After playing through the Silent Hill series, including the original games and the Silent Hill 2 Remake, I went into Silent Hill f with high expectations. Unfortunately, while I can appreciate what the developers were trying to do, the game ended up being one of my least favorite entries in the franchise.
My biggest issue is that Silent Hill f does not capture the feeling that made the series special to me. The original Silent Hill games created fear through atmosphere: abandoned buildings, empty streets covered in fog, decaying environments, and the constant feeling that something was deeply wrong. The locations themselves felt like nightmares. In comparison, Silent Hill f’s environments often feel more like realistic Japanese countryside locations. They are visually interesting, but they rarely create the same sense of dread.
The horror style is also very different. Silent Hill f focuses heavily on Japanese folklore, symbolism, transformation, and themes of beauty and decay. I understand that this is intentional, but it simply did not connect with me the way the psychological horror of Silent Hill 2 did. Enemies like the flower creatures were meant to be disturbing, but they did not have the same impact as the unforgettable monsters from previous games.
The story also takes a direction that I struggled to connect with. The constant switching between realities and the wolf arm mechanic felt disconnected from what I consider the core identity of Silent Hill. Instead of feeling like I was trapped in a psychological nightmare, it sometimes felt closer to a fantasy horror experience.
My ranking of the series reflects what I value most in Silent Hill. My favorite remains the original Silent Hill 2, followed by Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill 2 Remake, and Silent Hill 3. I would even place Silent Hill 4: The Room above Silent Hill f because, despite its flaws, it still captured the feeling of being trapped in an unsettling nightmare.
I would place Silent Hill f above games like Origins, Homecoming, and Downpour, but only slightly. Those games also struggled to capture the original atmosphere of the series, but Silent Hill f still feels like it has a stronger identity and more ambition.
Ultimately, I don’t think Silent Hill f is a bad game. It has impressive visuals, a unique artistic direction, and clearly has a story it wants to tell. However, for fans who love Silent Hill because of the fog, isolation, disturbing monsters, and psychological horror of the original games, it may feel less like a true Silent Hill experience and more like a different style of horror game carrying the Silent Hill name.
