Silent Hill f is not the traditional silent hill experience. You aren't in Silent Hill, the combat system has been given a complete overhaul compared to any other game in the series and the gritty, dark atmosphere of classic Silent Hill have been replaced by vibrant plants and beautiful Japanese cultural flair. That being said, the game still has tons of Silent Hill traits that you expect from a game in this franchise: challenging but still fun puzzles, beautifully convoluted symbolisms and underlying themes and a ♥♥♥♥ ton of fog.
Visually the game is stunning, from the art direction to the environments, everything here is like really beautiful. The Showa era level aesthetics and Shinto culture that this game is steeped in is absolutely some of the prettiest stuff I have ever seen in gaming. Obviously the actual graphical quality is good too, I'm not just glazing cause of the art direction.
The combat can be kind of hit or miss and is nothing at all like anything that's ever been in the Silent Hill franchise before. There is now a stamina bar, perfect dodging, charms, a sanity metre and a ton more. Honestly, at first I wasn't a fan and it definitely took me multiple playthroughs to finally click with it but when I did the game was super fun and actually really helped with any replayability issues I would have been having come my 4th/5th playthroughs. Expanding on this, the charms are 100% to thank for this because without the specific setup I was using (to help mitigate the weapon durability) I would have been losing it. Now, just because it clicked for me doesn't make it perfect, the weapon durability could have absolutely just not been included and some of the enemy placements are like no joke some of THE worst I have ever had to deal with in a video game - the ganking in this game is unbelievable. Overall though, the combat is solid.
The story is insanely well done and includes many interesting topics like friendship dynamics, familial abuse and control/obsession but mainly it sheds light on issues women of that time period would have faced - what with the arranged marriage stuff - and still do face today with the pressures society, namely men, put on them to conform to their desires, needs, wants. It truly shows the psychological tole it can have on women and how in marriages women aren't satisfied in it can feel like they've had their identity and personal autonomy erased and are expected to live only for their husbands. The way the story handles this is very nuanced though, it doesn't just lazily portray it's plot and characters like, "Oh, yeah, marriage is bad! Men suck and hate women, never get married." It approaches it more subtly, with hidden notes, memos and flashbacks, especially in NG+ and mainly around the protagonist's parents' marriage dynamic, showing us that marriage is a complicated thing and how mistakes can be made during marriage but that the true way to moving past that and holding a healthy relationship together is understanding and forgiveness between a couple.
Soundtrack slaps so hard. Common Akira Yamaoka W. just putting that here cause i dont have a whole paragraph in me for that :)
No game is perfect btw so some things I DIDN'T like were the otherworld; sometimes kinda felt a little repetitive and that they got slightly lost in the sauce with the enemy placements in those areas, especially in such cramped levels that feel like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ labyrinths and mazes and are claustrophobic as ♥♥♥♥. Secondly, NG+ basically being a necessity to understand the story, like I'm all for NG+ having new ♥♥♥♥ for extra lore details and don't get me wrong it certainly made 100%ing this game way more fun and way less tedious than it would've been otherwise but yeah, I won't even pretend that NEEDING to beat the game once already then again to fully grasp the main storyline is kind of dumb. Lastly, this maybe ties into the NG+ providing more insight thing but why is everyone in this game so unlikeable before NG++ like genuinely, I could NOT stand Hinako until a few runs in and Rinko STAYED a ♥♥♥♥♥ forever (I do appreciate that she is a child and her whole character flaw is supposed to be that she's envious and that she grows out of it in her diary entries but MY GOD).
Anyways, sick psychological horror with awesome elements of body horror written by the goat himself Ryukishi07 and steeped in super rich culture and themes. 8.5/10 maybe 9 once the burn out of playing ts for like 20 hrs in the past 3 days wears off.
