In some methods, Silent Hill f represents a recent begin for the revered franchise. The primary new mainline entry in over 13 years unfolds in Japan, removed from the collection’ namesake foggy American city, and throughout the Nineteen Sixties, no much less. To see how these adjustments are molding this installment, I traveled to Konami’s workplace in Tokyo to play the primary 5 hours of the survival horror title. Regardless of the radically completely different setting and period, Silent Hill f looks like a return to the basic entries, albeit with some ache factors surrounding fight.
In the event you’re a newcomer to Silent Hill, fret not; developer NeoBards and Konami are treating Silent Hill f as a recent slate divorced from the established canon, making it a fantastic entry level. The sport stars Shimizu Hinako, a rebellious teenage lady dwelling within the small, secluded city of Ebisugaoka. Hinako has a tumultuous dwelling life. She hates her abusive father and resents her subservient mom for permitting her father to have his means with them. That is maybe why Hinako rejects conventional feminine roles and behaves extra “masculine”, to the chagrin of her mother and father and even a few of her pals.
Regardless of projecting a troublesome exterior, Hinako thinks little of herself, writing in her journal that “there’s not a single extraordinary factor about me.” Hinako does adore her older sister, nonetheless, viewing her as a protector and confidant. Sadly, her sister has since married and moved out, leaving Hinako alone in a house she detests.
Hinako finds assist in her childhood buddy, Shu, and fellow pals Sakuko, a spunky lady hailing from a household of shrine monks, and the extra shy Rinko, who could have a crush on Shu. Sadly, it isn’t lengthy earlier than a sinister fog and crimson vein-like vines overtake their dwelling. I don’t know why or the way it occurs, however the village is remodeled right into a nightmarish, but hauntingly stunning model of itself, because of the blood-red flower blossoms overtaking all the pieces. Monsters stalking the streets have changed Ebisugaoka’s residents, and Hinako turns into separated from her pals.
Talking to developer NeoBards artistic director Al Yang, Silent Hill f primarily attracts design inspiration from Silent Hill 1 and a couple of. Relating to fight, nonetheless, the crew examined Silent Hill 4: The Room and its extra melee-centric motion. Don’t count on to wield weapons in Silent Hill f; Hinako solely makes use of close-range weapons comparable to pipes, bats, and knives. Weapons additionally degrade and break with use, and you may solely equip three at a time. Though you’ll be able to restore them utilizing software kits, a part of Silent Hill f’s problem is available in monitoring weapon sturdiness and figuring out if it’s value sporting down a very good weapon in opposition to a terrifying foe.
I make this dedication typically; the village’s slim alleyways means circumventing enemies isn’t as straightforward because it was in earlier Silent Hill video games. As such, I frequently needed to depend on Hinako’s dodge to evade assaults, which expends a stamina meter. Executing a last-second excellent dodge replenishes this bar – an important talent to grasp as you’ll want your vitality to fend off unavoidable threats.
Bludgeoning fleshy, mannequin-like creatures and eerie masked scarecrows feels weighty and fittingly clumsy (Hinako is only a child, in any case), whether or not utilizing mild assaults or slower, extra highly effective heavy assaults, every carried out utilizing the fitting shoulder buttons. If this configuration sounds suspiciously Souls-like, it’s not fully inaccurate. Between the deliberate assaults and the necessity to continually monitor the stamina bar, Silent Hill f has shades of the subgenre From Software program popularized.
Whereas that’s fantastic, Hinako’s stamina regenerates too slowly for my tastes. Even once you don’t absolutely expend stamina, it takes a couple of second and a half earlier than it begins to refill, which looks like an eternity as a result of it’s simply lengthy sufficient to be weak to successive assaults from the much-faster enemies. Monsters transfer rapidly and erratically, and dodging threats like a leaping foe that hops round Hinako expends a ton of vitality in a short time. I typically died merely from missing the vitality to flee after dodging two or three assaults in a row. Hinako describes herself in her journal as being a former observe and discipline athlete, so that you’d suppose she’d have higher conditioning.
One massive, virtually Souls-esque boss struggle was an absolute nightmare due to this stamina limitation, and never simply within the literal sense. Finest described as a demonic baby wielding a spiked hammer, a torn maw of flapping pores and skin, and draped in priestess robes with lengthy needles protruding of her, she’s absolute nightmare gasoline (particularly since my demo station was close to a life-size statue of her). This monster’s relentless assaults require fixed dodging, extra so than the delayed regeneration of your stamina meter can deal with. Tack on that you simply want stamina to retaliate in addition to chase her when she begins disappearing/reappearing across the enviornment, and taking her down is infuriatingly robust. I spent a full hour on this struggle and I wasn’t alone. Each individual I spoke to shared related frustrations, and I hope it is reworked for launch after giving my critiques to the artistic director.
When operating away isn’t an possibility, you’ll be able to interrupt enemy assaults by retaliating once they emit a telltale jittery glow. Nailing this efficiently stuns the enemy. When you can obtain this by protecting a pointy lookout – counter home windows are fleeting – a mechanic referred to as Focus makes figuring out these openings simpler. By holding the left shoulder set off, the display screen darkens to raised expose and prolong the length of the counterattack window.
Nonetheless, performing Focus drains Hinako’s Sanity meter, a useful resource additionally spent to carry out charged Focus Assaults. By holding down the assault and Focus buttons for a interval, this particular assault offers large injury on the expense of Sanity. Nonetheless, readying this assault leaves Hinako weak, and absorbing injury that interrupts your Focus Assault lowers the Sanity bar itself. Focusing whereas wielding heavier weapons, like a sledgehammer, permits Hinako to carry out a block in opposition to most assaults, however this expedites weapon degradation. To maintain your head above water, an merchandise wheel helps you to use numerous therapeutic objects, in addition to these restoring Sanity, on the fly.
Fight will be very difficult, particularly when coping with multiple adversary directly. I died typically, respawning at prayer shrines serving as checkpoints. When the going will get robust, Shrines supply alternatives to enhance Hinako’s probabilities. For instance, you’ll be able to equip her with an omamori, charms that add useful perks, comparable to lowering stamina utilization. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to initially solely equip a single omamori at a time, and I frequently swapped them out throughout particularly brutal encounters.
Shrines additionally let you current choices, whether or not valuables discovered throughout exploration or sure consumables like well being objects, to earn a particular foreign money referred to as Religion. Spending Religion lets you replenish your Sanity meter primarily based on the quantity spent. It’s also possible to use Religion to buy new omamori from a randomized pool, type of ike a loot field. I’m not wild on gaining new omamori on a cube roll, on condition that it not solely prices lots of of Religion factors to purchase, however every buy raises the fee by one other 100. Why would I need to save up lots of of Religion factors after I don’t even know if the omamori I get might be useful to a given state of affairs?
Exploring the labyrinthine Ebisugaoka affords many otherworldly surprises, places, and mysteries. This contains the sudden help of an enigmatic and questionably reliable masked man. Draped in white robes to match his white hair, who or what this younger man is stays to be seen, however he possesses supernatural talents and seemingly needs to assist Hinako keep alive. Whether or not that is out of pure altruism or if the masked man has his personal sinister agenda should anticipate the total launch, however Hinako encounters a number of eerie hints to not belief this individual.
In between preventing or avoiding monsters, I encountered a number of elaborate puzzles, obligatory and non-obligatory, whereas exploring Ebisugaoka’s foggy streets. These riddles will be as intelligent as they’re devious. One required utilizing a poem to seek out the right illustrations from a number of, scattered boards stuffed with picket photos – all whereas evading a patrolling blind beast delicate to sound. Whereas I loved most puzzles, just a few left me scratching my head, and never in a great way.
At one level, I used to be trapped in a foggy, open farm discipline that warped me again to its begin if I proceeded aimlessly. Discovering the right path required pinpointing a selected creepy scarecrow out of a giant group of them, and my solely clue was a cryptic message that felt a little bit too imprecise. Every time I assumed I knew what to search for, I selected the mistaken scarecrow, bringing it to life to assault me as punishment. I bumbled my means by means of 5 situations of this train (which felt two rounds too lengthy) and completed with out ever really greedy what I used to be doing.
These workouts, together with a sequence in an deserted center college that required unlocking doorways and avoiding threats, greatest evoked the Silent Hill of previous. Interiors require discovering keys to unlock sure doorways. You unravel bespoke puzzles to earn new objects or clues. All of the whereas, you’ll confront all method of monstrosities roaming about. The open world accommodates sure non-obligatory buildings you’ll be able to discover, too, comparable to the house of the city physician, which has its personal mini thriller surrounding his whereabouts.
It’s unclear what number of non-obligatory places, puzzles, or enemy encounters Silent Hill f affords, however they possible feed into its a number of endings. True to collection custom, Silent Hill f has 5 completely different endings. Nonetheless, these alternate endings don’t turn out to be out there till the second playthrough. The primary playthrough ends precisely the identical for everybody, as NeoBards and Konami need to inform a purposefully crafted story with an intentional starting, center, and finish.
When you’ve seen the canonical ending, subsequent playthroughs think about your actions (how is unclear) and result in branching outcomes. NeoBards says it didn’t write these endings as being “Good” or “Dangerous”. Moderately, they’ll be up for interpretation. And sure, one of many endings is the fan-favorite and foolish UFO conclusion.
Silent Hill f raised the hairs on my neck greater than as soon as, because of its scary creatures and efficient sound design, amplified by unbelievable 3D audio. Whereas I’ve just a few misgivings with fight, I really like the sport’s presentation, setting, and environment. Puzzle-solving is intelligent and pleasing, and I’m intrigued to see the place the story goes (particularly the branching endings). Based mostly on what I performed to date, the sport is preemptively checking the bins of not solely a robust Silent Hill recreation, however a enjoyable survival horror expertise.
Maybe greater than something, I’m simply blissful to see the Silent Hill franchise firing on all cylinders once more. Silent Hill f has the makings of a robust entry that maintains the optimistic momentum of final yr’s nice Silent Hill 2 remake.
