Well, one of my friends asked me to play this game. Well, I was not following lots of gaming news so this game fell off from my radar. However, this was one of the few games I thoroughly enjoyed. Why? It was written by Ryukishi07, writer of Umineko and Higurashi.
If you’re already a visual novel reader and already knew about Umineko and Higurashi, just stop reading now and immediately play the game. It is such a breathe of fresh air to see Ryukishi07’s work in a AAA game environment. However, if you are unfamiliar with Ryukishi07, just read on.
This is actually my first time playing a Silent Hill game, so you’d get a fresh preview from someone new to the series. I will try to make this review as non-spoilery as possible.
So, this game follows our protagonist, Hinako. I don’t know if this is typical of Silent Hill games, but the intro starts slowly like a drama story and 5 minutes into the game, shit immediately hits the fan. Fast. You go from just walking around town and suddenly.. zombies (?? or monsters??) everywhere. Well, not every where, but you get what I mean.
Those things are actually really scary. It’s not scary like I guess zombie movies, where like a million of them comes running at you at the same time. This game, it will just show you a little bit of them, bit by bit. And when you meet one, they are very, very uncomfortable to be scene. And the music’s definitely not helping.
Most of the monsters are from Japanese folklores I bet, so if Japan’s your thing, you get to see all of those monsters up close, when they f**king bite your head off from behind.
Now, what made me really enjoy Silent Hill f is the story. Now, it’s not the typical story, a hero’s journey story, or y’know, stories that set up twists and stuff. If you watched Higurashi or read Umineko, you understand what I mean, and if you’re looking to scratch that Umineko itch, you will not be disappointed in this one.
If you do not know about those works, it’s okay. For the uninitiated, the surface story itself is pretty easy to follow. But what makes it good is the deeper story ongoing while the surface story happens. It’s a typical Ryukishi07 fashion where there are like “Yeah this is what happens, but THIS is what’s happening” and like Umineko, no the player gotta figure out the story themselves.
The battles are actually pretty fun for me. Not too hard, but actually it leans well into the scary nature of the story.
Silent Hill f gets my thumbs up. Go play it if you’re itching for a story and don’t mind enjoying thrillers.