Silent Hill f Review: A Masterful Horror Experience That Rivals the Best in the Series

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I’ll admit, I was really worried about *Silent Hill f* from the moment I first heard about it. Switching the location from a classic American small town to 1960s Japan and completely changing the combat to be all melee-based felt like Konami was straying too far from what made *Silent Hill* so special. When I heard the combat was going to be almost like a Souls game, I honestly lost a lot of hope. So, finishing the game and realizing it was actually one of the best horror experiences I’ve had in years? That was a huge and amazing surprise!

In *Silent Hill f*, you play as Hinako Shimizu, a Japanese teenager who discovers her town, Ebisugaoka, covered in fog and overrun by terrifying monsters. With no firearms available, Hinako must fight them off using makeshift weapons like pipes, knives, and bats – though these aren’t always the most effective tools against the game’s disturbing creatures. Despite the lack of guns, managing your limited resources is crucial. Hinako has a small inventory, and her weapons can break, forcing you to search for replacements or repair kits.

The combat in *Silent Hill f* is a major sticking point for many longtime fans. Initially, I found it surprisingly easy, thanks to the character Hinako’s quick dodging. However, the difficulty increases as the game progresses, and the combat system starts to feel more refined. While Hinako is adept at dodging, a stamina bar prevents players from simply spamming the action. In tight spaces with multiple enemies, players need to carefully time their dodges and attacks, which creates real tension. The monsters in *Silent Hill f* are powerful, and even on the easiest difficulty, Hinako can be defeated quickly. It might take some time to get used to, and the somewhat awkward fighting style could frustrate some players, but it suits Hinako’s character and emphasizes her vulnerability. On harder difficulties, every encounter is stressful, and players need to master both fighting and knowing when to avoid battles altogether.

A standout moment in *Silent Hill f* for me happened when I had to search a house for a key while being hunted by a creepy, knife-wielding creature that looked like a mannequin. The experience of running from it and quickly searching the house was both terrifying and exciting – exactly what I want from a survival-horror game. I could have fought it with Hinako’s pipe, but it was more fun – and smarter – to hide and run, which also saved my weapon’s durability and kept me from getting hurt.

Silent Hill f Monsters Are Legitimately Horrifying

The *Silent Hill* series is famous for its disturbing and memorable monsters, and *Silent Hill f* delivers some of the most terrifying designs yet. These creatures are truly nightmarish, ranging from a horrifying pile of children’s bones that seems to play hopscotch to a grotesque, fleshy mass covered in faces that spews blood. One particularly unsettling enemy is a slug-like creature resembling a collection of grey, bulbous forms that lays eggs and attacks Hinako with green vomit. While *Silent Hill f* doesn’t have a huge number of boss battles, each one features fantastically creepy and well-designed monsters. It’s too soon to tell if any of these creatures will become as iconic as Pyramid Head from *Silent Hill 2*, but I was incredibly impressed by everything I’ve seen so far.

In *Silent Hill f*, keeping Hinako healthy and with enough stamina is crucial for surviving the monsters. But there’s another key element: a sanity meter. Just like in other horror games, attacks can drain Hinako’s sanity, and if it empties completely, she’ll die. However, *Silent Hill f* adds a twist – players can intentionally use their sanity to make their attacks stronger. While this can help with difficult fights, it also leaves Hinako more vulnerable, so it’s a risky trade-off.

I wasn’t sure about the combat in *Silent Hill f* before playing, but it actually impressed me. The developers added some smart ideas that made the fights really engaging, and the enemies were challenging. I was worried it wouldn’t feel like a true *Silent Hill* game, but those concerns quickly disappeared. It’s now one of my favorites in the series! While the combat and setting are different, it still captures the core *Silent Hill* experience. It even includes the series’ signature unsettling “otherworld,” and it’s arguably the best one yet.

It’s all about the game and how you play it.

In *Silent Hill f*, when Hinako loses consciousness, she finds herself in a strange place called the Dark Shrine. This area has its own unique rules: enemies keep coming back unless defeated in certain locations, and Hinako can’t use the weapons she normally relies on. The Dark Shrine is a creepy and unsettling environment, and many of the game’s most iconic scenes happen there.

Silent Hill f Has Everything You Want from the Series

The story in *Silent Hill f* is ambitious and doesn’t shy away from challenging themes. In a gaming landscape often filled with predictable narratives, *Silent Hill f* delivers a complex and disturbing tale that rewards multiple playthroughs. While the story is enjoyable at face value, players who delve deeper into the characters and key moments will find a much richer and more rewarding experience.

Longtime fans of the *Silent Hill* series should really enjoy *Silent Hill f*. It’s a traditional survival-horror game where you’ll explore, search for items, battle monsters, and solve puzzles. Some of the puzzles are quite challenging, but solving them is very rewarding. If you prefer to focus on the story, you can set the puzzle difficulty to an easier mode. *Silent Hill f* allows players to tailor the game to their preferences with adjustable difficulty settings for both combat and puzzles, though these settings are locked in after you start a new game. Thankfully, New Game+ lets you change them, which is a great feature that adds replay value.

Silent Hill f is designed to be played multiple times. Like other games in the series, it has different endings, and it’s short enough that replaying it doesn’t feel like a huge commitment. I immediately started another playthrough after finishing the game once, this time on a harder difficulty, hoping to uncover more of the story’s secrets. It’s rare for a game to make me want to start over right away, but Silent Hill f did. I don’t think I’ll be happy until I’ve seen all the endings, and even then, the game is so captivating that I expect I’ll keep coming back to it.

It took me 7 hours and 47 minutes to finish *Silent Hill f* for the first time, and that felt like the perfect length for a survival-horror game. It wasn’t too long, but it definitely felt like something I could play again.

Hinako’s adventure in *Silent Hill f* is a truly impressive experience – harsh, yet beautiful and skillfully crafted. As a long-time fan of survival horror, this game delivers exactly what I’ve been hoping for in a modern installment. It’s packed with tough puzzles, terrifying creatures, and plenty of reasons to play it again, all presented with incredible graphics and smooth performance. Importantly, it also includes thoughtful features that make it enjoyable by today’s standards. *Silent Hill f* is a fantastic horror game that ranks among the best, like the original *Silent Hill 2* and other classics of the genre.

The new game, *Silent Hill f*, will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X starting September 25th. We at Game Rant received a PS5 code to review the game.

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2025-09-22 10:05