Silent Hill F Review - Spirited Away

Silent Hill F Review - Spirited Away https://ift.tt/W0lONSt

In my restless dreams, I see that town. I see its fog-drenched foothills and derelict buildings. I see its dead-end alleys and blank-faced inhabitants. And though it's not the same haunt that ensnared Harry, Heather, James, and the others--the same town that’s siren song broke many a man while simultaneously building one of the most iconic horror game franchises in existence--Silent Hill f's Ebisugaoka is still a place that demands your attention; a place that, once you're there, you never truly leave. Or perhaps more aptly, it never leaves you.

The same can be said for Silent Hill f itself. Although the game distances itself from previous entries in the series--most notably by trading in its Lynchian-meets-Boschian ambience and small-town America setting in favor of slow-burning Japanese horror and the humid foothills of Honshu--its overall experience is every bit as memorable as those offered by its predecessors. And yet Silent Hill f is not merely a somewhat-divergent continuation of a beloved series; it's an evolution, offering several gameplay improvements while also paving a new path forward. With its brilliant writing, well-designed and strategic gameplay, engaging combat, and spectacular visuals, Silent Hill f firmly establishes itself as a phenomenal work of psychological horror and among the best entries in the Silent Hill series.

Though Silent Hill f's setting is, to be cliche, very nearly a character in itself, at the center of the game's story is Shimizu Hinako, a young high school student who is violently thrust into a disturbing version of her hometown. In the game's opening moments, it's made clear that Hinako's relationships are rife with tension. As a young woman growing up during the late 1960s, much of this tension stems from her resistance towards being a "proper" young woman, much to her parents' dismay. In her journal, she writes that her father is the very definition of a patriarchal husband--demanding, severe, and domineering--while her mother is passive to the point of cowardice. For a long time, Hinako's older sister, Junko, was the only person she could rely on for companionship and protection. This changed, however, once she got married and left home, leaving Hinako alone and drowning in resentment.

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