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Silent Hill f Review: A Beautiful Nightmare That Doesn’t Quite Find Its Fear
Eric Poole Updated: 10/14/2025 | Posted: 10/14/2025
(Credit: Konami | Topics Page)
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Mode Played: Hard Combat (first playthrough), Story (second)
A Fresh Start for Silent Hill
After years of silence, Silent Hill f marks the long-awaited return of one of gaming’s most iconic horror series. Set in 1960s Japan, this new entry trades in the fog-drenched streets of the American Midwest for a quieter, eerier atmosphere that still manages to feel distinctly Silent Hill.
As a long-time fan, I went in cautiously optimistic and for the first few hours, Silent Hill f really impressed me. The tone, pacing, and world design are everything I hoped for: unsettling, surreal, and visually beautiful. The environment is easily the game’s strongest element, pulling you in with hauntingly detailed locations that make you want to explore every corner, even when you know you shouldn’t.
It feels new, but also familiar and that’s not an easy balance to pull off.
Early Impressions: A Promising Start
My first hours in Silent Hill f were spent on Hard Combat and Hard Puzzle settings. Interestingly, I didn’t find a weapon or encounter combat until about 30 minutes in. That slow burn introduction works beautifully to build tension. When combat does arrive, it’s primarily a melee-focused experience, a significant shift from the recent Silent Hill 2 remake.
Enemy encounters rely heavily on dodging and timing with a dash/dodge mechanic that’s surprisingly generous. Early on, I noticed the enemy auto-focus system takes some of the tension away. You always know when something is coming for you, which, depending on your nerves, might actually be a blessing, because the sound design alone is terrifying.
The game teases a sanity system early on, which had me excited for Eternal Darkness-style psychological effects. Sadly, the mechanic doesn’t live up to its potential. Sanity essentially acts as a secondary health layer, with items like Ramune serving as sanity restoratives, a fun and nostalgic Japanese touch, but underused. I wish the sanity loss caused hallucinations or reality distortions rather than just altering combat stats.
Combat: A Fight Against the Wrong Fears
Combat in Silent Hill f is easily the weakest part of the game. I respect the attempt to modernize the formula with “Soulslike” combat mechanics, but it often works against the horror atmosphere. When monsters move erratically but your success depends on reading attack patterns, it stops being scary and becomes mechanical.
On Hard Mode, enemies are too tanky, especially bosses. I was dying a dozen times per boss fight, often due to unclear timing windows and punishing hitboxes. Then I switched to Story Mode for the final stretch and, suddenly, the challenge evaporated. I didn’t die once after changing difficulty.
There’s a serious balance issue between difficulty modes that hurts the overall experience. An optional boss health bar would go a long way toward making Hard Mode feel fair rather than frustrating.
And while I appreciate the variety of weapons, I strongly dislike breakable weapons in horror games. They discourage exploration and experimentation. A weapon combination or upgrade system would’ve added more depth and fit the survival horror aesthetic far better.
Puzzles and Story
The puzzles are another mixed bag. I like when horror puzzles are logical and grounded in the game’s world. Unfortunately, Silent Hill f’s puzzles lean too interpretive for my taste, often feeling like guessing games rather than challenges of deduction.
Where the game does shine again is in its story and atmosphere. The narrative is genuinely interesting, with enough mystery to keep you engaged throughout its runtime. The ending, however, is abrupt and the fact that you need multiple playthroughs to see the full picture feels unnecessary. It does help justify the $70 price tag, but it also undercuts the impact of the first playthrough’s conclusion.
Still, I can’t deny that Silent Hill f delivers one of the most visually and emotionally compelling stories in the series since Silent Hill 2. Even if I prefer 2’s traditional pacing and psychological tone, I’m glad Silent Hill f found commercial success, it deserves it for creativity alone.
Technical Performance
From a technical perspective, Silent Hill f performs very well. I didn’t experience any major bugs, frame dips, or crashes during my two full playthroughs on PS5. Controls are tight, camera behavior is smooth, and load times are minimal, a pleasant surprise for a modern horror release.
The sound design is spectacular. Ambient noises, creature shrieks, and the score all blend perfectly to create that classic Silent Hill dread. It’s a game best experienced with headphones in a dark room, preferably alone.
Final Verdict
Silent Hill f is a haunting, beautiful return for the series that shows incredible promise but it struggles to balance horror with its new combat direction. The atmosphere and story carry the experience, but the underwhelming puzzles and uneven difficulty scaling drag it down.
Still, even with its flaws, this is a game I’ll remember. It’s a different kind of Silent Hill, one that experiments with identity and sanity in intriguing ways, even if not all of them land. If you love psychological horror and want to experience the most visually stunning Silent Hill yet, it’s absolutely worth your time, just don’t expect the combat to scare you as much as the sound design will.