Silent Hill f is a wonderful horror sport for Xbox gamers
- Ensure you head to the Silent Hill F achievements web page to trace your progress
- Launch Date: September 25, 2025
- The sport is a wonderful return to kind for this beloved horror franchise
I’ve spent round seven hours with Silent Hill f to date. Whereas there’s nonetheless a lot extra to uncover, I have already got some robust emotions — and most of them are very optimistic! Issues may change later, however proper now, I’m impressed.
Silent Hill f is ready in Sixties Japan and sees you taking part in as Shimizu Hinako as she explores her secluded hometown of Ebisugaoka that has been overtaken by a well-known fog. Hinako might want to overcome her fears and rise up towards terrifying foes if she ever desires to flee from this nightmare. You may anticipate grotesque boss fights and plenty of difficult puzzles to cope with.
Silent Hill f is a wide ranging visible deal with
I wish to begin by saying this sport is completely beautiful. The small Japanese village of Ebisugaoka is stuffed with visible treats to absorb, and it’s a pleasure to roam round. That is undoubtedly a sport that belongs on our checklist of the most effective online game structure. If something, it has additional fueled my need to go to Japan and discover its beautiful landscapes.
When the fog rolls in, Silent Hill f strikes an ideal stability between magnificence and terror. The purple flowers that sprout via the mist are haunting and alluring, their unusual class daring you to step nearer — at the same time as intuition screams at you to remain away. That push and pull between attraction and dread makes the entire expertise deeply unsettling.
As time passes, Ebisugaoka itself begins to rot. The sport leans into extra conventional physique horror motifs with the design of partitions and streets, consuming the village like a spreading most cancers. It’s grotesque: a nightmare to traverse. But, there’s a formidable artistry to seeing horror and wonder stitched collectively in equal measure.
Enemy design can also be wickedly enjoyable. We have got deranged fleshy mannequins that creepily hunt you down, towering balls of flesh that swing an enormous knife, an amalgamation of heads that scream, and a creature with a swollen stomach that crawls on all fours on the pace of sunshine.
Up to now, it seems like I’ve solely stumbled upon a handful of enemies, and a few of them really feel like barely altered variations of each other. This may very well be as a result of the sport takes place in two totally different places. The true world of Ebisougaoka and the dream world that Hinako can fall into.
In some methods, that is sensible; the enemies mimic each other between places, permitting you to get used to their movesets. Within the dream world, the mannequins flip into girls with blades for legs, the creature on all fours loses its potbelly and has chains round its arms, and the amalgamation of heads turns into doll heads. I am positive the deeper I’m going, the extra tousled the enemies will grow to be.
Silent Hill f’s exploration is not too overwhelming
Regardless of leaping between two totally different places and navigating maps stuffed to the brim with gross monsters, I’ve but to really feel overwhelmed by my environment. Whereas there are many little nooks and crannies to discover, the sport is fairly linear.
Whereas a map might look fairly open to start out with, this is not actually the case. As you begin taking place these paths and forks within the highway, you will discover that a whole lot of them are blocked off. Your map will then replace and mark these paths with an X, and you may shortly realise you solely have a reasonably small space to go looking.
Often, you will discover an additional path or two you can go down earlier than heading to the circled vacation spot. This could web you some helpful provides and upgrades that can make your life simpler (see: really useful!). The dream world is even smaller than the true world, however it’s far more maze-like.
In some methods, it is disappointing to be teased by the promise of a extra open map, however — if overwhelming maps and seemingly infinite pathways aren’t your factor — Silent Hill f ought to impress you with its much more linear strategy to exploration. I am actually burnt out on large open worlds, so this was a welcome return to manageable and streamlined exploration
Silent Hill f’s puzzles are in all probability the most effective a part of the sport
As you discover Silent Hill f, you will come across puzzles that must be solved — some are required for the story, some will web you a helpful collectible.
I am going to overtly admit, puzzles aren’t often my factor. Often, I am a bruiser, beating my method via ranges with power alone! That is not how issues work in Silent Hill f. So it is to my nice shock that I’ve been loving the puzzles. Not solely have they been enjoyable, however they’ve really been the spotlight of the sport for me to date.
There was one involving scarecrows the place I really had to make use of my mind, notably with an achievement connected for ending it! That elevated the strain on me and added to the unsettling strain cooker I discovered myself in.
Are you much less eager? No issues, the puzzles and their options change relying on what problem you choose; a small element that I actually recognize. It has the potential to make every subsequent playthrough extra participating and thrilling, in my view.
Silent Hill f must do away with the breakable weapon mechanic
For me, fight has been the weakest a part of the sport. Hinako is unable to battle again until she has a weapon handy. So, it’s a must to be up shut in fight conditions, and (to date, not less than) there have been no ranged weapons to create a spot between you and enemies.
Some enemies really feel like they can not be shocked by your heavy assaults, regardless of supposedly having the ability to be. Dodging is awkward and may result in you getting caught on the smallest of objects, leaving you susceptible. The frustration is basically mounting in my first playthrough; I can think about it will be even more durable to take care of on these increased difficulties.
If the mechanics themselves are poor, then the breakable weapons make it annoying. Certainly one of my least favourite sport mechanics is that you’re going to solely be capable of get a sure variety of hits in with a weapon earlier than it offers up and breaks. There aren’t sufficient weapons mendacity round, and there aren’t sufficient toolkits to restore them whenever you do discover them.
At one level, my weapon broke and left me fully defenseless, operating via and previous a bunch of enemies in slender alleyways. It wasn’t tense or scary; the lack to defend myself meant I needed to watch as my life slowly chipped away.
The one saving grace is that you just get unbreakable weapons within the dream world. It offers an important break from the true world’s fight and proves that breakable weaponry ought to have been current all through the entire sport, fairly than being reserved for the dream world. For now, I have been lowered to operating via some fight encounters in the true world when potential.
The dearth of any type of storage system is baffling, too. As someone who likes to hoard gadgets for a foggy day, the lack to take action is infuriating as a result of you’ll want to swap or go away behind gadgets continually. Given that you just use shrines to stage up and save, it seems like a storage system would have match properly with the development methods within the sport.
Given how central fight is to the gameplay expertise, I actually suppose it wanted extra work. What Silent Hill f finally presents you might be mechanics which are ceaselessly irritating fairly than including to the marvellous pressure created elsewhere within the sport.
Silent Hill f has laborious achievements that require a number of playthroughs
As an achievement hunter, Silent Hill f is certainly a sport that has put me via my paces. With quite a lot of collectibles to maintain on high of, a bounty of upgrades wanted, a number of playthroughs, 5 endings to unlock, and difficulty-based shenanigans, there’s a lot to maintain on high of.
Whereas I’m but to expertise any of the upper difficulties, I can already see that they’ll problem me mentally. Fight is already one thing I’m not totally glad with, so having to cope with these harder enemies goes to be a wrestle, I am positive.
Although so long as I can proceed to improve Hinako, I’d stand a preventing probability. Upgrades (life, sanity, stamina) carry over between playthroughs, which ought to make issues a tad simpler. Additionally, I’d simply begin operating previous each encounter that I can to maintain myself stocked up on provides and to cease my weapons from breaking so shortly.
I would usually discover the necessity to replay a sport repeatedly fairly annoying. However given that every subsequent playthrough will unlock new scenes, context, and areas to discover, I am really feeling optimistic that the sport will preserve feeling recent whereas gunning for that 1,000G.
Abstract
Whereas Silent Hill f‘s fight leaves room for enchancment, the remainder of the sport is completely showstopping. It feels just like the franchise is lastly again on monitor, delivering wonderful scares, breathtaking visuals, and a mind-bending story that retains you on the sting of your seat. I can fortunately suggest that you just give the sport a go, as I think horror followers will probably be vastly impressed.
Sean has performed Silent Hill f for round seven hours and earned 17 of the 56 achievements on provide. A overview code was offered by Konami.
