“Silent Hill f” sends players to a new destination in a terrifying universe | Video games

It takes time to recalibrate your expectations when playing a “Silent Hill” game. Wait, I can’t jump? Why can’t I just climb this fence and run away? There was a moment in the new “Silent Hill f” where I was being stalked by a huge hunk of bloated nightmare fuel with a gigantic swinging blade for an arm, and I was on a terrace outside the school where I couldn’t drop what felt like two feet to the ground to escape. Really? On the one hand, it’s a bit insane given the freedom of movement in action games in 2025, but it’s also something of a throwback to the earliest games in this franchise, a series that often felt like it was imposing unusual restrictions on your protagonist just to make life more difficult. It’s one of the many ways a “Silent Hill” game plays out like a nightmare in that you never really feel like you’re in control. And while it may seem different from the franchise that spawned it in some ways, that frustrating terror connects “Silent Hill f” to the hit games that birthed it.

For gamers of a certain age, the “Silent Hill” franchise is fundamental to the way we play horror games and even experience horror movies. Blending Japanese horror storytelling with a sense of choking dread that seems in line with German Gothic horror (there’s a bunch of Dreyers in “Silent Hill”), these games transformed the form, emphasizing limited combat/ammo and a fun approach to puzzle solving to the extent that it’s hard to use your brain when your heart is racing. Team Silent made the first four games from 1999 to 2004. It’s no exaggeration to say they changed everything, leading to a movie in 2006 (which Roger hated but I loved), a terrible sequel in 2012, and an upcoming reboot from 2006 director Christophe Gans called “Return to Silent Hill,” which will be released in January.

After 2004’s “Silent Hill 4: The Room,” the series became rather cold. Games like 2008’s “Silent Hill: Homecoming” and 2012’s truly weird “Silent Hill: Downpour” were disappointments, but at least they kept the series in the pop culture conversation. And then “PT” happened. In 2012, Konami began production on “Silent Hills,” which was to be directed by, get this, video game legend Hideo Kojima (“Death Stranding”) and none other than Guillermo del Toro. They released a teaser/demo in 2014 called “PT” that was so fascinating that it even made it into a few top tens of the year, but the game was canceled due to conflicts between Kojima and Konami, and “PT” was removed. (Man, I want to live in the alternate timeline where Kojima/GdT made a “Silent Hill” game.)

“Silent Hill” was essentially shut down for a decade, without any new games. Last year we saw the blockbuster remake of “Silent Hill 2”, which still remains the best game in this franchise, and it seemed like life was returning to this city of the dead. The same team is remaking the original “Silent Hill” game, and a game called “Silent Hill: Townfall” is in production. I can’t wait.

In the meantime, we have the hit “Silent Hill f,” a confident spinoff that integrates Japanese culture and horror imagery into the “Silent Hill” universe. It stands out from other games on a narrative level and features its own enemies and even mechanics while incorporating many of the touchstones of the main series, from a city drenched in fog to the way memory and reality can form something new in our nightmares.

You play as Shimizu Hinako, a young girl living in the Japanese village of Ebisugaoka in the 1960s. From the beginning, documents found in the environment, such as notes and posters, hint at something horrible that happened in Ebisugaoka. As Shimizu heads into town to meet up with her friends, fog forms around the edges of the frame and red lilies dot the ground. As expected, the sound design becomes a major player in the “Silent Hill f” experience as a commanding score and the sound of murderous creatures cut through the silence to truly shape the experience.

About these creatures. A little too much of “Silent Hill f” relies on fairly clumsy combat. While this is also in line with a lot of franchises, I found it more frustrating here than usual, as I inconsistently hit a lead pipe or baseball bat against a “Ringu” type demon. The production design, storytelling, and puzzle design here are all strengths, but I have to admit that I’m exhausted by how often the game asks you to defeat an enemy (and often the same ones over and over again) instead of just avoiding it or defeating it in some way other than swinging around a big weapon.

Let’s get back to the story. After meeting her friends in the village, Shimizu is essentially transported to this game’s version of Silent Hill. As she explores the demon-infested village, trying to find her friends and get to safety, she is also transported to a place called the Dark Sanctuary, where a character known as Fox Mask guides her to the truth. As the story unfolds between different versions of reality, Hinako is pushed into a subordinate role of Shiromuku, a wife of Fox Mask. Hinako’s past and fears about her future intertwine in an awe-inspiring vision of adolescent terror rendered in three dimensions. As with many games like this, five endings are possible, although only one can be granted on the first playthrough, leading to above-average replay value.

While “Silent Hill f”‘s aesthetic is memorable, the gameplay often stumbles, whether in inconsistent combat or bland inventory and upgrade systems. The funny thing about experiencing this game is that it works despite these fundamental problems because of its debt to cinema. Whether it’s the artistically designed cut scenes or the excellent music by “Silent Hill” composer Akira Yamaoka, the film often plays out like a great horror film. It may not be the complete return to form that this die-hard fan of the early “Silent Hill” games is hoping to see, but it seems like it could ultimately be seen as a bridge to the city that shaped what so many of us love about survival horror.

Konami has provided a review copy of this title. It is now available.