‘Silent Hill f’ Review: Beauty Engulfed by Terror
Silent Hill f sets itself apart from the series in its Japanese setting and heavy focus on combat compared to the other games.
Neobards Entertainment & Konami have partnered up to create another entry in the iconic Silent Hill video game franchise, departing from the typical location of previous titles and with a stronger emphasis on combat, Silent Hill f feels right at home in the franchise while being entirely its own. Read our review for Silent Hill f below.
I’ve been a huge fan of Silent Hill since my early high school days, having been entranced by the atmosphere of the first three games in the series, playing them through the DuckStation emulator. When the reveal trailer for Silent Hill f was released, I was really excited to finally experience a new entry on day one (not including Bloober Team’s amazing but performance flawed remake of Silent Hill 2 from 2024).
Silent Hill f takes place in 1960s Japan in the fictional town of Ebisuguaoka, where the story follows a teenage girl named Hinako Shimizu. Hinako is considered to be very rebellious for the time period, where women were merely extensions of their husbands with no identity of their own, having their worth be determined by how obedient they were. Hinako has no desire to be married off like her older sister, Junko, who she used to look up to until her sister said her vows at the wedding. After a fight with her parents, Hinako goes to her friend group’s normal hangout, the town general store. Upon venturing to the emporium of sodas and other sweet treats, Hinako discovers most of her lively town has been deserted, and clouded in a fog that fans of the series will know all too well. Upon arriving, players are greeted by so much passive aggressiveness from the other two women in Hinako’s friend group; Rinko & Sakuko, while the one man in the group, Shu, has romantic tension with our protagonist. This “normalcy” is short lived as Hinako is separated from her friends and chased by various monsters that serve as metaphors for her own fears (like James Sunderland, or Cheryl Mason’s fears that are experienced by her father, Harry, for example).
By not taking place in Silent Hill, Maine, Silent Hill f sets itself apart from the series in its Japanese setting and heavy focus on combat compared to the other games, however this isn’t to say the series’ trademark Lynchian atmosphere is gone, it’s still here in amazing fashion. While the combat isn’t bad by any means, it’s definitely not what you want to focus on as the weapons Hinako finds throughout this nightmare have durability levels, with each weapon being able to be broken and repaired by finding toolkits around the silent town. The story, like the original trilogy of Silent Hill games I played, is incredible, with it easily being the standout aspect of the game. Its moment to moment gameplay of exploration and solving puzzles while the atmosphere makes you feel like you’re insane, is just like the original trilogy, with plenty of disorienting moments that had my dog jumping up on me to protect me.
Just like the trilogy I experienced, the game and its story benefit from repeat playthroughs, with each varying in its items, dialogue, and endings that helps players understand Hinako’s suffering to varying degrees. While I urge most to replay this game at least once upon completion, you apparently need to do three total playthroughs in order to achieve the “true ending”. I’ve completed two endings of the game and feel incredibly satisfied where the story has left me, however, this isn’t to say I will not be replaying it after I finish Ghost of Yōtei, because you bet your ass I will be returning to this game eventually.
While I’ve sung the praises of this game, there is just one thing I cannot excuse on the base PS5. Performance. The game runs at a stable 60 fps during gameplay while having 30 fps cutscenes, that’s not my problem, my problem is that just like Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater in August, the games resolution for a 2025 full priced game is beyond embarrassing. While playing on the base PS5 in performance mode, this game’s resolution is stuck at a 720p-1080p upscaled resolution. For the deluxe edition to play this game two days early, I paid $86.79, there should be absolutely NO reason at all for this game to look as bad as it does on current hardware.
Overall, this is an amazing entry in the Silent Hill franchise that is more than a step in the right direction for the future of this beloved series. The gameplay and story nurtures the roots of previous titles while managing to be its own thing entirely. Al Yang and the team at Neobards Entertainment should be very proud of themselves. While the performance leaves a great deal of improvements to be made, the game as a whole is nothing short of amazing, and I urge fans of the series and horror games in general to give this trip a go.
Silent Hill f was developed by Neobards Entertainment and published by Konami. The game was released September 25, 2025 for PS5/PS5 Pro, Xbox, and PC.
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