While Silent Hill f may have gotten plenty of complaints due to its emphasis on simplistic combat, the horror title is still celebrated for its writing. During the recent Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, producer Motoi Okamoto revealed that this came down to the fact that the development team was tasked with doing plenty of reading. According to GameWatch (via Automaton Media), Okamoto said that the game’s writers were “pressured” to read “100 to 200 books a year”.
During his lecture, titled The Art of Producing Silent Hill, Okamoto spoke about how it was important for the writing team to have read as much as they could have, including things written by Silent Hill f writer Ryukishi07. Along with it being a matter of “basic respect” for the writer’s work, Okamoto said that the team also had to familiarize itself with Ryukishi07’s style and quirks.
“Within the team, we put pressure on each other, especially among the scenario writers, to read at least 100 to 200 books a year,” he explained. Whether this means that each writer had to read so many books on their own, or if the team had to achieve this target as a whole, is unknown.
Ryukishi07 is a prolific writer, having penned several stories that are widely regarded as great works of horror and mystery. Key among these is the When They Cry series, started by 2002’s Higurashi: When They Cry and built up over time with further entries like 2007’s Umineko: When They Cry and 2019’s Ciconia: When They Cry. He has also cited his time spent working in the child welfare system of Japan as one of the major inspirations in his works.
In an interview from earlier this year, Ryukishi07 had spoken about the conversations he had with Okamoto. One of the main subjects of these conversations was the fact that Silent Hill f doesn’t take place in the eponymous US-based town, and rather, takes place in the fictional Japanese village of Ebisugaoka.
“I discussed a lot of things with series producer Okamoto in a meeting after I received the request [to write Silent Hill f],” said Ryukishi07. “Like ‘Why is it set in Japan?’ and ‘What exactly is Silent Hill?’ In the end, we came to the conclusion that Silent Hill is not just the name of a place; it is a phenomenon. Looking back, I think I was able to create a pretty satisfying base for the story and world from this.”
Silent Hill f is far from the only title to have taken place at a location other than Silent Hill, however. Silent Hill 4: The Room, for instance, has much of the game taking place in the titular room that isn’t actually in Silent Hill. Similarly, Homecoming and Downpour are both also set in other locations. The idea of Silent Hill being more of a phenomenon than a geographical location was also brought up in Silent Hill: The Short Message.
Silent Hill f is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, take a look at our review.
