5
« on: November 02, 2025, 06:25:13 am »
Game 25 - Silent Hill f - 13 Hours
I finished this game almost two weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to writing a review about it. This was a difficult game for me to review. There are many things about this game that I like. However, there are several glaring issues for me that will take a long time to articulate. I think this game will take the new spot of the longest review I will ever put on this site – that is, until I play the Silent Hill 2 remake which is probably also going to be a long ass review.
For me, a Silent Hill game not only has to be functionally capable, but also contextually relevant. In other words, the game is not just about the gameplay, but how it adds and broadens our understanding of the world of Silent Hill. While this game is functionally and visually great, it is the least Silent Hill game in the entire series. It hung over my entire experience playing, and while it may not bother some people, it significantly worsened my ability to appreciate this game on its own. I had in the back of my mind “this isn't like Silent Hill”, “this isn't like Silent Hill”. This game to me is way more closely aligned with Clock Tower, Siren, and especially Fatal Frame, with how the female protagonist is depicted, and the heavy reliance on Shinto and traditional mythologies for its horror.
But why did I feel so strongly about this? One of the most important things about Silent Hill's theme and style is the merging of traditional western and eastern horror elements. The original Silent Hill was a game set in America, yet is grounded in the more subtle horror that is found in a lot of Japanese media. That is how the original game was conceived, and to me it’s a very important balance that has not been achieved since Silent Hill 4. The newer games were fully entrenched in western horror ideas and cliches, but f swings the pendulum in the other direction and is full on eastern horror. Neither approach is correct; it’s the balance between the two that matters most!! Obviously, I'm dichotomizing the idea of what horror is in different cultures and generalizing here, but the simple fact is that this game is not set in America, least of all Silent Hill the town, which to me is a MASSIVE problem. Even the original cult in the first games were a blend of western and eastern religious influences, which again, has been completely removed in this game. The intermediary story focusing on the three main characters and their relationship to each other also felt really out of place to me, with almost high-school like drama permeating the story and taking precedence over the real issue of the town becoming a nightmare.
The other thing about Silent Hill games is that they are always (with the exception of Origins), set in the present day. Remember how in my Origins review I said how I wished they would revisit a prequel story about the cult or the spiritual power? Well this game certainly misses that opportunity, because it literally offers nothing in connection to Silent Hill. The closest thing is maybe the pills? Maybe? Those are just how the cult made it's money in SH1. Maybe the red liquid is aglophitis, maybe it isnt? I kept waiting and waiting for the game to finally tie things back in some meaningful way to the rest of the series, but like Mary waiting for James, it never came. The closest thing that ties the old and the new together is the heavy use of symbolism in both monster and world design, that links to the characters backstory, motivations, and fears. Side note: it’s interesting how so many Silent Hill games are deadest on re-telling this aspect of SH2, when of the original 4 games most of the nightmare/monsters are derived from characters that are not the main character. These aspects where I think the game thematically is closest to Silent Hill, but to me it’s not enough. A game drenched in symbolism does not a Silent Hill game make. The town itself being abandoned and covered in fog is an obvious nod to Silent Hill too, but I felt like the town in this game plays second fiddle to the other aspects of the story regarding the characters unique Japanese lore that to me is very, very different than the cult activities from previous games. It felt clear to me that the connections made in the psychology and symbolism are just that - connections - nothing real or tangible (at least not yet). And I've read extensively about this game's story and endings because I didn't want to replay the game so many times, so I'm aware of the many connections that can be made here - it's just not enough for me personally. It felt too different in the broad strokes.
On that note, the story. If I don't focus on the complete disconnect from anything Silent Hill, I actually really like the story. My review’s already gone on too long, and I don't want to spoil it but I do like it for the most part. It is a very deep and complex story that requires you to really think and hypothesize about what’s going on, but I didn’t mind that as much as I have with other games. To me the unforgivable aspect of this game is the endings. Multiple endings are a trademark in Silent Hill. In this game, not matter what you do, you will always get the same ending first. And it’s a joke. It’s the – “it was all in the character’s mind” ending that cheapens all the symbolism. In order to see more endings, you have to replay the game again. So just like Downpour, the endings are changing the symbolism, which gets very messy and contradictory. And because that first ending has absolutely no meaningful connection to any of the others (except don’t do the thing that got you the bad ending) why the hell do we need to play the entire game through with that ending first? It baffles my mind why they would do that. While I did play through Undertale multiple times to get different endings, this is not a game that fits in with replaying for me. I refuse to do that, and I think it’s a big knock against this game’s story.
So with all of that out of the way, I think my favorite aspects of this game are the combat, visuals, and music. I felt like these represented the best modernization of traditional Silent Hill combat. Only things I didn’t like (as with other horror games) are the weapon degradation and limited inventory. The visuals are simply fantastic, and the score and sound design perfectly sets the mood and theme of the game. Loved every bit of that. Also really loved the visuals done with the map design too. The game’s a little bit on the easy side, and the puzzles were a little hit or miss too, but easily I did find this game to be a very scary experience. So if you’re not all caught up on the story stuff like I am, I think you’ll find this game to be really great if you’re into horror.
At the end of the day, I think it's obvious that this game was marketed as a Silent Hill game for it to sell more than anything. This game is great, don’t get me wrong, but it is not a Silent Hill game, and to me, that’s a big deal. The less I think about the connections, the more I like this game, and if that didn’t bother you, I’m sure you’ll have a great time with it!
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Oh well!
I'm going to start looking sometime this weekend! Been really swamped right now.
Thankfully we're still early in though!