Whoever thought the Silent Hill would take itself right out of its midwestern setting probably had a good idea going. There's something sinister about its ubiquitous presence that it'll haunt you no matter where it goes. At times, even other deities are affected by it.
Taking place in some small mountain town in Japan was the best call, and having the writer of Higurashi involved with this game is a match made in the most devilish part of hell. It's an anxiety inducing experience, one that really puts you in the shoes of a terrified teenager who is dealing with her life falling apart, dealing with every possible threat including her friends.
It even runs well, I've had no issues, visually looks astonishing too. I mean, should be the case when a game is asking 70 USD. There's a pretty big caveat, however, one that has to do with its punishing gameplay. I get why it's like this, but in execution, there are too many flaws to pick.
- Hills and their spirits
In a rural mountain town of Ebisugaoka, a place where concentrated amount of spirits dwells and the town dealing with earthquakes to being poor due to closure of their mining operations. There also lived a girl named Hinako, her older sister getting married off has made her upset.
Just as she heads to school and meet up with her friends, a strong mist comes over, and terrible forces starts to attack them. Their reality is suspended, and now what lurks beyond is terrifying to imagine. Especially for Hinako, since her sanity is constantly challenged, then she meets a fox in his spirit realm and things get super weird from here. A lot of Japanese folklore and spiritual connections essentially a part of its ethos to go with.
Silent Hill f is relentless, FMC is never spared from everything being thrown at her. She has to navigate through her town through the narrow streets, running past terrifying beings. Even after receiving weapons, it somehow proves that not all battles are worth fighting.
Hinako pushes on, even if her stamina meter just doesn't help. The way it's setup is by keeping her and the rest of her characters completely in the dark. Before slowly revealing through a series of events who they really are, and some of their insidious agendas even. Yeah, it establishes some connections to the entire Silent Hill universe, but it's subtle and leaves you to look for more.
The game is also non-linear, you have the choice of going to visiting other areas in the town, and I'd suggest doing so as there are many endings that depend on finding certain important relics to change the trajectory of her last destination in each playthrough. Also, be wary of those pills the game keeps giving you. The atmosphere is so thick, some of the enemy varieties really keep you on your feet. You have to find items to heal, and give a few to shrines for points.
Now with that all being said, there's the figurative elephant in the room and that is the gameplay. It is solely melee based combat, weapons break so when I say choose your battles right, this is what I meant. Your sanity meter is also affected. Enemy attacks are kind of hard to predict.
The design is solely soulslike inspired, meaning dodging and attacking will chew on your stamina if you're not careful. But if you dodge perfect or counter at the right time, you'll recover. Problem is all over. It's hard to hit them as some attacks aren't avoidable, she dodges too far, it feels too clunky, and dear god, whose idea was it to leave split second window?
Don't get me wrong, the enemy design isn't the big issue, it's just her gameplay doesn't really work for me. There are enemies that even stalks you through sound, and in the spirit realm, I had to find signs that are codes for a locked door. It's pretty tense, but at some point with the irritating design around combat, not to mention limited items, and weapons durability, I'd prefer this.
It gets worse, the inventory management is kind of ass, you have to exactly remember what each item you pick supposed to do. They'll recover health, sanity, and stamina, and you slot them for use. You can increase item slots through the shrine later on, but you'll need high value items.
- Absolute opposition
Now, I was willing to endure that aspect of the game, because there's so much to do here. Lore you'll appreciate as it opens up surreptitiously about the ongoings and history. Puzzles that really challenges your thinking skills, including the one where you read riddles from a scarecrow and these puppets act like traps if you get them wrong. All within this fog maze.
There's a lot to like, and I've read somewhere that it's really short. But multiple endings do change so much of the story and game, that you'll probably clock in longer after one or two NG+. I wish the gameplay was more polished and balanced. I made the mistake of playing this in hard difficulty, and it's ruining my moments one after the other.
Good to see Konami is on this winning streak, especially this year. I hope they continue the trend, and I'm hoping to see more of their SH releases. But that combat needs to be patched out, its design all around doesn't mash together, forced RPG elements don't always do.
Above screenshots and GIFs are from personal recordings only
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