As spooky season ends for another year a reader relates his experiences with Konami’s Silent Hill f and explains why he thinks it’s one of the best titles of 2025.

I have now completed Silent Hill f and, yes, it was greatly and thoroughly enjoyed doing the first and second playthroughs. I had to try to get another ending to see the difference in playing certain things in the game and getting some of the hidden parts of the story.

I wasn’t quite sure, when I started the game, what I was to expect and was not feeling that same vibe I get from the Western-based Silent Hill games, and this was obviously more Siren and Project Zero vibes for me. But after the opening family scene, and further venturing into the village and the fog, I pretty much was not thinking of anything but the game in hand.

Hinako Shimizu is a great character, and the Shinto mythology comes alive through architecture, books, shrine mysticism, and the stories based on Japanese folklore, which I love.

Hanako’s friends are also fairly deep, with Shu, Sakuko, and Rinko being very well done and engaging. It still amuses me when you’re to follow someone and you then find they’ve bolted on ahead and left you behind! But that’s typical survival horror really and being on your lonesome is the only way to go in these games.

The enemies are definitely right up there with the best Japanese horror types, from the mannequins to a massive meat blob with spider lilies, and of course the scarecrows out in the fields and the school area. The creatures also have meaning to the main protagonist’s psychological state and what she has gone through and is going through. Fighting these monstrosities is something you learn to love in the end, as the mixture of melee combat styles is definitely needed without guns and other firearms.

The dodging and countering manoeuvres, along with the focus attacks, do feel good and the risk to one’s sanity and other lowered defences is a good idea which appears to work. With upgrades to melee weapons, and a durability factor to consider, it does give that tactical management thrill, which is always good.

I like the notes you find to update your knowledge and kept in the journal, as you flick back and forth for the lore and information needed to complete certain aspects of your journey. I find a lot of the details in gameplay mechanics and the surroundings of the world you’re in very satisfying.

The puzzles are very well done and don’t just seem to be there for the sake of it either. The narrative gets explained or has to be worked out from the journal clues you find and you definitely feel immersed as you complete the puzzles through stuff you’ve already found, making them very satisfying to solve.

For a new player entering horror survival for the first time, they should find this a particularly scary and oppressive title, especially with one of my favourite parts being the field of schoolboy and schoolgirl scarecrows. Another puzzle moment was after assuming I’d killed an enemy, after which I started looking at these boards of images and things and as I was attempting to work stuff out. The not-dead creature attacked from behind, causing me to jump and make me mistakenly press the PlayStation 5 main menu option screen button!

I found the enemy types did get a little repetitive with the doll knife women in the first areas of the game, so I’m glad the respawning when I died was not too strict and getting back was easy enough. Eventually I found that running was all I had to do and the enemies did not always require being killed.

The latter part of the game definitely made up for any repetitiveness, as some very surprising areas and mature themes were explored, set in times when women in general were forced to perform certain roles, whether they wanted to or not! This lead into some very tough moments to watch and get through with the guy with a fox mask! No spoilers.

With the length of the game set at a good average, and with additional endings which have a whole bunch of new lore and even bosses and character development, this does have great replay value. Your journey through a different foggy Silent Hill village will definitely make you think differently about the graphically amazing journey you’ve just had, and may I also add that the map is awesome to look at. Defo a game of the year contender for me and looks like many other gamers also.

By reader Alucard

A great game in a busy year (Konami)

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