Konami, the game company that created the ever-famous Silent Hill 2, recently released a game called Silent Hill f, and handed over the power to Neobards for the development of the game. The game is set in 1960’s Japan in a small, made-up mountain town called Ebisugaoka. The main character, Shimizu Hinako, must travel through her hometown, which has been consumed by fog. At the beginning of the game, players meet their friends from school. She is chased through the streets by what are seemingly red spider lilies. 

One review written by Ezra Krabbe in a post on IGN stated, “Admittedly, I was initially skeptical of Konami’s decision to entrust a non-Japanese developer to create a game set in Japan, but five hours of actually playing Silent Hill f shattered such prejudices.” 

This game got popular right after its release, selling well over one million copies. The game differs from Silent Hill 2 because of the female main character and the difference in cultures and quality. In Silent Hill 2, the main character, James, returns to the small town of Silent Hill in search of his late wife after getting a letter addressed in her name asking him to find her. 

Hinako in Silent Hill f on the other hand, starts after her being yelled at by her father following the family’s being stricken by grief over the loss of her older sister, and after leaving the house, she travels around the town and picks up clues and other items, leading her to see that there is not a soul wandering around. Where could everyone have gone? We meet her friends and begin a chase sequence where players get theirfirst look at what might be hiding in the shadows of this foggy mountain town. 

Compared to the older Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f has far better graphics, and the game’s quality overall has surpassed any of the Silent Hill games in the past. 

In Ezra’s review, he said, “With an immersive over-the-shoulder view and no UI on screen during exploration, Silent Hill f is a game that tells a convincing story through its visuals.” 

Silent Hill f also takes on a different view with the main character being a high school girl who has faced abuse from her father, and throughout the game we see her take control of her life and decide that she won’t be a damsel in distress any longer. Fighting the gender norms of the time and protecting herself and her friends. 

One review under IGN by a user named Nathan said, “An excellent commentary on misogyny in Japan.” 

In Silent Hill 2, we get the storyline of James killing his wife, and while this isn’t inherently misogynistic, it is an instance of violence against women, and throughout the game, players find out that the monsters are a personification of his grief, and in fact, they are designed with his history in mind. 

After a playthrough of this game, it is simple to understand that the monsters, such as the nurses, are tailored to fit his twisted views of the women around him (specifically the nurses in the hospital where his wife was staying). Red Pyramid Thing, otherwise known as Pyramid Head, is universally accepted as James’ personal issues and guilt personified as something he must battle with. 

In Silent Hill f, however, Hinako fights slumped over mannequins with kitchen knives, trying to kill her. She later encounters more mannequins dressed and made to look like her former classmates who, when you turn your back, lunge out from their contorted stances to try and kill Hinako. The biggest monster is the giant flesh blobs with gaping mouths. And all throughout the game, she is slowly losing herself in the foggy version of her hometown, she becomes a one-woman machine and ends up being the leader of her group after the many times of being left to fend for herself. 

Plenty of reviews on IGN and Steam mention the fact that Hinako’s stamina bar runs out too fast and that while fighting isn’t inherently hard, the fact that weapons have no real durability makes the combat tougher than it needs to be. 

One reviewer on team, Stella Veritas said, “Weapons also break for no clear reason, the game floods you with replacements and repairing items instead of making durability meaningful.”

To add on to this Krabbe mentioned the melee weapons as well bringing up that this is the only source of weapon and they had no real durability. And while there is a solution, it’s not the best one. 

Krabbe said, “Weapons can be fixed by using a repair kit, but these are so scarce that on many occasions you will have to say goodbye to your new favorite weapon.”   

Another review article written by Tristan Ogilvie said, “Having to constantly keep tabs on your health, stamina, sanity, and the state of your weapons, all felt like a bit too much to balance for my tastes – certainly off the back of Silent Hill 2’s fear and instinct-driven point-and-shoot simplicity – and I never really settled into an enjoyable groove with Silent Hill f’s comparatively stilted and repetitive combat as a result.” 

He goes on to say that these issues could be fixed over time and that the stamina bar, even though it depletes quickly, doesn’t run fast enough, and he often ends up stumbling backwards to avoid monsters. 

In his review article, Ogilvie said, “my biggest gripe with Silent Hill f’s fighting is that it’s all risk and no reward.”