Fog clings to the island of St Amelia like taut plastic on skin, but I'm still not convinced Silent Hill: Townfall makes sense in the Konami psychological horror franchise. The 30-minute hands-off demonstration developer Screen Burn shows me during Summer Game Fest 2026 is laden with Silent Hill's trappings, milky fog and scabby monsters, but it's missing the cigarette-burned soul.

It's all too clean. Leading man Simon Ordell has ripped himself out of a hospital bed with all the tape and needles attached. A cannula pokes through a vein between his fingers, allowing healing liquid to revive him when he's injured, and a tight medical bracelet sticks to his wrist. But Simon is otherwise spotless while investigating St. Amelia in 1996, with vague instructions to find a brunette who I need to double check isn't Mary, the missing brunette from the soul-tearing Silent Hill 2. In only 30 minutes, I notice many callbacks to fan-favorite, early Silent Hill games – and I worry the unique parts of Silent Hill: Townfall can't compare.

Take me upstate

Townfall follows 2025's Silent Hill f, which was set in Japan, in taking Silent Hill international. I still yearn for the original lakeside town in Nowhere, USA, and the slow, somewhat inviting decay it represented, but I appreciated Silent Hill f's invention of a highly stylized, red spider lily landscape, too. Townfall's Scottish island St. Amelia is ruled by realism. Its cobblestone streets and neat white houses are hyper-realistic, looking better-suited to Call of Duty than an introspective horror game. Nonetheless, they are impressive. When the camera lingers on a bit of patterned wallpaper in an abandoned home, I can imagine what it would feel like just by looking at it.

Less tantalizing to me, someone whose favorite aspect of the best Silent Hill games is the poetry of their strangeness, is that Silent Hill: Townfall also employs realism in its puzzles. Rather than adding names to the Grim Reaper's list, as you do in the original Silent Hill, or burning pork liver to reveal a path in Silent Hill 3, the Townfall demo I saw has Simon searching for a prepaid electric card common in '90s Scotland to get the house's lights working.

Again, Screen Burn is demonstrating an impressive attention to detail here. But I don't play Silent Hill games for their faithfulness to history, and especially not to reality. I love them for the way they use magic to reveal our skeletons. Whenever the occult Otherworld falls over a Silent Hill protagonist, you're confronted with the rust under the hospital room paint, blood beneath a young woman's skirt, denial before freedom. I've always thought the supernatural was more real than real, so I've found comfort in past Silent Hill games, which lie on the cliff between observable life and hidden feelings. They push into each other, yin and yang, to make a whole world.

But Silent Hill: Townfall seems more oriented toward its surface. I'm first introduced to Simon as he's seated near a town monument littered with protest signs – "We Need The Truth," "Whatever Heart This Town Had Has Stopped" – and their unsubtle nature reminds me of Dead Space graffiti that routinely took me out of that game's horror. A Screen Burn developer also suggests during my Summer Game Fest session that Townfall uses first-person perspective because the series' usual third-person does more to coddle you from horror. In a sense, that's probably true. It's more viscerally horrifying to play Resident Evil in a VR headset than with ungainly tank controls, after all.

But third-person also encourages players to connect with a game's protagonist, as you can observe them as you control them, linking your movements with their mind. And since the average Silent Hill story is a storm whipped up to torment its main character, specifically (there are very few all-purpose spooks aimed at you, the player), third-person helps its effectiveness.

Though, Townfall isn't completely devoid of fantasy. It pays homage to the series' early convention of letting you identify monsters with a stammering radio by replacing the tech with a handheld CRT TV, which also swaps the need for on-screen UI by flashing cryptic images of your next location. It's an intriguing change, as the CRT TV is an elegant way to focus the player's attention on their next game objective while still being immersive in its story. However, I don't think a Silent Hill game's user interface has ever dulled the impact of its corpse nurses and brown toilets for me.

Ultimately, I feel like Screen Burn is worried about iterating on the wrong genre conventions.

I'm confused by all the changes I see in my Silent Hill: Townfall demo that are neutral at best. When the monster finally arrives, it's a melted flesh humanoid with its head sharpened into an axe. It looks like a struggling Lying Figure from Silent Hill 2... except with an axe for its head.

I thought this was supposed to be the fun part, but it's still too tame.

Refresh your memory of the Silent Hill we left behind with our list of the best Silent Hill games.

During yesterday's PlayStation State of Play showcase – the first big event to come out of this year's Summer Game Fest – we got a new glimpse at Silent Hill: Townfall, as well as our first word of its precise release date of September 24, 2026.

It was a big moment for longtime fans of Konami's beloved horror game series, as Townfall marks a very different entry to Silent Hill – and one that features a greater emphasis on stealth-based gameplay, apparently.

As per Sony's official blog post on the upcoming title, combat might feel a bit removed from predecessors as evasion, hiding, and general stealth seem to be more of a necessity at times rather than a workaround.

"The trailer also gives us our first glimpse of a new creature, seen stalking Simon in the darkness of the Otherworld," it reads.

"With some enemies, combat is an important aspect of survival. In others, evasion is your only option. Using the CRTV and peek mechanic to assess the situation as you navigate, staying out of sight and moving carefully is paramount, as being seen can lead to a terrifying chase and dire consequences."

That certainly makes it sound as though stealth is a core component of Townfall's gameplay – and, coupled with its new focus on a first-person point of view, something tells me that fans are bound to have thoughts on how it plays come this fall.

I'm immediately reminded of Silent Hill f and its divisive action-packed combat, which left fans unable to decide whether or not it was a positive change or a negative one.

Thankfully, Sony's little SGF update on Townfall does make it clear that it's still got many of the features Silent Hill players know and love. I'm personally hopeful that the game's blend of old and new works, but I suppose we'll just have to play it to see.

Silent Hill Townfall, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Control Resonant all launch a day apart in September as everyone gets the hell out of GTA 6's November.

It's that time of year, as Summer Game Fest rolls around with various new reveals and sneak peeks – and today's big PlayStation State of Play showcase from Sony certainly offers no exception there, giving us another look at Silent Hill: Townfall.

That's right – Silent Hill: Townfall is back in the limelight after its big release date reveal during tonight's State of Play event, finally confirming just when Konami's new horror game is set to launch.

There's apparently not too long left to wait, as the exciting trailer unveils the title's arrival: September 24 of this year. While we already knew it would come in 2026, the precise day is news... good news.

After all, it's nearly been a year since Silent Hill f, the previous series gem, dropped in September of 2025 – and yes, that means that Silent Hill: Townfall is marked to launch around the same time of year as its most recent predecessor.

Will it be as good as the last series entry, though? Only time will tell, but honestly, if this new trailer is anything to go by, then I'm voting that it almost definitely will be.

Just look at the terrifying creatures and scenes protagonist Simon will witness in St. Amelia, the new Silent Hill setting – it's all too reminiscent of an old-school camcorder horror film for me, but I'm loving the eerie vibes.

And, what's more, we can finally put a face to the mysterious voice previously heard on the CRTV in Konami's reveal trailer... Zoe. As per Sony's blog post on Silent Hill: Townfall, she's a nurse from a local family clinic. Simon evidently doesn't recognize her, much like he doesn't recognize St. Amelia itself.

We also get a quick look at some of the upcoming Silent Hill: Townfall puzzles – and, yep, it's looking like the game will feature the series' iconic mind-boggling scenarios to solve between all of the monstrosities and mystery.

As Sony puts it, "Solving these puzzles isn’t just a way to progress in the game, though, but rather a way to understand the situation Simon finds himself in." Hm – that's a bit of a head scratcher in itself... but it does leave me all the more excited.

Here's hoping Silent Hill: Townfall is as promising as it appears it'll be so far. September 24, 2026, please don't be late.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

There is a fight boiling over in Silent Hill – not for love, lust, nor the pendulous future of your sinner's soul, but over pop legend Madonna and how much she influenced the horror franchise's 2001 sequel. Silent Hill 2 artist art director is adamant the answer is barely at all.

A popular Twitter post says facetiously that Madonna's music video for 1998 anthem 'Nothing Really Matters' was "inspiration for the atmosphere of silent hill 2 so technically we have madonna to thank for the perfection that is silent hill 2." They're referencing a deleted post Ito made in 2019 naming the 'Nothing Really Matters' video as one of his influences while curating Silent Hill 2's rotten mood. But the horror artist says he's been misunderstood.

"I said I inspired by Madonna's Nothing Really Matters video," Ito writes in a May 21 Twitter post, "but I meant the Butoh-like dances by Asian dancers painted entirely white in the video, not herself/her song." Butoh is a beautiful, nauseating form of Japanese dance theater defined by sharp and labored movements. Artists of all kinds have used its tender-to-touch action as inspiration for their own vulnerable horror – the blurry ghosts of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 film Pulse, for example, twist into Butoh-like configurations before inspiring victims to kill themselves immediately. Guillermo del Toro also had actor Jacob Elordi learn Butoh in order to become the miserable Creature in 2025's Frankenstein.

In Madonna's music video, background dancers wearing all-white shiver and moan in a Butoh style while the singer pulsates in red, dancing against Silent Hillish rust-stained hallways. "Just a coincidence," according to Ito.

Nonetheless, the video was simply "1 of inspirations for the Lying Figure, BHNurse's etc [animations]," Ito says about Silent Hill 2's armless sacks of skin and nasty Bubble Head nurse enemies, who both approach you while trembling like flies. "That's all. Plz don't jump to conclusions."

He's warned fans of this before, clarifying in 2024 he was inspired "NOT from the song BUT from the video." He's very insistent, and he does not like Madonna.

But the subset of horror fans who happen to also love Madonna – personally, I've been known to occasionally have 'Like a Prayer' on replay – are distraught. They're denying Ito's own memory, informing him that Madonna "birthed silent hill." Meanwhile, Ito is growing increasingly aggravated, saying, "Even if that person posted it as a joke, once it spreads, many people take it at face value."

And he is right. At the same time, though, I'd really love to introduce Pyramid Head to 'Like a Virgin.'

Konami seemingly confirms Silent Hill Townfall will be a PlayStation console exclusive at launch.

Hideo Kojima has shared his verdict on Return to Silent Hill – and he says a lot with very few words.

"Watched 'Return to Silent Hill' on Amazon Prime," he wrote on Twitter. Ouch.

Kojima is known for his long, poetic reviews for movies he loves, but he never posts a negative review. When he posts shorter, sparser summaries, then, fans immediately assume he hates what he's just seen (by contrast, for example, Kojima's glowing review of Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk clocked in at 219 words).

And he wouldn't be the only one to have a less favorable view of Return to Silent Hill. The movie has a score of only 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, with our own Return to Silent Hill review giving the film 1.5 stars. Our reviewer criticized "a confusing plot, mediocre visual effects, and over-the-top acting" in director Christopher Gan's new take on the franchise.

Loosely based on the 2001 video game Silent Hill 2, Return to Silent Hill stars Jeremy Irvine as James Sunderland. The movie does what it says on the tin, as James returns to the town of Silent Hill after he receives a letter from a former lover. But, when he gets there, he finds that the town is now covered in fog and most of its inhabitants have left or died due to a mysterious disease.

Return to Silent Hill is now available to rent at home. For more, check out our guide to the best upcoming video game movies on the way in 2026 and beyond.

We finally have a release date for Silent Hill Townfall. The upcoming horror game just got a September 2026 launch date locked in for the chillier autumn months thanks to a new trailer shown at the recent June PlayStation State of Play showcase.

The spin-off comes hot on the heels of 2025's Silent Hill f, and is continuing the trend of fresh new settings away from the titular American town that we've become all too familiar with. This time, Townfall is taking us to Scotland, and from the gameplay clips we've seen already and a fresh new trailer that dropped during the PlayStation State of Play February showcase, the grey setting is perfect for fog-laced nightmares and jumpscares galore.

I personally loved Silent Hill f (in fact, it's one of the best Silent Hill games of all time in my eyes), so I've been very invested in collecting all the information I can about Townfall. Below you'll find my round-up of everything that you need to know about the new psychological horror, from Silent Hill: Townfall story breakdowns, setting details, release information, and more. So what are you waiting for? Scroll on for all the traumatic fun that's awaiting us.

Silent Hill: Townfall release date

Silent Hill Townfall's release date has been set for September 24, 2026. The news came in June's State of Play showcase, squeezing in one final Townfall trailer before the Summer Game Fest 2026 schedule properly kicked off.

It's a welcome addition to the host of excellent games set to release this Fall, and launching just days before October begins, it's a pretty fitting start to spooky season 2026!

Silent Hill: Townfall platforms

The only platforms confirmed for Silent Hill: Townfall are PC and PS5. Sorry, Xbox and Switch 2 fans.

At least for the moment, it does seem like the game will be a PS5 exclusive. And honestly, at least we'll be getting a PC version, considering that Sony is reportedly scaling back PC ports for PS5 games as well. However, Silent Hill f did release on Xbox Series X/S systems, so who knows? Maybe it'll be added to the console in the future. But for now, it's firmly an upcoming PS5 game.

Where is Silent Hill: Townfall set?

Silent Hill: Townfall is taking us away from the titular American town to a brand new setting of a fictional Scottish island called St Amelia during 1996.

The story of the game will take place in a little town on St Amelia that is covered in a thick grey fog and mist from the sea. Perfect conditions for monsters and psychological torments, if you ask me. According to Konami's website, the town in question is also "seemingly abandoned but not at rest", very spooky indeed.

St Amelia may be fictional, but it's actually based on the real village of St Monans in the East Neuk of Fife and in an interview with the BBC Screen Burn co-founder Jon McKellan explained how the team studied the fishing village's features to bring it to life in the upcoming horror. This is especially true with the real-life Haar (sea fog) that seemingly features very heavily in Townfall.

Art director Paul Abbott also shared that his team "had painstakingly recreated recognizable elements of the town" for the upcoming game. So I'm sure exploring the cobbled streets and misty alleyways will feel more authentic and immersive as a result.

This is the second Silent Hill spin-off that isn't set in America, following Silent Hill f's rural Japanese setting (which was incredible and added a unique flair to the art direction of monsters). Silent Hill f proved that the franchise works amazingly when it goes international, so I have high hopes for Townfall's Scottish depiction.

Is Silent Hill: Townfall a new story?

Yes, Silent Hill: Townfall is a brand-new story separate from the mainline Silent Hill games. Like 2025's Silent Hill f, it's a spin-off with its own standalone plot but still employs the same Silent Hill markers of "creepy fog causing trouble" and the main character having to deal with horrors that are a manifestation of their own psyche.

To get specific, though, Silent Hill: Townfall will have you playing as the character Simon Ordell, who mysteriously wakes up at St. Amelia. So far, we don't know much about his past or motives, except that he is determined to "put things right." We also know that he has an IV bag and a medical wristband with his name on it for some reason.

Oh, there is also a CRTV in his possession, which appears to be picking up voices that could lead him on his way to find whatever it is that he is looking for…I'm sure nothing bad will happen from listening to those, right?

Scotland during the '90s is also a very charged economic and political time for the game to choose as its setting. So I'm sure we will see some of the real-life issues that people faced back in the day manifest in some kind of way with this new plot as well. Stay tuned for updates!

Silent Hill: Townfall trailer

The Silent Hill: Townfall trailer dropped during the February PlayStation State of Play showcase, and it's a beauty. You can check it out for yourself above!

In the footage, we see Simon interacting with a CRTV that is picking up a video of a woman who says, "you have to come back to me" and "I can't stay in this room forever". We then see shots of St. Amelia covered in fog, with notes scattered around the town saying "nothing we can do until help arrives" and "stay safe", obviously hinting that something bad has happened. Not great news for Simon, who can't seem to remember anything, is it?

We also get to see some monsters and Simon using a gun to take them down. The monsters in question look very gnarly, too, with uncomfortable medical imagery.

Silent Hill: Townfall gameplay

Silet Hill: Townfall is a psychological horror game that gives us a first-person perspective as we control Simon through a foggy nightmare.

Like previous Silent Hill games (excluding Silent Hill f's strictly melee combat), we'll be facing off against monsters with both firearms and melee weapons at our disposal here. So far, it does seem like this new entry will be sticking to the classic Silent Hill formula of trying to solve environmental puzzles in order to progress the story, while also trying to stay alive as monsters attack and stalk you through the fog.

A unique spin with Townfall, though, is how Simon's CRTV comes into play. The tool isn't just a narrative one with voices tuning in every now and again, but also shows the outlines of enemies while you're ducked behind cover. The outlines of all those creepy monsters reportedly show up in its static, which is pretty cool.

Hopefully, we get more specific gameplay details soon, such as the number of endings we can expect. But for now, we know that we'll be making our way through a mystery and will likely be left questioning whether what we see as Simon is real or a warped version of a nightmare.

Who's making Silent Hill: Townfall?

Silent Hill: Townfall is being made by the Scottish development team Screen Burn and is being published by Annapurna Interactive and Konami.

Screen Burn is behind titles like Stories Untold and Observation, and is an award winner with a history of quality writing. So, yeah, Silent Hill: Townfall is in very capable hands, folks. Previously, Screen Burn was known as No Code until a rebrand back in 2025, and it's been working on the game since 2020 .

It may have been a long wait, but hopefully, we'll get a release date soon, and the six years we've been waiting come to an end without any delays or issues.

Can I pre-order Silent Hill: Townfall?

If you are in the UK or Europe, you can pre-order Silent Hill: Townfall already, thanks to an exclusive Steelbook bundle.

Digital pre-orders still aren't live just yet. If you are UK-based, the Silent Hill: Townfall Steelbook bundle is available via Amazon. It also looks stunning, featuring new artwork by the ScreenBurn concept art team. This physical copy costs £44.99.

However, according to Amazon's website, you won't be getting it until December 31. This date may change once a release date for the game is announced, but keep that in mind before you spend your cash.

While we wait for Silent Hill: Townfall, check out the rest of the games on the way this year with our guide on all the new games for 2026 (and beyond).

It seems Silent Hill Townfall, a spinoff of Konami's legendary horror series set in Scotland, will be a PlayStation console exclusive, at least at launch.

Silent Hill Townfall emerged from its four-year hibernation for last week's PlayStation State of Play with its first full-on trailer, showing its protagonist, Simon Ordell, arrive in the fictional Scottish town of St. Amelia in order to "put things right." There's fog, melancholic music, and clear evidence that something's gone horribly wrong here. In essence, a classic Silent Hill setup, for better or worse.

It also seems Silent Hill Townfall will continue Konami's long-running partnership with PlayStation as a PS5 console exclusive. Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 Remake had a one-year PS5 exclusivity window before launching on Xbox, although NeoBards' Silent Hill f launched on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X at the same time last September.

According to the official Silent Hill Townfall website, the game is only confirmed for PlayStation and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Also, looking back at press emails from last week, the only platforms listed are PS5 and PC. I'd be surprised if it never releases on Xbox, but it seems there's an exclusivity window similar to Silent Hill 2 Remake. I've reached out to Konami for clarification and will update this story if I hear back.

Whatever the platforms, Silent Hill Townfall is due out sometime in 2026.

There's still time for Silent Hill Townfall to join our list of the best horror games to play in 2026.

The most dramatic thing about Silent Hill Townfall is its first person perspective. It's the only aspect that has me inching forward in my seat while watching the upcoming horror game's first proper trailer.

Heavy fog creeps through a washed-out, nondescript coastal town called St Amelia – based on a Scottish island, I learn through a 30-minute deep dive. A man cradles a gun, a disembodied woman's voice tells him he "did what he did," there's plenty of hospital imagery, and finally, violent manifestations of his guilt-ridden consciousness swarm him in the streets. It boasts everything that made the best Silent Hill games memorable to begin with. And somehow, that makes Townfall's reveal a bit of a letdown for me.

Déjà vu

I have nothing against Townfall's 1980s Scottish backdrop. On the contrary, I'm glad that Japan-set Silent Hill f kicked off a new trend, challenging the notion that the American town itself needs to be featured or referenced in every series instalment. But Silent Hill f was more than a physical departure from the USA; it elevated my expectations of Silent Hill's style, flair, and artistry going forward.

A huge part of that is its strong visual identity and how intrinsic it is to the game's narrative. Silent Hill f takes place in Japan because it's a story that cannot be told in a generic foggy American town. Silent Hill Townfall's first trailer has me thinking the total opposite – and I'll need some convincing that it had to take the leap across the pond in the first place.

Perhaps it's an unfair comparison. Watch any Silent Hill f trailer, and even if you're unclear on the narrative beats, its setting is immediately recognizable; period-specific buildings, use of Japanese language, intelligent monster design with tangible cultural connotations, even the red spider lilies blossoming from the object of Hinako's horror, all reinforce a coming-of-age story that is inextricable from its time and place.

Silent Hill Townfall has no such distinction – for me, at least. My British colleagues seemed incredulous to the fact that I didn't instinctively recognize the generic cobbled streets, red-white-and-blue bunting which could have belonged to any country whose flags possess those colors, and other apparently obvious signifiers that point to Townfall's Scottish setting. As a British person who grew up in Southeast Asia, I was very confused about how they saw something I’d missed entirely.

Connecting the dots

Can you blame me? The protagonist – Simon Ordell, as his hospital bracelet reads – is an American man. A plummy Englishwoman's voiceover is heard at multiple points throughout the trailer, too. If I have to watch thirty minutes of additional lore to get a first sense of place from a game trailer, I have to assume that the setting does not matter at all.

Unless you have an extensive understanding of vaguely British iconography, St Amelia could be anywhere. But Silent Hill, the place, represents that already. It's the everyman setting of survival horror, somewhere that exists perhaps not physically but psychologically. So was there really a need to bring the franchise to Scotland to prove that this meme is correct? And is coastal Scotland really as recognizable as the developer hopes it is outside of the British populace?

It'll take more than a few cobblestones and cups of tea to make Townfall a quintessentially "British" game. Hell, I think Still Wakes the Deep and Atomfall already have this base covered. The potential for a truly spooky Silent Hill incorporating Scottish folklore and history was right there, an opportunity to feed off its location much as Silent Hill f does.

Perhaps that is Screenburn's intention for the final product, but if that is the case, it was lost on me in the trailer. Instead, Townfall looks like Silent Hill distilled to its most obvious parts, with a very naughty boy reminded to have a conscience by a likely dead, imprisoned, or otherwise imperiled woman, who exists as nothing more than a conduit for his punishment or redemption. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, and look forward to being proven so – but so far, the artistic intelligence and bravery of Silent Hill f has cast a long shadow over Townfall.

Replay some of the best survival horror games while you wait for Konami's next sare-'em-up

Silent Hill is a spreading sickness, and Konami is determined to keep propagating it in a variety of great, fine, and startlingly terrible ways. The publisher has just confirmed that – shortly after the disastrous Return to Silent Hill movie, alongside Bloober's promising Silent Hill 1 remake – it's also currently working on the new Silent Hill: Townfall.

Don't confuse it with middling Silent Hill: Downpour from 2012, or the awful interactive TV series Ascension from 2023 – though Townfall was originally announced at the same time as the latter, in a 2022 stream. Konami hasn't spoken about the mysterious game at all in the four years since then, though it's told Japan gaming news site Gematsu that Townfall is indeed its "brand-new Silent Hill title" currently in development.

Otherwise, Konami simply vaguely referred to the game as "a continuation of our ongoing efforts" in its latest earnings report, and even Townfall's reveal announcement was obscure. In a one-minute teaser, an unknown voice commends you for being "here to be punished" while indistinct images of bloody hands and empty hallways flash onscreen.

Konami is co-publishing the game with Annapurna, the Outer Wilds and Stray publisher, and Screen Burn Interactive (formerly known as No Code) is handling development. That's all fine. But as a long-suffering Silent Hill fan, what am I supposed to think? In a 2025 post announcing its name change, Screen Burn explains that Townfall was first conceived in 2020. "We keep saying 'we can’t wait to share more' and it's still true," the studio behind sci-fi drama Observation says. "We're getting closer and closer, but we're a small team making a big game."

So, Townfall is in approximately its sixth year of active development, with no release date, gameplay, or more than a minute of trailer footage behind it. I feel neither enthusiastic nor concerned. Konami raised my expectations for its games with the elegant Silent Hill f, then mashed them into the ground again with Return to Silent Hill. I'm going to give up and see if Pyramid Head will give me his number.

Silent Hill legend Akira Yamaoka doesn't think the franchise has changed as much as you do, since Konami's "philosophical approach" has always been the same.

Like most great American towns, Silent Hill has changed, I think. Snow had already turned it gray by the time you're introduced to it in the first game from 1999, but the next few decades pulled the series into real, bloody purple decay – the original Team Silent development team was defunct by 2007, and Konami made a pachislot spinoff game, for example.

After decades of fan frustration with what seemed like a perfect survival horror series left to die, 2025's excellent Silent Hill f revived the franchise by transporting it to the Japanese mountainsides, polka-dotted with red flowers and flower monsters. While I think the widely disliked new Return to Silent Hill movie confuses things again – read about it in my Return to Silent Hill review – former Team Silent member and long-serving Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka tells GamesRadar+ he disagrees.

"To me at least, there's no significant change [in the Silent Hill franchise] since I first got involved 30 years ago," Yamaoka says to me through an interpreter during a recent interview. "The main reason for that is, at the time, we were trying to create a new experience – a new, totally different approach [to horror]."

"We had strong, original creative ideas for creating the Silent Hill franchise," Yamaoka remembers, and he feels like Konami has been true to that beginning: "the philosophical approach has been the same."

With that in mind, Yamaoka says he was "honored" to be the first person director Christophe Gans allowed to watch Return to Silent Hill, including its multiple edits. On his initial watch, he remembers thinking, 'This really reflects what I have envisioned for Silent Hill 2.'"

And yet it's difficult to resist the draw of that American town from 30 years ago, softened now by both fog and memory. Yamaoka eventually muses when I ask, "I have a very special feeling about [every protagonist], but if I had to pick [a favorite], probably Harry from the first Silent Hill."

"We worked together to create the character," he says. "And we have very wonderful memories of the process. Until then, I don't recall there being any game where the father tries to find his daughter."

"We're catching the beauty within": Silent Hill legend Akira Yamaoka says horror isn't as important to the franchise as "emotional complexity."

The man Akira Yamaoka is as much a part of Silent Hill as its ashen sky or molten fog. Ever since Konami released its first Silent Hill game in 1999, the composer has made dark ambient music for nearly the entire franchise – including its new movie, as we note in our Return to Silent Hill review – that is unnervingly gorgeous. That's the goal, he tells GamesRadar+.

"Silent Hill, to me – it's not just about the fear and anxiety. There are many elements that the franchise has, that Silent Hill has," Yamaoka tells me through an interpreter. "It's our emotions when we see something beautiful, and we feel, 'Oh, wow. This is very beautiful.'"

My favorite moment of Return to Silent Hill inspires this muscle-deep sensation of awe that Yamaoka is describing; while I'm introduced to another one of director Christophe Gans' pained abominations, the new Yamaoka song "Moth Mary" begins to play.

It interpolates music the composer wrote for Silent Hill 2 in 2001, the waterfall mist of tears that is "The Day of Night." "Moth Mary" grounds some of that other song's airiness with a marshmallow-soft piano melody and vocals that sound like a bittersweet farewell. It makes me want to both recoil from the Silent Hill monster on the screen and kiss my kitten on the head, tell him I love him.

"That emotional reaction is very important in the world of Silent Hill, but it's not so much of a simple, one-directional emotion," Yamaoka observes. "Our emotion is much more complex. Sometimes we see something, and it has certain elements that make us feel fear, and we feel anxiety.

"But within that experience, somehow, we're catching the beauty within."

Experience Yamaoka's complicated music in many of the best Silent Hill games of all time, ranked.

Silent Hill f writer Ryukishi07 says that series producer Motoi Okamoto explained to him that Silent Hill isn't a town but a phenomenon when he asked how the game could be set in Japan. This further confirms the theory put forth in Silent Hill: The Short Message that was divisive among fans.

The series of Silent Hill originally was set in or around the titular American town, but has expanded far beyond these boundaries in the games developed and released since the series' rebirth. The Silent Hill revival has been rocky to say the least, with fans receiving emotional whiplash from the lows of The Short Message and Ascension, juxtaposed against highs of the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f.

While the name Silent Hill comes from the town, the series is more centrally themed around the otherworld, a supernatural space that reflects the occupants' tormented inner psyches. In various Silent Hill games you can find notes that describe people seeing the otherworld as being infected by a disease, but this never truly matched what was being told through the gameplay.

As the legendary writer behind the Japanese horror franchise When They Cry, Ryukishi07 found after he was asked to bring his expertise to what would be the first Silent Hill game set in Japan. Speaking to Famitsu in an interview that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Ryukishi07 says he questioned how a game named after an American town could be set in his home country.

"I discussed a lot of things with series producer Okamoto in a meeting after I received the request [to write Silent Hill f,]" Ryukishi07 recalls. "Like 'Why is it set in Japan?' and 'What exactly is Silent Hill?' In the end, we came to the conclusion that Silent Hill is not just the name of a place, it is a phenomenon. Looking back I think I was able to create a pretty satisfying base for the story and world from this."

This theory was first stated explicitly in The Short Message in a note that describes the appearance of the otherworld as, "the 'Silent Hill Phenomenon,' named after a similar event that occurred in an eponymous U.S. town." With this new entry set in Germany, Konami made it clear that it wanted to expand the setting for Silent Hill beyond the former tourist town.

Much of the Silent Hill series is left up to players' interpretation, and this idea is no different. While fans might not be enamored by this explanation, they seem united under their joy at the series expanding outside of the U.S.

After Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f got the series "back on track," Konami aims to release "about one title per year" in the horror franchise

I still almost can't believe Silent Hill f actually happened after years of nothing from the series. I also almost can't believe how good it was, after the okay Message, and bizarre and wildly unpopular Ascension. But happen it did, and it was great - becoming probably my favorite horror game of this year.

As surprising as it was actually happening after over a decade of inactivity, the bigger surprise was its relocation to Japan. For a series that's built its entire identity on horror infused midwestern Americana (to originally woo a western market) it was an unexpected jump, but one that totally worked.

This 1960s rural Japanese setting feels far more mysterious overall. After all the rust and chain link fences, the new red themed spider lily and coral otherworld weaving through its period wooden buildings and streets, felt like a fantastic refresh. Most importantly this new setting made its Japanese-ness an uncompromising part of the experience and, out of all the challenges I had to deal with, I wasn't expecting my inexperience of Japanese culture to be the sticking point.

The Silent Hill f ema and Shrine Vault puzzle, for example, makes no attempt to explain what an ema is when it first asks you to look for one. (While being chased by a monster that can't die.) Japanese culture, unsurprisingly, pervades everything in f, unapologetically. From from the Silent Hill f Omamori charms you can collect and use to add skills to protagonist Hinako, to things like the Altar puzzle where you have to work out where to leave traditional offerings.

Even more recognizable things, like the Silent Hill f puzzle box you have to solve to escape a classroom, requires some pretty on point knowledge of Japanese cherry blossom silhouettes. It's refreshing to play something that doesn't bend over backwards to accommodate you and, instead, really forces you to work it out yourself.

There were a few bits that were just plain unclear, regardless of setting. One thing that remained unhelpfully opaque until well into the game were the Silent Hill f difficulties. While you have to make choices there long before you can even play, the info and details about what it all does only appears when certain things unlock or happen. As a result I only really felt like I knew what I'd chosen a good 4-5 hours in. That's quite a big chunk of game considering the overall Silent Hill f length.

Combat was one of of the more contentious issues overall, although I didn't get on too badly with it. Especially once I'd upgraded stamina which ends up being probably the most important stat in a fight. The Silent Hill f Scarecrow puzzle is a good test or your skills, as you'll be attacked every time you make a mistake. So you'll definitely want to learn from my mistakes. Similarly, finding the Silent Hill f School key can involve a full on mini boss fight unless you have my guide to tell you where to go so you can avoid danger, or at least cut down the risk.

Probably the one main thing I wanted to know the most, overall, was just where everything was. Stuff like trying to open the sacred door in Silent Hill f, or when you have to find Sakuko, all involve convoluted or obscure searches for various things. The missing object part and the Silent Hill f locker codes straight up misdirect you as well, confusing what you're looking for, or where it is.

Overall though, only one thing in the game really did a number on me and that was trying to get the key infront of the cage in Silent Hill f. While I understand how that puzzle works technically I, in no uncertain terms, solved it by pressing button until I got lucky. Take the wins where you can get them.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Publisher Konami has revealed plans to launch roughly one new Silent Hill game per year after getting the iconic horror series "back on track" with this year's excellent Silent Hill f and last year's also excellent Silent Hill 2 remake.

Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto shed light on the company's ambitions in Famitsu's end-of-year feature asking developers what their hopes for 2026 are, translated by Gematsu. "Following the release of Silent Hill 2 in October 2024, we were able to deliver Silent Hill f in September 2025, and the Silent Hill series has begun to get back on track," Okamoto said.

"Including both announced and unannounced titles, we're aiming for a release pace of about one title per year," he continued. "I'm not sure how much of that we'll be able to realize, but I'll continue to do my best as producer of the Silent Hill series. Ideally, we'd like to keep excitement around the Silent Hill series going at all times. We're working hard to share new updates, so I'd appreciate it if you could wait just a little longer."

Up next for the series is Silent Hill Townfall, a still mysterious project coming from the indie studio No Code, developers of the lonely space thriller Observation. We also know Bloober Team are now remaking the very first Silent Hill game after giving the second a foggy makeover. Otherwise, everything else is up in the air - maybe Konami will let NeoBards continue what it started in Silent Hill f.

Turning any game franchise into an annual expectation can certainly lead to rote, sometimes plain boring stuff. But if some of these annual releases have more in common with The First Message - the short, free, first-person Silent Hill game - to fill out years without a big-budget title, then Konami's plan could definitely work. Okamoto doesn't sound like he wants to push out unfinished games for the sake of it, either.

Silent Hill f writer knows you don't really want to see "a happily ever after," and the game's horrific portrayal of young womanhood makes it my GOTY

Freud offers several options for why men are so afraid. Castration is a big one. Lacan then posits a bit nervously that "there is no such thing as Woman" – since her existence is encompassed by mankind, isn't it? But the philosophy of Silent Hill f scriptwriter and When They Cry manga creator Ryukishi07 is more simple. To the horror legend, men are scared, women are scary, and that's just a beautiful thing.

"These are my personal opinions, so allow me to apologize in advance if my answers seem off," Ryukishi07 tells GamesRadar+ when I ask him, "What is the importance of female characters in Japanese horror?"

We can take the shortcut. "My understanding is that the horror fanbase tends to skew towards men, and in the eyes of men, the opposite sex can be something that conjures in them a variety of contrasting emotions, from endearing to terrifying," says Ryukishi07. "I feel that women are often featured in Japanese horror as characters or themes because the emotions that surface as a result of their existence becomes the sources of intricate drama."

But the way Ryukishi07 himself feels is labyrinthine. Silent Hill f is a good example of that – set in strict '60s Japan, the psychological horror game sees disturbing expectations for good girls and good wives as legitimate cosmic horrors. The game's enemies include pregnant tumors that burp out murderous babies, a bride in white who spreads fog like disease, and the most helpful thing Ryukishi07's sweet protagonist Hinako can do is kill everyone. With a pipe.

"For me personally, the opposite sex (women) is something that I respect, revere, befriend, and fear – something that I am enamored with, forever scared of, yet fascinated by," Ryukishi07 explains. "To this day, I have penned severed stories that fall under the horror umbrella, but not one would I have been able to complete without the existence of women."

That said, telling stories hasn't necessarily helped Ryukishi07 demystify women – who are kind of lovely cosmic beings to him, too. The horror he writes for them is like a prayer. He tells me, "None of us will ever truly understand the opposite sex. Claiming to do so would be direly presumptuous. We must properly revere, respect, love, and understand that we will mutually misunderstand one another."

"Working on themes based around women is, to me, the greatest act of respect that I can dedicate to them," Ryukishi07 concludes.

Silent Hill f writer knows you don't really want to see "a happily ever after," and the game's horrific portrayal of young womanhood makes it my GOTY.

There are a lot of Silent Hill fans who don't consider the latest game in the series, Silent Hill f, to be a 'true' Silent Hill game because it doesn't take place in the fictional town of Silent Hill, Maine that defined the series for decades. And to those fans, I say, you might want to start getting used to the idea of Silent Hill games not being set in Silent Hill.

Nothing's set in stone just yet, but in a new interview with Inverse, series producer Motoi Okamoto pondered aloud about moving future games to other parts of the world and exploring new cultures and local folklore.

"We believe we could perhaps take similar approaches [to Silent Hill f] with other cultures across the globe," Okamoto said (via Inverse's translation). "For example, in Central or South America, we could perhaps tap into the more local, shamanistic beliefs and see how that ties in. But we could also try to expand our horizons and look into other regions, like possibly Russia, Italy, or South Korea, because all those areas have their own unique types of belief systems. I believe that will be a gateway for us to expand our concepts further."

As a huge fan of the series, I'm as eager as anyone to see a brand new Silent Hill game set in that titular foggy town that feels like an incredibly scary, dangerous second home to so many fans. That said, Silent Hill f bangs, and I would not be upset to hear the next game in the series is going the same route and starting fresh in a new locale. One big problem, according to Okamoto, is finding game developers in some of these regions that are established enough to be trusted with the Silent Hill franchise.

"Central and South America do not have very many prominent development studios for video games capable of handling an IP like Silent Hill," he added. "So while they have a lot of interesting movies, books, and tales, how we would translate that into games is something we still have to explore."

Konami has yet to announce a new Silent Hill game.

Silent Hill f writer knows you don't really want to see "a happily ever after," and the game's horrific portrayal of young womanhood makes it my GOTY

The town is a crucial aspect of any Silent Hill game, including the series' latest installment Silent Hill f, which ditches Americana to instead cattle prod its tortured protagonists in the fictional Ebisugaoka. But developer NeoBards tells me the haunted mountaintop – based on a real Japanese location – barely existed when it first started working on the horror game.

Director Al Yang knew whatever NeoBards pitched to publisher Konami had to ensure "the story would undoubtedly feel like a 'Ryukishi07 work,'" he tells GamesRadar+. Scriptwriter Ryukishi07, celebrated horror writer behind the When They Cry manga series, had already outlined his sympathetic story for Silent Hill f – and the development team had to honor it.

"I first read the initial draft of the script a few years ago," reflects lead level designer Kaiyu Chang. "At the time, I was pregnant, which made the story's depiction of the expectations and constraints placed on women by traditional society resonate with me even more deeply. Many scenes struck a strong emotional chord."

So while "the core essence of the story never changed," Chang continues, "we made a number of adjustments to its presentation." In fact, "many of the locations in Silent Hill f did not exist initially and were carefully selected to enhance not only the script, but also the atmosphere and world of the game," Yang adds. "An example of this is the school, which was initially proposed by the team at NeoBards, and then discussed carefully with Konami and Ryukishi07."

And Protagonist Hinako's house – one of the most substantial puzzle sections in the game, where family secrets are revealed – "was originally conceived simply as a labyrinth with an otherworldly atmosphere," says Chang.

"Later, we introduced the element of 'memory,' added multiple timelines, and allowed the space to shift depending on the route and ending," she continues. "Throughout this process, Ryukishi07 continuously wrote new text and lore to support gameplay needs. After countless rounds of discussion and refinement, the in-game version you see today finally took shape."

Then the team ended up with another one of Silent Hill series' characteristic towns swaddled in fog – where horror is unavoidable, but hope still lives.

Silent Hill f writer knows you don't really want to see "a happily ever after," and the game's horrific portrayal of young womanhood makes it my GOTY.

I am not Silent Hill f protagonist Shimizu Hinako, but I could be. I'm not Rinko, the antagonist with a crush, but I have also been moth-eaten with jealousy like she is. And while I'm not Sakuko, who dies young, I understand her need to be closer to God. Silent Hill f coaxes these moments of empathy from me throughout its story of young womanhood like pulling out stitches, and its ability to do so makes it not only one of the best games of 2025, but also one of the most painful in Silent Hill's 26-year history.

I rarely feel so respected by a horror game. The 2000s were a blessed time for cursed games like 2005's Haunting Ground, 2006's Rule of Rose, or Konami's impeccable Silent Hill 3 from 2003, which revered their female protagonists even while dunking them in ice-cold catastrophe. Horror games have since shifted their focus to friendlier fare like survival co-op, until Konami made the genius decision to let writer Ryukishi07, who also created the devastating When They Cry visual novel series, into Silent Hill.

Welcome to paradise

Before Bloober's impeccable Silent Hill 2 remake in 2024, the survival horror franchise suffered middling spin-offs and pachislot games – and producer Motoi Okamoto could see it had "declined."

"I came to the conclusion that this was because we had clung to the eponymous town," he tells me, "which in turn led to the games having the same kind of experience, story, and gameplay." Silent Hill f needed to be excised from the dying body, and so Konami made the "big decision" to set Silent Hill f in Japan.

A month after first meeting with Okamoto to discuss Silent Hill f, Silent Hill f scriptwriter Ryukishi07 had started planning the game's concept: a woman challenging the exhausting expectations for her gender in 1960s Japan.

With help from illustrator kera and developer NeoBards, this woman became Hinako, who's trying not to think about a few different things. She doesn't want to think about dolls, for example. Love is also a touchy subject. Thank you, but she'd rather not consider the possibility that a girl dressed neatly in her school uniform is only practicing to be a wife, wrapped like hard candy in her shiromuku wedding kimono.

Her friends and family punish her for resisting their expectations. This is bigger than thought, this is reality, they try to remind her – but then their placid mountain town Ebisugaoka starts to change. It's inexplicably overtaken by Silent Hill's characteristic fog, scarred monsters, and red spider lilies, and it seems Hinako is better off learning how to carry a steel pipe rather than kiss her drunk husband.

Woman's work

But by the end of Silent Hill f, I realize nothing really changes for Hinako. Every pregnant enemy and crazed note found in nightmare Ebisugaoka pursues the same ancient question: where is a woman's place? The question has just stretched and mutilated, which is how Ryukishi07 shows women like me he loves them.

I do feel it, despite the gore of Ebisugaoka. Ryukishi07 himself acknowledges that his emotions are complex, telling me that, "to this day, I have penned severed stories that fall under the horror umbrella, but not one would I have been able to complete without the existence of women."

"I respect, revere, befriend, and fear" women – they are "something that I am enamored with, forever scared of, yet fascinated by," he adds. "Working on themes based around women is, to me, the greatest act of respect that I can dedicate to them."

This is evident in every one of Silent Hill f's female characters, who I believe are all complex, highly motivated, evil bitches. On certain days, I see myself similarly. Watch out for spoilers ahead.

Rinko, who's infuriated with Hinako over monopolizing her crush, traps herself in the role of the devoted girlfriend and is miserable for it. Sakuko, a strange bunny, seems to spend her afterlife haunting ex-best friend Hinako with her pigtails, wasting her time with the wrath of the gods when she could be moving on.

Then there's Hinako herself, who's revealed at the end of Silent Hill F to be a woman "in her twenties," Okamoto confirms to me, not a little girl. "The fog obfuscates the line that defines delusion from reality," he adds.

She's having a psychotic break on her wedding day. Spider lilies swell upon the empty sidewalks around her, beautifying Hinako's dissolution as Silent Hill f progresses and she comes closer to marrying the mysterious Fox Mask. The clean schoolgirl outfit she imagines herself wearing gets torn by ritual and madness – ripped at the arm, ripped at the skirt, Hinako's back is bare and vulnerable. Her fate is unavoidable.

Really, for every Silent Hill f character, doom is a given. Ryukishi07 emphasizes that "Shu, Sakuko, Rinko, Hinako's parents, Fox Mask – every one of them may have had their own hell. Please do not forget that, or the fact that Hinako was oblivious to those hells, as she was too consumed by her own personal hell to notice."

"Your personal hell is a world of solitude that no one else can perceive, but please do not fall into the trap of assuming that others around you have no hell of their own," Ryukishi07 warns. "I would love it if everyone kept this in mind."

My personal hell

He should have told me that sooner. After spending three Silent Hill f playthroughs as Hinako, my identity inevitably melds with hers, and I feel the rage of a thousand Courtney Love songs. Both Hinako and I spent a childhood in disbelief of our mothers, who stayed with our disappointing fathers, and of the world, which seemed to find it more appropriate we follow in her footsteps than be alone.

I want to start a club for me, Hinako, and Silent Hill 3 protagonist Heather Mason, who spends the game resisting a cult trying to impregnate her with God against her will. Or, as the Virgin Mary would agree – more girl stuff.

Ryukishi07 agrees with me in thinking Hinako and Heather would be good friends, observing that "neither Heather nor Hinako merely weep in the face of their ill fates, with each having the strength to stand on their own two feet and pave their own paths." Then, they have slumber party matters to attend to, like talking about boys and shotgun ammo.

"As soon as the subject becomes about how guys are always so selfish and automatically assume that girls are weak, the two would click and get all excited," says Ryukishi07. "Hinako would be surprised at how Heather had used all sorts of guns and would probably say that she wants to try shooting one herself. (No doubt Hinako would have had a much easier time with guns around)."

"Heather, on the other hand, would go on about how amazing and exciting it was for Hinako to have a monster arm and take out enemies with that very arm," Ryukishi07 says about the ultra-powerful werewolf arm Hinako eventually replaces her dainty lady fingers with. "She might be envious and think of it as cooler than guns, since there would be no need for ammo. She might even talk about swapping out one of her own arms, which would inevitably cause Harry to swoop in with a firm 'no'."

Happily ever after

This type of cute discussion is what keeps me forever interested in Silent Hill games. While their tormented lakeside or, now, mountainside towns increase their cosmic terror per capita as a game goes on, its protagonist always remains unflinchingly, refreshingly human. You can gossip about them and imagine them doing nice things before the fog arrived. These people are not the unblemished angels or unconquerable heroes of another franchise. Rather, characters like Hinako and her new BFF Heather are simply people who decided to keep living.

In the spirit of rallying together, for choosing life even when it's horrifying, Ryukishi07 offers several tenets for Silent Hill f fans to live by: "Do not laugh at or act condescending towards someone else's personal hell. Do not use your personal hell as a means to look down on anyone. Believe that no matter what one's personal hell may be, that hell will eventually come to an end. Believe that no matter what the personal hell is like, there is always a way out."

"The key to the way out of your personal hell lies in the hands of your family, friends, or your local hotlines," he adds. "You have endured through your personal hell so much. You have already persevered enough, so please, be proud of yourself, and rely on the help of others."

I've always known there's no outrunning what's inside. Silent Hill f's multiple endings suggest that Hinako learns the same lesson – anger and avoidance only ever spreads sadness, like trying to mop up a spill with tissues you've already used while crying.

But I still want to know: is happiness possible without trying in Silent Hill? Ryukishi07 answers, "if the parties involved consider themselves happy, then that for them is a happy ending."

"However, as we are on the other side of the fourth wall, I ask you this: Do all of you fans out there really want to see a Silent Hill game end with a happily ever after?" he continues. "That's not Silent Hill, is it?" Ryukishi07 admits he thinks "the poor souls who wander into the clutches of Silent Hill will never encounter happiness, so long as we wish against it."

"Silent Hill is the literature of quaint delusions," Okamoto reminds me, "where imagination is constrained by the harsh circumstances of the real world." Happy endings do not fit in stories written in blood, but at least Silent Hill f embraces young women trying to make it work.

Here's a small joy for Silent Hill f – it's in good company as we determine our best games of 2025.

The pills don't seem dangerous. The slender red capsules are immediately useful in Silent Hill f, like money you didn't know you had in your pocket, though nervous protagonist Hinako's increasing reliance on them may be unsettling to some people. Not to me, though. I'd never let anyone take away my pills.

(Major spoilers for Silent Hill f ahead).

It feels wrong to say that. I resisted taking medication for my obsessive-compulsive disorder for most of the nearly 10 years since being officially diagnosed, but then a period of extreme insomnia hit me like cold water at the end of 2024. I felt like I might drown if I didn't start exploring medication, and I think Hinako's supposedly evil little pills might have saved her, too.

Self-help

Hinako gratefully places the red capsules I find into her mouth like they're indulgent chunks of cake, not just sugar-coated mystery drugs. I don't question her. The red capsules are a good last resort for fighting the increasingly disgusting monsters which have taken over her hometown –– naked, ball-jointed dolls with puckered scars where their nipples should be, pregnant bellies protruding from a faceless mass of hair and legs the way swollen grapes hang on a vine. The pills don't restore my health as effectively as a cloth bandage, and they don't soothe my dwindling sanity meter as much as bubbly Ramune, but they're decent enough at both that I come to rely on them.

By the end of Silent Hill f, I have at least 50 pills piled like stuffed animals in my inventory, and I've learned the truth. Hinako is not the schoolgirl she portrays herself to be, shoving herself uselessly against the locked door that is the unfriendly world of '60s Japan – she's a woman. She's getting married. Those weren't monsters I've been brutalizing with a steel pipe, but guests at Hinako's wedding ceremony. Puddles of their blood in the first possible Silent Hill f ending, Coming Home to Roost, purples the ground.

Earlier, I watched as Hinako was enraged by her dysfunctional parents and older sister Junko, now a pacified wife, as they nudge her toward getting married. She defies them by gobbling handfuls of those red and white pills, the ones I've been feeding her through my entire game. Junko is shocked – she doesn't understand how Hinako keeps swallowing lungfuls of the medicine, which she swears helps her relax. In truth, they seem to be keeping Hinako in a state of fragile psychosis, and the spider lily horror of Ebisugaoka is ultimately all in her head.

Self-flagellation

Most of the other, more "true" endings for Silent Hill f require you don't take any pills for the entirety of your playthrough, which, to me, confirms their mind-altering properties and apparently evil nature. Shu, Hinako's childhood friend with a secret crush, never told her what they'd do to her head. Because of this, I'm initially inclined to think of the capsules as just another method for the men of Ebisugaoka to control Hinako. But I change my mind once I take my nightly fluvoxamine.

Self-care

There are many reasons why I, for so many years, hesitated to take medication. First, there was the nature of my OCD – the disorder is defined by unwanted, intrusive thoughts known as "obsessions" and illogical, ritualistic behavior to suppress them called "compulsions," and I frequently obsessed over the idea that taking meds would ruin my life. What if SSRIs completely changed my personality? What if they didn't work, and I became stuck in the barbed wire of my mental illness forever? What if they made things worse? What if they made my fiancé break up with me?

In 2024, I couldn't sleep. I obsessed over it, compulsively read nightmarish articles about insomnia, and clawed my way down into a dirty, depressive hole. I decided I had no choice but to die. Instead, my therapist suggested medication.

For the first time in 25 years of debilitating symptoms, I decided pills were worth the risk. Later, I listed off the new medications I was initially prescribed at the pharmacy – gabapentin, trazodone, Lexapro. I remember bristling against the societal stigma I felt wrapping me like shedding snake skin. These were crazy pills, I thought. Why couldn't I be like the beautiful, normal people I imagined all around me, floating from happiness to happiness like all-natural fairies? I hate asking for help. But I was in desperate need.

It's now been a year since I started taking medication for my mental health, and, for the first time in my life, I feel safe. I'm no longer worried about what people think of me for taking meds, and I'm proud of myself for taking them. They've calmed my symptoms and helped me love being alive.

I imagine Hinako's red and white capsules make her feel the same way in the patriarchal confines of her reality – they allow her to transcend it. A woman in a blood-stained wedding dress, Hinako on meds defies societal expectations. She isn't nice, she's a goddamn murderer, but she'd rather be on the run than a wife.

It's her ideal self. In my case, my ideal self is a person who doesn't waste daydreams on sharp knives. We aren't quite the same, but I believe our pills set both me and Hinako free. We're two flightless birds finally ready to look up at the sky.

The best part of Silent Hill f is also my favorite from Bloodborne, and it has nothing to do with "Soulslike" combat.

Silent Hill f saw a stellar start after Konami's release, between its "Very Positive" beginnings on Steam and over one million sales in just four days – but according to its developers, a big reason why the new horror game is so successful is its community.

Speaking in a recent interview with Dengeki Online (as translated by Automaton), director Motoi Okamoto and writer Ryukishi07 both explain that Silent Hill f attracted more players worldwide than the Silent Hill 2 remake – and this phenomenon is especially apparent in Japan, where people have circulated everything from fan theories about the game to memes online, perhaps contributing to the greater popularity.

Okamoto sees this – the community rallying around a title – as a potential key to long-term success, especially when hype tends to die down far more quickly now than ever before. "Recently, discourse about games has been consumed at a rapid pace," describes the director. "But games that do get talked about even months after release are the ones that are fun to theorize about and analyze, and they usually get a lot of character fan art."

He continues: "From my experience, titles which are able to show us that kind of hype tend to live on for longer." Silent Hill f, with its ability to stand apart from Konami's series thanks to its unique premise and setting, is one such example. Ryukishi07 agrees, saying games like the new horror gem "ultimately boil down to how much the player resonates with them." He says that's why protagonists in such games are less talkative – to allow for immersion.

Although these kinds of characters have a "dark kind of appeal," they're not as marketable, so to speak. Silent Hill f stands apart because its protagonist, Hinako Shimizu, doesn't follow this formula, making room for fan art, memes, and you name it. That doesn't, however, mean that Ryukishi07 wants every Silent Hill to make rounds on the web like Silent Hill f – it's not necessarily the "way the series should follow" forever.

The writer hopes it just shows there's more than one way to go about things. "If the direction we took with f is well-received, hopefully it could become one of the examples of the Silent Hill series' expressive range," as he concludes.

Silent Hill f's lead actor can't catch a break: As Konami announces new "casual mode," fans are naming it after Hinako's VO after she went viral for streaming the game in terror.

I felt guilty enough laughing my ass off watching Silent Hill f's lead Japanese actor squirming in terror while streaming her own game, but now I'm full-on regretting piling on poor Konatsu Kato.

For some context, late last month, like a total jerk, I wrote a story about Kato, who plays player character Hinako in the Japanese version of Silent Hill f, streaming the game and making all sorts of uncomfortable facial expressions and gestures in reaction to the freaky stuff in the game. Frankly, there wasn't much to the story beyond taking pleasure in Kato's horror. Again, not my finest moment professionally.

Well now, I wish I could take it all back, because Kato is getting roasted all over again for the innocent act of being scared by a scary game on camera.

The official Japanese Silent Hill Twitter account announced that patch 1.10 has launched and includes a new Casual difficulty option, the option to skip through some parts of New Game Plus, and a reduction in the amount of forced combat areas. Because the update is generally aimed at making the game easier and more approachable, there's been a flood of responses poking fun at Kato and in some cases, naming the update after her.

Here's just a few examples:

Of course, I'm not saying my silly little article had much if anything to do with the memeification of Kato's streams, but I do feel bad for taking part at all. Wait, it just dawned on me that, in writing this follow-up article, I'm... yeah, I'll just go ahead and apologize to Kato full-stop now. I'm sorry, Konatsu Kato. If it's any consolation, I've been on the record for years as being a huge scaredy cat despite horror being my favorite game genre, so you're not alone.

Here are the full patch notes for the new update.

Speaking of which, here are the best horror games you can play right now.

Microsoft itself has leaked the Xbox Series X|S release date for Silent Hill 2 Remake, and anyone hoping that the game's rumored DLC will coincide with the port will be happy to hear that Xbox version is coming out very soon.

A now-deleted Xbox Store listing recently revealed that last year's acclaimed horror remake is due to launch on Xbox Series X|S on November 21, 2025 - in just a couple of weeks, if you aren't keeping count! - ending a year of console exclusivity on PS5 and PC. (Thanks, trueachievements!)

The Xbox listing also came alongside a Deluxe Edition version, which includes a digital artbook and soundtrack, plus a Pyramid Head pizza box cosmetic that'll also come out on November 21, as well as another bundle featuring this year's excellent Silent Hill f.

What was missing, sadly, was any mention of the long-rumored Born From a Wish DLC. For anyone out of the loop, the OG Xbox also received Silent Hill 2 several months after it had launched on the PS2, but to make up for the wait, the port was bundled in with a bonus scenario called Born From a Wish. Many fans speculated that Konami might try the same trick twice with its remake.

One of developer Bloober Team's lead writers, Grzegorz Like, even responded to some fan copium by saying, "Born from a what?" and adding more fuel to this fire. Either way, Bloober Team is far from done with the foggy streets of Silent Hill, as the horror dev recently announced it was turning its gaze to the first game in the series.

If you want more spooky action, check out our list of the best horror games you can play today.

The Silent Hill 2 remake hit its one-year anniversary last month, and with that the PlayStation console exclusivity was ended for the game. Naturally, everyone began wondering when an Xbox Series X/S port could arrive, and if it might follow in the footsteps of the original game's Xbox release and include the Born from a Wish story expansion. And now, a Bloober Team writer has not-so-subtly implied something may be happening.

Bloober Team's Grzegorz Like, who was the lead writer for Layers of Fear and Cronos: The New Dawn (with a "Special Thanks" credit in Silent Hill 2), in a now-deleted tweet quoted the news that the ESRB has rated an Xbox edition of Silent Hill 2 remake, saying: "well whaddya know!" And while an Xbox version was basically an inevitability given it was confirmed to be a one-year timed exclusive for PlayStation ahead of launch, the other big question is, 'will it get DLC?'

The original Xbox release of Silent Hill 2 was released a few months after the PS2 edition (and almost a year later in Europe) and included a bonus scenario titled "Born from a Wish," which followed Maria just prior to meeting James in the main game. And what better time to release it than with a new Xbox version? A user responded to Like's tweet, saying, "I wonder if it's gonna come with Born From A Wish like the original Xbox release did," to which Like replies: "Born from a what?"

While obviously not confirmation of anything, someone from Bloober acknowledging Born from a Wish is somewhat hopeful, even if Maria's actor, Salóme Gunnarsdóttir, said last month that she hadn't recorded anything for the DLC. Leaker Dusk Golem (who has a mixed track record, best taken with a grain of salt) previously claimed that an Xbox version, a PS5 Pro patch, and the Born from a Wish DLC are happening and will possibly be timed around the release of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 movie adaptation, Return to Silent Hill, with that movie set to release this coming January.

Silent Hill 2 remake actor's "most difficult scene" is an iconic moment from the horror game: "I was really making sure I didn't cry"

Silent Hill f is a game with many freaky sights and sounds, and it's very clear that not even the actor who voiced and mo-capped main character Hinako is immune to its horrors.

Over on the official Silent Hill f YouTube channel, you can watch about 90 minutes of Hinako actor Konatsu Kato anxiously exploring the beginning of the game, wincing in horror at some of the grotesque imagery, and letting out exacerbated sighs after being defeated in battle. Some of her facial expressions our genuinely priceless, even if I feel slightly guilty for finding so much amusement in her discomfort. Regardless, here some of my favorites:

You can watch the full stream below. Naturally, it's in Japanese, but the machine-translated subtitles provide some probably imprecise but nonetheless entertaining accompaniments to what you're seeing on screen. I think my favorite part of the whole stream is around the 55:30 mark, when Kato inspects a bloody mask and recoils in horror, before turning it around, seeing the face, and reeling even further back into pure disgust.

"No, no, no, I don't want to do anything. What is this? What? What? What?" she exclaims. Right after that is a chase scene in which a visibly frightened Kato seems to very nearly give up, saying, "I can't take this anymore," "How long should I do this?" and, upon coming face to face with her pursuer, "stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, wait a minute, stop."

Alright, this is all starting to feel a little cruel, so I'm signing off here. That said, I will absolutely be back for the next video. This one's titled Silent Hill f #1, so it's safe to assume Kato plans on streaming more of the game, unless this seemingly traumatizing experience scared her off for good. Let's hope not.

Silent Hill series producer says Konami announcing SH2 remake, f, and Townfall all at once was so fans could "feel how serious we were" about reviving the horror series

The infamous playable trailer for Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro's scrapped Silent Hills game – known forevermore as just P.T. – has been an outlier in horror gaming since it was removed from the PlayStation Store in 2015. Never allowed to grow past its infancy, P.T. exists only informally as one of the most frightening games ever made, so I'm glad one Japanese secondary school imbued it with the new purpose of teaching kids English.

The Tsunan Secondary School in Niigata wrote in a blog – found and translated by Automaton – that one of its assistant language teachers recently decided to have their tweenage students play the approximately 20-minute Silent Hills trailer in English, helping them pick up important phrases like "meat cleaver" and "murder his entire family."

The blog explained that, during their lesson, the teacher would periodically pause P.T. to ask students what they should do next, like "walk around the room" or "answer the phone." Though, I'll note that most of P.T. is soundtracked by ambient noises – groaning doors, disembodied moaning, muffled footsteps. Sometimes the radio crackles and urges you to "look behind you," and there are at least enough words to warrant archiving the script on the Silent Hill Memories archive, but I think Tsunan's assistant language teacher just wanted to play P.T. in class.

I can't blame them. I remember watching P.T. no commentary playthroughs as soon as I came home from school in 2015 – Tsunan's method here is simply two birds, one stone. The school even goes out of its way to note in its blog that some students were "startled by the sudden ringing of the in-game telephone" which, again, doesn't sound purely educational, but it is awesome.

Konami dev responds to Hideo Kojima's thoughts on AI, claiming that Silent Hill f contains "the kind of bold choices AI would never be able to make."

Hideo Kojima shared his thoughts on generative AI in video game development recently in an interview – one that Motoi Okamoto, Silent Hill series producer at Konami, has now responded to with his own opinion on the matter.

Kojima stated that he thinks "of AI as more of a friend," but one he'd only let "handle the tedious tasks" of development "that would lower cost and cut down on time" – not one that he'd allow to take over the creative process of production. Since then, Okamoto has left a reply to the interview with Kojima in an online post (as translated by Automaton), explaining why he doesn't believe AI could manage a game like Silent Hill f.

"In that sense, it would be quite difficult for AI to replace works that take a significant departure from the original path of the series, like Silent Hill f," explains Okamoto. "AI may be able to put together a project for a sequel that takes place in the Silent Hill universe, but things like changing the story's setting to Japan or getting Ryukishi07 on board as a writer are the kind of bold choices AI would never be able to make," he adds.

His thoughts here make sense. After all, Silent Hill f really does depart from the "original path of the series," both in regards to its Japanese setting in the 1960s as well as its subject material. Having Ryukishi07 work as a writer on the new horror game is also certainly a factor – there's a level of depth to the developer's creativity and choice-making that AI simply cannot replicate, and it's evident to see even as a fan on the outside myself.

Kojima and Okamoto aren't the only figures within the gaming industry to discuss the rising technology – generative AI, that is – with legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu recently describing how he's "never used AI and probably never will" as it's not rewarding. Arc Raiders lead Patrick Söderlund also spoke on the matter, stating that games "can't be built by an AI" and "I hope they never can."

It seems then that most of the industry is in agreement – AI can probably be used as a tool for more "mechanical" things, but generative AI is incapable of harboring the necessary human touch, so to speak, that creative processes like game development ultimately require.

While you're here, be sure to take a look at our Silent Hill f review, as well as our guide to Silent Hill f's endings if you've already started on the new horror release.

Silent Hill's series producer has explained why Konami announced multiple new entries at once to begin its comeback story.

Silent Hill has had one of the best comeback stories in recent memory. The coldly recieved Silent Hill Ascension and very rough The Short Message ended a decade of very little, but things got better with the beloved Silent Hill 2 remake and this year's Silent Hill f. While the latter is divisive due to its combat, it has still been well received. And looking forward, we still have the No Code-developed Silent Hill: Townfall. But barring The Short Message all of these were announced at the same time during a stream in 2022.

While it's not an uncommon sight for a series to return with a remake or remaster (Crash Bandicoot, Bionic Commando Rearmed, hopefully the recent Ace Attorney releases), Silent hill made a statement by confirming multiple projects three years ago.

Reflecting on this, series producer Motoi Okamoto posted on Twitter (with translation by Automaton Media) saying, "Three years ago, in 2022, we announced three titles: Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f, and Silent Hill: Townfall. We didn’t want to just announce a single remake to 'test the waters.'"

Okamoto explains this was done for fans "feel how serious we were about reviving the series. Developing a remake and a new title simultaneously naturally involves risks, but we wanted to convey our commitment first and foremost."

Okamoto continues, "Only when a new game is announced can the future of a series be seen. Users won’t feel motivated to engage with an IP unless they can sense it has a future. If the company takes a wait-and-see approach, so will the players. The company needs to show how serious it is so that users can get genuinely excited. I think that’s only fair."

Although, ironically, Silent Hill publisher Konami is taking that exact approach with its most acclaimed series Metal Gear Solid, with the Snake Eater remake releasing earlier this year and Konami asking what remakes fans want next.

Konami veteran says the goal with Metal Gear Solid Delta was to let new devs "figure out" how to make a Metal Gear so they can eventually "carry on the legacy on our behalf"

Silent Hill f is impressing fans left and right with "Very Positive" beginnings on Steam last month, as well as a million sales in just four days – but its success only comes after the skill of its developers and talented voice actors, like Konatsu Kato.

Kato, who voices protagonist Hinako Shimizu, hasn't exactly had the easiest of times while recording her lines for the recent Silent Hill, however. As she previously admitted in a post, as translated by Automaton, her work on the horror game was mentally taxing – to say the least. "I've been living as Hinako in the world of Silent Hill for a long time now," she had written in an online message, going on to admit it was difficult.

"On some days," Kato explained, "I almost felt my own sanity slipping, but it was worth it to be able to contribute to this game." Since then, the voice behind Hinako has opened up more in further interviews – including a new discussion with Famitsu, as translated by Automaton. She says her initial recording sessions were "smooth," but as time went on, the work became more psychologically demanding – much like Hinako's own journey in-game.

Kato would record the same scenes multiple times, with noticeable changes to her emotional state and subsequently, her lines – a recollection of hers that is reflected in Silent Hill f's New Game+ mode. The actor recalls she found herself questioning, "What am I? What is Hinako doing now? Where?" It all became almost too confusing for her, especially while recording the two different versions of Hinako interacting with one another.

She states she would lose track of herself and who she was – both in character and her real self. "There were times when I would burst into tears without even thinking about anything," Kato states. "The more time I spent facing Hinako, the more my confusion grew. I remember there were days when I felt like I was going crazy." It was overwhelming, with Kato saying her most vivid memory of the work is "not knowing where I was or who I was."

The actor is impressed by Hinako as a character, however, especially with her maturity as a high school student and diverse perspectives – but she'd never want to meet the girl, and she certainly wouldn't want to step foot into the crimson-dusted world of Silent Hill f. The thought of encountering the protagonist makes Kato feel like she'll lose her mind, and she "would want to disappear in a second" if she found herself in Ebisugaoka.

After hearing her describe the difficulty of the role a few different times now, I think I'm able to understand why – not only is the subject matter of the horror game quite heavy, but having to take it on as the main character would amplify this weight tenfold.

Searching for something else to play after Konami's latest banger? Browse through our quick rundown of the most exciting new games coming this year and beyond for more.

There are several powerful moments in Silent Hill 2, but none hit quite as hard as Mary reading her letter to James. "You made me happy," is just a crushing final line, and the delivery from Monica Taylor Horgan is timeless.

Coming into the remake, Salóme Gunnarsdóttir had big shoes to fill, portraying Mary, especially in this scene. Answering questions from fans on Twitch, she addressed the hardest scene for her to record, going straight to that infamous bit of correspondence.

She couches her experience in a story of Maria Callas, the world-famous singer, who would chastise students for being too outwardly emotional in their performances. The audience should be the ones crying, not anyone on-stage - you hold the energy in to let it spill out of others.

Gunnarsdóttir applied this philosophy to Silent Hill 2, but she found it hard going. "I was really making sure that I didn't cry, because I didn't want to take that for me, I wanted to leave that for other people," she recalls.

"he first day we did mocap, we did a reading of the letter at the end of the day. And I was pregnant, so I found it very hard to read through that. [There were] a lot of emotions. But I kept them. The way they taught us is that you put the lid on the pot, and you try to stop it from boiling."

Comparisons sprang forth to Horgan, who cried during her recording of Mary's letter, but wisely, Gunnarsdóttir put those aside and focused on simply doing her own rendition. Even the guidance on-set was minimal.

"We did a few takes, they were all just one whole reading of the letter. They were doing the really nice thing that they did in everything, which was really honoring the original," she remembers. "They were just like, 'Hey, come here and we need you to read this.' They didn't explain to me the context of what the original was and what people loved about it, [or] how they would want me to match it."

The result is a different, but no less beautiful take on a heart-wrenching moment. The kind of thing we all hear… in our restless dreams.

I've been playing the iconic horror franchise for 26 years, and these are the best Silent Hill monsters that are still haunting my nightmares today

God is in everything, people say. In Silent Hill f, there's a god inside a doll with red apple cheeks. As soon as I met her at the start of Konami's survival horror game, which is sometimes contemptibly being called "Soulslike" because of its calculated but awkward combat, I began to think of my favorite shepherd through the Underworld – the Doll from FromSoftware's 2015 cosmic terror Bloodborne.

In both games, the doll is a guide through each protagonist's nightmare, able to see through artifice because she herself is artificial. I think with her help, Silent Hill f is more admirably Soulslike in its excellent, open-ended narrative.

(Major spoilers for both Silent Hill f and Bloodborne ahead).

It doesn't seem like the doll in Silent Hill f has a name. She starts the game wobbling in schoolgirl Hinako's frustrated hands – Hinako is remembering when no one wanted to play with her, she was too boyish. The doll's blonde curls and red ribbon are celluloid and therefore immune to the abuse, but the glint in her lidless eyes seems… accusatory.

A real doll

Those who make it to the Tsukumogami boss fight in Silent Hill f's New Game+ will eventually realize the doll – which stands spotless in a red dress at the center of the livid spirit's chest – is only a vessel; in Japanese folklore, tsukumogami are overlooked household objects that become calamitous yokai after reaching their 100th birthday. Hinako, who always preferred to run with the boys, never did pay her dolly enough attention.

But, like in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, the feminist narrative that writer Ryukishi07 gives Silent Hill f is mostly buried in notes or items. Because of this, the game's story is really determined by your interpretation of your likely limited experience, as if you were reading a fable with all the words about princesses redacted.

So, rather than the doll's seemingly confirmed existence as a two-face god. I'm more interested in the good advice the doll gives me through most of Silent Hill f's runtime. Hinako's bitchy friends, who gossip and wish her a lonely death, certainly won't do it.

Close companion

This is the way Silent Hill f's doll reminds me of The Doll in Bloodborne, a woman-sized porcelain doll who helps you level up. She's also been overlooked; while she was created to be the Gehrman, the First Hunter's gorgeous companion, The Doll has been left alone inside the Hunter's Dream to cry crystal tears and wonder why she exists.

It's a lot like being a teenager without a father who understands you (speaking from experience), which is the existential predicament Hinako finds herself in. Playing Silent Hill f from her perspective, I teeter between understanding what people think of me, what they want me to do with my body (slice off the arm, give it to the man in the fox mask), and blank denial.

My dolly has no time for it. I keep finding her watching me from random corners. "Beware Rinko," she scratches into the floor before Rinko shoves me down the stairs. "Don't trust the Fox Mask," she scrawls in sloppy ink. "Remember! Your name is Shimizu Hinako!" Other times, she just watches me, her stubby toddler arms stretched toward me like branches looking for the sun.

All dolls go to heaven

This doll and The Doll in Bloodborne have been left behind. Blessed or cursed with sentience, they know they've been left behind, and what they represent – a version of femininity determined by their maker, the innocence required to love something that isn't "real" – collects dust right alongside them, for both good and bad.

Bad: Hinako's rival Rinko owns many wooden Kokeshi dolls, and in the hands of this girl who punishes Hinako for not adhering perfectly to her standards of young womanhood, dolls seem rigid. Oppressive, even.

Good: Hinako's yellow-haired doll knows its owner has no interest in conforming and, let's be honest, as a 100-year-old ghost thing, it doesn't exactly "conform" either. This doll urges Hinako to trust herself, much how Bloodborne's Doll rewards the player's agency with leveling-up despite its angst over its own abandonment. In this way, dolls represent humanity – a humanity that's so idealistic, it might as well be fake. It's just a doll. Nonetheless, a doll is infinitely more resistant to pain than the player character of either Silent Hill f or Bloodborne. It can withstand the horrors driving each game's protagonist to frenzied despair.

So, having now played both games multiple times, I'm still a little thrilled when I re-experience the moment they reveal I have a guardian angel in the form of an old doll. On one hand, I've always believed that most dolls are at least a bit haunted, and Silent Hill f's unremarkable combat might be too disheartening without a doll to propel its story to its supernatural conclusion.

But these dolls also give me the big, more exciting feeling that there's a piece of me outside myself. She's watching me carefully from the stairwell, hoping I choose wisely.

Silent Hill f revives the horror series' 26-year-old debate: can combat be so bad it's good?

Rumors of the Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober and Konami finally getting its own version of Born from a Wish, a second storyline that follows Maria instead of James, have circulated the web recently – but they probably aren't true.

Salóme Gunnarsdóttir, the talented voice actor behind Mary and Maria, seems to confirm as much in her recent stream of a Silent Hill 2 playthrough on Twitch. "I'm not going to announce any Born from a Wish thing," she admits. "I've been waiting for Konami to say something... I even asked Bloober if they were going to say something, but we have not recorded anything for Born from a Wish – I am so sorry."

The actor goes on, revealing that she's unaware of any development on Born from a Wish, and she apologizes once more. "I don't know anything else," states Gunnarsdóttir, "I just know that I haven't recorded any material for it, so I'm sorry."

Unsurprisingly, her words have come as a bit of a blow to the Silent Hill community – after all, rumors and supposed "leaks" of a Born from a Wish DLC being in the works have been making rounds online.

For anyone unfamiliar with the original Silent Hill 2, Born from a Wish came later as part of a future extended version, offering a bonus scenario in which players control Maria. There hasn't been any word from Bloober or Konami on the possibility of Born from a Wish coming as DLC for the remake, however, but that hasn't stopped the hearsay. Gunnarsdóttir's stream isn't all doom and gloom, though – she shares some fun facts about production, too.

In a clip from her gameplay, the actor can be seen discussing her motion capture work as one of James' monsters – the eerie, humanoid Lying Figure. "I did this, the movement of the Lying Figure there. I did the mocap for that, and fell onto a mat, on a gymnastics floor… but they definitely made it better in post [processing]." Gunnarsdóttir laughs, recalling the "massive chunky heels" she wore.

Her full stream is worth a watch by any hardened Silent Hill stan – whether you're looking for news or perhaps some behind-the-scenes knowledge of the sequel remake's development, Gunnarsdóttir offers quite a bit of insight while playing.

Players debate characters' looks in everything from Marvel Rivals to The Witcher 3, but Silent Hill 2 devs sent them a warning 24 years ago: "Maria was sexier when we first started out, but her plunging neckline gave us too many technical problems"

When Silent Hill: The Short Message made its free-to-play debut on PS5 last year, I was sorely disappointed. The horror walking sim vibes weren't the problem – if anything, I admired the PT-like slant – but the themes definitely were.

I stand by my assertion that conversations around teenage girlhood in The Short Message are stilted by its own format, addressed "with as much subtlety as a brick to the face". Here, the psyche of young girls is trivialized to the point of mockery – how silly they are! How shallow! How little they understand of the world! – as its protagonist languishes in adolescent misery. Think 13 Reasons Why, but condensed into two hours.

The Short Message did nothing to complicate the stereotype of female hysteria. If anything, it bolstered it, asserting that suicide is a dramatic, tragic, somewhat stupid occupational hazard of being a girl.

Enter: Silent Hill f. The latest addition to the mainline series delivers not only our first female protagonist in decades, but a powerful, unflinching statement that never forgets its roots. Those sit in the 1960s Japanese view of family and womanhood, but they also reach back to what The Short Message laid the foundations for without us ever knowing it.

Growing pains

The Short Message, as you might expect, is a very short game with too limited a scope to tackle the themes woven throuhout. It's not that I think Konami deliberately made a sexist game – it's that the game didn't have time to unpack itself. The result is a compact melodrama of suicidal teens, playground bullying, and jealous frenemy culture in modern high schools.

But those themes also ring true in Silent Hill f. Set in 1960s Japan, Hinako herself experiences bullying and being spurned by friends, viewing herself as "not like the other girls". She wants to be treated like one of the boys, rejecting the proper expectations of women and girls of her time, and is oblivious to her best friend and "partner" Shu's crush on her (and other sinister interests he has in her future) and the jealousy it sparks in others.

Since a central theme of the game is marriage and female autonomy in mid-century Japan, Hinako seems more humbled than distressed by others' opinions. Her friends view her as a traitor, leaving them behind for a marriage they have no idea she does not want, and we are frequently confronted with the deep psychological torment Hinako suffers as a shunned 16 year old girl. In brief, it works with much the same themes as The Short Message while actually interrogating them.

Not only is Silent Hill f better equipped to relay these themes, with environmental clues and lore pickups demonstrating societal norms instead of shouting them repeatedly in our faces, the setting of the 1960s adds a new layer.

The themes touched on – or rather, grabbed at with careless hands – in The Short Message are revealed to have long tendrils reaching back in time. Hinako's experience is not a unique one. It's entrenched in the deepest realms of her culture and has ripple effects to the present day. Her struggles to overcome heavy expectations feel somewhat prophetic, and it makes me look at The Short Message in a far more forgiving light.

I'm yet to finish my first Silent Hill f journey, but already, I appreciate how Konami has done a total 180 on The Short Message's biggest pitfalls. It's a work of narrative brilliance, something I'd expect from a storytelling talent like Ryukishi07, that helps bring both games into perspective.

Even the visual design elements hold similarities – pink-petaled Sakura Head, the relentless pursuer in The Short Message, seems inextricably linked to the red spider lilies present throughout Silent Hill f. Both convey an element of beauty in terror, a feminizing touch that proves no less malevolent or aggressive than Silent Hill 2's Pyramid Thing in all its sharp, angular evils.

I could write reams about why these two games could not exist without each other, but suffice it to say that I want to issue an apology for doubting Konami in the first place. The Short Message falls flat on its own, but with Silent Hill f beside it, the one-year wait for the punchline was definitely worth it.

Check out the best Silent Hill games to play if you've wrapped up Hinako's journey

"No, get away!" Silent Hill f's protagonist Hinako screams in terror as a flower-crowned monster sets upon her. A nimble dodge to the side, and she's safely out of harm's way – just as another hidden foe lopes out from the shadows and slashes Hinako's side, carving a chunk out of my newly replenished health bar and causing her to shriek yet again.

Hinako is very vocal about the horrors she's facing in the new Silent Hill game. Weeping is a common occurrence for her, whether mid-combat or with a mouthful of sacred water-turned-lava as in one of the many cutscenes. But in short bursts, she also has the (intermittent) bravery and sharp reflexes of a far more skilled action hero. Courtesy of Soulslike-tinged combat system, developer Neobards says these power flashes reflect her adrenaline-fuelled desperation.

After playing a half hour Resident Evil Requiem preview just two months ago, the concept of a leading survival horror lady who's anything but powerful is a familiar one. Could Hinako's journey be my gateway to accepting Grace Ashcroft in all her stumbling, sobbing, totally non-heroic herodom come February 27, even though I've been on the fence about it until now?

Fear factory

It's oddly poetic that the grandparents of survival horror, Capcom and Konami, are releasing female-fronted games within months of one another. Even more so is the fact that both Grace and Hinako share the unique trait of being utterly, completely scared of everything.

It makes sense for Hinako, at least. The best Silent Hill games feature totally unprepared protagonists, from James Sunderland to Heather Mason, but the same has never been said of Leon S Kennedy, Jill Valentine, or the Redfield siblings. Look anywhere else on the Resident Evil timeline, and you'll find a game led by one or more badasses. Which is where Grace is a major outlier.

I'll put my hands up now and admit that, while I'll be devouring Resident Evil Requiem regardless, having a first-hand look at the heroine-to-be's staggering lack of combat aptitude was sobering. She cries, screeches, even falls down during chases when played in third-person mode, and the sequence was an all-around tense one thanks to the added stress of being so helpless. It's an effective approach when it comes to upping the scares.

Call it denial or blind hope, though, I've been hanging onto the popular yet unconfirmed (or denied) rumor that Resident Evil 2, 4, and 6 protagonist Leon might show up as Requiem's "surprise" secondary player character to balance out the experience.

It's not that I don't see what Capcom is trying to do in presenting a story where the player character is as scared as the player. I just don't think that would be a very Resident Evil thing to ask of us for an entire game, since despite frequently being discussed alongside Silent Hill, the two franchises operate very differently.

Compare, contrast

When I picked up Silent Hill f for the first time, I made sure to keep Silent Hill 2 remake in mind as a comparison instead of any Capcom hits.

I knew what I was getting into: this is a game about an ordinary person thrust into the depths of psychological torment. But watching Hinako grow and develop her skillset over the course of Silent Hill f has also made me see Requiem in a new light.Much like Grace during my hands-on preview, Hinako spends much of the early game in a state of near helplessness. I don't pick up my first weapon until maybe half an hour in, and it takes me far too long to realize that simply dodging the first enemy was getting me nowhere – I had to make a break for it to escape combat.

Even after picking up my first makeshift weapon, though, Hinako is hardly a swordswoman. Slow, plodding hits mean I need to time each one carefully, and I also have to keep an eye on my sanity and stamina meters to top it off (yes, it's Soulsy, like it or not). I've gotten the hang of her combat maneuvers now, as well as the attack patterns of common enemies, and that in turn makes Hinako feel more capable over time.

When the ema and Faith mechanics – Silent Hill f's upgrade currencies – are finally introduced, I'm able to shape Hinako into more than a scared teenage girl with a rusty pipe.

I beef up her health pool, increase her stamina, even give her multiple Omamori equipment slots to grant her more of an edge in combat. Sure, the combat is still clunky and labored – something I find reflects her personal coming-of-age struggles in rural '60s Japan – but her slow progression from terrified little girl to brave final girl feels all the more weighty because of how hard-won each and every powerup is.

Do I sometimes wish Hinako could pull off a gnarly finisher move like something out of Dying Light: The Beast, or whip out a Matilda handgun and kneecap these bastards? Okay, yes I do. But does her ineptitude make her any less capable of killing every enemy I come across? Not at all.

Somewhere between my third and fifth hour with Silent Hill f, I realized that I had been misjudging Hinako. I first thought her weak and scared, but it's through the process of being scared and facing those fears that she channels immense strength to persevere. That feels pertinent to Resident Evil Requiem, too. If Grace is as resourceful and smart as Hinako can be – between bouts of tears and exclamatory remarks, of course – maybe Requiem will show her on a similar journey. It seems to be what Capcom is hinting at, especially as it continues to dismiss theories of Leon's involvement in the game.

I can't see Resident Evil going full Outlast (or Silent Hill for that matter) in a game that's meant to commemorate its 30th year, but as long as Grace has an ounce of Hinako's underdog gumption, I might actually warm to the idea should it actually come to pass. Just… no more dodging and parries, okay?

Dig into all the upcoming horror games that'll be haunting your nightmares soon...

Swapping its namesake American town for melee scraps in Japanese paddy fields, Silent Hill f dispenses with many hallmarks of the 26-year-old horror series. Breaking with tradition has rewarded NeoBards with the series' fastest selling launch and widespread admiration for its astonishing imagery and fearless descent into teenage cruelty.

There's just one major caveat: its soulslike combat. In our otherwise glowing Silent Hill f review, Oscar said "It's a shame then that Silent Hill f, which has my favorite writing and atmosphere in the series, also has the most annoying combat." And he's far from alone in feeling that way.

Taking a swing

This criticism returns to a time-honored argument that's been raging since 1999, when the very first Silent Hill came out. According to the purists, you missed the point if you ever complained about its everyday protagonists' unwieldy controls, haphazard aim and inelegant melee strikes. Silent Hill's combat was purposely clumsy. Thematically, it was a case of "so bad it's good".

Across Team Silent's years at the helm of Silent Hill, your ineptitude was artfully designed to heighten the sense of panic, unease, and helplessness as monsters draw uncomfortably close, without even a dodge mechanic to get you out of trouble. If you didn't like it, you were apparently just one of the uneducated masses who preferred exploding Resident Evil zombie heads to wrestling with Freudian nightmares and knee-high gremlins in the local elementary school.

The worst horrors of Silent Hill were your own inability to deal with its gnarliest residents, whether that's emptying a handgun cartridge into the sky trying to down a pterodactyl-like Air Screamer in Silent Hill, swiping uselessly at the air before one of Silent Hill 2's advancing Bubble Head Nurses, getting bowled over by Silent Hill 3's Slurpers, or just running headlong into wall after wall in Silent Hill 4: The Room's claustrophobic Apartment World. The best Silent Hill monsters have historically been ones you've struggled to fight against.

In the largely unloved post-Team Silent years that followed, the series featured more competent protagonists like Silent Hill: Homecoming's former soldier Alex Shepherd. He could call on combo attack chains, light and heavy attacks, a dodge roll, even a functional block! Despite introducing expanded mechanics, the same issues remained. Torn from the original context of an untutored civilian character, combat remained a frustrating chore.

That stayed the case until last year's impressive Silent Hill 2 Remake. Perhaps the first entry with inarguably good combat (if a tad overused by the end), Bloober Team drew on contemporary third-person shooter mechanics without harming James Sunderland's reputation as a wildly out-of-his-depth combatant.

Now we come to Silent Hill f, an all-new gun-less entry that can't rely on lessons learned from Dead Space and The Last of Us. Without getting into later stages with a certain empowering twist, is Hinako's J-horror take on traditional Soulslike combat in Ebisugaoka purposely bad for the same reason as its forebears?

It's instantly clear how some of Silent Hill f's adaptations to the Soulslike blueprint justify using that framework. The genre's focus on anticipating attack patterns and learning wind-up animations gives encounters an appropriate sense of peril, as does the tension of deciding when the time is right for a heavy or light attack – paired with the added anxiety of ever-dwindling weapon durability.

NeoBards certainly deserves top marks for Hinako's amateurish movement and animations too. Attacks are heavy, slow to recover, her balance swaying all over the place between hits. She stumbles around enemies, and if you try to retreat she'll naively turn her back. Her dodge may lean a touch too nimble, but it's convincingly inexpert, arms flailing every time.

The camera would be severely flawed in any other game – it's always breathing down your neck – but here it only adds to the effect. Its lock-on is "bad" when judged by conventional standards. Attack one enemy, you'll rarely spot another on your flank. It's dangerous, vulnerable, and uselessly inflexible for any other Soulslike. But here, it's brilliantly effective in establishing panic.

It was also a wise decision to ignore certain Soulslike staples. Traditional block and parry mechanics wouldn't fit a decidedly unwarlike teenager. And the relatively stat-lite approach meant I was never ripped out of my state of ethereal dread to optimize loadouts or respec my character for an enticing new weapon.

Looking over your shoulder

Where it falls apart is when Hinako's abilities go beyond grounded believability into excessive competence. Soulslike combat is all about consequence, the careful trade-offs of risk versus reward. In this style of horror, anything that operates on that axis should measure its rewards sparingly.

Silent Hill f does no such thing with its perfect dodge and perfect counters. These feel-good mechanics reward precision and mastery with slow-mo and a stamina refill or a free staggering hit. Not only do they work against immersion as playing an overwhelmed teenager, desperately fending off a tumorous assemblage of engorged bellies with a crowbar, these concessions to deeper action mechanics puts its combat system in direct comparison to other, better, games. I have the same issue with Focus Mode, which grants Hinako supernatural concentration skills and the capacity for an unstoppable charged attack.

The stamina system, however, goes too far towards the risks and can make Hinato almost comically useless. Recovery times for a mistimed heavy attack are painful and, combined with an agonizingly slow stamina regeneration rate, too easily leaves her immobilized. It becomes a frustrating experience of actual helplessness rather than the more effective sensation of desperation. The problem's worsened by Ebisugaoka's level design, its slender walkways and often claustrophobic interiors reduce the chances of evasion compared to those wide, fog-drenched American streets that feel so inviting now.

The result of these combined factors: a game that doesn't have the confidence to accept its teenage protagonist's physical flaws.

Silent Hill f's efforts to reinvent a genre in the guise of horror raises the question why its combat had to be such an ever-present part of the game. Why? Popular appeal. Action sells, especially good action. Standards have been raised for major horror titles, so Silent Hill's formerly clumsy style might be a risk. Zero or light combat can be just as tricky, as we saw with the mixed reception to last year's Silent Hill: The Short Message.

The ascent of Bloober Team proves it. The studio has become one of the industry's preeminent horror studios thanks to pursuing third-person-shooter action-horror. We already covered its achievements in Silent Hill 2 remake and touched on it again during our Cronos: The New Dawn review, where Bloober took a further step towards action – adopting a Dead Space-esque tactical combat approach against an onslaught of horrific mutants who merge together into even more advanced monstrosities.

Even the man who once pioneered Silent Hill's jarringly amateur combat arrived at the same action-heavy destination. When I spoke to Silent Hill creator Keiichi Toyama (who also made the combat-light Siren series) last year at Gamescom, he explained his 2024 body-swapping action-horror Slitterhead took a horror-action focus out of a need to draw the biggest possible audience.

Slitterhead and Silent Hill' fs melee-driven combat systems converge in some surprising ways. In Bokeh Studio's Kowloon you can control regular civilians by possession. Do so, and you're stuck with a small pool of health and clumsy attacks with embarrassing recovery times, just like Hinako. It enjoys the best of both worlds with the option of its "rarities", superhumans boasting explosive combos, incredible acrobatics and a whole suite of gory, paranormal abilities. That attitude bears comparison with later stages of Silent Hill f when, suffice to say, the game tires of its own Soulslike routine and decides it's finally time to give players a hand.

You'd be a fool to expect continuity under Konami's watch, decades since the original Team Silent disbanded. We have no idea where the franchise's brand of regular Joe combat will take us next, or whether Silent Hill f will prove to be an abandoned experiment or a first faltering step towards a new evolution of horror combat. I only hope for a tiny bit less of it next time.

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By most standards – critical reception, Metacritic scores, becoming a witness with your own two eyes – there's never been a good Silent Hill film adaptation. Maybe it's that the anxiety of Konami's 1999 survival horror series is too lived-in to translate to a more passive, movie theater popcorn experience, or maybe it's because none of them can replicate the singularity of the film that inspired Silent Hill in the first place, Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne's 1990 horror movie Jacob's Ladder.

I'm inclined to believe the latter. With its new 4K restoration and theatrical re-release in the US, it's clear to me that the phantasmagorical paranoia of Jacob's Ladder remains at the heart of Silent Hill, even after decades of franchise flops and reinvention – and future Silent Hill installments, including the next scheduled Silent Hill movie, better not forget it.

It's good timing for Jacob's Ladder to return, opening at New York City's IFC Center on October 3 before rolling out nationally. Developer Konami just released its first original Silent Hill game in over a decade, Silent Hill f, on September 25, leaving the survival horror series' recognizable, gas station coffee Americana in the '90s and creating a nightmare version of '60s Japan. The (I think) powerfully provocative Silent Hill f yanks the franchise back from the cliff of icky slot machine and spin-off games that have marred it for years. It instead returns to the themes of Jacob's Ladder.

Recurring nightmares

The movie's protagonist Jacob Singer – much like infamous Silent Hill 2's James Sunderland – has what his wife, in a dream, calls "guilty thoughts." (Spoilers to follow.) The end of Jacob's Ladder reveals Vietnam soldier Jacob has been dying for the entirety of the film's runtime, having been viciously impaled by his brother soldier after being subjected to aggressive military drugs. But before this revelation, Jacob is in Hell.

Hell, it turns out, is New York City – which, by virtue of being an American dive bar epicenter, is also Silent Hill. Watching Jacob's Ladder after playing and replaying many of the games, obsessing over their aesthetics and preoccupation with monsters as a manifestation of guilt, guilt as a symptom of unhappiness, I'm floored by how many ideas Konami's franchise outright steals – to impressive effect.

Borrowed time

As Jacob lies under a painfully bright fluorescent lamp, dying in a makeshift medical bay in the jungle, he imagines he's alive in a million twisted ways. He sees himself living in Brooklyn with a woman who isn't his wife, literally named Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña), a mirror of Silent Hill 2's wild mistress Maria, who taunts James throughout his quest to find his sick missing wife Mary. Often, Jacob struggles to remember how to get home, at one point abandoning an almost empty subway car – there's a woman in it who won't speak to him, and a man with what looks like a skinless sausage for a penis – to find the Bergen St. station. He walks along the tracks, through puddles of rats and who-knows-what, to get there, only to discover the once again empty station has its exits blocked off with a metal gate; this entire scene, including the defaced subway station itself and its layout, was impeccably reproduced in 2003's Silent Hill 3.

But even this isn't as impressive as the hospital scene. 2001's Silent Hill 2 is something of a medical drama, with Brookhaven Hospital being one of its most memorable locations. Sludge practically oozes out of its once-white walls. Bubble Head Nurses bound in bloody push-up bras shamble through its halls, adding another layer of sick fascination to the scenario Jacob's Ladder lays out originally: thinking he just hurt his back, Jacob is strapped to a gurney, which doctors wheel from a pristine hospital wing through a hallway that looks as if it had been totally eaten by mold and a psych ward stained with blood. The wheels of the gurney knock into severed arms and other hunks of meat. A man with no legs and a bag over his head whips his face back and forth until it's a blur, another image Silent Hill 3 borrows from Jacob's Ladder for its eyeless monster Valtiel.

Born again franchise

The new Silent Hill f doesn't have as many of these copy-and-paste moments from Jacob's Ladder, by virtue of being set in a completely different place, at a completely different time. It has its own distinct visual identity – protagonist Hinako in her traditional school girl outfit, which gets more tattered and gory the longer you play, and all the red spider lilies spreading like hives on the earth. Still, Silent Hill f is a game about death, not knowing how it applies to you, not understanding where – in your zombie state – home is.

It continues Silent Hill's 26-year relationship with Jacob's Ladder in this thematic way. Now, I hope that director Christophe Gans is similarly called to Silent Hill tradition while creating his upcoming Silent Hill 2 film adaptation. Gans also directed the infamous 2006 Silent Hill movie of the same name, telling IGN that year that his movie leaves out any suggestion of Jacob's Ladder, since Silent Hill the game "exists by itself and without any obvious reference."

But I think references to the familiar are what makes Silent Hill palpable, like it could be right behind the next sheet of fog you see. Whether it's through a reference to small town, USA, Japanese folklore, or Jacob's Ladder, Silent Hill games make reality feel like mystery. As a great horror film, Jacob's Ladder does the same.

The 4K re-release of Jacob's Ladder begins on October 3 in US theaters. For more on what to watch, check out the rest of our Big Screen Spotlight series.

As discussion around Silent Hill f's approach to the series' formula continues, the series producer has said it's not necessarily something that future games will follow.

Silent Hill f has, by most metrics, been an absolute success. It's one of the highest-rated games in the series, has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, and sold over 1 million copies over the first four days (which is reportedly just a bit better than 2024's Silent Hill 2 remake). However, looking at the discussion about the game online may tell a bit of a different tale.

While many love Silent Hill f, its soulslike-inspired combat has players a bit divided, with some even going as far as to say it doesn't feel like Silent Hill (although granted, that may also come down to it not being set in Silent Hill, Maine). Players have even developed mods for it to make it a bit more forgiving, making weapons more durable and items even more stackable. However, if you're one of the people Silent Hill f isn't working for, don't be too worried, Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto said this isn't an established formula for the series going forward.

In an interview with IGN Japan at TGS 2025 (translated by Automaton), Okamoto stated that he expected the reviews to be far more divided. However, even if the positive reception was surprising, "that doesn’t mean every future Silent Hill will be like Silent Hill f. Okamoto explains, adding, "Each one will have its own distinct flavor. We want to keep experimenting and be ambitious, both in terms of gameplay design and storytelling, so please look forward to the next Silent Hill as well."

Okamoto followed up on Twitter, saying that "I believe psychological stories are essential to what makes Silent Hill feel like ‘Silent Hill,’ and we’ll continue to place great importance on that in future works as well." However, he adds that he'd like to continue to be bold when it comes to gameplay experiences in the series.

Silent Hill f director says, alright, you got your Silent Hill 2 remake, which was "basically for the classic fans," but moving forward things are going to look different: "Future titles will probably carry their own flavour."

It takes me five attempts to defeat Silent Hill f's first big boss, and by the end of it, I am spitting with rage. Hinako's incredibly labored movements and slow reaction times are the bane of my existence. If watching her struggle beneath the awkward heft of a naginata twice her size wasn't sending my blood pressure sky high already, my plan of hoarding Faith to upgrade my Omamori slots has been left in tatters. I've been forced to beef up her health pool instead – it's the only way I can potentially tank my way through so many missed dodges – and the whole thing doesn't feel very "story mode" at all.

I totally get why. Silent Hill f's slow, rhythmic, sometimes over-conceptualized combat is metaphorical, mirroring the psychological and social pressures Hinako's struggles beneath in 1960s rural Japan. But there's no denying that the distinctly Dark Souls vibes – something our Games Editor picked up on in his initial Silent Hill f preview – are a risk in a series like this. I didn't realize how accurate he's been in calling Silent Hill f "Fog Souls" until I experienced it for myself.

Silent Hill f is a great game in spite of its combat – not because the combat is bad, but because it dominates every other aspect. It's a compelling experiment that, for Neobards' credit, really does fit Silent Hill f's standalone status as the first game in the franchise to venture away from the eponymous US town. But I really don't want other developers to get the wrong idea – that survival horror fans want or need the genre to comply with the expected "challenge for challenge's sake" structure that should really have stayed put in action-RPGs.

In bloom

The best survival horror games are stressful by definition. Resource management is always a factor, as is the near constant pressure to avoid dangers and press ahead while maintaining a cool enough head to parse the barrage of puzzles that stand in your way.

Silent Hill f possesses all these qualities and more, with weapon degradation a cleverly cruel workaround for the lack of firearms and ammo available to her. It's also got the tone, themes, and atmosphere us survival horror fans go wild for, and addresses them with delicious subtlety. So why, then, does it want to add more friction to an already multifaceted formula by way of dodge, counter, and stamina-heavy combat?

Look, don't get me wrong. If there was ever a Silent Hill game in which to test out something new, it had to be with an entirely fresh take – I shudder to think what the fan reaction might have been to Silent Hill 2 Remake, Bloodborne Edition. But the reality is that I don't think Silent Hill f needed to go this far to stand out. If anything, I feel it risks doing so for the wrong reasons.

Surrounded by sickeningly contorted puppet-like mannequins that stalk me through tight, foggy side streets, Silent Hill f feels more like Lies of P than anything else at times.

Not just because of the creepy mannequins and their uninterruptible attacks, but because the mental effort it takes to strategize in combat with these things makes me actively not scared anymore. In fact, each time I hear a musical sting alerting me to a nearby enemy, I find myself more annoyed than scared as I hunt them down to stop the racket instead of trying to creep away.

The same goes for watching a boss fight intro cinematic over and over until it becomes more annoying than scary. There's a reason Lies of P and Bloodborne are not considered survival horror games, despite being replete with horrific imagery and heavy, brooding vibes. I don't have time to be scared of a giant, grotesque monster; I need to learn its moveset, count under my breath, and learn when I can or cannot squeeze a hit in myself.

That experience is not something people flock to Silent Hill for, even if it does fit Silent Hill f's tone and style.

Death rattle

While I appreciate Neobards' ambition when it comes to sheer innovation, the fact of the matter is that there will be plenty of series die-hards who have never played a Soulslike, have never wanted to play one, and will be turned away from even trying to finish Silent Hill f once they find out they're playing one by accident.

We all have free will – yes, you can simply not play something you aren't enjoying – but I worry that Silent Hill f is narrowing its own catchment area and that fans will miss out on something incredible because of it.

Survival horror games, to me, are not meant to have a high barrier for entry in terms of skill. You fight like the characters you play would: with a sense of frenzied desperation. It's the very thing that makes me jump and misfire my last bullet in Resident Evil 2 (and curse the very day I was born as a result), or let my sanity drain away while hiding in Amnesia: The Dark Descent for fear of getting spotted. You're meant to be kind of bad at it sometimes, but there's always a way – usually by picking and choosing your battles.

It also helps that when most games have a story mode, enemies don't take eight or nine hits to go down – which is something I can't say for Silent Hill f.

There are no cheeky head-whacks with a wooden plank followed by a neat scamper down the hallway for Hinako. Instead, combat is such an integral, complex system that running away from foes feels somewhat discouraged. That's not a bad thing on its own, but calling Silent Hill f is a survival horror game can sometimes feel as much of a misnomer as its dubiously-titled "story mode" when it feels like something new entirely. Perhaps Fog Souls really is a thing, and Silent Hill f is charting its course.

There are many new and upcoming horror games on the horizon this spooky season, so get those wishlists well stocked!

While generally well-received critically, Silent Hill f is controversial in one specific way: its combat. And as they are wont to do, PC players have taken the matter into their own hands with some of the game's most-downloaded and most recommended mods being those that make the game easier, essentially.

I was anxious about Silent Hill f's combat from the moment GR's Oscar Taylor-Kent said in his hands-on preview that it felt "rote," "overengineered," and reliant on Soulslike mainstays including perfect dodges, parries, and anticipation of enemy attack patterns. That doesn't sound like Silent Hill, I thought.

Well, those concerns have come to bear, as I count myself as one among many who find Silent Hill f's combat a cumbersome obstacle through which longtime fans must navigate to experience what is otherwise a fantastic game. And although I'm playing on PS5, I'm happy for PC players who can simply mod themselves around the clunky combat.

Over on Nexus Mods, sorting by most downloaded and most endorsed, you'll find a variety of mods aimed at addressing all sorts of frustrations with the combat. Sick of your weapon breaking? Here's a mod for that with almost 5,000 downloads and 55 endorsements.

Tired of running out of heals? Here's a mod with 4,200 downloads and 48 endorsements that increases max item stack to 999. Having trouble nailing that perfect dodge? Treat yourself to a mod that increases the window of time required "a lot," itself with plenty of downloads and upvotes attesting to its quality. Why not give yourself infinite stamina for fun?

I'm of the opinion that everyone should give Silent Hill f an honest go without mods, as NeoBards and Konami intended, but I mean, if it's between playing the game with mods or not playing at all, by all means mod it up.

Silent Hill f sells over 1 million copies in just 4 days as Konami confirms the new horror game is already "exceeding" the success the Silent Hill 2 remake saw last year

Although Resident Evil Requiem isn't here quite yet, the new horror game from Capcom has been preceded by Konami's own Silent Hill f – but a little bit of healthy competition is good for the genre, according to developers.

Speaking in a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi states as much when asked about recent releases like Silent Hill f and more general successes within the survival horror genre. "I welcome it," he admits. "Competition is what keeps everyone on their toes in a given genre or space within the gaming industry, so I think it's great to have more titles in the AAA survival horror space."

The lead doesn't stop there, though. He doesn't just praise competition – he says he actually can't wait to play Silent Hill f himself. "I really want to buy Silent Hill F," as Nakanishi excitedly exclaims. "I'm playing it straight away!"

It's a wholesome look into how developers feel about fellow studios releasing games with similar vibes, although it's not surprising, especially given the close relationship between Resident Evil and Silent Hill's creators.

After all, just three years ago, Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami sat down with Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama for a conversation on building horror, producing games, and leaving a legacy behind. The in-depth discussion can still be found on YouTube, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between the two iconic horror game series. As for Nakanishi, it makes sense that he'd look forward to enjoying Silent Hill f.

Boasting "Very Positive" beginnings on Steam and sitting on Metacritic with a solid score of 86, the new Konami gem is off to a stellar start. It's also already sold over a million copies, with Nakanishi being just one of apparently very many fans. Here's hoping Resident Evil Requiem arrives with a big bang and proves just as successful as Silent Hill f when it launches next year on February 27, 2026.

Searching for something else to play while awaiting Resident Evil Requiem? Browse through our quick rundown of the most exciting new games coming this year and beyond for more.

Silent Hill f is off to a stellar start between its "Very Positive" beginnings on Steam last week and, today, confirmation from Konami that its new horror game may be on track to outsell the Silent Hill 2 remake from 2024.

A new statement from Konami on its official website confirms as much, as the company says that worldwide cumulative shipments of Silent Hill f across all platforms have surpassed one million units. In other words, a whopping million copies of the latest Silent Hill game have sold – and what's more, this may put it ahead of the Silent Hill 2 remake when considering its own post-launch numbers just last year.

As Konami previously revealed in a post, the Silent Hill 2 remake similarly sold a million copies in about four days. That's big news for Silent Hill f, which seems to be following in its predecessor's footsteps – or perhaps, as Konami writes, even ultimately "exceeding" the 2024 game's sales. Reporting that the more recent Silent Hill is impressing fans both globally and in Japan, the studio believes it might be outpacing the sequel remake's success.

It's not difficult to believe. Sitting on Metacritic with a solid score of 86 right now, Silent Hill f has more than proven itself as a banger new entry in Konami's beloved series. For reference, the Silent Hill 2 remake shares a similar score – in fact, the very same – of 86, too. Coupling this with the thousands of positive reviews on Steam and the impressive total shipment number from the publisher, it isn't surprising to think Silent Hill f could outshine last year's remake.

Our own Silent Hill f review praises the new horror gem from Konami as boasting the "most unsettling atmosphere and writing to date," with some spine-chilling monster designs that are "wonderfully gnarly."

Searching for something else to play after Konami's latest banger? Browse through our quick rundown of the most exciting new games coming this year and beyond for more.

Konami says some Silent Hill f players on Steam were mistakenly gifted free pre-order bonus content, but as you might expect, it's being snatched away "soon."

Posting on Twitter, Konami says it's "investigating an issue on the Steam version of SILENT HILL f where bonus and pre-order content not included in the purchased edition is temporarily accessible," adding, "A patch is scheduled to be released soon."

It's unclear from Konami's tweet exactly which pre-order content has erroneously been made available, but pre-order bonuses includes a special outfit, accessory, and item pack, while the Deluxe edition comes with a different costume as well as a digital artbook and soundtrack.

Regardless, responses to Konami's tweet are almost uniformly complaints about performance, mostly on PC. Naturally, you have the odd commenter cheekily asking Konami to just "let us keep it," but the vast majority of comments are related to technical issues.

I'm playing the game on PS5 and so far haven't had any notable issues, but my co-workers on PC indeed confirm there are some pretty serious issues, including the trademark Unreal Engine 5 shader stutters. Another colleague called Silent Hill f's performance on PC "awful," so it definitely seems like these comments aren't entirely without merit.

One thing's for sure. There is no way Konami is gonna simply let everyone keep the bonus content it accidentally gave away. That would completely devalue the pre-orders and Deluxe Edition many players sprung for, so if you're one of the Steam players who bought the standard edition and is accessing bonus content for free, enjoy it while you can.

Silent Hill f just came out and someone's already modded out the fog, and as much as I'm against this wholeheartedly, even I can admit those graphics are gorgeous with greater clarity

After an impressive "Very Positive" start on Steam earlier this week, Silent Hill f players are taking to online forums to discuss their experience with the horror game so far – and one of the most common points of contention seems to be its difficulty.

As our own Silent Hill f review explores, the combat in Konami's latest title often feels "more irritating than scary." Compared by many longtime fans of the Silent Hill series to Soulslike gameplay, with its dodging and stamina-heavy mechanics, the combat in the latest entry is certainly more challenging than in its predecessors – and the so-called "Story" difficulty isn't cutting it for most players who are struggling with it, either.

I love EVERYTHING in this game. Except one, core part. And I NEED to complain. from r/silenthill

"I love EVERYTHING in this game," one frustrated fan writes on Reddit. "Except one, core part. And I NEED to complain." That one, core part? It's the combat. "It's so stiff, clunky," as the poster continues. "Perfect dodge system? It just works so AGAINST what everything else is, it baffles me?! I love EVERYTHING else, but golly do I feel this when it's 95% of the game past a point." They aren't the only person expressing as much.

"Starting to really dislike Silent Hill f," another player's thread reads. "The amount of enemies is just kinda ruining the whole experience for me, especially how bullet (pipe) spongey they are. I'm currently near the end of the game, and I just keep getting blasted with insane amounts of enemies that take 10 hits to even do anything [to]." The fan goes as far as saying actual Souls games like Elden Ring were "easier than this."

Elsewhere in a post, a player says their "main issue with Silent Hill f is that it was way too fight-focused." As is always the case, however, the community isn't a monolith, and others disagree with the combat being too annoying or challenging. As one fan asks, "Why aren't people just running?" Stating they've "had a lot of fun with the game so far by just running away when possible," they think "the game was designed for you to pick your battles."

Why aren’t people just running from r/silenthill

They conclude, "It's survival horror at its core, the fear of choice. I would think with a survival horror series, people would instinctively avoid combat when available, especially when the game provides practically no rewards for fighting." Obviously, though, everyone approaches Silent Hill f differently – and I for one haven't been a fan of the combat myself, even on Story mode. It's still undeniably a brilliant game, nonetheless.

Sitting on Metacritic with a solid score of 86 right now – one that places the game at the same spot as the recent Silent Hill 2 remake from 2024 – Silent Hill f has impressed critics and fans alike despite any hiccups regarding its combat and difficulty.

Searching for something else to play after Konami and NeoBards' latest banger? Browse through our quick rundown of the most exciting new games coming this year and beyond for more.

The best Silent Hill monsters aren't just about pure creature design aesthetics – though working with some fantastic artists means this horror series does have some of the best in that area. No, the psychological terror that Silent Hill is all about means that mechanically, all of these foes elicit something deeper in the player with how they react to them, whether that's a spike of adrenaline as you try to escape, or even feelings of remorse and pity as you unravel a twisted nightmare to realize what it actually represents for the protagonist in question.

I've been playing Silent Hill for years, which makes it easy to say these are some of the best horror games when it comes to balancing frightening designs with that deeper meaning. That's what makes the difference between great horror gaming and the best horror movies (and other mediums) – leaning into that interactivity. Silent Hill's brand of psychological horror is deeply immersive and deeply personal as a result. Which means my picks below might not be the same as everyone but boy do these still give me the chills even today. Join me as I welcome you to my dark, twisted mind as I run down the greatest Silent Hill monsters across the best Silent Hill games to date as, ahem, best I can.

The best Silent Hill monsters, starting with...

12. Raw Shock (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories)

The only real enemy in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a bit of a cheeky pick for this list as it doesn't have any one set design. Instead, based on the answers Harry gives in therapy sequences that break up the game, they change to reflect his psychological state (as will other sequences in Shattered Memories). For instance, they can go from blank slates to representing Harry's fear of women, or, perhaps, representing his substance abuse instead. It's all up to your actions. It's a concept that fascinated me while playing, and feels about as 'Silent Hill' a design as you can get while also feeling very original to this day – though ultimately I think more could have been done with the idea. Perhaps Raw Shocks were ahead of their time.

11. Twin Victim (Silent Hill 4)

When I first saw a Twin Victim in Silent Hill 4, I genuinely froze up, completely unsure what I'd stumbled upon as I navigated the circular halls of Waterworld. When I next saw them, I did the same – out of fear for the tank-like pummelling I was about to receive. They're meant to evoke this reaction, too. Striking though their design is, with a double baby head, dark cloak, arm-legs, and large frame, they are also frozen in place for a time when you encounter them. One hand up, they simply point at Henry – a recurring theme throughout Silent Hill 4. Only when you get closer do they go aggro and attack, a small touch that really adds to how unsettling these Silent Hill monsters are.

10. Ghosts (Silent Hill 4)

To a point, the literal nature of the main ghosts that haunt each 'world' in Silent Hill 4 feels a bit at odds with the more supernatural designs for the rest of the monsters, but that almost makes the violence that was enacted upon each recognizably human ghost enemy all the more disturbing. Floating about, they can truly pursue Henry as he tries to progress through each area. I love that this gives rise to a risk-reward gameplay consideration, as, once you take them out, they'll be temporarily inactive. Use a limited Sword of Obedience, though, and you pin them for good, meaning they can no longer haunt you in that area. To top it off, they're all victims of the serial killer you're hot on the heels of, making it feel like his influence is spreading over the strange supernatural worlds that Henry must battle through to escape his apartment.

9. The God (Silent Hill 3)

Everything Heather was put through in Silent Hill 3 was for this – the resurrection of a god under the ancient twisting stone of a place of worship. Just as gnarly and fleshy as the rest of the monsters in Silent Hill 3, I love that The God still evokes something different; there's something even more otherworldly about this just-birthed monstrous being that goes even beyond the, well, actual Otherworld. Incomplete, the creature's form is still skeletal in places, with a veilled face. There's almost something pitiable about what's been forced to come into this world, and what it says about the ideas in which it has been molded into the image of. Heather's answer to this crisis of faith made manifest? Two handgun shots between the eyes and a whole load of shotgun shells.

8. Scarlet (Silent Hill: Homecoming)

Even the more divisive entries in this horror series have reasons to love them. Scarlet is a real standout in Silent Hill: Homecoming, the boss that lies in wait at the very bottom of the Hell Descent level – itself one of the best areas in the series with its twisting metal walkways and constant sense of scorching heat. Scarlet herself is a possessed ceramic doll that morphs into a spindly terror. A manifestation of child abuse expressed through understandable rage, this encounter gives the impression that Scarlet is one of the most intelligent and lucid foes in the series. Alex's encounter with her has him cracking bits off her porcelain shell with high-impact melee strikes, revealing a beating heart within and leaving her face in chunks. Hell's Descent through to this fight (that is, if it doesn't bug out to give Scarlet infinite health, as the game often does) is a real highlight of Homecoming that almost makes it worth playing on its own.

7. Ayakakashi (Silent Hill f)

At this point, I'm still shifting through the terrific Silent Hill f creature designs (from artist kera), and there are some so spoilery foes that I'm hesitant to include in lists for a while. Still, Ayakakashi – the scarecrow versions of protagonist Hinako's school friends – well represents what makes this entry's approach to creatures so good. It's in how lore combines with game mechanics. Two-faced (subtle), and with blades, they're not even all hostile monsters, sometimes appearing in environments just to unsettle. At others, you can hear them clomping towards you when you're not looking, before they properly activate. In my Silent Hill f review I don't always love the combat loop, but each monster design is a constant delight.

6. Valtiel (Silent Hill 3)

This may be a controversial pick, as though Valtiel is always just behind Heather, just as Pyramid Head is for James, the way the player interacts with Valtiel, or rather doesn't, is completely different. Within rusty Otherworlds, Valtiel can often be seen up to some nefarious activities, tightening valves and torturing other supernatural creatures. Die, and sometimes Valtiel will appear on screen to drag Heather's corpse away. But his presence is never explicitly explained, nor resolved, and you never actually face off against him. For me, that makes him all the more terrifying – especially when I first played the game. He alone is a strong reason to me why Silent Hill 3 is one of the best Japanese horror games, period.

5. Mannequin (Silent Hill 2 remake)

Though Silent Hill 2 features many times in my list, here I want to explicitly nod towards the Silent Hill 2 remake version of these classic many-limbed foes. Without heads, these plasticky foes' spindly strikes were creepy enough in the original. But, here, they can crawl in spider-like fashion across walls, and, wonderfully, scuttle away from James to hide just out of his flashlight's range in the darkness. Contorting themselves into shapes they can tuck away in corners, press against walls just around corners, or even resemble small tables in order to jump you and take you by surprise makes these monsters almost like mimics.

4. Bubble Head Nurse (Silent Hill 2)

Nobody would forgive me if a nurse design didn't make it onto this list. A recurring Silent Hill monster archetype, a medal needs to be given for their long service at the very least. While I need to tip my metal head to the 1999 original's Parasite Nurses who hassle Harry's path, they shuffled so that Silent Hill 2's Bubble Head Nurses could, well, also shuffle. These overly sexualized, twitchy monsters can give James a hard time, and their featureless faces become a feature unto themselves thanks to their large blank heads. They have been de-personified by James' psyche, whether he likes it or not, making what could be a fairly basic repeating enemy into a true icon of thematic terror.

3. Lisa (PT)

Yes, though you can no longer download PT – the 'Playable Teaser' of Hideo Kojima's cancelled Silent Hills – it still deserves a spot on this list as a genuine part of the Silent Hill mythos. If anything, the lack of availability only adds to the mystery of this strange, looping house and just why Lisa haunts its long hallways. Similar to Valtiel, a large part of what makes Lisa scary is that I don't fully understand how she works, and also don't want to. All I know is that moving through repeated environments, it always feels like she's breathing down the back of my neck as I play, leaving me constantly on edge that at any point she's going to grab my shoulder and it'll be over. Because Silent Hills was cancelled, we never got any real answers – chilling.

2. Abstract Daddy (Silent Hill 2)

In a series full of truly upsetting psychological horror, the so-called Abstract Daddy is a bit of a misnomer – this tanky boss enemy is the physical manifestation of horrific sexual violence. Disturbingly shaped – at least, from James' perspective – to resemble twisting bodies on a bed, a tight, fleshy outer casing acts like shrink wrap around the form beneath. This is the kind of horror you've been saving those shotgun shells for. In the Silent Hill 2 remake, the power and weight of this creature is enhanced as it crashes after James through an evolving landscape of nightmarish, inescapable domesticity.

1. Pyramid Head (Silent Hill 2)

Or, indeed, The Executioner, or Red Pyramid Thing. No matter the AKA, this shape-wearing menace is A-OK with giving you a bad time. Primarily pursuing James Sunderland throughout Silent Hill 2, he's also made appearances in other games and media (including go-karting). Considering how iconic he is, his appearances are actually sparse, even in Silent Hill 2.

Undefeatable, his presence – whether that's observed peeking out from a cupboard Blue Velvet style, being thrown off a roof, or running for dear life down a narrow hallway – always brings the game's tensest moments. Even when you do 'beat' them later in the game (when there's two), it's more of a case of forcing them to end it themselves rather than any pure show of force on James' part. Packing symbolism, and wisely never overexplained, James' stalker might have a striking design, but it's what he evokes and makes you feel that's truly memorable.

I've been playing horror games since the first Silent Hill was released on the original PlayStation in 1999 (yes, I'm practically turning into dust), but if it weren't for the best gaming headsets, I wouldn't be half as obsessed with terrifying myself as I am now.

Hearing the sounds of every door creak, every hum of a generator, and every heightened "what was that" by a voice actor with crystal-clear clarity helps suck me into whatever gruesome circumstances I'm playing through, and Silent Hill f will be no different this weekend.

My copy of the game hasn't even arrived yet, but in anticipation of the creepy and nuanced sound design the series is known for, and legendary composer Akira Yamaoka's eerie score, I've set aside my top 3 PS5 headsets to ensure I get as scared as humanly possible on release day. If you're forever chasing that perfect horror headset experience like me, I've gathered all my picks down below. Just be prepared to sleep with the lights on.

1. Sony InZone H9 II

The moment I slid on the silky smooth lightweight cups of the Sony InZone H9 II onto my ears and pressed on its power button that's perfectly shaped to the curve of my thumb, I knew this was going to be my main Silent Hill f headset of choice.

Instead of a typical plastic rectangular band, the Sony headset has a unique headband and yoke design that appears like a piece of structured black rope. At either end, there are tactile oblong-shaped buttons, which let you adjust the level of the band when held in - very similar to a clasp on a jacket.

This design lets you easily slide the cups up and down to get that perfect level of adjustment, and that's exactly what I want for my future foggy Silent Hill f horrors. Even when I was right in the middle of a heated, competitive Marvel Rivals match, holding in these buttons was a breeze, and I was able to get the InZone H9 II just as I wanted it, without having to take it off, and I don't want anything to get in the way of my spooky adventures come September 25.

It helps too that this premium $359.99 / £299 headset sounds absolutely fantastic due to its 30mm audio drivers and is equipped with active noise-canceling. A quick click of a button on the left cup can zone out any unwanted noise - letting you focus more on the scary goings on. The moment I load up Silent Hill f for the first time, you can bet I'll be ensuring the living room lights are off, and the ANC button is on, for the most terrifying experience possible.

2. SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5

This mid-range headset isn't as premium as the InZone H9 II, but what I adore about the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Wireless is the levels of audio customization at play. Having a headset like it amongst your Sony setup means you have access to the free Arctis app, which is loaded up with hundreds of official game audio presets, and the ability to tweak the EQ settings to your heart's content.

Unfortunately, there's no official Silent Hill f preset for now, but it could drop on the app after launch. In the meantime, I'm eager to see how the official Silent Hill 2 preset fairs instead, as both games have Akira Yamaoka's spooky game scores to try and place within the soundscape of their worlds.

Presets aside, there's a myriad of reasons why I keep the Arctis Nova 5 Wireless near my PS5 at all times, and will be testing it out with Silent Hill f. It's equipped with 40mm custom-designed neodymium magnetic drivers and has spatial audio support, with compatibility with the PS5's Tempest 3D Audio in particular. The Konami marketing highlights the game's use of "immersive 3D audio" so the Arctis Nova 5 will be one of the best cups at my disposal to hear that in action.

3. Turtle Beach Atlas 200 for PS5

If I'm going back to a PS5 game, sometimes grabbing a wired headset like the Turtle Beach Atlas 200 is more straightforward than hunting around for various wireless dongles. When I quickly want to dive back into the scary, eerie streets of Ebisugaoka, I'm going to pop the 3.5mm jack of this headset into my DualSense controller and leave the wireless headsets to charge.

Personally, I'm not hugely a fan of wired connections as I like the freedom to move about on my sofa, especially in case I need to literally jump out of my seat, which is likely with this game. Yet, through my experience testing the Atlas 200, its cable is not only long enough to make that not a huge issue, but its wired connectivity means I can spend more time gaming, and less time worrying about any battery life issues.

Better yet, while some wired headsets tend to cheap out on sound, the Atlas 200's sound rivals that of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 Wireless and them some. The Turtle Beach headset's 50mm Nanoclear drivers were the perfect match to play alongside Still Wakes the Deep, the horror game I wanted to tick off my gaming backlog before the release of Silent Hill f this week.

If its full-bodied and balanced sound is good enough for Still Wakes the Deep, then I can't wait to hear what it does for one of my favorite horror game franchises.

Do you need a gaming headset to play Silent Hill f?

You don't have to have a gaming headset to play Silent Hill f, it's just a personal preference of mine.

As one of the resident headset nerds of the GamesRadar+ hardware team, I prefer to play horror games with a pair of high-quality cups, as it means I can focus better on the game and listen out for all the subtle scary moments in the soundscape.

The franchise is well known for its psychological horrors, and part of that for me has always come down to the music and sounds. In fact, to this day I still own the official soundtrack for the first game and have used it throughout my childhood as sound effects for Halloween parties and gatherings. The uncomfortable but exhilarating sounds of a Silent Hill game are unmatched in horror for me, and I want to experience that best to my ability with Silent Hill f.

Of course, having a headset also means you can make the most of spatial audio support, which lends itself particularly well. The official Steam page for Silent Hill f states that it supports immersive audio. Having a high-quality pair of cups with spatial audio support means you can make the most of that feature, upping that spooky factor tremendously - and what horror game fan doesn't want that?

If you're not playing through Silent Hill f on the PS5, our guides to the best PC headsets for gaming and the best Xbox Series X headsets are full of high-end and feature-full wireless headsets for your platform of choice.

Some impatient horror hounds are playing Silent Hill f ahead of schedule with its advanced release that comes with pre-orders, but the game doesn't properly launch until September 25. And yet, there's already a mod available on PC that removes the fog from the game, giving us a peak at the '60s Japan setting unobscured by the series' signature low-hanging clouds.

Two things: I hate this. It's hard to think of a visual characteristic that's more fundamental to Silent Hill's identity than the fog that blurs the line between nightmare and reality, especially now that the titular town itself isn't in the latest game. Although the fog was originally implemented as a way to mask the PS1's hardware limitations, it's since taken on an iconic presence in the series, and removing it is akin to blasphemy in my eyes.

Also, dammit this is kinda cool. I would never want to do a full playthrough of a Silent Hill game without that ever-imposing fog, but it is neat looking at a fogless Silent Hill 2 Remake, or now Silent Hill f, for just a few seconds to see what the locales look like completely unobscured. In fact, I'll just shut up now and let you do that:

Again, I'd never actually play the game this way, but the level of detail hiding behind that fog in the vanilla game is really interesting to see laid bare. Now, let's all return to the fog and pretend none of this ever happened.

Silent Hill f gets off to a "Very Positive" start on Steam, with 88% favorable reviews from horror fans: "It's not your classic SH experience, but it's a damn good one"

The long-awaited early access period for those who pre-ordered Silent Hill f has arrived, just two days before its official release – and it's safe to say that horror game fans are loving the new entry to Konami's iconic series.

Sitting on Metacritic with a solid score of 86 right now – one that places the game at the same spot as the recent Silent Hill 2 remake from 2024 – Silent Hill f has impressed critics and fans alike already, it seems, as its overall "pre-release" rating on Steam is just as stellar. It has "Very Positive" reviews so far, with 88% of reviewers giving it a big thumbs up at the time of writing. Players are praising the new title as one of the series' greatest entries, comparing it to past games while explaining how it stands apart from the rest.

"It's still Silent Hill: you're knee-deep in psychological trauma, everything wants you dead, you're dreading every corner, and solving it all with a metal pipe," reads one positive review. "It proves that horror games can be immersive, tense, and genuinely unsettling without relying on cheap tricks." Yep, that certainly sounds like Silent Hill – and they're not the only person to think so, either. Another player simply dubs Silent Hill f an "S tier" game.

Elsewhere, a fan writes that the new game "really surprised me in a good way" with its fresh setting and good performance. "Runs great, looks great, and if you're a Silent Hill fan, this is one you definitely shouldn't miss," they say. While most seemingly agree that Silent Hill f is indeed a brilliant game, not everyone thinks it feels or plays like older Konami titles – but they do state that's all right, as this isn't an older Konami title anyway, and it's developed by NeoBards Entertainment.

One player words this well: "Immersive. Breathtaking. Incredible. When the intro hit with the music, I had goosebumps all over. The voice acting and soundtrack are solid, which definitely carry the feel of the Silent Hill we know and love. It's not your classic SH experience, but it's a damn good one." Regardless of whether Silent Hill f fits in among its predecessors, it has already impressed longtime fans and newcomers alike.

That's honestly all I was hoping to hear as a lover of all things Silent Hill myself – the game manages to capture your attention as another Konami masterpiece, but it keeps you hooked with its own unique charms.

Excited about what might just be one of this year's best new games yet? Be sure to read our Silent Hill f review to learn more about the latest horror gem from Konami.

The Silent Hill f difficulty options let you choose how hard or easy you make the game. You can change action and puzzles separately, with options like Story, Hard, and Lost in the Fog on offer. It's all a bit of a muddle though, as it's not clear what the default is or what any of it changes, and it's hard to make a choice without knowing what's really going on. There's some mention of certain options being 'traditional' but nothing so simple as just a easy/normal/hard slider However, the game does clarify things later, so let me explain what I've found out and what it all means.

Silent Hill f difficulties explained

Silent Hill f difficulties are separated into Action, which mainly covers combat, and Puzzles. Confusingly, the hard option is seen as the default for Puzzles, while for Action 'Story' is described as the 'traditional Silent Hill difficulty for story-focused players'. Obviously that's not super clear, and neither is the fact that the 'Lost in the Fog' hard mode is unlocked as default for Puzzles, but only available for Action when you've completed the game once.

From my experience playing it, and that of Oscar Taylor-Kent who did our Silent Hill f review, the default options of Action/Story and Puzzles/Hard seem to be absolutely fine and provides the perfect amount of challenge for a traditional playthrough. It's also worth noting that difficulty makes no difference to the Silent Hill f endings and only count towards trophies and achievements.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The review embargo for Silent Hill f has lifted, and series producer Motoi Okamoto is mighty pleased with the game's 86 Metascore (now 85 at the time of writing).

Ahead of Silent Hill f's launch on September 24, a flood of largely positive reviews suggests Konami and developer NeoBards have successfully taken the series out of the titular Maine town and into '60s Japan with an entirely new protagonist and self-contained story. The biggest gripes seem to be aimed at the game's combat, but in general the world, story, characters, and fear factor are seeing high praise from most outlets, with GamesRadar+'s Silent Hill f review calling it "the legendary horror series' most unsettling atmosphere and writing to date."

In reaction, Okamoto says he's "thrilled" with the Metascore, acknowledged the divisiveness of the combat, and praised the writing of legendary writer Ryukishi07, best known for the Higurashi When They Cry series.

"I'm thrilled that it received a Metascore of 86, tying with the Silent Hill 2 remake. With Japan as the setting, Mr. Ryukishi07 handling the scenario, and a combat-focused game design, I had a feeling it might divide opinions given all the challenging elements, but I'm truly grateful for such high praise," said Okamoto on X via machine translation.

"Even amid the mixed reception, the story has been almost universally acclaimed by all media outlets, so entrusting it to Mr. Ryukishi07 was absolutely the right call. I think this is a work that fans of Mr. Ryukishi07, as well as Silent Hill fans, can both enjoy and recommend."

As someone who felt some trepidation about Silent Hill f, specifically its departure from the series' established tone and its focus on parry-heavy combat, I'm also glad to see folks seem to be generally happy with it. That said, it seems my concerns about combat were warranted, so this might just be one I have to play on story mode, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Silent Hill f is just one of many upcoming horror games we have to look forward to.

Silent Hill f's Metacritic score is in, and it's one of the Konami series' highest rated titles, tied with 2003's Silent Hill 3.

Last year's Silent Hill 2 remake marked a proper comeback for the series after a long hiatus and a couple of unfortunate projects (Ascension and The Short Message), and was a fairly beloved remake. But all eyes were on Silent Hill f, which is the first wholly original entry in the series since 2012's Silent Hill: Downpour, and considering there hasn't been a universally loved entry in the series since Silent Hill 3 (even if The Room and Shattered Memories don't deserve the same hate as Homecoming), thats a whole extra load of pressure.

But thankfully, reviews are saying that Silent Hill f is part of the elite few, with a Metacritic score of 85 – a score which puts it right up there as far as Silent Hill games go, with an 85 also being the Metacritic score given to Silent Hill 3 on the PS2. This score ties it as the third-highest rating in the series with the original Silent Hill on PS1, and 2024's Silent Hill 2 remake, nabbing an 86 while unsurprisingly, the original Silent Hill 2 from 2001 is the highest-rated game in the series at 89 (shockingly low, if you ask me).

In the GamesRadar+ Silent Hill f review, games editor Oscar Taylor-Kent gave the game four out of five and said "Silent Hill f is thick with a terrifying yet beautiful foggy atmosphere and truly gnarly monster designs, combined with incredibly well-judged, smart, and gut-wrenching writing. Grueling combat encounters can become more irritating than scary thanks to an overengineered system that still traps you with plenty of stun locks. Still, unravelling the fears that haunt Hinako makes for some of the best horror I've ever played."

As far as other reviews go, Dexerto and Inverse liked the game the most, with both outlets giving the game full marks (5/5 and 10/10 respectively). Meanwhile TechRadar Gaming and IGN gave the lowest-scoring reviews, with slightly more critical scores of 3/5 and 7/10 respectively. Considering its lowest scores are still solid, though, that's extremely promising.

Silent Hill f director says, alright, you got your Silent Hill 2 remake, which was "basically for the classic fans," but moving forward things are going to look different: "Future titles will probably carry their own flavour."

Trading smalltown America for a 1960s rural Japan works well for Silent Hill f. Recognizably the same brand of horror, this is still Silent Hill as you know it, from its twitchy body horror monster designs to how it blends literal frights with the psychological. The new setting allows for some gorgeous stomach-churning visuals as the fog brings with it sprouting blood red spider lilies that begin to take over the town, transforming it into something altogether fleshier. Criss-crossing lanterns in the market street begin to give way to strands of, well, something else entirely. "Beauty in terror" is the pitch Konami gave for this revamp, and Silent Hill f nails the landing by whacking said nail with a hammer and watching it gush.

So too do the fears of schoolgirl Hinako Shimazu, dealing with the pressures of likewise encroaching womanhood, provide new avenues of horror for the series to explore. Blending those anxieties into a mix where you become uncertain of what's real and what isn't the more you play, the unease dialling up to match and drilling down into the animal part of your brain that stops you from caring about the distinction – the horror becoming manifest regardless. Without a doubt, the incredible foggy atmosphere of Hinako's hometown, Ebisugaoka, and the mysterious Dark Shrine she also finds herself transported to, is some of the best Silent Hill has to offer.

With well-realized themes that really stare down and wrestle with Hinako's trauma, plus terrific writing across cutscenes as well as heaps of lore notes, this is the best written Silent Hill has ever been (scriptwriter Ryukishi has a background in cult classic horror visual novels, such as Higurashi and Umineko – and you can feel his experience at work in every facet of Silent Hill f). As Silent Hill has already given us some of the best horror games ever made, it's no small feat that Silent Hill f doesn't just live up to its legacy, but surpasses it.

Fogged up

It's a shame then that Silent Hill f, which has my favorite writing and atmosphere in the series, also has the most annoying combat. I know, I know – Silent Hill as a series has never had particularly good combat. But no entry has combat encounters at the forefront as much as Silent Hill f does. Almost every pickup from restorative items to equippable omamori charms revolves around how they affect combat, from straightforward buffs to health, stamina, or sanity, to more complex effects like altering the properties of counterattacks, dodges, or your stun damage. The deeper you get into Silent Hill f, the more plentiful enemies become, throwing several combat gauntlets your way in the closing hours.

James Sunderland's survival skills in Silent Hill 2 remake look downright placid compared to what Hinako can pull off. Where James' brawls were tight, intense clashes of whacking and hoping for the best while trying to side-step threats, Hinako feels like she's thirty years early to mixing it up on fighting games in the local arcade.

She can mash out combos of light and heavy attacks on the triggers. Hold another trigger, and she can charge up her Focus to deplete Sanity (same, girl) to deliver an even stronger weapon-specific strike that has a degree of super armor. Though attacking uses up stamina, Hinako can perform a perfect dodge to twist out of the way of oncoming enemy attacks to restore it, continuing to bash out damage. Alternatively, when an enemy flashes with a chromatic aura, Hinako's able to rush towards them, stunning them with a counterattack and opening her foe up to even more damage.

Combat is a lot, and there's a lot of it to match. Completely melee focused (weapons break as well after too much use), it feels like just about every close-quarters combat mechanic you can think of is in here. Even in the best cases where I'm able to perform well in dicey dust-ups with the creepiest monsters haunting Ebisugaoka, I can't help but feel the fighting system is simply overengineered in a way that's counterintuitive to creating a horror atmosphere. When Hinako is able to perfectly pull off all the moves at her fingertips, she can feel almost comically unstoppable.

But, all too often, you definitely aren't. Fights are a little too clunky for that, leading to situations where multiple enemies descend on Hinako and it ends up feeling more irritating than terrifying. Counterattack windows for enemies are a little few and far between, with the input for them – a heavy attack – often locking Hinako into a long, winding animation if you mistime it, meaning she's likely to just get pummeled (so often that I just dodge instead).

Frequent grab attacks wrestle control from you too, locking Hinako into a long recovery animation after the little scene plays out. Lots of attacks feel like they take control away from you in a way that's just frustrating. Later sections in the game even lampshade this a little bit by making combat a bit more responsive in certain sections only – an interesting juxtaposition, but not one that lessens how annoyed I sometimes felt getting corner stomped.

You could try to run – and for about half of Silent Hill f there's often a nice dynamic with picking your battles. But without the wide streets of America, Ebisugaoka frequently has you in claustrophobic alleyways, small houses, or narrow mountain trails where you're likely just to get pinned against a wall. Not to mention quite a few enemies are extremely fast in their pursuit of you with attacks that cross vaster distances than you might expect. Getting them off your back can be a pain, especially as most enemies feel like massive damage sponges that take loads of hits to fell.

Silent Hill f defaults to suggesting you play with Action difficulty set to Story, and Puzzles set to Hard. Oddly, there's only three difficulties at all: Story, Hard, and Lost in Fog (a sort of extreme mode). I played with the default settings for the most part, as I usually do, though I did try some Action on Hard as well, and it's playing on Story that gave me all the above issues.

I made it through without too much hassle, but squaring off against enemies is often just grueling, constantly trying to dodge out of the way to avoid getting stunlocked by groups of foes and mashing attack again and again and again. One seemingly completely regular enemy on Story mode I counterattacked, and then had to use seven heavy attacks (admittedly with a lightweight knife weapon) before I killed it.

Oddly boss fights completely avoid this feeling. While I had a tough time in my early hands-on a few months ago, they're now perfectly pitched. These hulking boss fights have some truly gnarly, standout designs that are series all-timers, with each one playing a major role in Hinako's emotional journey as she tries desperately to escape whatever foggy hell has come to Ebisugaoka.

From haunting dialogue that often occurs as flesh flies in these encounters, to the mechanics of how each boss attacks, they all contribute massively to the grander narrative. So why, even on easier modes, do I enjoy these clashes with near Eldritch-like nightmare boss enemies so much more than a couple of knife-limbed mannequins in a hallway? It feels like the tuning is simply off somewhere.

Back at it again in Ebisugaoka

And yet, for as many times as I'll end up waiting for Hinako to recover from stun animations and going 'golly, why does this have to be so annoying?', I've never wanted to put the controller down and walk away. Silent Hill f is an intoxicating horror experience that I always want to dive back into. Even though I think the final few hours are drawn out and saturated with far too many enemies, I've already finished the game three times with no break in between. I'm not allowed to say much about subsequent playthroughs, nor would I want to spoil anything, but there's plenty more to unravel about Hinako's story post-credits, and no Silent Hill has felt as rewarding to revisit as this one.

All roads in Ebisugaoka point right back to Hinako, and the way the 1960s Japan setting has stacked the odds against her for all her life. Whether it's looking through diary entry documents from major characters, reading the headlines for girls' mags that sport things like 'a girl is only complete when she's loved', or thumbing through Hinako's own observations of each monster in her frequently updated journal, it's clear that her life is one of many horrors – even without all the fog and spider lilies added to the mix. Certain monster designs may be terrifying to look at when first introduced, but as you learn more about them and piece together journal entries to learn what it is they truly represent, the implications make your stomach churn even more.

Silent Hill f is fantastic at evolving that sense of unease and vagueness that's so defined the series in the past, and matching it with really smart writing that knows just when to give you details and when to leave the player to fill in the blanks. Silent Hill f has the best capital 'W' Writing in the series to date, creating a dense weave of story across small, digestible chunks you unravel as you explore – but it's also the way the narrative is delivered as you slowly poke around the streets of Ebisugaoka and the strange Dark Shrine realm that add to it. The latter space serves a similar function to classic Silent Hill's industrial, rusty Otherworlds, but here with a fitting spiritual twist that embraces Japanese folklore and religion.

So too do the puzzles contribute – and they can get quite tricky (I played these on Hard, which is, as I mentioned, weirdly the middle difficulty). Silent Hill f is usually paced out so different areas spotlight different styles of play more, and it's the slower, more exploration focused ones featuring more puzzles that I like the best. The school is a particular highlight, mixing together puzzle boxes, looking for keys, and unravelling a whole 'girl code' to discover locker combinations in order to progress.

Narrative is entwined with puzzle design in Silent Hill f even more than in favorites like Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 – and in the school that involves piecing together scraps of information about student drama, from souring friendships to budding relationships, or even the vice principal's hobbies. All while learning more about how the school was founded and the history of the town's exports, naturally. Everything is there to prop up the horror story being told.

Every part of Silent Hill f is a piece of a jigsaw, and those jigsaws, once completed, are bigger jigsaw pieces of an even larger jigsaw puzzle. And once you get a sense of what the jigsaw picture is, even with pieces still missing, you begin to feel a little unwell. Which is why I'm a little disappointed that uneven combat encounter design threatens to pull me out of it, and makes it hard to recommend for those who may find the easiest settings too irritating to push through. But those horror highs raise the bar for the genre. Standing on its own, Silent Hill f is a great place for newcomers to get into the series.

I've never been more excited about the future of Silent Hill. Visually, Silent Hill f is stunning, from the uneasy beauty of a small town being choked by gorgeous red spider lilies, to gnarly monster designs that are some of the best Japanese horror games have to offer. But that initial visual hit is just the start, the terror lying beneath the fog as you explore more about a world hostile to Hinako in every sense of the word – supernatural or otherwise – that Silent Hill f becomes even more horrifying.

Silent Hill f was reviewed on a PS5 Pro, with a review code provided by the publisher.

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