REVIEW – For decades, the Silent Hill series has terrified players in many forms, but its horrors have almost always been rooted in the modern Western world. Now Neobards dares to break tradition: the first new installment since 2012 transports the nightmare into a wholly different cultural and historical context. Set against the eerie backdrop of 1960s Japan, it’s the perfect setting for a fresh start — one that stays true to the franchise’s identity while fearlessly confronting unsettling topics like abuse, addiction, and gender discrimination.

We meet Hiniko, an ordinary schoolgirl who awakens in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka to find it hauntingly empty — no one remains but her and a handful of classmates. But this isn’t a tight-knit group: the very girls she spends time with mock her behind her back. Only Shu, her childhood sweetheart, remains by her side — perhaps the very reason for their hostility. Petty teenage drama, however, is quickly overshadowed when the town is swallowed by a surge of red, plate-like growths and writhing tendrils. A monstrous figure emerges from the fog, and Hiniko has no time to take a closer look. The long, cinematic sequences — including the oppressive opening — drip with dread, perfectly merging the visceral fear of Japanese horror with the suffocating, dreamlike menace Silent Hill is known for.

Defenseless in the Maw of Fear

The game doesn’t pull its punches: monsters come after you long before you have any means of fighting back. It’s a deeply unsettling situation for Hiniko — her only option is to run and dodge. This gives the tension time to burrow under your skin before you finally get your hands on Silent Hill’s most iconic makeshift weapon: the lead pipe. Silent Hill f breaks from tradition by removing firearms entirely, forcing every encounter into brutal, up-close confrontations. And the weapons you scavenge — pipes, knives, axes, and baseball bats — all degrade with use. Yes, a Breath of the Wild-style durability system is here, and surprisingly, it works in this nightmarish context. Once, I had a monster perfectly stunned — the ideal moment to finish it — when my weapon snapped, and Hiniko groaned, “Oh no, not now!” It captured exactly how I felt. Repair kits exist but are rare, so you’re often better off praying you’ll stumble upon a replacement.

The creatures in Silent Hill f brilliantly fuse twisted elements of Japanese folklore with the trauma-born abominations that define the series. You’ll face marionette-like monstrosities with far too many joints contorting their bodies unnaturally as they lunge at you with blades. Elsewhere, amalgamations of baby dolls or towering beasts covered in flesh and flowers, wielding colossal knives, block your path. The superb sound design — filled with squelching, meaty noises and sudden bursts of static — makes every encounter unforgettable. Because all combat is melee-focused, you’re forced into dangerous proximity. Early on, a red flash signals counterattack opportunities, but they become increasingly rare as the game progresses. As in many modern action titles, Hiniko can unleash light and heavy strikes, and holding the attack button charges devastating blows. Everything is tied to a stamina meter, which can be replenished through perfectly timed dodges or using items.

Blood, Sweat, and Broken Bones

True to classic survival horror, resources scattered throughout the world are scarce — never enough to feel truly safe. This is especially frustrating because the combat system feels clunky and sluggish, rarely delivering a satisfying sense of impact. More than once, I lined up a massive sledgehammer swing at the perfect moment, only to watch it slam uselessly into the ground. Other times, Hiniko simply refused to attack. While Silent Hill f is gorgeously animated, this actually works against you in battle: long, drawn-out attack animations give enemies plenty of time to retaliate, often leaving Hiniko completely stunned. As a result, I often found it more efficient to avoid fights altogether. Once out of their line of sight, monsters lose interest and return to their patrol routes — a mechanic that makes encounters feel more frustrating than frightening. Too often, I knew a fight would end with me burning through one of my precious healing items.

Not everything you pick up is meant to heal. At Hokora shrines — which also serve as save points — you can make offerings to increase your faith. Faith lets you draw random passive buffs called Omamori, of which only one can be active at a time by default. It also opens the door to targeted upgrades. These require rare Ema — small wooden prayer plaques — meaning you can’t grind endlessly like in an RPG. Instead, you’ll have to choose between boosting your health, stamina, mental resilience, or unlocking an extra Omamori slot. My own build probably won’t differ much from most players: I initially invested heavily in stamina to enhance my attacks, but later found more health and stronger mental resistance equally valuable.

Mind Over Madness

Silent Hill f keeps its UI minimal, knowing that its greatest strength lies in exploration — icons appear only when necessary. Above your health and stamina bars, a wreath of flowers represents Hiniko’s mental state — her grip on sanity. It depletes gradually as she endures traumatic events or is struck by certain enemies. One particularly terrifying early-game boss demonstrates this mechanic well: beyond its physical attacks, its mere presence drains Hiniko’s mind. If her mental resilience hits zero, psychic assaults inflict physical damage, and stamina drains rapidly. Careful positioning, seizing every opportunity, and using items like Ramune (the town’s favorite soft drink) or holy water become essential. Outside of combat, this mechanic barely registers — though I wish the game explored the psychological consequences of mental collapse in greater depth.

Not that Hiniko’s journey is ever easy. On top of surviving a world increasingly consumed by evil and overgrown with crimson vegetation, she also ventures into a spirit realm. There, she’s aided by a fox-masked man who seems to mean well, though everything around her screams caution. This duality works brilliantly: on one hand, Hiniko takes control of her fate to save her friends; on the other, she slowly falls under this mysterious figure’s sway — with devastating consequences. These moments aren’t just shocking; they’re profoundly disturbing. The body horror is so intense that some scenes lingered in my mind long after I put the controller down — yet I couldn’t look away.

The environments Hiniko explores are richly varied: from an abandoned school and ethereal spirit shrines to her childhood home across different time periods. But the real star is the village itself — its streets and surrounding forests increasingly choked by red plant life and monstrous entities. The map updates dynamically, as in Silent Hill 2, complete with barricades and cryptic notes. Puzzle difficulty can be adjusted independently of combat, and you’ll want to crank it up — some are genuine standouts. You’ll decipher cryptic “girlish” codes to unlock safes, scour texts for hidden key locations, rotate strange symbols, and use family crests as keys. The game expertly lulls you into a false sense of security before pulling the ground out from under you. And with multiple endings to uncover, replaying the nightmare becomes an enticing prospect — once you recover from the trauma.

A Bold and Terrifying Rebirth

Silent Hill f’s atmospheric Japanese setting feels like nothing we’ve seen before in the series. Hiniko is a strong, complex protagonist whose story moved and unsettled me in equal measure. As her village crumbles under the weight of encroaching evil, she too undergoes a profound transformation. The abominations that stalk her are both grotesque and — thanks to their disturbing movements and exquisite design — genuinely terrifying. Combat, however, is often clumsy and occasionally disappointing. Even so, none of this undermines the fact that Silent Hill f is a daring evolution of the franchise — and one that fully achieves what it sets out to do as a horror experience.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-

Developer: Neobards Entertainment
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Survival Horror
Release Date: September 25, 2025