After delivering one in every of final yr’s greatest video games with Silent Hill 2, Konami seems to be intent on protecting its resurgent psychological horror franchise’s momentum going. Silent Hill f, the collection’ subsequent mainline entry – and its first new entry in over a decade – was formally introduced in October 2022, and now that the aforementioned Bloober Group remake is out of the way in which, all consideration has shifted to f. At a current Silent Hill Transmission, Konami and co-developer NeoBards Leisure provided one other have a look at the upcoming title with a brand-new trailer, whereas additionally revealing a bunch of latest particulars on its story, setting, and extra. Right here, we’re going to go over a few of these particulars.
SETTING
Each sport within the Silent Hill collection up so far has been set within the eponymous fictional American city, however Silent Hill f is doing issues otherwise. As beforehand confirmed, in a collection first, the sport is ready in Japan, in a distant mountainous city within the Nineteen Sixties. Named Ebisugaoka, the sport’s setting relies on Kanayama, an actual village in Japan. As defined by collection producer Motoi Okamoto in the course of the current Transmission, the sport’s improvement crew traveled to Kanayama to take reference footage and report sounds of day-to-day life within the village so they may recreate it in as a lot element as potential. In keeping with author Ryukishi07, Kanayama served as the proper inspiration for Silent Hill f’s setting as a result of he may “actually really feel its historical past” when he visited it and was fascinated by its “labyrinthine alleyways.”
PROTAGONIST
We don’t know a lot about Silent Hill f’s wider forged of characters, however pertinent particulars have no less than been revealed on the sport’s protagonist- Shimizu Hinako, a teenage lady who, in line with the sport’s official web site, was “cheerful and energetic as a toddler” however has “grown to change into far more restrained” as she “struggles below the strain of expectations from her pals, household, and society.”
Apparently, it additionally seems to be like she’s going to have better company within the story than the collection’ monitor report would counsel. Talking in the course of the current Transmission, Ryukishi07 mentioned, “Up till now, I’ve performed each Silent Hill sport, and one factor I observed is that lots of the feminine characters are put by quite a lot of struggling all through their lives, why is why I believed if this sport goes to have a feminine protagonist, then I would like her to have the ability to make her personal choices for higher or for worse amid her struggles. I don’t need her to be simply pulled alongside by the story, however to seek out her personal solutions. That was the sort of protagonist, or no less than, the sort of story that I wished to create.”
STORY
Now that we all know extra about Silent Hill f’s setting and protagonist- what ought to we anticipate from its story? Effectively, it’s not going to be a picnic, which you will have guessed. As the sport begins, the city of Ebisugaoka is a reasonably uneventful one, and Hinako’s personal life doesn’t have a lot to face out both. Issues shortly descend into insanity, nonetheless, when a deep, ominous fog rolls in and covers all the city, and consequently, is totally reworked. Locations that had been as soon as acquainted to Hinako have been twisted past recognition by unspeakable and nightmarish risks, and it now falls to her to navigate Ebisugaoka with the intention to survive – and possibly even try to save her house.
JAPANESE HORROR
Setting the sport in Japan was clearly a really deliberate alternative on Konami’s half, with the builders emphasizing in the course of the current showcase simply how closely Silent Hill f will lean into Japanese horror and themes. Collection producer Motoi Okamoto defined, “Whereas Silent Hill f retains the collection’ core components of psychological horror, we challenged ourselves by setting the sport in Japan and leaning into these themes.”
He added later, “I consider the Silent Hill collection was born out of mixing the essence of Japanese horror with the essence of western horror. Nevertheless, because it was primarily based within the West for the longest time, it felt just like the Japanese affect was fading. And so, this made us suppose, ‘what if we go in the wrong way and make it 100% Japanese horror?’ And this sport is the consequence.”
CENTRAL THEME
One thing that the current Transmission hammered house greater than as soon as was Silent Hill f’s central theme, which, in line with sOkamoto, is “discovering the sweetness in terror,” which, in flip, knowledgeable different elements of the expertise as properly, from story to artwork design (extra on that in a bit). Okamoto defined, “A noticeable function of Japanese horror is the concept that terror may be discovered inside magnificence. When one thing turns into too immensely stunning and ideal, it as an alternative turns into deeply unsettling. And so, gamers will expertise this world by the eyes of a younger lady who’s confronted with a ravishing but terrifying choice. We wish them to expertise how these contrasting components co-exist.”
STILL FOCUSED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR
Many will in all probability have puzzled why a Silent Hill sport that isn’t set within the city of Silent Hill is even known as that, and apparently sufficient, that was a query that author Ryukishi07 posed as well- earlier than arriving on the conclusion {that a} give attention to psychological horror to create unsettling dread is what’s central to the franchise’s DNA. That’s one thing that Silent Hill f goes to proceed specializing in. In keeping with the author, the sport will stay true to the collection’ custom of “portraying characters’ struggles with the evil inside themselves, sin, discontent, and battle in a visually hanging method.”
ART STYLE AND MONSTER DESIGN
Konami confirmed again in 2022 that Japanese artist kera would function the lead artwork and creature designer on Silent Hill f, and in the course of the current Transmission, we received to listen to extra on what that’ll entail. In keeping with kera, the core concept was to create one thing that felt distinctive and in step with the sport’s give attention to Japanese horror and its central theme of mixing magnificence and terror. The artist says, “I needed to think about all the pieces that’s are available in Silent Hill earlier than, and determine easy methods to take this sport in a unique path, however nonetheless be Silent Hill. It won’t be the very same blood-smeared, rustic surroundings, however I sincerely hope you’ll take pleasure in our imaginative and prescient and the world we’ve created.”
MUSIC
Akira Yamaoka has been composing Silent Hill music for just about so long as Silent Hill has been round, and positive sufficient, he’s returning to do the identical for Silent Hill f as properly. Particularly, he might be composing the sport’s Fog World music, whereas the Otherworld music is being composed by Kensuke Inage. In the meantime, Japanese musicians dai and xaki – who’ve labored with Ryukishi07 on his previous tasks – have additionally contributed.
PC REQUIREMENTS
We haven’t seen gameplay footage for Silent Hill f but, nor do we all know when precisely it will likely be releasing, however apparently sufficient, Konami has already revealed its PC necessities. On minimal settings, to run the sport at 720p and 30 FPS, you’ll want both an i5-8400 or a Ryzen 5 2600, together with both a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti or a Radeon RX 5700. In the meantime, for beneficial settings (which is able to run at 60 FPS in Efficiency Mode and 30 FPS in High quality Mode), you’ll want both an i7-9700 or a Ryzen 5 5500, and both a GeForce RTX 2080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800XT. On minimal, an SSD is beneficial, whereas on beneficial settings, one is important. On both setting, you’ll additionally want 16 GB of RAM and about 50 GB of free space for storing.
PLATFORMS
Silent Hill 2 might have launched as a PS5 console unique final yr, however Silent Hill f isn’t following go well with. Konami has confirmed that every time it’s the sport releases, it will likely be out there on PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC. On the latter, you’ll find it on Steam, Epic Video games Retailer, and Home windows Retailer. The sport can be out there to be wishlisted on all platforms.
