First of all, what do I mean by “no spoilers?” Well, I won’t be discussing story beats, themes, characters, or mechanics that are not in the official pre-release materials. The screenshots in this post will all be from the first hour or two of play.
That said, the less you know about SHf going in, the better your experience will be. If you are a fan of the series, horror, and/or interesting video game storytelling, I think you’ll enjoy this, despite some frustrating elements. So go play it. If you want to know more, read on…
I truly did not think this day would ever come. A new, wholly original Silent Hill game that captures the feel (if not totally the aesthetic) associated with the series. From my first playthrough alone, I can safely say SHf is among the best games in the series. Is it a masterpiece? Well that depends on personal preference and for me, how subsequent playthroughs go.
I will say this is a game that consumed me the entire way through. I was thinking about it constantly and pushing through when it was occasionally frustrating (more on that in a bit). When I finished the game (9 hours on Story combat and puzzle difficulty) I was on board to play through it again (this is part of the design: you simply will not get the full story on your first playthrough).
The game is gorgeous and ran great at 4K/60 on my PC, with no troubleshooting required. It’s a smartly designed experience, with locations reused and tweaked in thoughtful ways, ensuring a consistent level of visual fidelity throughout. This makes exploration a pleasure and seldom tedious.
And you will want to explore. In addition to items/currency, SHf is full of notes and visual details that add to the story. These are well-written and fascinating (although I did notice a couple of typos). Finding a new story detail was just as, if not more, satisfying as coming across a new weapon or an item used to upgrade my stats.
If you’ve played a Silent Hill before, you know combat serves a gameplay and narrative purpose, but it’s not the primary reason to play the games. SHf tries to make the combat more complex/interesting/modern, to mixed results.
I played through the game on Story combat difficulty and learned the counter/charge mechanics, but didn’t particularly enjoy using them. I was happy to dodge and attack, which meant I really only had to pay attention to timing, positioning, and stamina; I never had to worry about balancing the sanity meter. I’m sure you have to master the systems for hard mode, but I’m not terribly compelled to dig into that.
Combat is made somewhat frustrating by enemy movesets. Enemies have grab attacks that lock you into a mini cutscene and multiple moves that impede your movement. In time you learn to avoid most of these attacks (enemy variety is fairly limited, not uncommon to the series), but it’s still annoying at times.
Frustrating in another way are the puzzles. I’m not sure if my brain has declined since I played the previous games or if the hints here are unclear, but I had to use a guide on two different puzzles because I could not figure out what I was being asked. On the easiest puzzle difficulty! When I got the solutions I felt dumb, but also that things could have been communicated better.
Despite these frustrations, the visuals, exploration, and especially the story kept me immersed. Every time I thought I had figured out the plot or themes, something would happen that altered my perception. This continued all the way through the mid-credits sequence. While I didn’t find the game conventionally scary, there are some genuinely disturbing moments. These moments, combined with some of the story beats and themes, prove that it’s possible to have an artistically interesting and unconventional game in an established series while maintaining high production values.
Silent Hill f is a thoughtful and well-made return to form that pushes the series forward and bodes well for the future. I’m legitimately excited to continue the story in subsequent playthroughs, and for what comes next in the franchise.
Fun Factor: 4/5
Vibe: 5/5
Played and captured on my PC (AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D / 4080 Super 16GB / 32 GB RAM).
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