Konami’s Silent Hill f is a survival horror game set in 1960s Japan. Players control schoolgirl Hinako Shimizu in the conservative town of Ebisugaoka. After a supernatural fog descends, most residents vanish, leaving behind perversely eroticised monsters.
The game explores Hinako’s transition from girl to woman, channelling the “monstrous-feminine” concept. Monsters such as jolting marionettes and hatchers covered in breast-like cysts reflect her everyday fears and society’s attitudes. A man in a fox mask gaslights her in a shadowy underworld, while her childhood doll offers warnings.
Combat is stilted and sometimes frustrating, fitting for a protagonist who is a student rather than a soldier. Puzzles are challenging but familiar to survival horror veterans. Cinematic encounters with friends Rinko and Shu build the complexities of their relationships. Multiple endings range from ghastly to hilarious, tying in with previous Silent Hill games.
Silent Hill f uses rural mythology and superstition to examine the harms of patriarchy and rigid gender expectations. It proves the survival horror genre still has depth, offering a slow-burn descent into psychological horror that demands to be savoured.
