A Handmade Hell: Silent Hill f Review

A story that knows what it wants is beautiful. Seeing the narrative design of a game encapsulate truisms that are horrifying, real, and blunt is brave and creates a bond between the game and the person playing it. Silent Hill f shows a story lulling its victim like a siren, with every swing of Hiankos pipe, a story of heartbreak, abuse, and childhood trauma captured my attention; there was no need for candy to keep me there. Silent Hill f is an interesting title that brought out all the things I love about psychological horror, much like the gruesome aspects of the SAW movies, or the intensity that The Hills Have Eyes displayed. This game takes real struggles and gives them a place to play and roam free, and gives real people a way to, to some degree, heal. The world of Silent Hill is a subjective hell that dives into the bones of what makes us human, and brings the worst parts of us to life.   Silent Hill Does What it Does Best  The reality of Silent Hill f is quite gruesome. Playing as Hikano Shimizu, I experienced the paranoia, anger, and saddened confusion she hid from others. Roaming through the reaches of her brain, the game progresses slowly at first, but when it picks up, it's almost as if it were visceral. Going from “I don’t like my present situation,” to “I want to kill everyone”.  And this changes the more you play it, the second playthrough will show you more notes, different cutscenes, and bosses. There’s a weight to the story of this game that is undeniable, particularly in how the psychology of a young girl from 1960s Japan is portrayed. In Silent Hill fashion, this entry is anything but subtle.  The motifs and storytelling discuss a forced marriage and Hinako's longing to simply be heard in a misogynistic world.  With several endings you can achieve, and with each playthrough being more in-depth than the one before it, this ever-changing spider's web held tight, giving me a reason to play it multiple times. Silent Hill does what it does best in how it approaches the psychological framework of the mind, and presents that in a way that personifies the many demons inside Hinakos mind. You’ve Been Here Before Hinako's character, much like Heather Mason was scared, tired of what life was giving her, and the monsters in the game reflected her ever-changing mental state. That said, the remnants of past Silent Hill games are embedded in the characters we meet, the notes we read, and motifs in the world. With how similar both Hinako and Heather’s story is, we need to look at how the narrative of a young girl is portrayed in Silent Hill as a whole. The reasons for their fog may be different, but Silent Hill is a subjective world made from the person's pain. Stepping into each person's handmade hell, each installment of Silent Hill is like having an open invitation to see the person's world. From the first Silent Hill to this one, it’s no different. There’s still pain, abandonment, and a longing to have whatever evil thing that’s restless be put down.

I love it when a game can explore the most gruesome parts of the human psyche and also achieve narrative consistency while still being horrifying. Hinako cutting off her own arm, having part of her face peeled away, and being branded by the evil that resides within her is a personification of the monster she wants to be, was craving to be.  From several notes she’s angry and clearly wants to be rid of everyone.  The main point to remember is that the time this game is set, was when the world view was heavily misogynistic. A common theme that we even see happen until today is the mean girl trope. (Taken from actual happenings in middle school and high school)  Having characters like Saukuko and Rinko, we want to almost shrug them off because they’re mean, or hurting the protagonist Hinako. What we need to understand from this game is that they're going through their own Silent Hill as well. No Character is without its faults, no character is without its beauty. And every person is allowed their youth to be stupid, then learn and grow from that stupidity into someone better. It's what being human is; no one is exempt from it. You can choose to stay angry and mean, which is why there have always been multiple endings in Silent Hill, or you can choose to be better. Following The Fox The world that’s coated with Red Spider Lilies and beauty is also coated with a rigid patriarchal system that places women in not the best light.  To gain some semblance of control in her life, Hinako follows an idea personified as a fox because to her thats how she maintains control, thats how she balances out the evil she’s choosing with a greater evil that’s happening to her. Her choosing to be a monster over giving up any semblance of choice is the better way of life because then she’s choosing something over it happening to her.Each time you play through Silent Hill f you see a different ending, a different way Hinako lives out the choices she’s made. The narrative design showcases a beautifully constructed world made of little decisions that turn into a bigger picture. The doll, I feel, is Hinakos guilt and understanding of what she’s doing. Each time the doll appears, it's almost a refusal of responsibility to be healthy, not giving in to the pain of what life gives, but knowing you have choices to make your current situation better. The Combat Felt More Like an Experiment We all know that the combat in ANY Silent Hill game feels more sluggish than fluid, and that’s ok because that’s what gave it its charm when it came to that specific department. The combat in Silent Hill f felt more like an experiment rather than a steady flow of consciousness. With multiple weapons and the durability of a modern-day Zelda game, it’s safe to say that the combat in this installment had more than a few kinks that needed to be worked out. Now, as long as you had a repair kit on hand, you could technically use the same weapon for the entirety of the game.Yes, you have your sledge hammers, the classic pipes, and even a sacred sword in NG+ that you can look for. What makes using the tools an issue, though, is the shoddy durability and the stamina that gets eaten away so quickly. A lot of people are calling the combat in this game very Souls-like, and my response to that is a giggle, a roll of the eyes, and a, are you kidding me!?  Not everything has to be a souls-like or compared to Souls games.  This game is perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet without a comparison that, quite frankly, is misplaced. The combat isn’t souls-like; it's messy and inconsistent, but not a souls-like. The Pain Never Stops, it Just Becomes More Manageable The suffering Hinako is going through is unimaginable to those who don't know or who have never experienced major depressive disorder, coupled with anxiety and paranoia.  The multiple endings represent the choices/seasons of Hinako's life. You can choose to live a life of abusing pills by continuously masking your pain with the “medication” Shu supplies, or you can reject what society wants for you, making your own path. Yes, there are other endings, but you should find them yourself. I promise they’re worth me not discussing them here.Silent Hill f  showcases trauma in an honest way. Other games, yes, can show traumatic stories and motifs that can speak to someone on a very deep level, but Silent Hill does it in a way that is painfully honest. For those who have purchased this game, know what you’re getting into.  The concepts are disturbing, there are morbid parts in each version of the game, and each ending you obtain. Please consider contacting your therapist if you feel as if it's getting too emotionally intense or if you experience not-so-healthy thoughts.

Your Choice, Your Silent Hill With the many ways your Silent Hill experience can go, know that each part of the world tells not just Hinakos, but  Shus, Rinko’s, and Sakukos' story as well. The mind is a delicate yet tough part of a person; it takes the trauma it's dealt and creates a safety net for the person to fall into, hiding the trauma away like a bad dream. Besides the psychological aspects of Silent Hill f  there’s also the abundance of puzzles coating the game. If you’re not a puzzle person, I would highly recommend not diving into this game. The world is filled with them, and as much as I love puzzles, their difficulty, and the satisfaction of solving them, it’s not everyone’s cup of coffee.With music that is unmistakably Silent Hill, to the otherworld experience, to Hinako's shifting mental state, Silent Hill f is Konami's way of saying “Hi, I know it’s been a while, but we’re back, and we have a few things to say”.  I enjoyed my time with this installment of Silent Hill, immensely.  Besides the combat, the stamina issues, and moments where I had bouts of motion sickness due to a motion blur you cannot turn off on PS5 (that needs to be fixed by the way), this was a shocking and emotional game in the best way possible.  Silent Hill f delivered on what makes Silent Hill so great, and put its awareness of what women and people with mental health conditions go through regularly front and center.