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.