The type of horror i am talking about seems to outlive the ending credits sound of a movie. It's not the fleeting thrill of a jump scare, nor the passing discomfort of a gruesome visual. Silent Hill f is that type of experience and for a person like me who has a relationship with this franchise since its 1999 debut, it is both new and strange, familiar yet nostalgic.
With every coming installment, I seem to have adopted a new concern. I recall how the series has stuttered in the past, how warranted doubts were about whether it would trace its former self again. Then, I remember the hours spent in the game, Silent Hill f. I recall how I was impressed, then felt payment and, most importantly, understood how I was brought back to the fog that captured me so many years ago. This was years ago, how I was entranced in a completely different time. What the game boiled down to was one memorable lesson, and one only. Its folklore, its mechanics, and more, were everything that I had surmised. Truly monumental how a simple pill bottle produces something that is so intricate, and multifarious, and takes a mesmeric hold of you until you are completely lost in yourself.
The Integration of Folklore and the Essence of Silent Hill f
I feel it is the inclusion of folklore in the game that makes it so different from its past versions. The game adds a Japanese touch to it, one that is deeply and genuinely mythical, new age, and that still holds the center of Silent Hill, and its fog, and sadness, and layers and layers of horror. His fog is Japanese, and it is the only thing in the game that borrows Western ideas, about the Silent Hill f coatings.
This is most easily seen in the foundation of the game motif in question: the flowers. They are seemingly more than alive: festooning the walls, slithering from the remains of the dead, and covering the full breadth of roads in vibrant torrents of color. When the flowers bloom, it feels like the world is exhaling, alive and breathing, full of the secrets that Silent Hill knows, and that we do not.
Gameplay – A New Set of Old Feelings
The gameplay here does not attempt to shift the paradigm completely, but it does attempt to weave the themes into how you maneuver and stay alive. The inventory system has seen the most drastic changes. You can only carry three weapons and a stringently curated list of other items. This may sound restrictive on paper, but given the themes and context of Silent Hill f, it serves to amplify the tension, and it satisfies plenty of players who buy PS5 games. Each individual choice is calculated. The anxiety of a calculated survival is mirrored in the decision to carry one item and sacrifice another.
Fighting systems take inspiration from more modern designs, especially when it comes to dodging, which feels like it’s been lifted from soulslike games. They are not as refined as such titles, although they do help make battles more engaging, as players are now required to time and position themselves instead of button-mashing. Then again, this is a Silent Hill game, so it’s still going to feel clunky and uncomfortable, as characters feel like they are resisting confrontation. All of this makes thematic sense, but it does become annoying when a certain amount of precision is needed to not miss a shot. They tend to sit at a sweet spot of being challenging but not too difficult, which makes players pay attention and actively engage with the game through papers and the separate layers of sound.
Atmosphere and Audiovisual Design
While some might debate what is and isn’t art, it is indisputable that all forms of art are stories, and stories are narratives we tell to ourselves and to each other. Silent Hill has always focused on stories, and in Silent Hill f, the story seems to overflow.
The floral infestations are rendered with careful precision, and the described petals are almost capable of cutting into one’s vision. The infestation simultaneous to the petals and the fusions that are described are bright and dark, but the other are sickly and masochistically so. You will often find petals of sorts, unencumbered by their bright vibrancy, and you are aware of what they surround, perfectly reasoning something.
If you’ve listened closely enough, you’ve heard the score of the gaming franchise. The gaming series is that of Silent Hill, the incorporation of distant industrial groans, whispers, and the sound of a piano marries the entire essence of the game. The series and instruments carry the unique resemblance that interchanges the frames of the game. The score to each game was interchanged as one of the most distinct eminent pieces of the series; in this instance, it anchors. The score was the one piece of the series that tied the player to the game, emotionally.
The translation is done well, but as always, I highly advise playing the game in the original language. The Japanese voice acting has a level of atmosphere in addition to the rest of the game. The translation loses a certain rawness, as well as a much heavier emotional quality. For a story so tied to cultural identity and folklore, it is most certainly authentic in the original language.
The game runs quite well, better on high-end desktops, if you buy PC games, framed within the overall technical aspects. The frame rates do not dip even in the most cluttered environments. I never encountered major drops, and the area transitions were smooth, and the load times were quick enough so I didn't break immersion.
No game-breaking bugs or major crashes were encountered. This lack of technical issues looms large when considering the history of the series, which has had a plethora of clunky technical issues.
A Fractured Bloom Worth Experiencing
Silent Hill f is certainly not a masterpiece. Neither are Silent Hill 2, The Quarry, or Until Dawn. The battles, even though better, can still be frustratingly awkward. The movement systems sometimes hinder more than they help. Much more interesting to me was not a particular scare or spectacle but the almost suffocating mix of anxiety and beauty. The disturbing floral imagery is the kind that awes, the kind that is accompanied by parasitic symbolism. The melancholic music is the kind of comfort that Silent Hill f has. This shows not only that Violet has not died, but has also evolved to still teach the lessons of horror that we and the mundane often overlook.
Conclusion
Silent Hill has never been only a town. It is a frame, an inner mirror that shows our greatest fears. With Silent Hill f, that mirror is now blooming with strange flowers, its folklore horror breathing life into the series. It's a phantom blooming, haunting, and beautiful return to form—one that disturbed and touched me, and made me want to return to the fog, knowing it will never let me leave the same.
Silent Hill f is perhaps the only instance in modern video gaming wherein a work of art glorifying suffering has managed to earn itself a cult following because the suffering is purifying.
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