Konami
Silent Hill f: First impressions of a horror as beautiful as it is deadly
A new chapter of horror combines psychological scares with action-packed survival.
The Silent Hill franchise is back. In recent years, we have once again had the presence of this important horror franchise, with brand-new experiences that dare to deviate from the familiar and remakes that reinterpret classics at the height of nostalgia. Among these announcements, we came across the upcoming arrival of Silent Hill f, a title that stands out, among other things, for its setting in Japan during the 1960s. Prior to its release at the end of September, we had the opportunity to play the first hours of this game, which not only seeks to disturb our minds but also to keep us constantly in tension for what may come our way.
In a small town in Japan
Our experience lasted 5 hours, where we had a presentation that introduced us to the vision of the development team, and the rest we spent playing. The initial hours of Silent Hill f put us in the role of Hinako Shimizu, a young student in a small town in Japan. Like any teenager, she has problems with her family, a seemingly alcoholic father, and a mother who does nothing to defend herself, and now Hinako is left alone after her sister left home after getting married.
This is the point where our adventure begins as we start to walk through Ebisugaoka, a place that, as the game explains, was a mining town before World War II and, after the postwar period and the economic boom of that decade that drove the Japanese inhabitants to move to the big cities, turning it into a desolate and gray place. The small alleys, traditional houses, and fields are the places that we will go through with an atmosphere that exudes abandonment and melancholy.
After meeting Shu, her childhood friend, and two other friends, things get complicated. A strange mist begins to appear, allowing mysterious plants to appear, but those who come into contact with it suffer from a kind of rash that kills them instantly. After getting separated, Hinako must reunite with her friends, try to survive, and find out what is going on.
The beauty of horror
Something that caught our attention from the beginning was the visual aspect, both in the graphic power and in the design. Of course, it cannot be a Silent Hill title without fog that does not let us see what surrounds us, but at the same time, the design of the enemies manages to fit perfectly with the environment, as well as the design of everything that we find, which manages to fit the time.
The design of what we managed to go through in Ebisugaoka is fascinating. It is not such a linear map, as there are many alleys and enclosed spaces that provoke that feeling of threat. Passing through small alleys only prepares you to think that something will attack you, not to mention the houses that you get to get into to find items to heal you. The exploration is not limited only to the town, as there will be another place that you get to explore that is difficult to explain, but that has its own design and peculiarities.
The essence of Japanese horror, and of what Silent Hill is, is mixed in a world that is fascinating because it is different from what we are used to, but also presents us with its own riddles and peculiarities.
One of the details that helps us understand this world is Hinako’s diary. In it, we find drawings that show us the map of the town, but also notes about the characters we meet, as well as a collection of information about the game mechanics, or the collectibles that we find.
Ready for scares and combat
If there is something that stands out in Silent Hill f, it is combat. At the beginning, you are defenseless, and encountering any monsters that appear leads you to an action: run. But once we get our first weapon, a metal pipe, it’s time to show that we are not afraid of what appears in this town.
It is here that we realize how combat takes a special place within the game as part of a mechanic that seeks to keep us always on our toes. For starters, our weapons have a durability that, although it is not short, will keep us aware that we will not lose our weapons at some point. Here we come across melee weapons that, if we find a tool, we can repair and make last a little longer.
The attacks, like many modern game systems, are based on light and strong attacks, adding a system for dodging and counterattacks. In addition to this, there are several layers that you have to be aware of. The first of these features is the stamina bar, which allows us, in combat, not only to hit but also to run or dodge. On some occasions, it ended up moving and carefully moving away from some enemies in the middle of combat to wait for our turn to attack. On the other hand, there is a sanity bar, which decreases when we are wounded. Although this does not cause hallucinations or anything like that, losing this bar will cause us to gradually lose our health bar.
To all this, we also have a system of faith and bonuses. Throughout the game, we will find small shrines, which, in addition to allowing us to save our game, will allow us to consecrate objects that we find. From very specific items to regenerate our health to ceremonial objects, each one will give us faith points. These can be exchanged for omamoris, Japanese amulets that in real life are designed to bring good fortune but that in the game will give us some passive abilities, from increasing our energy bar or stamina, to name a few. On the other hand, we can also use faith to recover part of our sanity.
The art of sound
One of the aspects that can never fail in a horror game is the sound, and Silent Hill f seems not to forget all these years of experience. The new compositions of Akira Yamaoka are, as always, on point to gradually transmit that tension as you walk through the corridors of the town, but also when you enter the houses or you find yourself in other places.
At the same time, we also have those moments when the music disappears completely and the sound effects, such as footsteps, grunts, or the cursed body of the enemies, start to sound closer and closer. In the moments of action, the sound of the weapon attacking or the sound of agony of the monsters dying makes that kind of feeling transmitted.
And of course, the experience we had was with headphones that helped us get into this world, and wow... it just reminds us that sound is always one of the most important parts of an experience like this.
As we mentioned, the visual aspect is something that looks amazing. The Silent Hill haze looks pretty good running on PlayStation 5, and with a performance that makes the experience very smooth. At times, we managed to fool the enemies by not moving or waiting for them to go somewhere else, but nothing serious.
On the other hand, there are some details regarding Hinako’s movements. Something I noticed throughout the hours of gameplay is that when you want to move the character and make her run, there seems to be something that stops her at the beginning. It could be some kind of bug, like an input lag that only affects this part, or if we want to think about the terrifying scenario, something is grabbing her leg and preventing her from moving immediately.
For now, we feel that we are just beginning to suffer the terror that Silent Hill f has in store for us. There are many mysteries and theories about where this installment is going and how it can scare us. But for now, Silent Hill f is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on September 25.
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