After the highly successful remake of Silent Hill 2, KONAMI is about to launch Silent Hill f, a brand new installment in its acclaimed horror franchise. This is but one step in the Japanese company’s grand plan for the IP, which includes the remake of the first title (also to be developed by Bloober Team) and the spin-off Townfall, which is being made by Screen Burn (formerly No Code).
But Silent Hill f is particularly significant because KONAMI felt that the series was progressively being westernized. This game, in development at Hong Kong-based studio NeoBards Entertainment, was instead conceived as a fully Japanese horror game.
Release Date, Platforms, Pricing, Editions
Announced on October 19, 2022 during that fateful Silent Hill transmission stream, Silent Hill f is set to launch on September 25 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. Pre-orders are now open, granting all a White Sailor School Uniform costume, an Omamori: Peony equippable item, and an Item Pack that includes one Shriveled Abura-age, one Divine Water, and one First Aid Kit.
The Standard Edition is priced at $69.99, while the Deluxe Edition is $10 more expensive and provides access to the digital art book, the digital soundtrack, and a pink rabbit costume. Moreover, if pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition, users will get 48 hours of early access, which means they’ll start playing on September 23.
Genre, Setting, and Story Premise
Silent Hill f is a survival horror game, much like previous titles. However, it will be set in Japan for the first time. More specifically, it takes place during the 1960s in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, which was inspired by the real-life Kanayama, Gero, in the Gifu Prefecture, where mountains and forests cover more than 91% of the city area.
Protagonist Hinako Shimizu is just a regular high school student in Ebisugaoka until the isolated town is suddenly enveloped by a dark, mysterious fog. Ebisugaoka suddenly becomes silent as a grave, and it will be up to Hinako to investigate what’s going on.
The story was written by the renowned author Ryukishi07 (‘Higurashi When They Cry‘), who KONAMI handpicked because they wished for someone who understood the Japanese horror concept. At its core, it is about terror possibly being found even within beauty: when something becomes too immensely beautiful and perfect, it becomes deeply unsettling. For his part, Ryukishi07 claimed that Hinako Shimizu (portrayed in the game by Japanese actress Konatsu Kato) is a protagonist who makes her own choices rather than simply being pulled along by the story. By the way, the story will be entirely standalone, although there will be some references to previous entries.
Fans rejoiced when they learned that historic composer Akira Yamaoka would return for Silent Hill f. Yamaoka has since revealed that he focused on infusing the game’s music with the series’ Japanese “essence,” reflecting his own cultural identity into the work as much as possible. We also know that the sound team traveled to the aforementioned town of Ebisugaoka to record its unique soundscape.
Gameplay
Not much has been said or indeed shown about the gameplay of Silent Hill f. We do know it will follow the series tradition of offering players a variety of complex puzzles to solve, as well as many grotesque-looking monsters to deal with. We also don’t know its estimated length, but we’ll be sure to update this article if the developers provide any indications.
Tech and Specs
Like the Silent Hill 2 remake, Silent Hill f is powered by Unreal Engine 5. The PC system requirements were revealed in March and don’t seem too taxing on paper, although we’ll have to test the game ourselves to see if it runs well. The requirements also include confirmation that NVIDIA DLSS and other similar upscaling technologies (presumably AMD FSR and possibly Intel XeSS) will be included. However, we don’t know yet if the game will also support frame generation techniques.
Minimum:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 11 x64
Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 50 GB available space
Sound Card: Windows-compatible audio Device.
Additional Notes: Playing on minimum requirements should enable playing on Performance quality settings at 30 at 720p. SSD is recommended.
Recommended:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 11 x64
Processor: Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800XT
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 50 GB available space
Sound Card: Windows-compatible audio Device.
Additional Notes: Playing on recommended requirements should enable playing on Performance settings at 60 FPS or Quality settings at 30 FPS at FullHD (or 4K using NVIDIA DLSS or similar technology). SSD is required.