2025: Silent Hill f
I can see why her dreams were restless
Silent Hill is one of the most iconic franchises in the history of gaming. Silent Hill 2 is often considered to be one of the absolute best horror games ever produced, as well as having one of the medium’s best stories. Yet, for a long time, it’s a series that has lost both its identity and quality. Every game since Silent Hill 4 has more often than not come as disappointment to fans. Whether it be the lackluster gameplay, incoherent storytelling or just failing to produce something that feels like ‘Silent Hill’, the series has underperformed for far too long. Even when the remake for Silent Hill 2 was announced, it was met with caution by the fanbase. As it turns out, that remake was fantastic, reigniting the desire to see the franchise shine once again.
It’s been almost 20 years since the disbandment of Team Silent, after Konami made the choice to have a western studio take over development of the series. It makes sense then, after all these years, that Silent Hill would return with a Japanese writer at the helm. Ryukishi07 was bought in as Konami wanted someone who could “understand the essence of Japanese horror”. Clearly, Konami have learned from past failings and seem eager to produce high quality entries into their flagship series’. The noise they were making sounded good, but would these decisions lead to Silent Hill f returning the series back to the pinnacle of horror?
Silent Hill f is comfortably the best entry into this series since Team Silent’s closure back in 2007. The most important aspect of this game is that the ‘feeling’ is right. From the moment the opening cutscene ends and we’re put in control of Hinako, everything feels wrong. In a good way. Running down to the town from Hinako’s home is reminiscent of James’ run into Silent Hill. Dripping in atmosphere, you continue down a path that’s eerie but you’re never quite sure why. You meet high school friends, yet it doesn’t feel quite right. It’s an excellent setup, nothing weird is happening to Hinako at this point, but we know as well as she does that there’s something deeply unsettling around the corner.
That is what SIlent Hill f does perfectly. Throughout my entire playthrough, it was often the ordinary that would implant the fear in my mind. It’s something that the best games in this series have always mastered. As with other games before this, there comes a point in Silent Hill f where you don’t really fear the monsters anymore, you start to feel that the people or reality itself are the real threat. Which is a recurring theme in Hinako’s story.
We’re introduced to Hinako as she deals with her abusive father, as well her passive mother who doesn’t try too hard to offer protection. After being introduced to her friends, Shu, Rinko and Sakuko, it’s clear the two girls have an issue with Hinako. On the surface, those issues don’t seem too deep, but as the story develops, it becomes clear that Rinko has a genuine disdain for Hinako. At least, that’s what Hinako is starting to see. Often, those issues tend to stem from Hinako’s friendship with Shu, a friendship which Rinko is deeply jealous of. Something that is frequently visited in Hinako’s story is growing up, or entering womanhood.
It’s something that haunts Hinako throughout the story, and troubles her when it comes to her friends. Unravelling her fears of growing up, we can see how she handles that pressure throughout the game’s four different endings (not including the UFO ending). During my time in Ebisugaoka, I was captivated by Hinako’s fight to greet adulthood on her own terms. We learn a lot through the game’s environmental storytelling, especially that she fears losing her freedom, with her paranoia slowly taking over as the game progresses. She distrusts her friends, family and even herself at times. From time to time, her sister Junko is present, like a specter of everything she doesn’t want to grow up to be.
As with so many games in the Silent Hill series, you could lose hours of the day just theorising everything that occurred during the story. Silent Hill f is a story that is one of the strongest in this series and that is helped massively by some fantastic acting performance. Konatsu Kato is the standout performer, playing the role of Hinako. One of the most engrossing performances of the year, she throws herself into this role and represents Hinako’s fears perfectly.
On top of that, we have some fantastic art direction throughout the game. Terrifying monsters that truly capture the twistedness of Silent Hill, whilst also acting as a projection for Hinako’s mindset. There’s excellent attention to detail too, as we see the toll the game is taking on Hinako. Her clothes become torn, she develops wounds from her battles. She comes out of the other side of this game looking like she’s dragged herself through hell.
Drag herself through hell she does, with our help of course. Probably the only weak point of Silent Hill f is the gameplay, which isn’t uncommon for the series. For the most part, it’s fine. We’re forced to deal with a very limited gameplay system here. You can dodge, you can parry and you can do two types of attacks. For smaller enemies, it works well. Where it struggles is the bigger story set pieces. Every boss fight does frustrate you, mainly because they seemed to be designed around a completely different combat system. The final boss of the first playthrough often had me wondering if I’d missed something before the finale. They were performing some attacks that the player doesn’t seem to have the right tools for. Overall, it doesn’t hold the game back too much, but it certainly takes a bit of shine from an otherwise special experience.
Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack here is another fantastic piece of work. Composed by series veteran Akira Yamaoka alongside Kensuke Inage. One of Silent Hill’s strongest traits is always its music and here is no different. Each track is a harrowing listen, perfectly capturing the haunting world we experience. When listening to it whilst writing this, it just gives this chill - in a spooky, but good way. Mayoi Uta and The Wet Garden are standout tracks, with both of them jumping out during my initial playthrough of the game. The whole OST is a haunting listen, providing us with one of the best soundtracks of the year. One that I think has been massively overlooked.
Silent Hill f is an unexpected return to form to a series that’s failed to produce a quality new title in almost 20 years. The horror of Hinako’s journey is unrelenting, yet you can’t help but push through it. Although it is held back somewhat by an outdated combat system, every other aspect of Silent Hill f is top quality. Ryukishi07 takes his chance to address difficult themes in 1960s Japan, focusing on life growing up as a young woman and the challenges that young girls were faced with. He writes fantastically here, treating those themes with respect and giving us a story that grips us from beginning to end. I was absolutely enthralled with Silent Hill f. In a very strong year for video games, I believe it stands out as a unique experience, and one of the best games of 2025.