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by JustNas~
Hinamizawa Hill
As a long time fan of Silent Hill and as someone who’s favourite anime is Higurashi (the original 2008 series) I was beyond excited to hear that Ryukishi07, the author of Higurashi is now writing the story to a new Silent Hill game. So here’s my thoughts as a fan of both.
The very first thing that stands out about the game is that well, the game doesn’t take place in Silent Hill. Instead we open up in a small Japanese village that doesn’t rust away like the town we know but is instead slowly consumed by red spider lily’s, flowers that symbolise death and the afterlife. Of course there is also the signature fog making an appearance this time accompanied by a giant fog monster that chases you in some parts of the game. Most important though, steel pipes make their appearance in the game. Monster designs were great, I loved the boss designs the most. Especially the final boss. The music was beautiful as you would expect from a Silent Hill game.
Now I’m not gonna lie, despite all this, throughout my play through it felt like I was playing a game inspired more by Higurashi than Silent Hill. Both taking place in a remote village, both having a feared and respected God in said village, both based heavily around school friends, both covering topics like betrayal, paranoia, fear.. amongst other things. Personally I do think the game would have worked better with a different title but its not something I was bothered with.
Story wise I’m not really sure if I was a fan and I felt like I never got to bond enough with the other characters in game to feel bad or sad during their death scenes. Particularly the 1st death in game. I found the combat and exploration quite fun. I must say that u didn’t play the game with Silent Hill in mind and that made me enjoy it much more I feel. I also did start New Game+ and loved how immediately the opening scene changes adding more context to the story and within the beginning area you have a whole new building to explore. I never play New Game+ but having these immediate changes definitely made me want to carry on playing until I remembered my huge backlog of games. Finally I have to mention the beautiful map that is updated by cool little sketches in certain areas as you progress the story so your may see a sketch of a monster where you encountered one on the map.
Overall I can see why some Silent Hill fans didn’t like F. But I personally thought it was great. Not my favourite for sure but one I can definitely see myself coming back to it. I would say play it as a horror fan but not as a Silent Hill fan and you may enjoy it more.
The game is currently available on the PS5, Xbox Series and PC. I played the PS5 version of the game.
