Silent Hill 2 was a completely terrifying game- a little bit of an understatement, to say the very least. That’s, in fact, nonetheless very true for the unique 2001 traditional to this present day, however specifically, the unimaginable Bloober Crew developed remake that introduced the beloved survival horror franchise again from the lifeless final yr proved simply how potent these scares actually are. From the environment and the creature design to the story and the best way it unfolds, Silent Hill 2 finds numerous methods to maintain gamers supremely uncomfortable of their pores and skin from starting to finish.
It’s secure to say that we contemplate it to be fairly a daunting sport, so after we say we expect Silent Hill f at the least has the potential to be a scarier sport than Silent Hill 2, we’re undoubtedly not saying it calmly. The subsequent mainline sport in Konami’s resurgent horror sequence was first introduced again in 2022 alongside different tasks below the Silent Hill revival umbrella, nevertheless it wasn’t till earlier this yr that Silent Hill f was absolutely showcased with an in-engine trailer exhibiting the setting, bits and items of gameplay footage, and extra. Although there wasn’t an excessive amount of that was revealed, it was immediately obvious primarily based on that early look that the sport was taking fascinating form, and that its model of horror in a interval Japanese setting might actually land with nice affect with the appropriate execution.
One other new trailer for the horror title was showcased at Summer season Recreation Fest on June 6, and our tentative ideas and notions on Silent Hill f have solely been strengthened with this latest look. It clearly needs to be acknowledged that the sport is in some ways not trying just like the kind of factor you’d ordinarily count on from a Silent Hill expertise, however not solely does that seem like it might probably work out for the sport in some ways, it is additionally exhibiting the kind of traditional psychological horror strengths that you simply’d count on, simply in a special veneer.
First, let’s discuss in regards to the variations, and why they appear to be working to date. For starters, there’s the apparent one- that Silent Hill f is the primary sport within the sequence to not be set within the titular American city, as an alternative taking gamers to the Japanese city of Ebisugaoka within the Nineteen Sixties. Impressed by actual areas in Japan, Ebisugaoka is promising to be a really completely different type of setting for a Silent Hill game- but additionally, on the identical time, nonetheless centered on comparable approaches to create dread by environment and fixed background rigidity. You’ll be able to, for example, count on loads of densely misty streets, a trademark of the sequence.
Because the current gameplay trailer for Silent Hill f confirmed us, in the meantime, the sport can be seeking to set itself aside from others within the franchise with a special method to gameplay- particularly, to fight. When you can nonetheless sit up for loads of exploration and puzzle fixing in traditional survival horror style, the place fight is worried, Silent Hill f will likely be considerably extra melee centered. Enjoying as highschool scholar Hinako Shimizu, gamers will tackle horrifying enemies who will come at you with quite a lot of melee, up shut assaults, which you’ll be required to dodge whereas discovering methods to take care of enemies of your personal.
After all, as many style followers would let you know, video games primarily based purely on melee fight usually wrestle within the survival horror house, with The Callisto Protocol being a reasonably current instance of how melee primarily based horror titles can fail to generate significant rigidity and scares due to the low stakes nature of their fight. However melee fight doesn’t robotically need to imply a sport with no scares. Simply take a look at the Dying Gentle titles, for example, which do create precise horror moments even with their melee centered fight. Or, hell, Silent Hill itself has usually positioned way more concentrate on melee as a sequence than the likes of, say, Resident Evil or Useless Area– so it’s not like there’s no precedent of melee fight figuring out in horror or horror adjoining titles.
One thing else about Silent Hill f that creates purpose for hope is Konami and developer NeoBards Leisure’s seeming concentrate on problem the place fight is worried. Apparently, the sport’s fight will likely be “as difficult because the obstacles that [protagonist] Hinako should overcome in life,” which does recommend, on the very least, that we received’t have to fret a couple of low stakes gameplay experience- if issues go in keeping with plan, that’s. If Silent Hill f can certainly ship fight design that creates significant rigidity by legit problem, that’s one thing that might be of big profit to a horror sport specifically. Our hope, then, is to see the sport tread alongside these strains, if melee fight is certainly the route that it’s taking- which it looks as if it’s.
It additionally helps that Silent Hill f additionally appears to be boasting spectacular enemy design. This could come as no large shock on paper, on condition that monster design has been one of many franchise’s largest strengths for so long as it has existed, however coming again with its first new mainline instalment after such an extended hiatus, it’s pleasantly stunning to see such promising enemy design in what we now have seen of the sport to date. Their grotesque designs, disturbing animation types, diversified seems, and their distinctive mix of natural magnificence and physique horror has actually made a robust impression in all of the glimpses that we now have caught of the sport’s roster of foes to date, and the extra we see of it, the extra impressed we get.
Konami has stated that Silent Hill f goes to be a extra motion centered sport than previous titles – actually greater than Silent Hill 2 – which can be a dangerous transfer for a horror sport. Motion and horror don’t at all times go properly collectively by their very nature, so there’s clearly each likelihood that in its bid for a motion centered expertise, although it might efficiently create rigidity, it’d fail to create precise horror. And that’s completely nice! A few of the greatest video games within the survival horror style aren’t essentially “scary” within the conventional sense to an ideal many individuals of their viewers, with one thing like, say, Resident Evil 4 – which is extra about creating rigidity than scares – being a main instance. Silent Hill f might actually do one thing like that and be an ideal sport in its personal proper.
But when it does come collectively the best way its couple of trailers this yr to date have prompt, we expect it might simply be a legitimately horrifying sport, which is clearly precisely what you need from a Silent Hill sport. Due out this September, the horror title is definitely not that distant from launch, which suggests we’ll have our palms on the primary new mainline Silent Hill instalment in properly over a decade not too lengthy from now, and that we’ll additionally know precisely what sort of a horror expertise the sport is attempting to be. Early seems recommend that although it’s deviating from the standard Silent Hill components in some key methods, it’s nonetheless placing horror on the forefront of its listing of priorities- which is actually encouraging for followers of the franchise and the style. Right here’s hoping future showings proceed to recommend the identical.
