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The latest Silent Hill transmission was a doozie. Konami’s producer, Motoi Okamoto, renowned horror writer Ryukishi07, and veteran composer Akira Yamaoka all joined in on the stream to reveal more about the upcoming Silent Hill f. We haven’t heard much about it for a long while, which Okamoto admits: “We’ve been keeping fans waiting for an awfully long time.”
I was excited about Silent Hill f from the very beginning. Despite initially only having a short teaser trailer, I just couldn’t help but get hyped for the first Silent Hill game to be set in Japan. Three years later, I’ve been rewarded for keeping the flame of hope alive in my heart.
Despite taking on a different setting, Silent Hill f will still include all the classic Silent Hill staples: twisted monsters, foggy and confusing locations, and tricky puzzles. But alongside all of these will be the central theme that underpins the entire game: the theme of beauty in terror.
“The concept of this game is ‘Find the beauty in terror'”, Okamoto says. “”While Silent Hill f retains the series’ core elements of psychological horror, we challenged ourselves by setting the game in Japan and leaning into those themes. A noticeable feature of Japanese horror is the idea that terror can be found within beauty. When something becomes too immensely beautiful and perfect, it instead becomes deeply unsettling. And so players will experience this world through the eyes of a young girl who is faced with a beautiful yet terrifying decision.”
Silent Hill f will follow Shimizu Hinako, a teenager who’s been dropped into chaos and horror when a strange fog engulfs her town. She’ll explore the town, avoiding monstrosities and solving puzzles to survive and “face the ultimate decision that she must make.” This decision will be a major plot point for Silent Hill f, so we’ve not been given too many hints as to what it could be, just that it’s “a beautiful yet terrifying choice.” I’m starting to sense a pattern.
Despite not knowing what this could mean, I’m not worried about whether Silent Hill f’s story will live up to the series’ reputation, as famed horror writer Ryukishi07, known for Higurashi: When They Cry, is responsible for the script. “”We needed a scriptwriter who really understood the essence of Japanese horror,” Okamoto says. “And one of the best-known works of Japanese horror writing is Higurashi: When They Cry.”
It’ll be the first time Ryukishi07 has participated in a Silent Hill project, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely new to the series. “Up until now, I have played every Silent Hill game,” Ryukishi07 says. “I was just in shock that I had been approached by the creators of Silent Hill. My team kept telling me not to get too excited yet, that it could just be a small job and have nothing to do with the script. They didn’t want me to get my hopes up or anything. But it turned out they really did want me to write the script for them, and I was ecstatic.”
Getting to experience a story from this Japanese horror legend is exciting as-is, but I’m particularly interested in how Ryukishi07 has gone about creating the new protagonist for Silent Hill f: “One thing I noticed [in Silent Hill games] is that many of the female characters are put through a great deal of suffering throughout their lives,” Ryukishi07 says. “Which is why I thought if this game is going to have a female protagonist, then I want her to be able to make her own decisions for better or for worse amid her struggles. I don’t want her to just be pulled along by the story, but to find her own answers.”
While it’s great that we now know more about the creatives behind Silent Hill f, we still don’t know a release date. But you can wishlist the game right now, which is one way to keep up to date with any further news concerning this project.
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Kurt Indovina
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