Silent Hill 2 was a fully terrifying game- a little bit of an understatement, to say the very least. That’s, after all, nonetheless very true for the unique 2001 traditional to at the present time, however particularly, the unimaginable Bloober Group developed remake that introduced the beloved survival horror franchise again from the lifeless final yr proved simply how potent these scares really 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 protected to say that we take into account it to be fairly a daunting sport, so once we say we expect Silent Hill f a minimum of has the potential to be a scarier sport than Silent Hill 2, we’re positively not saying it calmly. The subsequent mainline sport in Konami’s resurgent horror sequence was first introduced again in 2022 alongside different initiatives underneath the Silent Hill revival umbrella, but it surely wasn’t till earlier this yr that Silent Hill f was totally showcased with an in-engine trailer displaying 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 based mostly on that early look that the sport was taking attention-grabbing form, and that its model of horror in a interval Japanese setting might actually land with nice impression with the proper 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 bolstered with this latest look. It clearly needs to be acknowledged that the sport is in some ways not trying just like the form of factor you’d ordinarily anticipate from a Silent Hill expertise, however not solely does that appear like it might probably work out for the sport in some ways, it is additionally exhibiting the form of traditional psychological horror strengths that you just’d anticipate, simply in a unique veneer.
First, let’s speak in regards to the variations, and why they appear to be working to this point. For starters, there’s the plain one- that Silent Hill f is the primary sport within the sequence to not be set within the titular American city, as a substitute taking gamers to the Japanese city of Ebisugaoka within the Nineteen Sixties. Impressed by actual places in Japan, Ebisugaoka is promising to be a really totally different type of setting for a Silent Hill game- but in addition, on the identical time, nonetheless targeted on related approaches to create dread via environment and fixed background stress. You may, for example, anticipate 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 trying to set itself aside from others within the franchise with a unique method to gameplay- particularly, to fight. Whilst you can nonetheless sit up for loads of exploration and puzzle fixing in traditional survival horror trend, the place fight is anxious, Silent Hill f will likely be considerably extra melee targeted. Enjoying as highschool pupil Hinako Shimizu, gamers will tackle horrifying enemies who will come at you with a wide range of melee, up shut assaults, which you’ll be required to dodge whereas discovering methods to cope with enemies of your personal.
In fact, as many style followers would let you know, video games based mostly purely on melee fight typically battle within the survival horror area, with The Callisto Protocol being a reasonably current instance of how melee based mostly horror titles can fail to generate significant stress and scares due to the low stakes nature of their fight. However melee fight doesn’t routinely must 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 targeted fight. Or, hell, Silent Hill itself has typically positioned rather 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 anxious. Apparently, the sport’s fight will likely be “as difficult because the obstacles that [protagonist] Hinako should overcome in life,” which does counsel, on the very least, that we gained’t have to fret a few 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 stress via reputable problem, that’s one thing that could possibly be of big profit to a horror sport particularly. Our hope, then, is to see the sport tread alongside these strains, if melee fight is certainly the course that it’s taking- which it looks like it’s.
It additionally helps that Silent Hill f additionally appears to be boasting spectacular enemy design. This could come as no enormous shock on paper, provided that monster design has been one of many franchise’s greatest 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 shocking to see such promising enemy design in what we have now seen of the sport to this point. Their grotesque designs, disturbing animation kinds, various seems, and their distinctive mix of natural magnificence and physique horror has actually made a powerful impression in all of the glimpses that we have now caught of the sport’s roster of foes to this point, and the extra we see of it, the extra impressed we get.
Konami has mentioned that Silent Hill f goes to be a extra motion targeted sport than previous titles – actually greater than Silent Hill 2 – which will also be a dangerous transfer for a horror sport. Motion and horror don’t at all times go nicely collectively by their very nature, so there’s clearly each probability that in its bid for a motion targeted expertise, although it might efficiently create stress, it’d fail to create precise horror. And that’s completely tremendous! Among the finest video games within the survival horror style aren’t essentially “scary” within the conventional sense to a terrific many individuals of their viewers, with one thing like, say, Resident Evil 4 – which is extra about creating stress than scares – being a major instance. Silent Hill f might actually do one thing like that and be a terrific sport in its personal proper.
But when it does come collectively the best way its couple of trailers this yr to this point have steered, we expect it might simply be a legitimately scary sport, which is clearly precisely what you need from a Silent Hill sport. Due out this September, the horror title is definitely not that far-off from launch, which implies we’ll have our palms on the primary new mainline Silent Hill instalment in nicely 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 counsel that although it’s deviating from the normal Silent Hill system in some key methods, it’s nonetheless placing horror on the forefront of its checklist of priorities- which is actually encouraging for followers of the franchise and the style. Right here’s hoping future showings proceed to counsel the identical.
