**Silent Hill f: A Haunting New Chapter Set in Japan**
While *Silent Hill f* isn’t the first game to move the series away from its eponymous foggy town, it breaks new ground by finally giving fans a story set in Japan. *Silent Hill f* redefines what a Silent Hill game can be, while still delivering the mix of horror and mystery that we expect from this franchise.
### F is for Friends
*Silent Hill f* is set in the fictional Japanese town of Ebisugaoka and follows a young woman named Hinako who searches for answers after her town becomes engulfed in a mysterious fog. Set in the 1960s, there are parallels and direct references to World War II and how its conclusion devastated Japan for the decades that followed. This not only informs the game’s visual style but also factors into the motivations of its characters.
On its surface, *Silent Hill f* seems like a major departure for the franchise. While the blend of Western and Eastern influences made Silent Hill stand out among the crowd, *Silent Hill f* ditches the former for an authentically Japanese story. Still, it’s undeniably Silent Hill, with plenty of fog, creepy enemies, puzzles, and dark themes.
Hinako immediately makes her mark as one of the more likable Silent Hill protagonists. As a young woman who grew up in Ebisugaoka, much of her backstory revolves around childhood memories at school, at home, and around the neighborhood. For her, the stakes are as simple as wanting to make sure the people she cares about are okay. It’s hard not to root for her and easy to imagine yourself in her shoes as she adjusts to this unbelievably bleak new reality.
As the story unfolds, the plot threads of *Silent Hill f* unravel in a way only this franchise can do. Revelations about the world and characters caused me to stop dead in my tracks multiple times, forcing me to rethink earlier segments of the game.
If fans had any concerns that *Silent Hill f* would stray from the series’ thematic roots, fear not. It presents a deeply mature narrative with themes of abuse, bullying, and self-harm. It’s heavy stuff and worth an extra moment of consideration if any of these topics could be triggering for you.
### Pray for Salvation
As you walk the foggy streets of Ebisugaoka, you’ll find yourself face-to-face with the unsightly monsters that now inhabit this town. The first (and most frequent) enemies you’ll encounter are fleshy, mannequin-like creatures who contort their bodies as they walk and sprint in a disjointed manner. I hope that description does their freakiness justice, because I never quite got used to seeing them.
Luckily, Hinako can take up arms using weapons she finds around town, like lead pipes and bladed objects. It’s a fairly straightforward combat setup, with standard and heavy attacks that can be combined to dispatch enemies. Hinako can also dodge and even counter enemy attacks if the player triggers a heavy attack during a visual cue.
Once you get the hang of combat, a couple of elements shake things up. Most notably, *Silent Hill f* features weapon durability—meaning the quality of your gear degrades and eventually breaks after enough use. Toolkits can be used to repair weapons, though they are not incredibly easy to find.
The game also introduces a sanity meter that players must manage alongside health and stamina. Sanity can be depleted by incoming damage as well as environmental hazards. If your sanity runs out, Hinako will lose health instead. Items exist to replenish health and/or sanity to varying degrees, but they can also serve separate functions at Hokoras.
Hokoras are essentially checkpoints where you can save your game and upgrade Hinako. This is primarily done through the Faith system. Faith is a currency earned by enshrining items found during your journey. You can exchange Faith for health, stamina, and sanity upgrades, or spend it to draw a random Omamori—special items that provide passive bonuses during exploration and combat. Additionally, Faith can be used to increase the number of Omamori Hinako can hold at once.
This system creates a dynamic where you’re constantly juggling items, determining what’s worth holding onto and what should be enshrined. It’s a survival game, so you’ll inevitably face scenarios where you’re low on healing items during important fights or light on toolkits with a wave of enemies approaching. Still, hoarding items isn’t always best, as it may force you to pass on other valuable items and stunt Hinako’s progression.
### Fear Tactics
As a horror game, *Silent Hill f* wouldn’t be a true success unless it brought the scares. Let me make it absolutely clear: this game is scary as hell. The developers craft scares not just through jump-scares (although those are present), but by using the atmosphere to create a constant feeling of dread.
I carefully turned corners and entered buildings, afraid something would pop out at me. Sometimes it did. More often, nothing happened—but my heart rate went up anyway. To me, that’s the mark of a good horror game.
The creatures of *Silent Hill f* are hard to look at, but the only thing worse than seeing them is hearing them. The sound design is among the best I’ve experienced in a horror game. The sounds of Hinako breathing softly as wooden planks creaked beneath her feet only intensified my stress while exploring the quiet buildings of Ebisugaoka.
The mechanical twisting and turning of the mannequin-like enemies is etched into my mind. During one puzzle sequence (which I won’t spoil), I realized enemies were sneaking up behind me through the noise of their shuffling feet. I almost threw off my headset in surprise.
Despite being this far into the franchise’s history, *Silent Hill f* still manages to deliver unique scares, thanks primarily to its new setting and infusion of Japanese horror elements. Fans will recognize some references to previous games, but I loved how fresh the horror felt here.
### Cutscenes and Voice Acting
*Silent Hill f* features plenty of cutscenes that help stitch the story together between gameplay segments, and many of the game’s voice acting moments shine. While I enjoyed watching them, the cutscenes occasionally pop up a bit too frequently, especially early on. This can disrupt the pacing and provide players a reprieve when the atmosphere should remain tense.
Additionally, I noticed that cutscenes are capped at 30 FPS on PC, which is noticeable when the rest of the game can run at more than four times that frame rate.
### Seeing Through the Fog
*Silent Hill f* gets under your skin. It’s a game that gives you objectives like “go on ahead and escape” while keeping you on edge. Every jump scare elicited a wide grin from me.
I loved the unique combat challenges as I progressed from puzzle to puzzle, and the story’s overarching mystery is worthy of the Silent Hill name.
This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher.
**Silent Hill f** launches on September 25, 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146036/silent-hill-f-review-score
About the Author
