13 years after the 2 failures that killed the franchise for a technology (the one-two punch of Downpour and E book of Reminiscences), a brand new, conventional, and secure entry within the Silent Hill sequence will need to have been a tantalising prospect for Konami. It’s simply received the fanbase again on board with a superb remake of Silent Hill 2, and solely a 12 months later, a recent entry may have kickstarted a totally new chapter within the mysterious city.
In actuality, the Japanese writer has carried out the other.
Silent Hill F, from developer NeoBards Leisure, is something however typical. It strikes the IP away from the fictional Maine setting to Nineteen Sixties Japan, exterior expertise Ryukishi07 has written the story, and melee fight isn’t only a begrudging choice — it’s all the level.
You’ll catch shades of traditional Silent Hill in suits and begins, as franchise newcomer Hinako Shimizu works to flee her hometown, now engulfed in fog. Nevertheless, Silent Hill F walks its personal path. This can be a ruthless and intense instalment within the saga that, whereas totally different, works nicely general.
Turning again the clock 60 years, highschool scholar Hinako finds her residence of Ebisugaoka consumed by fog, flowers, and monsters. She and a small group of associates attempt to discover a technique of escape, however now reduce off from the remainder of the world, they’re pressured to look inside.
Greater than half the sport is spent looking for these solutions. As Hinako survives the treks to her college, residence, and wherever in between, household revelations change into twisted within the seek for a getaway route, making the plot simply as private as it’s cryptic.
After which, on common events, Hinako faints.
Making up the remainder of the expertise are sequences set in a type of legendary realm, the place the principle character explores a shrine and its innards. Inside its partitions is the place the sport earns its content material warnings; these sections are significantly brutal, with ludicrously gory cutscenes and surprising twists. Because the story there develops, it supplies a distinct type of gameplay expertise from the puzzle-solving and dangerous fight of the city.
Put collectively, 15 hours of playtime needs to be sufficient to roll credit on the title, which is concluded by a surprisingly abrupt ending… in your first playthrough. From the thoughts of Higurashi When They Cry author Ryukishi07, Silent Hill F is designed to be performed once more, with extra plot factors and endings to find. To finish additional playthroughs could also be an excessive amount of of an ask for some, however these keen to take a position will discover much more to study in New Recreation+. The primary credit roll is nearly like a tease, because the preliminary ending actually is sudden.
It stays intriguing as much as that time, nevertheless, complemented by gentle exploration, hard-hitting fight, and rare puzzles. When open air, you should discover a path by the tight streets and useless ends of Ebisugaoka to achieve the following goal. It’s removed from an open world; there’s usually just one path that’ll lead you to the aim — however you possibly can nonetheless do a contact of exploring with aspect roads hiding gadgets, upgrades, and collectibles.
Once you head inside, the title strikes nearer to a conventional Silent Hill expertise, but it surely’s nonetheless not fairly the identical factor. That’s due to the fight.
NeoBards Leisure has positioned all its give attention to melee weapons, to the purpose the place there aren’t any weapons within the recreation in anyway. Your assaults are deliberate and have to be well-timed; in any other case, you’ll fall foul of both your stamina meter or the heavy harm each enemy offers. There’s additionally weapon degradation to handle, so generally, the best choice is to easily run away — all the pieces is working towards you.
However, the fight feels weighty and satisfying once you do select to interact. It makes use of hitstop to glorious impact, making the conflict of your sickles, kitchen knives, and hammers with enemy flesh impactful. There are gentle and heavy assaults, then a dodge transfer and a parry window to utilise.
Comparisons have been made to Darkish Souls within the lead-up to launch, besides that, in addition to the very fact Silent Hill F is a tough recreation that punishes careless play, it doesn’t actually play something like a FromSoftware traditional.
Regardless of the heavy focus positioned on it throughout moment-to-moment gameplay, battling monsters lacks depth. You comply with a easy routine of wailing on an enemy, then retreating after they assault, and going again in once more for a number of extra hits. It’s routine and primary, however nonetheless feels good within the second.
The one draw back is you’ll shortly lose curiosity within the belongings you’re truly preventing. Outdoors of the bosses, there are solely possibly 4 totally different sorts of enemies in the entire recreation, that are repeated advert nauseam. A few of their designs lean into the blossom taking up the city, whereas others are simply straight-up monstrosities. You’ll tire of seeing them only some hours in.
Fortunately, they often filter when fixing a puzzle. Ridiculous and marvelously complicated riddles and enigmas are a staple of the Silent Hill franchise, courting all the best way again to the PS1 days. There are simply sufficient in Silent Hill F to please returning followers.
The sport is much and away at its greatest once you’re let unfastened in a full setting the place the overwhelming majority of its doorways are locked and advised to unravel a number of puzzles without delay. As you discover the hallways and lecture rooms of Hinako’s college, or search a twisted model of her residence, slowly placing the items collectively to progress is a rewarding feeling.
With pleasing fight sequences combined in between, Silent Hill F retains sufficient of its roots regardless of the brand new path the developer and Konami have taken. It nonetheless has all the stress and blood-curdling environment of a survival horror favorite; there’s only a totally different form of model and tone to all of it. Suppose extra Deadly Body and Forbidden Siren than any of the PS2 classics from Staff Silent.
It’s a continuation of the shape kick-started by Silent Hill 2 final 12 months, but it surely replicates the Bloober Staff remake in a single unlucky approach: technical points. We performed on a PS5 Professional, which, in a devoted “Enhanced” mode that you just’re locked into, steadily hitches and pauses the motion for cut up seconds at a time.
The body charge itself doesn’t appear affected, because it reliably maintains a 60 frames-per-second goal. Nevertheless, significantly throughout heavy fight sequences, the title always pauses for tenths of a second to the purpose of annoyance. It’s a flaw that’ll want fixing in post-launch updates.
