To borrow the tagline from the fifth Fatal Frame game, Silent Hill f is beautiful horror. But, then again, that may be the best way to describe it.
The latest instalment of Konami's famed survival/psychological horror franchise will take you for a wild ride, full of twists and turns, and keeping you guessing – both on the storyline and absurdly-clued puzzles.
The game was released on September 25. We're playing this on Xbox Series S, and it's also on the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows. We'll be doing our best to keep the spoilers at a minimum.
A twisted love polygon
Silent Hill f is a stand-alone spin-off in the series and follows Hinako Shimizu (looks like a member of Avantgardey at first glance), a high school student in 1960s Japan who is forced into a tangled adventure when her fictional hometown of Ebisugaoka suddenly gets plunged into chaos, engulfed by fog and red sludge and flowers.
The game doesn't have a direct connection to the series' lore, although there are some references to previous games, such as that giant Yamata head in chapter 10 that is a callback to Eileen Galvin's creepy head in Silent Hill 4: The Room. It does feel like Silent Hill mixed up with sprinkles of Dark Souls, Resident Evil and Fatal Frame (just listen to the chimes).
Hinako isn't alone, as she's joined by her classmates Sakuko Igarashi, Rinko Nishida and Shu Iwai, whose feelings towards Hinako, which you'll discover along the way, are quite telling.
Eventually, your foes show up, including demon-possessed, blade-wielding mannequins, a couple of quadrupeds reminiscent of Resident Evil's Lickers and a mysterious figure in a shiromuku – a type of kimono worn at weddings – who will chase you at different points.
And you know it's Silent Hill when those murder mannequins and fog show up (no nurses, though).
The fog and monsters are manifestations of Hinako's struggle in life: she resents her father's abusiveness and her mother's subversiveness, leading to childhood trauma and gamophobia, or the fear of getting married.
Further complicating things are her relationship with Shu, her "partner" who has been by her side her entire life, and Rinko's jealousy over that. As you progress, resentment from Rinko and Sasuko – killed off early in the game as a result of the first fog strike – will be discovered.
As Hinako falls unconscious or asleep, her adventure shifts to and from the Dark Shrine, where she encounters Fox Mask (we'd rather call him Fox Guy), who wants to marry her and convinces her to let go of her childhood by ... killing her friends.
In the Dark Shrine, in preparation for her wedding, she is eventually turned into Fox Hinako, with her right hand severed and replaced with a fox arm and her upper face sliced off and replaced with a fox mask. We knew something was up with her arm from the game's box art, showing the right sleeve or her uniform torn off. This is actually a counterpart to human Hinako's arranged marriage – something orchestrated by her father to get them out of debt – which she dreads.
Although you do get a couple of weapons in the Dark Shrine, Fox Hinako's fox arm will become your only weapon there soon. That means you'll lose the variety of your arsenal you have in the real world, which include the powerful Sacred Sword and one gift from a UFO. There aren't cooky transformations like Heather Mason's Sailor Moon cosplay in Silent Hill 3 or an infinite weapon like Alex Shepherd's laser pistol in Silent Hill: Homecoming (yet) – although you do get two bonus costumes for pre-ordering and/or the deluxe edition.
And the convoluted relationships between the two Hinakos, Shu, Fox Mask and Rinko make for a nice little love pentagon.
The game has five endings, and clues on how to achieve them – more of which are unlocked as you get more endings – are shown on the main menu screen. We also like how the menu's image changes after each ending you get.
And, of course, what's Silent Hill without a UFO ending? Yes, the franchise's famous joke ending is conveniently given away by Hinako and Shu's love for playing a game called "Space Wars".
The gripe vine
Silent Hill f introduces a new mechanic called sanity, joining your health and stamina metres. Sanity lets Hinako deal heavy blows to enemies, although when it's drained, any attack turns into hits on health.
We really didn't pay much attention to sanity as, since we love torturing ourselves, we just used regular attacks. Which leads to our first gripe – Hinako winding up for heavy attacks feels like it takes too long, as if you're telling your enemies, "here, hit me".
And don't get yourself surrounded: one-on-one skirmishes are fine, but having to deal with two or more foes is basically a death sentence if you're not careful, as combo attacks are effectively a one-hit demise for you.
Some battles, especially forced fights where you're locked in a small area, are brutal. The most annoying enemy is the huge Spawning Monster, which spews out other enemies in addition to its own attacks.
And be ready for the usual jump scares: those mannequins – officially called kashimashi – lurk in some corners, ready to strike once you run past them. It's a good jolt to your heart rate.
For players unfamiliar with the series, get used to a lot of empty spots, especially in Ebisugaoka – the eerie and foggy atmosphere, not knowing what you'll encounter, is a staple of the Silent Hill series.
But you don't have to fight off everything: if things get rough, you can use what YouTuber Dante Ravioli calls the "Nike strat": just lace it up and get the Silent Hill f out of there. I used to try to deal with everything, but yours truly's gamer patience isn't as long as it used to be.
Conveniently, there are some fights wherein a Hokora – a Japanese shrine that serves as a save spot – is easily within reach. This is particularly useful in the most difficult "Lost in the Fog" action setting: sneak in a few hits, save, rinse and repeat, so feel free to use it. There's no shame in save scumming – as long as no one's looking.
Lost in the Fog also severely ramps up boss difficulty: the first major boss in that setting gave us the business for nearly two hours – nearly turning us into the Angry Video Game Nerd – as its move set was amped up, throwing curveballs when you thought you got it figured out. To be fair, tough fights are good exercises to see how good you are at dodging and analysing the situation.
Hinako is also able to dodge, but it's clunky as trying to perform consecutive ones is inconsistent. It also consumes stamina, which lowers each time you attack or run; Hinako can also run out of breath, making her pause for a while, vulnerable to attacks, while waiting to recover. We find that funny because Hinako, a track and field athlete, quickly runs out of stamina while simply running from enemies.
You can, however, boost your abilities by equipping up to five omamori – good luck charms – that can, among other things, boost your damage dealt, reduce stamina use and others. There are also ema, used for prayers in order to boost health, stamina and sanity.
Mind you, a fully-equipped, maxed-out Hinako, coupled with mastery of dodging, is formidable; with that, we entered the very final fight of the true ending with seven full heals and 18 semi-heals – so you'd better believe when we say went absolutely psycho on the final bosses (yes, plural).
An unknown twist?
Silent Hill f is a great game and not just keeps you on edge – it also keeps you intrigued. The one thing we love about it is how the story evolves as you chase succeeding endings, giving you long and good replay value.
We are, however, curious to know if Konami will somehow be able to link it to the rest of the Silent Hill canon: if Silent Hill f is in the 1960s, that makes it really close to Silent Hill: Origins, which is in "Year Zero" that, according to the lore, is set about two decades before 1980s Silent Hill 2. We see another twist here.
