create a townscape that oozes with environment. Recordsdata and different paperwork scattered all through the city add context to Ebisugaoka, which flourished as a mining city throughout its heyday. Now, it has turn out to be a largely forgotten village and its persons are caught in outdated methods, resembling favoring conventional healthcare strategies over trendy medical science and being overly religious to the Shinto deity Inari. The context of Ebisugaoka and its folks instantly really feel like they’re an integral a part of Silent Hill f’s cohesive story, which made me desperate to go off the crushed path and acquire each hidden file.
The story begins after protagonist Hinako – a feminine highschool pupil – runs away from dwelling after being scolded by her drunk father. Strolling the empty streets of Ebisugaoka and heading to the native sweet retailer to fulfill up with Hinako’s fellow highschool associates seems like an authored strolling simulator paying homage to video games like Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
After all, it doesn’t take lengthy till Hinako and her associates uncover one thing is unsuitable on the town, and earlier than you understand it Hinako is holding an iron pipe in her arms, an iconic weapon of the collection. Ebisugaoka then step by step proves to not simply be suited for a fascinating strolling simulator expertise, but in addition the proper setting for a horror recreation, as its slender alleys and staircases are ultimate to cover enemies behind corners whereas additionally functioning as a maze for the participant to get misplaced in.
In some cases, doorways left ajar and open home windows invite Hinako inside conventional tatami-floored homes, the place she should clear up some easy puzzles as a way to make her manner by to the subsequent space. These puzzles play out in an unconventional manner. One puzzle, for instance, had me receive keys to a locked door, however there was nothing noteworthy inside. Then, as I went again to the hall one other door instantly swung open, which gave me the chills.
One thing feels off
Silent Hill f’s situation author Ryukishi07 sees Japanese horror as a sub-genre that doesn’t a lot depend on threats to the protagonist’s life, however fairly makes you’re feeling uncomfortable by creating conditions that really feel off.
When you consider it, Silent Hill is a collection recognized for simply that. Whereas there isn’t a scarcity of life-threatening encounters, among the collection’ most uncomfortable moments are in conversations with its outright bizarre characters.
In Silent Hill f, Hinako and her associates are looking for a strategy to escape the haunted city of Ebisugaoka. Interactions with these associates appear regular at first, however then instantly they are saying or do one thing that catches you off guard.
Additionally, in typical Silent Hill trend, puzzles typically reveal one thing about Hinako or the world she inhabits. A puzzle on a misty rice subject has you study scarecrows as a way to study the route you ought to be heading, which is related to a childhood trauma of Hinako getting misplaced and being afraid of the scarecrows.
Throughout my playthrough, puzzles by no means felt too tough. Hints supplied by recordsdata you receive by no means make the answer too apparent, whereas nonetheless giving the participant an thought of what they must do. On a associated notice, Silent Hill f has problem settings for each its fight and puzzles, and whereas Konami suggested me to play on Story mode for each, I stubbornly selected Regular mode as I wished to tackle a problem. Whereas the issue of the puzzles by no means overwhelmed me, fight proved to be a bit extra demanding.
Weapon sturdiness at its greatest
Silent Hill f’s fight depends totally on melee assaults. Hinako can receive all types of weapons starting from iron pipes to kitchen knives and baseball bats, however no weapons come into play. With some exceptions, these weapons should not obtained by story beats, however are scattered all through Silent Hill f’s world like different sources, and Hinako can carry as much as three weapons at a time.
As you wield iron pipes and stab at enemies with knives, you’ll discover that the sport has weapon sturdiness. It’s a good contact that weapons which might be about to interrupt truly change in look, so anticipate to be holding a bent pipe or a damaged bat. This additionally features as a touch to the participant, which Hinako will acknowledge by mentioning that she ought to repair it. Weapons might be mounted by utilizing a restore package, however these are so scarce that on many events you’ll have to say goodbye to your new favourite weapon.
Whereas weapon sturdiness is usually considered a burden in video games, it works right here as discovering a brand new weapon and restore kits shortly turns into an integral a part of the useful resource administration that the survival horror style is understood for, particularly because you received’t be having to look for ammo this time round.
A intelligent system permits you to flip in your sources for an in-game foreign money at save factors, which can be utilized to extend your stats or receive new amulets that may be outfitted to provide you sure buffs. That implies that if you’re cautious and don’t waste your sources, leftovers might be became one thing helpful, which seems like an excellent reward to a well-planned expedition. Hinako can solely carry a restricted quantity of things, which additionally appears to stimulate lively use of this new buying and selling system.
Within the Silent Hill 2 remake, sources have been so ample that expert gamers didn’t actually have to fret about useful resource administration, to the extent that they might have a big inventory of unused ammo and objects by the top of the sport. Silent Hill f solves this downside by making sources tradable.
Silent Souls?
Fight itself has an analogous really feel to Silent Hill 2’s close-range fight. You possibly can dodge enemy assaults with the DualSense’s circle button, when you can activate a light-weight and heavy assault with R1 and R2, respectively. Your restricted attain and prolonged assault motions give a practical, weighty really feel to fight. Heavy assaults particularly are gradual and have to be timed properly, contributing to the sensation that Hinako is simply a teen with restricted power.
In the meantime, every weapon kind has a unique set of motions and attain. Swinging a newly obtained baseball bat at an enemy or charging at them with a knife you discovered within the kitchen of a neighborhood residence at all times creates new and thrilling conditions.
What units Silent Hill f’s fight other than Silent Hill 2’s extra restricted melee fight is the implementation of timed dodges and counterattacks. The latter particularly offers a lot of injury and is vital in battle. Enemies briefly present an indication when a counterattack might be utilized, however until you might have educated your reflex expertise by enjoying video games like of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you’ll doubtless have a tough time reacting. That’s the place the Focus mode is available in, which might be triggered by holding L2. When in Focus mode, enemy indicators for counterattacks seem for longer, whereas additionally charging up an influence assault that staggers an enemy. Which means you may head into Focus Mode with the intention of going for a counterattack, however end up switching to an influence assault when it prices earlier than the enemy exhibits a gap.
Focus Mode is tied to Hinako’s psychological vitality gauge, which exists individually from her stamina and well being bar. Curiously, the higher restrict of her psychological vitality decreases when enemies do one thing that scares her or when she is frightened by a sure occasion, connecting the gameplay to the story and Hinako’s psychological state.
Fortunately, there are objects that may get well the higher restrict of your psychological vitality gauge, however Hinako’s stamina is restricted too. When she runs out of stamina and psychological vitality, she will be able to turn out to be so frightened and drained that she received’t even be capable to transfer for some time. Managing her vitality sources, subsequently, is vital to survival.
Preventing one common enemy is pretty manageable, however when confronted by a number of enemies, working away typically felt like the most suitable choice, particularly since enemies don’t give expertise factors or drop sources. Fight was enjoyable sufficient that I discovered myself actively partaking in fights even when there wasn’t an actual profit to it past with the ability to discover the surroundings extra freely.
Whereas maintaining fight partaking and complicated, Silent Hill f does an excellent job in making the participant really feel weak. The design cleverly incorporates this by having what appears to be a boss battle at first truly play out as a sequence through which the participant has to seek out an escape route.
One other iconic aspect to the collection is the existence of an alternate world, which is current in Silent Hill f as properly. Hinako is sometimes transported to a unique dimension that exhibits a extra conventional Japan, the place a mysterious masked determine guides her by the grounds of assorted shrines. Right here, Hinako obtains conventional Japanese weapons such because the Naginata, a pole weapon with a curved blade on the top, much like a glaive or halberd that’s recognized to be principally utilized by girls. Weapons that Hinako finds on this alternate world don’t break, however Hinako received’t be capable to carry them over to Ebisugaoka.
It was on this realm that I encountered the primary boss of my playtime, which proved far more tough than I had anticipated. Even with my full understanding of the fight mechanics and techniques, its lengthy attain, hard-to-predict assault patterns, and a number of levels required vital trial and error. The boss took me almost an hour to beat, however step by step studying learn how to tackle the boss was a welcome problem that by no means felt unfair. For reference, my colleague was enjoying on Story Mode and defeated the boss on his second strive, however an acquaintance from one other media outlet who was additionally enjoying on Story Mode didn’t handle to defeat the boss and ran out of time.
Whereas he didn’t particularly point out the Soulslike style, collection producer Motoi Okamoto says that Silent Hill f’s fight was impressed by the present reputation of tougher motion video games. With a number of problem settings, Silent Hill f is in no way a Soulslike, however its boss design shares an analogous studying curve that in the end ends in an excellent feeling of satisfaction whenever you lastly beat it. Silent Hill f is a story-driven expertise above anything, however it simply occurs to have actually stable fight mechanics and techniques on the identical time.
One distinctive part of Silent Hill f’s storytelling is the pocket book Hinako carries. Right here you possibly can examine characters, places, and occasions that seem within the story, all written from Hinako’s perspective. At first, it appears to be a fairly easy archive, however occasions within the story can set off further textual content for beforehand unlocked entries. As a substitute of merely repeating what occasions within the story already informed you, these further texts go a lot deeper into the lore and background. Typically, they’ll barely contradict or change your view on characters and occasions, indicating that issues are by no means what they appear to be on the floor. It isn’t arduous to think about that for a deeper understanding of Silent Hill f’s story and characters, analyzing these texts can be important.
Again to high school
The final a part of my demo befell inside a faculty, which was basically a dungeon much like Silent Hill 2’s aforementioned residence buildings, hospitals, museums and accommodations. Upon getting into the college, Hinako obtains a map of the constructing which the participant should use to navigate their manner by. Fortunately, Hinako is simply as diligent a note-taking fanatic as Silent Hill 2’s James, so everytime you study {that a} door is locked or that there’s a passage someplace, it can be famous on the map. Inside the college, I needed to clear up a large number of puzzles as a way to discover keys to succeed in totally different lecture rooms and flooring whereas preventing and working away from enemies alongside the best way. Identical to the city itself, the outdated picket faculty constructing oozes with environment and feels full of life regardless that none of its college students or academics are there, and Hinako’s comment to herself, “I have not been right here since commencement,” subtly added to the environment.
Whereas in current video video games, the abundance of self-talk by the protagonist can typically really feel a bit an excessive amount of, Hinako’s occasional monologue succeeds in subtly contributing to the state of affairs with out ever coming over as an exposition dump.
In keeping with Okamoto, the common playtime for Silent Hill f can be about 12 or 13 hours, which ought to point out that I’ve performed by roughly one third of the sport. Whereas I don’t know the way issues will go from right here, up to now the sport’s steadiness between city exploration and inside services seems like an enchancment over the Silent Hill 2 remake.
Additionally, whereas the primary 5 hours of the sport felt like they have been structured linearly, Silent Hill f has a number of endings like many different video games within the collection, together with the well-known UFO ending.
My time with Silent Hill f was promising to say the least. Its worldbuilding and story had me so intrigued that I nonetheless suppose again on my transient go to to Ebisugaoka virtually per week later. The deep fog that envelops the city someway feels extra pure than within the city of Silent Hill, maybe resulting from the truth that Ebisugaoka is a mountain village. Ebisugaoka simply seems like the proper match for a psychological horror narrative, and all of Silent Hill f’s techniques and mechanics complement the setting. Collection composer Akira Yamaoka’s soundtrack additionally does a stellar job in making the participant really feel uncomfortable all through.
To this point, Silent Hill f appears to be a horror recreation that will get the whole lot proper. If, like me, the Silent Hill 2 remake was one among your favourite video games of 2024, Silent Hill f has the potential to turn out to be a severe recreation of the yr contender when it releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC on September 25.
Silent Hill 2 f ©Konami Digital Leisure
*In-development footage and screenshots are proven.