"There was a point in the new "Silent Hill f" when I was being stalked by a massive, bloated piece of nightmare fuel with a gigantic swinging blade for an arm, and I was on a patio outside the school from which I couldn't drop down what looked like two feet to the ground below to get away. Really? On the one hand, this is a little insane given the freedom of movement in action games in 2025,"
"but it's also kind of a throwback to the early games in this franchise, a series that often felt like it was placing unusual restrictions on your protagonist just to make life more difficult. It's one of many ways that a "Silent Hill" game plays like an actual nightmare in that you don't ever really feel like you're in control."
"For gamers of a certain age, the "Silent Hill" franchise is foundational to how we play horror games and even experience horror films. Blending Japanese horror storytelling with a sense of smothering dread that felt in tune with German Gothic horror (there's a bunch of Dreyer in "Silent Hill"), these games transformed the form, emphasizing limited combat/ammunition and a fun approach to puzzle solving in that it's hard to use your brain when your heart is racing."
Silent Hill f enforces restrictive character movement that produces helplessness and frustration, echoing early franchise design choices. The game stages encounters where simple escape options are unavailable, heightening terror through constrained agency. The series blends Japanese horror storytelling with German Gothic dread, prioritizing limited combat and scarce ammunition to intensify vulnerability. Puzzle solving becomes harder under physiological stress, reinforcing dread. Team Silent developed the first four games from 1999 to 2004 and reshaped horror gaming conventions. The franchise produced a 2006 film, a poorly received 2012 sequel, and an upcoming Christophe Gans-directed reboot titled Return to Silent Hill.
Read at Roger Ebert
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