Silent Hill F is breaking the tradition of keeping the games in the series in the titular town by bringing the series to Japan. It will be set in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, which is heavily inspired by the real town of Kanayama. Moving the series away from the titular town is a bold move, but it is exactly the right move to take to breathe new life into the series and open up far more possibilities.

The transmission brought many new details about the story and the setting of Silent Hill F, and it made me very excited about the possibilities. It looks like something entirely new, with a fair number of new people added to the team who have a lot of ion for what they do and great ideas for incorporating the ideas of Silent Hill into a new setting. Leaving Silent Hill behind was very intentional, and it opened up a whole new way of looking at the game.

Silent Hill F’s Setting Opens Up New Opportunities

A Much Broader Range Of Possibilities To Explore

Bringing Silent Hill F to Japan is a great move, because of all the new opportunities it brings to the series. As the scriptwriter for the series stated in the Transmission, there are two ways to interpret the idea of Silent Hill. One was as a physical place, the one we all know from the games, but the other is to think of it as a place where people have to confront a darker side of themselves, with all of the fear and sins they have committed. This is something that can be brought anywhere, not just Japan.

For this one, it is the idea of beauty through terror that the game is emphasizing. It can be seen in the trailer for the game, where the horror is mixed with beautiful, if not terrifying, flowers. Without changing the setting, this idea could not be fully realized in the same way. Swapping out the town allowed the developers to explore the idea of a fully Japanese experience, one that could play off of the old-school traditions of games like Fatal Frame.

This is not the only opportunity it provides, as it also allows us to interact with new characters and experience a different idea of fear. Since Silent Hill shapes itself according to the person's fears, a new town and new characters allow us to see an entirely different perspective. And while that has changed, the gameplay will be familiar, in that we will be able to explore the town from both the foggy side and the otherworld side.

Silent Hill’s Strengths Can Adapt To Other Towns

Silent Hill Could Travel All The Way Around The World

While this game is set in Japan, if they keep expanding the series, this idea can be taken anywhere. While I love the Japanese essence of the game being front and central for this game, it doesn't have to stay there forever. This interpretation of what the town is means that any place can become a Silent Hill, that all different cultures and influences could be reinterpreted in this way. There are different ideas of what makes psychological horror, and that can be incorporated into a myriad of games.

The idea is exciting to me, as an anthropologist myself, to see what horror looks like from multiple perspectives. Being able to explore and see what a version of Silent Hill would look like all over the world is fascinating. It could also be moved to any timeframe. Silent Hill F takes place in the 1960s, while the first two games took place sometime in the 80's or 90's, depending on which one you look at for the timeline.

This is already a change in the timeframe and an interesting moment for Japan in a historical context. You can reframe a lot of narratives just by changing the time the game takes place in, opening up even more possibilities. The more potential for horror, the better the series can be.

How Silent Hill F Could Outdo Past Reinventions

This Could Be The Best Silent Hill Game We've Gotten In A Long Time

One of the things from the Transmission that stood out to me was the sadness from the developers that the series had slowly lost a lot of its Japanese influence over time. They wanted to bring that element back for this game, and they decided to lean fully into it, pushing the narrative into a fully Japanese experience. It was great to see how proud they all were of this game, and it made me genuinely excited to play it, as their own excitement was so infectious.

Additionally, the scriptwriter, Ryukishi07, was a new member of the team who brought his experience from the anime, Higurashi When They Cry. This is important because the story he wrote there was also focused on a group of young people who were attempting to solve a murder in a small town. The parallels are quite strong, and that experience has hopefully created a story with little left to be desired. The mysteries and the tension will be well-developed, at least from the narrative perspective.

Most of the other reinventions of the series were from Western studios, and we never got to see what Silent Hills would look like. This could well setup Silent Hill F to be the game we deserve, and one of the best reinventions we have had. The developers seemed to truly believe that the new setting and the new team brought a well of fresh air with them, and they all worked hard to balance the feeling of the town of Silent Hill with the Japanese focus on beauty through terror. There seemed to be a lot of ion brought into this project, and I am excited to see more news.

While it may not sur some of the original games for fans who played them as they were released, I am excited. This seems like a good way to bring new fans into the series while still keeping older fans happy. It's a great combination that was only possible because Silent Hill F is breaking a tradition that was past due to be broken.

Source: YouTube/SILENT HILL Transmission