Silent Hill F Evaluation (PS5)

13 years after the 2 failures that killed the franchise for a era (the one-two punch of Downpour and E-book of Recollections), a brand new, conventional, and secure entry within the Silent Hill sequence should have been a tantalising prospect for Konami. It’s simply received the fanbase again on board with a wonderful remake of Silent Hill 2, and solely a yr later, a contemporary entry may have kickstarted a very new chapter within the mysterious city.

In actuality, the Japanese writer has carried out the other.

Silent Hill F, from developer NeoBards Leisure, is something however typical. It strikes the IP away from the fictional Maine setting to Nineteen Sixties Japan, exterior expertise Ryukishi07 has written the story, and melee fight isn’t only a begrudging choice — it’s all the level.

You’ll catch shades of traditional Silent Hill in suits and begins, as franchise newcomer Hinako Shimizu works to flee her hometown, now engulfed in fog. Nonetheless, Silent Hill F walks its personal path. This can be a ruthless and intense instalment within the saga that, whereas completely different, works properly general.

Turning again the clock 60 years, highschool scholar Hinako finds her dwelling of Ebisugaoka consumed by fog, flowers, and monsters. She and a small group of pals attempt to discover a technique of escape, however now lower off from the remainder of the world, they’re compelled to look inside.

Greater than half the sport is spent looking for these solutions. As Hinako survives the treks to her faculty, dwelling, and anyplace in between, household revelations grow to be twisted within the seek for a getaway route, making the plot simply as private as it’s cryptic.

After which, on common events, Hinako faints.

Making up the remainder of the expertise are sequences set in a type of legendary realm, the place the principle character explores a shrine and its innards. Inside its partitions is the place the sport earns its content material warnings; these sections are notably brutal, with ludicrously gory cutscenes and surprising twists. Because the story there develops, it supplies a unique type of gameplay expertise from the puzzle-solving and dangerous fight of the city.

Put collectively, 15 hours of playtime needs to be sufficient to roll credit on the title, which is concluded by a surprisingly abrupt ending… in your first playthrough. From the thoughts of Higurashi When They Cry author Ryukishi07, Silent Hill F is designed to be performed once more, with extra plot factors and endings to find. To finish further playthroughs could also be an excessive amount of of an ask for some, however these prepared to take a position will discover much more to be taught in New Recreation+. The primary credit roll is sort of like a tease, because the preliminary ending actually is sudden.

It stays intriguing as much as that time, nonetheless, complemented by gentle exploration, hard-hitting fight, and rare puzzles. When outdoor, you need to discover a path via the tight streets and lifeless ends of Ebisugaoka to succeed in the subsequent goal. It’s removed from an open world; there’s usually just one path that’ll lead you to the objective — however you’ll be able to nonetheless do a contact of exploring with aspect roads hiding objects, upgrades, and collectibles.

If you head inside, the title strikes nearer to a conventional Silent Hill expertise, however it’s nonetheless not fairly the identical factor. That’s due to the fight.

NeoBards Leisure has positioned all its concentrate on melee weapons, to the purpose the place there aren’t any weapons within the recreation by any means. Your assaults are deliberate and have to be well-timed; in any other case, you’ll fall foul of both your stamina meter or the heavy harm each enemy offers. There’s additionally weapon degradation to handle, so generally, the best choice is to easily run away — all the pieces is working towards you.

However, the fight feels weighty and satisfying while you do select to interact. It makes use of hitstop to wonderful impact, making the conflict of your sickles, kitchen knives, and hammers with enemy flesh impactful. There are gentle and heavy assaults, then a dodge transfer and a parry window to utilise.

Comparisons have been made to Darkish Souls within the lead-up to launch, besides that, moreover the actual fact Silent Hill F is a troublesome recreation that punishes careless play, it doesn’t actually play something like a FromSoftware traditional.

Regardless of the heavy focus positioned on it throughout moment-to-moment gameplay, battling monsters lacks depth. You comply with a easy routine of wailing on an enemy, then retreating once they assault, and going again in once more for a number of extra hits. It’s routine and primary, however nonetheless feels good within the second.

The one draw back is you’ll rapidly lose curiosity within the stuff you’re really preventing. Exterior of the bosses, there are solely perhaps 4 completely different sorts of enemies in the entire recreation, that are repeated advert nauseam. A few of their designs lean into the blossom taking up the city, whereas others are simply straight-up monstrosities. You’ll tire of seeing them just a few hours in.

Fortunately, they often filter out when fixing a puzzle. Ridiculous and marvelously advanced riddles and enigmas are a staple of the Silent Hill franchise, courting all the best way again to the PS1 days. There are simply sufficient in Silent Hill F to please returning followers.

The sport is much and away at its greatest while you’re let free in a full setting the place the overwhelming majority of its doorways are locked and instructed to resolve a number of puzzles directly. As you discover the hallways and lecture rooms of Hinako’s faculty, or search a twisted model of her dwelling, slowly placing the items collectively to progress is a rewarding feeling.

With pleasing fight sequences blended in between, Silent Hill F retains sufficient of its roots regardless of the brand new course the developer and Konami have taken. It nonetheless has all the strain and blood-curdling ambiance of a survival horror favorite; there’s only a completely different type of model and tone to all of it. Suppose extra Deadly Body and Forbidden Siren than any of the PS2 classics from Staff Silent.

It’s a continuation of the shape kick-started by Silent Hill 2 final yr, however it replicates the Bloober Staff remake in a single unlucky approach: technical points. We performed on a PS5 Professional, which, in a devoted “Enhanced” mode that you simply’re locked into, continuously hitches and pauses the motion for break up seconds at a time.

The body price itself doesn’t appear affected, because it reliably maintains a 60 frames-per-second goal. Nonetheless, notably throughout heavy fight sequences, the title continuously pauses for tenths of a second to the purpose of annoyance. It’s a flaw that’ll want fixing in post-launch updates.