Silent Hill has had a fairly complicated relationship with action throughout its history. Even with Silent Hill 2 remake embracing an over-the-shoulder perspective, its combat still takes a backseat to the survival horror. That’s not the case with the next mainline title, Silent Hill f, which features dodging, counterattacks, and even stats for protagonist Hinako.
It’s a rather drastic shift, but one that’s seemingly been a long time coming. Series producer Motoi Okamoto told Game Spark (transcribed by Automaton) that, “Inserting more entertaining and thrilling action into Silent Hill f was an idea I had ever since the early phases of the development. And, since NeoBards is a company that’s tremendously good at making action games, this is also one of the reasons why we decided to choose them as the developers.”
Okamoto acknowledged that Silent Hill isn’t “considered a game that has entertaining action per se, but as we’re opening our doors to new players, we began to wonder what it would be like if we added more of those elements into the game. Challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays, so I believe that if we implemented such elements into the game, it would resonate well even with people who are new to the series.”
Director and NeoBards president Al Yang also revealed that, “We didn’t want to end up recreating Silent Hill 2 over and over again, and we were aware that there was no reason to keep making clones of it. So, to avoid repeating what previous major titles did, we decided to make the action stand out more.”
Of course, Silent Hill f is making changes in other ways. It will have multiple endings like its predecessors, but this time, the first playthrough offers a “standard” conclusion. Replaying the story afterwards allows for unlocking new endings depending on your choices. Then there’s New Game Plus, which includes new cutscenes, different bosses, and even fresh areas to explore.
Silent Hill f launches on September 25th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A new trailer will debut on August 19th at Gamescom Opening Night Live.
