{"id":1225415,"date":"2026-02-24T11:51:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=606571"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:51:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:51:01","slug":"silent-hill-f-devs-want-you-to-find-the-beauty-in-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/silent-hill-f-devs-want-you-to-find-the-beauty-in-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Hill f devs want you to \u2018find the beauty in terror\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Silent Hill fans just got a peek behind the scenes of the next title in the iconic horror franchise, Silent Hill f<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> via Konami’s Press Start<\/a> livestream on Thursday, during which the game\u2019s developers provided a detailed look at the major theme of the game: beauty in terror.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe setting of Silent Hill f<\/em> has shifted from the town of Silent Hill to Japan,\u201d series producer Motoi Okamoto said. \u201cBut it remains a psychological horror experience where one confronts themselves within a mental world. Taking into account that it is psychological horror, we sought to enhance the essence of Japanese-style horror. The hallmark of Japanese horror is not simply grotesqueness, but the coexistence of beauty and the disturbing. We are creating this title with the concept: \u2018Find the beauty in terror.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

First announced during the Silent Hill Transmission livestream in October 2022, Silent Hill f<\/em> is the eighth mainline Silent Hill game, and the first to release since 2012<\/a>\u2019s Silent Hill Downpour<\/em>. It is also the first Silent Hill title to take place outside of Maine, where the fictional town of Silent Hill is located. Instead, Silent Hill f<\/em> is set in 1960s Japan<\/a>, during the Showa Era, and follows high school student Hinako Shimizu, who must navigate her (fictional) hometown of Ebisugaoka, which has been overtaken by mysterious fog and strange monsters.<\/p>\n

The game\u2019s developers described Hinako as an \u201cordinary person,\u201d in Silent Hill\u2019s tradition, adding that they tailored the game’s combat to be simple and believable \u2014 after all, you are playing as a teenage girl armed with nothing but a steel pipe \u2014 while still challenging the player to face off with powerful (and often beautifully horrifying) enemies.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA key concept in Silent Hill f<\/em> is the idea of beauty in terror,\u201d game director Al Yang explained. \u201cWe created our visual designs to have a distinct uneasiness to them, but also [to] have a horrific charm that would make it so you just couldn’t stop staring.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the game\u2019s major change in setting, scriptwriter Ryukishi07 \u2014 who goes by his pen name and is well-known in Japan for his When They Cry visual novel series \u2014 explained that 1960s Japan was chosen for a very specific reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the setting, we carefully considered which era would provide a stage and environment that could depict the theme of the story with a higher contrast, and I chose it accordingly,\u201d scriptwriter Ryukishi07 shared. \u201cThe Showa Era, though just half a century ago, feels like a different world \u2014 one that remains connected to our present, yet preserves customs and superstitions long-forgotten in modern life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developed by NeoBards Entertainment and published by Konami, Silent Hill f<\/em> is scheduled to launch<\/a> on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Sept. 25. It is currently available for pre-order<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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