For years, we’ve seen “Resident Evil” duke it out with “Silent Hill” as the premiere triple A psychological horror game to play. However, after Konami, the owner of the “Silent Hill” IP, fired Hideo Kojima, the director of the upcoming sequel to the franchise, along with his team, things were up in the air.
Since Kojima and co.’s exit, Konami did not dare to create another hair-raising horror game, or at least, what they did wasn’t up to snuff. That all changed with the announcement of “Silent Hill f,” the first main-series entry after a decade of silence. Admittedly, the project was announced back in 2022, but fans were still caught off guard when the new trailer dropped earlier today.
The story takes place, for the first time, in Japan back in the 1960s. It follows a young girl named Hinako in a small Japanese village living her highschool life when a mysterious fog rolls over. Hinako then sees herself trapped in a disfigured recreation of her hometown, filled with shambling mannequins, hungering monsters, and yokais of various shapes and sizes.
However, based on the trailer, the story presents us with a dark twist right off the bat: Hinako is already dead! Furthermore, it’s also alluded to that she was betrayed by her friends, but it’s not explained if this resulted in her death. Additionally, it also hints that she would have done the same. Regardless, she is forced to navigate this nightmarish maze in order for her to “embrace the beauty hidden within terror, or succumb to the madness”.
“Silent Hill f” is being developed by a Taiwan-based studio called NeoBards Entertainment, known for their work on “Resident Evil” (ironically) and “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,” with the help of Japanese developers. Furthermore, it was announced that Ryukishi07 will be penning the story, and a person simply known as Kera will be responsible for bringing the characters and hideous creatures to life.
During the stream, Konami elaborated on the inspiration for the setting and elaborated on the themes the team wanted to explore. Unfortunately, none of what the developers discussed included the release details of the game. What we do know for now is that it is set to release for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
