Silent Hill f didn't just give us a superb SH game in the year of our lord 2025, but it offered up one of the best in the series

I try to never get my hopes too high before a game release. I know that may seem odd, seeing how enthusiastic I am about all things all the time. I've burnt myself before on the flame of anticipation, and I swore never to do it again., Well, sort of, because even I couldn't hide my excitement for Silent Hill f.

I had played Silent Hill 2's remake the year before, and while it was nice to be in a higher-res version of the foggy mountain town, it didn't quench my thirst for a new Silent Hill experience. I'd seen it all before. I wanted new horrors, a new twisty story, and a new protagonist to guide through the chaos. But if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the future of Silent Hill—the experience I craved was just on the horizon.

Silent Hill f doesn't repeat old traits with a new protagonist—it somehow manages to reimagine its formula, bringing it up to speed with modern narratives while also being distinctly Silent Hill. Not sure what that means? Well, an integral theme of Silent Hill has always been erotic subtext, whether that be James Sunderland's repressed desire or the fear of pregnancy haunting Heather Mason's every step.

Both Heather and James' stories are still very interesting to play today, but they're also quite dated. So instead of the devs foregoing this theme entirely, the NeoBards decided to take a different approach.

There is still plenty of erotic subtext in Silent Hill f, what with the themes of womanhood, marriage, and all the naked female mannequins hiding behind every corner, but it's much less predatory. The character of Hinako Shimizu is far deeper and more interesting than her fears of becoming her mother.

One of the best surprises of 2025 was just how much I loved Hinako. I should've known, really, one of the best horror writers of our generation, Ryukishi07, was the main writer responsible for not only creating Hinako's personality but fleshing it out with a worthy narrative.

It's easy to write Hinako off at the beginning as some simple teenager worried about the stereotypical stressors of a 17-year-old girl: a bad relationship with her parents, predominantly her father, and navigating the awkward tension of adolescent feelings. But you very quickly there's far more in store for her.

Over the course of the multiple endings in Silent Hill f, you learn more and more about the complexities of Hinako's character, who she loved and loves now, what she values, what her fears are, were, and will be. It's an utterly fantastic coming-of-age story from the female perspective.

But aside from the highbrow narrative, Silent Hill f is also just a hell of a lot of fun—I had almost forgotten just how great it is to crack some foggy monster's skull in with a metal pipe.

Not everyone was a fan of the new heightened combat in Silent Hill f, but as you can probably tell, I was. But that was only once I figured out how to pick my battles. I've already rambled on about how the combat isn't actually difficult—you just need to know when you should fight and when you should run away, but it warrants repeating.

By my second run through, I was dipping and diving in and out of rooms, dodging incoming attacks like it was nothing, and cracking skulls wherever I could—it was glorious. But the fun combat didn't make Silent Hill f any less eerie. Travelling through the quiet forest, abandoned towns, and dark hallways was pretty tense and had me at my wits' end for a lot of it, which is exactly what I signed up for when playing a Silent Hill game, so more of that, please.

Even with all my excitement, I didn't think I'd love Silent Hill f as much as I did, and that's a blessing. As a longtime fan of Silent Hill and as someone who just massively appreciates how much it's done for horror over the last few decades, seeing Konami not only revitalise this series but manage to do it better than I could ever hope for is incredible. And if you're still not convinced, go check out my Silent Hill f review. I've been singing Silent Hill f's praises since it came out, and I'll continue to do so for a very long time to come.