The Silent Hill fandom is seemingly split once again, this time over Silent Hill f’s “soulslike” combat.
As more and more teasers and footage pop up online in the run-up to 25th September’s launch day, fans are getting stuck into all the new gameplay. But while we already knew the combat would have a “heavier focus on melee and be more action-oriented compared to last year’s Silent Hill 2”, fans are concerned about how enemies react, degradable weapons, and “soulslike” boss encounters.
“The game is looking incredible overall in terms of detail and quality. The amount of work the devs have put in is really impressive. That said, I’m a bit worried about how the combat is shaping up, specifically, how enemies react (or don’t react) when taking hits,” said one player.
“Why, I can’t guy[s] please don’t tell me it’s true,” lamented one fan. “I love this series and I’m really hyped for the game, but please game devs, don’t take this route, don’t sacrifice what this series is know [sic] for to trend chase. Don’t alienate your audience. I’m honestly scared if this is the direction there [sic] taking this series.”
“The combat certainly concerns me. Even if it ends up being amazing, I feel apprehensive about a Silent Hill game having combat that evokes the counter timings of Sekiro,” added someone else. “Hopefully they pull a Bloober and prove me wrong. At the very least, I hope it’s a good horror game even if it ends up failing as a Silent Hill game.”
To be fair, this isn’t the first time the series has dabbled with degradable weapons – Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill Origins did, too, although how successful that was lies in the eye of the player, I guess. The problem for some, however, is how those degradable weapons could inhibit exploration.
“I’d like to scour the in-game world and pick up all the details/memos, but if I’m burning through my decent weapons at every stop to do so, I’m eventually gonna stop exploring to conserve resources,” suggested one fan.
As for the other complaints? Well, there were plenty of those for Silent Hill 2 Remake in the run-up to release, and that turned out to be one of my favourite games in years (and what I think is the only 5/5 I’ve awarded in all the years I’ve reviewed here). So the good news is, regardless of how the previews are making fans feel, September will be here before we know it.
Silent Hill f was unveiled as part of Konami’s four-game series revival back in 2022, but it took until the middle of March 2025 to get an update. Now that Bloober Team’s superb Silent Hill 2 Remake is behind us, the publisher is turning its attention to its mysterious follow-up, a new mainline instalment set in 1960s Japan.
It’s being developed by Neobards Entertainment (which has previously served as a support studio for Capcom’s Resident Evil games), with creature and character design by Kera, and a script by When They Cry writer Ryukishi07.
As Matt recently summarised for us, Silent Hill f’s events are unfolding in the rural town of Ebisugaoka – based on Kanayama, Gero, in the Gifu Prefecture – where our protagonist Shimizu Hinako, an “ordinary teenager”, finds her home shrouded in fog and changed in “horrific” ways. As Silent Hill f play out, she’ll explore a town she no longer recognises, solving puzzles, fighting strange enemies, and eventually having to make a “beautiful yet terrifying” decision that lies at the heart of the game.