Silent Hill f's combat is about feeling on edge: "You need to know how close your candle is to going out to really have it feel tense"

Silent Hill f might make a lot of changes to the series, especially given it's now set in 1960s Japan rather than America, but it's still just as dedicated to creating a thick atmosphere of fear. While horror games have always been popular, it can sometimes become more of a visual backdrop to action. With its psychological terror, Silent Hill is one of few series that, historically, has managed to unsettle. Silent Hill f is aiming to bring that feeling back.

Silent Hill f's monster designs aren't just gnarly – the red spider lily visual theming mixes the horror of strange encroaching growths with beauty – but dangerous too. Main character Hinako has plenty of options during melee-centered combat, more than any other game in the series, but she's also quite vulnerable, taking lots of damage from attacks like enemy grabs and having to ensure she doesn't run out of stamina mid-scuffle.

Scare floor

Going hands-on with the game for 5 hours, I was mixed on Silent Hill f's parry-heavy combat, but with the developers in attendance there was plenty of time to get a better understanding of their perspective on the approach. Silent Hill f is aiming to be closer to the original PS2 games than the more action-heavy later entries that were more divisive. "J-horror" specifically comes up throughout discussion, and Silent Hill f game director Al Yang from developer NeoBards reiterates that their "top priority was to really focus on that sense of dread".

"A lot of people say they really enjoy being scared by horror games," says Yang when discussing how to balance that feeling in gaming specifically. "I think sometimes what they mean is they enjoy the tension you get out of horror games. For me personally, yes, fear of the unknown is one thing, but, like a jump scare constantly – that's going to grow very old."

To an extent, it's a unique issue faced in the medium. While horror movies can be coy about the ways it scares you, even in the creepiest of games you often need to be aware of the limits to your interaction with the game. Which often means you need to know a bit more about the rules for being haunted by monsters even from relatively early on.

"We keep talking about kind of steeping in that tension, steeping in the atmosphere, but you need to know how close your candle is to going out to really have it feel tense. So resources are a very big deal for us," continues Yang. "You can see the durability of your weapons, having your health bar – seeing how close you are to not having these important resources. Again, it's a limited inventory space kind of deal." Beyond what fits in Hinako's pockets, some restorative items can even be traded into shrine checkpoints to earn Faith, adding a bit of risk-reward to what you decide to hold onto when.

"The goal was, yes, you see a lot of this stuff, and you're aware of the threat, but you're also very aware of your own limitations, of how close you are to dying, how close you are to running out of resources," says Yang. "That, to us, is what creates tension. You're not quite sure what's around the corner, but you're also not quite sure if you're prepared to deal with it at the same time." After all, Silent Hill f's writer, Ryukishi07, says the series hides "its true colors beneath a layer of horror and fog".

Hinako is a schoolgirl in the small rural town of Ebisugaoka in 1960s Japan, so her methods of defending herself from strange monsters are limited as you'd expect. "It'll be strictly melee," says Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto when introducing Silent Hill f's take on combat. The best Silent Hill games manage to thread the needle with combat that manages to make you feel powerless without being too annoying.

Although Hinako can use these destructible weapons like pipes and kitchen knives to pull off light, heavy, and charged attacks, "players will need to be very careful and flexible" Okamoto notes. "Even if you find yourself trapped in a corner, by utilizing specific combat mechanics such as the perfect dodge and the counter, you'll be able to find a way to turn the tide of battle in your favor. [...] You'll be able to replenish your stamina if you can execute them properly, and this will allow you to regain momentum in the heat of combat."

Taking stock

"We wanted to make sure that absolutely, absolutely, even though there was more combat in the game, that it all felt natural to the character and the setting," adds Yang. "We wanted to make sure that they were not absolutely necessary for the player to use all the time."

It's true that, though a skilled player can have Hinako run rings around enemies with well-timed attacks of her own, there are still plenty of times where evasion is more practical if you don't want to get destroyed. In fact, many of the tensest sections against the biggest enemies force you to progress through other means – usually revolving around solving a puzzle or simply escaping. Bashing skulls can only get you so far.

"Even though it seems like something like a perfect dodge might be more kind of an action game thing, we wanted to make sure that it also tied into the setting and the character," says Yang. "You're basically very nervous in combat, and you're kind of having your adrenaline replenish – your stamina."

It all boils down to what Okamoto refers to as "life or death combat", the idea that in many of Ebisugaoka's narrow alleys that Hinako will have no choice but to fight back. And just as she can, in the right situations, power through deadly encounters, she's just as likely to take a lot of damage in return if you're not careful.

"Because this is a horror game, we believe that resource management is critical," says Okamoto. "By having the focus on these resources, this will elevate the feeling of horror." And sometimes, just sometimes, you'll realize you came to Ebisugaoka to both guzzle ramune soda and bash the heck out of ghoulish monsters – and wouldn't you believe it, you're all out of ramune.

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