‘Silent Hill f’ – 6 Things We Learned from the Latest ‘Silent Hill’ Transmission

It’s been nearly three years since Konami first announced their plans to revitalize the Silent Hill franchise, and while we’ve seen a few missteps during this time, I think it’s fair to say that the series’ future has never looked brighter. In fact, 2025 is shaping up to be big year for Silent Hill fans, with both Christophe Gans’ long-awaited sequel film and a brand-new mainline video game set to come out in a matter of months.

That’s why I was so excited to tune into last week’s Silent Hill Transmission, as it’s been over a decade since this franchise has seen a AAA release not based on any existing title. Thankfully, Konami and the folks over at NeoBards Entertainment have made it clear that the upcoming Silent Hill f is being worked on by a passionate ensemble of artists dedicated to crafting a unique experience. With that in mind, I’d like to take a deeper look at their presentation and highlight six interesting details that we learned from the latest Silent Hill Transmission.

As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own predictions/opinions about Silent Hill f, though keep in mind that we’ve yet to see any definitive gameplay footage.

With that out of the way, onto the list…

6. Choice Will Play a Big Part in the Experience

Be it through easily missable side content or bizarre alternate endings, the Silent Hill franchise has often dabbled in incorporating player choice into past entries. However, the NeoBards team promises that Silent Hill f’s entire story hinges on our teenaged protagonist’s decisions.

While it’s currently unclear if the game will include a series of moral dilemmas akin to the system in SH: Downpour, the team promises that the experience builds towards a “beautiful yet terrifying choice” that serves as a narrative climax for the young Shimizu Hinako.

5. The Japanese Setting is Meant to Return the Franchise to its Roots

The Silent Hill series may have been initially inspired by American media, but long-time fans are aware that the soul of the franchise has always been distinctly Japanese. After all, the original Team Silent games are still considered the pinnacle of the series precisely because they contained an East Asian perspective on traditionally Western characters and settings, making them stand out from other kinds of horror media available at the time.

That’s why it makes sense for NeoBards to cut out the middleman and explore the cultural background that guided those classic games in the first place, especially since this Japanese influence faded as the franchise shifted towards Western developers – as was explained by producer Motoi Okamoto.

4. Scenario Writer Ryukishi07 is Drawing on his Experience with Visual Novels

An avid fan of Agatha Christie who excels at crafting moody murder mysteries set in small towns, it appears that Ryukishi07 is drawing from his previous experience on titles like Higurashi When They Cry in order to craft a Silent Hill scenario unlike anything we’ve seen before.

If the writer’s past games are any indication, fans should expect to see horrific subversions of nostalgic locations as well as harrowing revelations about seemingly innocent characters – another reason why I think player choice might be more than a simple gimmick this time around.

3. The New Otherworld is Meant to be Beautiful and Scary in Equal Measure

The latest Transmission was accompanied by a new trailer for Silent Hill f, with this cryptic teaser finally revealing details about the game’s updated take on the Otherworld. Featuring new life sprouting and blossoming into eerily vivid colors rather than having the environment decay into a rusty, bloodied mess, this alternate version of Ebisugaoka perfectly encapsulates the development team’s philosophy of “finding beauty in terror.”

Apparently, this recurring theme will also extend to the new monsters, as creature designer Kera (who previously designed enemies for titles like Spirit Hunter NG) claims that his creations are meant to stand out from the fleshy abominations of previous games while still reflecting facets of our main character’s turmoil and her strange surroundings.

That being said, this is the first entry in the franchise to get an 18+ rating in Japan, so I think it’s safe to say that, regardless of the game’s “beautiful” elements, there are still plenty of scares in store when the game finally releases.

2. Silent Hill f’s “Ebisugaoka” is Based on a Real Location

The original setting of Silent Hill was an amalgam of small towns featured in a variety of Western horror media (with an especially strong influence from Stephen King), but the NeoBards team decided to do things differently in Silent Hill f by basing the fictional Ebisugaoka on the real-life location of Kanayama, Gero, which is located in the Gifu Prefecture.

Chosen by Ryukishi07 due to its nostalgic qualities (which likely impacted the decision to have the game be set in the 1960s), Kanayama was so crucial to the development of Silent Hill f that members of the development team were sent out to take pictures of the area and record actual audio to be used in the new game – a far cry from referencing a battered VHS copy of Kindergarten Cop in order to recreate an American school in the first game!

1. Akira Yamaoka is Only Composing Music for the Fog World Segments

In a clever nod to the duality of Silent Hill’s setting, the music of Silent Hill f is being composed by both series veteran Akira Yamaoka and newcomer Kensuke Inage, with Yamaoka focusing on the melancholy Fog World and Inage composing the nightmarish sounds of Ebisugaoka’s Otherworld.

And while the Japanese setting means that fans should expect traditional Japanese instruments in the new game’s soundtrack, Yamaoka insisted that both he and Inage are also incorporating more Avant Garde sounds into their compositions, likely in an effort to differentiate the title from other J-Horror games like Ghostwire Tokyo and the Fatal Frame series.

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