SILENT HILL f

I expected to kind of hate this but it's a really solid game with a few annoying issues. First, let's get it out of the way, it's barely a Silent Hill game. There's a few direct nods and similar theming, but beyond that, it's kind of just its own Japanese horror game in a foggy town thing. Feels more like a game "inspired by" Silent Hill than part of the actual Silent Hill series, and even then, the way the those themes are handled here is not a match for the series. For example, the otherworld is not unsettling or disorienting for the player, it's actually the opposite, it's less scary than the real world, and they give you a weapon with infinite durability. When they do directly reference "Silent Hill stuff", it comes off as fan servicey, shoehorned, and corny. The less I thought of it as Silent Hill, the more I enjoyed it. The subject matter is VERY heavy-handed, which is also not a good match for the series, either. You're not supposed to directly say what the characters are feeling, yet 75% of this game's story is told through journal entries that directly spell out the characters' feelings. I can't tell if this is a case of bad writing, which I'm leaning towards, or a translation issue. I'm willing to grant that some of the more ham-fisted tell don't show stuff is a translation problem, but it doesn't excuse the sheer volume of needless exposition. The overall story, when it's not explicating itself to the point of embarrassment, is intriguing in its broad strokes. I was compelled to see it to its conclusion, despite its missteps. The puzzles are pretty solid, too, if also suffering from translation issues at times. I actually enjoyed the combat, which a lot of people seem to hate. It's satisfying and engaging enough for the entirety of the game, and creates a good bit of tension. The Omori system is decently engaging for a game that's not entirely combat focused. So yeah, not really a Silent Hill game, but if you disconnect it from the main series, and even further disconnect it from the series in general, and instead think of it as a standalone Japanese horror game inspired by Silent Hill, then I think it's a winner. That's a lot of hoops I jumped through, but I guess I don't care. I enjoyed it overall. If this is a one-off for the reboot of the series, that's cool, but I hope future installments adhere closer to the original series than this one did. Fog + Somewhat Ham-Fisted Exploration of Trauma is not what makes a Silent Hill game, but I do fear that the series been Flanderized to that very point, and that this is simply what we're getting in the future.

Contains spoilers. Obviously. People who read narrative-game reviews and complain about spoilers are the same people who walk into traffic and blame the automobile industry. People say horror games are about confronting your fears. This is incorrect. They are about paying money to enter places you would sensibly avoid. *Silent Hill f* makes you attend school, deal with family, and participate in a wedding. Adding monsters was honestly unnecessary. The game takes place in 1960s Ebisugaoka. It is unfortunately in Gifu rather than Chiba, preventing perfection. There is also no MAX Coffee. The true horror was regional distribution all along. You play as Hinako Shimizu, a girl surrounded by people who have already decided what she should become. Her parents have plans; her friends have interpretations. Society prepared her life in advance, because letting someone choose risks her choosing something other people dislike. Society values individuality, but only the decorative kind. You may be unique provided your uniqueness has been approved, labeled, and placed in the correct recycling bin. Hinako is therefore considered “difficult,” a useful word for someone who refuses to cooperate when nobody wants to admit what she was expected to cooperate with. She looks like the standard rebellious tomboy: argumentative, athletic, uncomfortable with feminine expectations, and unable to finish a peaceful conversation without causing a diplomatic incident. But she does not hate being a girl. She does not reject femininity, marriage, affection, or wanting someone. She rejects having the answer selected for her. Apparently this distinction requires gods, ritual mutilation, floral body horror, deaths, and multiple playthroughs. In a reasonable world she could say, “I’ll decide for myself,” and be left alone. Fortunately, we do not live in that world, so there is enough material for a video game. The best horror is realizing that nearly everyone feels entitled to some portion of Hinako’s identity. Her father treats her future as family property. Her mother shows what obedient survival looks like. Fox Mask offers protection and affection, but these become difficult to distinguish from possession when refusal is not accepted. Control rarely introduces itself as control. Usually it calls itself concern. Fox Mask works because part of Hinako wants what he offers: security, recognition, and relief from fighting alone. A cage does not become harmless because someone placed cushions inside it. Not that I found this personally relatable. I am evaluating the narrative from an entirely detached academic position, like a scientist observing an unpleasant insect. The fact that the insect has my defensive mechanisms is coincidental and should not be investigated. Visually, flowers are beautiful until they treat human bodies as available land, and shrines are ornate until every ornament resembles a rule. *Silent Hill f* uses beauty to depict corruption: attractive futures and smiling people explaining that resistance would be selfish. The town knows when to be quiet, letting your brain manufacture threats on its behalf. Which brings us to combat. At first, melee works. Hinako swings pipes and farming tools like an angry teenager who missed the mandatory protagonist combat seminar. Attacks have weight, stamina matters, weapons break, and learning openings makes encounters desperate rather than empowering. Then the game continues having combat. And continues. Eventually the monsters become coworkers. Once I have parried the same flower-covered abomination six times, it is no longer unknowable horror. It is Tanaka from accounting, blocking the corridor again. Mandatory arenas are worse. Locking the exits immediately tells you the enemies will attack and you cannot escape. The shape is dangerous, but mostly to your weapon durability. The combat is competent, but the game mistakes repetition for escalation. Being asked an uncomfortable question is tension. Being asked the same question twelve times is a school questionnaire. The puzzles reward observation, though hard mode sometimes crosses from respecting your intelligence into framing you for a crime you did not commit. Still, confusion implies an answer exists. Social interaction offers no such guarantee. Exploration is excellent. Ebisugaoka feels like a real place becoming hostile rather than a sequence of horror rooms. The school is especially effective, although supernatural monsters inside a school seem redundant. Ordinary students already possess advanced pack-hunting behavior. New Game Plus is clever and irritating. Later runs transform the incomplete first ending, which is narratively ambitious and also holds the explanation hostage until you repeat several hours. The structure resembles human relationships: everyone conceals essential information, acts on assumptions nobody communicated, and later calls the damage “growth.” Unlike human relationships, *Silent Hill f* provides a skip button. The later endings work because the real question is not whom Hinako chooses, or whether she chooses anyone at all. The question is who gets to decide. Hinako does not replace one compulsory answer with another. She reclaims the right to withhold her answer until it belongs to her. “I’ll think about it” sounds insignificant to people accustomed to choices. To someone whose future has been negotiated by family, society, supernatural entities, and competing versions of herself, it is practically a declaration of war. There is something admirable about someone who refuses both sides when both are trying to use her, and who can want love without calling coercion love because it arrived wearing a pleasant face. This is merely an objective assessment. Any suggestion that I became emotionally invested in Hinako Shimizu is malicious misinformation. I replayed the game because the narrative withheld relevant data. An incomplete dataset compromises analysis. That is all. I did not replay it to watch Hinako choose herself. I did not collect every document because I wanted to understand her. I did not tolerate repeated combat and an entire town outside Chiba because I developed an attachment to a fictional character whose hostility functions as armor. That would be pathetic. *Silent Hill f* is not flawless. Combat becomes repetitive, enemy variety is limited, and multiple runs will alienate anyone with a healthy respect for his own time. I therefore completed it repeatedly. The art direction is exceptional, the atmosphere suffocating, and the puzzles mostly strong. The story understands that social expectations become horrifying when they convince you that surrender was your own idea. Most importantly, Hinako is angry, selfish, frightened, violent, unfair, confused, and frequently wrong. She is permitted to be a person instead of a motivational poster. Steam only allows “Recommended” or “Not Recommended,” because even a game about resisting imposed binary choices must submit to a binary consumer-rating system. I selected **Recommended**. Do not misunderstand. Writing a negative review would require spending even more time discussing the game, and I have embarrassed myself sufficiently. **8.5/10.** One point deducted for repetitive combat. Half a point deducted for insufficient Chiba representation. Hinako Shimizu is a very well-written protagonist. That sentence contains no emotional subtext whatsoever. Please stop reading.

Gameplay wise it's not really that fun in certain areas, but the story carries it to the end. Truly a game that deserves the title of "Silent HIll" again.

First of all, story and symbolism are very great and well written but justvlike every player said, fighting part was mostly unbearable. If you are just here to fight, game will be confusing for you because you have to pay attention to many many details all around the town. If you are here for story, to learn entire story, you have to AT LEAST play the game three times and of course, you have to follow ending guides otherwise you will miss certain rituels or puzzles and you have to do that in order and even if you do right, bug might crash your game. Again story is good but why we have to restart this long game, even though entire storythrough is mostly same (except a few details), puzzles are same too. Its literally pointless to make player who appreciate the story suffer like this. Its really a waste of time and frustrating. Story mode isnt story mode because you cant focus on story while constantly fighting with same bunch of monsters, hitting them endlessly, its tiring. its exhausting. And i really wish we couldve get more details and explore story more to learn more about other characters. They couldve at least not force people to repeat game to enjoy story. Its literally pointless and again, it was like torture but i really appreciate story so i rec.

really enjoyed the game thank you Konami! please give Hinako a gun in the sequel.

Это Сайлент Хилл. Несогласен = неправ.

寂静岭迎来了最严厉的慈母