This review contains mild spoilers for gameplay mechanics, locations, creatures, and characters. It does not contain spoilers for the ending of Silent Hill: Townfall, nor the specifics of its story.
After years of stagnation, Silent Hill’s star is thankfully once again on the rise, as Konami’s legendary survival horror series is seeing a recent renaissance thanks to Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 Remake and NeoBards’ Silent Hill f. All eyes are now on Silent Hill: Townfall, from Glasgow-based development team Screen Burn Interactive (Stories Untold), to continue the resurrective success of a franchise that had at one point become something of a parody of its former self.
Shifting the setting from the titular town to the remote, thankfully fictional Scottish island of St. Amelia, Silent Hill: Townfall takes place in 1996 and centers on Simon Ordell (voiced by IT: Welcome to Derry’s Jovan Adepo), an American who finds himself washed up on the deserted, foggy shores of a place seemingly devastated by disaster, with no understanding of why he is there.
As he attempts to figure out what exactly is happening to him, and why he has an IV full of black liquid shooting straight to his heart, Simon comes into contact with Zoe (Alien: Isolation’s Kezia Burrows), a languid nurse clearly harboring her own secrets, and Richard (Lost’s Terry O’Quinn), an enigmatic professional of some kind who has faith that Simon’s appearance in St. Amelia can ‘put things right’.
In an unusual move for the Silent Hill series, in which games chiefly follow one sole protagonist from start to finish, players will take on the role of Simon, Zoe, and Richard at various points in the game to unravel an interconnected story that may just be the bleakest the series has conjured up so far.
While there will naturally be the naysayers who insist that no Silent Hill game be set outside of the town (despite the fact that large portions of the original games do just that), St. Amelia embodies the spirit of Silent Hill in both theme and aesthetic.
Anchored by somber ambience from composer Pilotpriest (whose score is evocative of Akira Yamaoka’s classic Silent Hill tracks without ever feeling derivative), the breathtaking realism of St. Amelia will hit a little too close to home to anyone playing from a small British town, with loving authenticity imbued in even the most minute of details, from pebbledashed terraces, to the distinct BT-inspired telephone boxes where Simon can save his progress (and make calls to other numbers that players can collect throughout the game), to the photographs laid in memorial of those who lost their lives in the mysterious catastrophe that looms over the story of Silent Hill: Townfall.
This veracity increases tenfold as players transition through St. Amelia’s corporate-controlled ‘new town’, a place that the official concept art describes as having “let down its people, not the other way around”. Far more brutalist and industrial than St. Amelia’s quaint tourist-friendly seafront, it is here where the game’s themes of systematic abandonment manifest at their most melancholic and frightening.
Prepare to spend a vast majority of your playthrough feeling frightened, too, because Silent Hill: Townfall saw Resident Evil Requiem’s terrifying stealth sections from earlier this year and said, ‘hold my beer’. Those who found the ‘Soulslike’ combat of Silent Hill f too much of a departure from the classic survival horror tone that makes the Silent Hill series so beloved, fear not — while Simon, Zoe and Richard do have access to weapons throughout Townfall, resources are scarce, and more often than not our protagonists are armed with little more than a brick and a prayer.
A huge part of Townfall’s gameplay revolves around Simon’s use of a CRTV, a key item that not only transmits essential story cues but also clues to solve the myriad puzzles that, in true Silent Hill fashion, range from the grotesque to the infuriatingly complex. While a hint mode for puzzles can be activated, don't expect any yellow paint guidance in a standard playthrough – Townfall isn't interested in holding your hand when it could cut it off instead.
The CRTV also signals the presence of monsters, much like the radio static from the classic Silent Hill games. Simon’s CRTV doesn’t just let us know when enemies are nearby; it also lets him watch them through the static (functioning almost akin to the ‘Sightjacking’ mechanic from the similarly terrifying Siren games), so you can check the coast is clear before making a mad dash for the safety of a nearby closet or obstacle to hide behind.
It’s advised to prioritize stealth over combat even in Story Mode, not only from an immersion standpoint, but because coming face-to-face with Townfall’s monsters does lessen their impact somewhat. While the creative talent behind their construction is evident, there’s a touch of sameiness to Townfall’s creature designs, with enemies neatly sorted into categories of faceless, vaguely humanoid, fleshy abomination, faceless, vaguely humanoid, fleshy abomination, and, err, faceless, vaguely humanoid, fleshy abomination.
Especially when coming off the back of Silent Hill f, which featured a plethora of weird and wonderful folklore and mythology-inspired horrors, the roster of monsters here, while undoubtedly disturbing in their presentation and deeper meaning, can feel a little too inspired by the Masahiro Ito designs of the original four Silent Hill games. Not to mention, a hospital level without a nurse inspired enemy feels like a particularly egregious oversight.
However, what these enemies may lack in variety, they more than make up for in viciousness. The stealth sections of Townfall are some of the most unforgiving in all of survival horror, with one particular stalker, The Weight, making you long for a night in the Raccoon City Police Department with Mr. X. This pustuled mass of tumorous tissue is unfairly sensitive to Simon's every movement, cannot be stunned, and honestly negatively affects Townfall‘s replayability prospects due to how frustratingly unenjoyable these parts of the game are.
The sharp-headed Lungers are a formidable foe that’ll make you thankful for Simon’s quite literal lifeline – if equipped, a filled IV bag will bring him back from annihilation – and there’s a set of enemies in the later game who have a nasty habit of hiding around corners, upping the already unbearable tension in an area where Townfall takes the concept of ‘the horror of the mundane’ and dials it up to eleven.
The monstrous pièce de résistance of Townfall’s creature design, however, comes in the form of a gargantuan, kaiju-sized being – the biggest the Silent Hill world has conjured up so far – with tendrils that float ominously over the town. Mostly obscured by the fog of St. Amelia, this ominously-named creature (which we won’t reveal here – look it up after your own ordeal with Simon is finished) is thankfully never overexplained, and will be a key discussion point in what is sure to be a veritable feast of post-Townfall analysis.
Townfall is by far the most socially conscious Silent Hill game in the canon so far, because while the series is famed for its exploration of heavy, hard-hitting topics, Townfall’s themes are sadly more relatable to most of us than murdered wives, blasphemous cults, and forced marriages. Corporate greed, disrespect aimed at essential workers, and the tragedy of mass, preventable disaster hit hard in the era of data centers, climate change, and austerity, and with its medical-based body horror and depiction of a crumbling health service, Silent Hill: Townfall could also be the defining video game of the ‘post’ COVID-19 era.
Overall, Townfall is another resounding triumph for the Motoi Okamoto-era of Silent Hill, and while it may not bring around the lore purists (nor the racist trolls who refuse to engage with any game that doesn't feature an all-white cast of characters – but who wants their money anyway?), those who are happy to be out of the Downpour trenches and exploring more of what the world of Silent Hill can offer will continue to revel in a new era of survival horror excellence. Long may it reign.
Silent Hill: Townfall is available on PlayStation 5, Steam, and Epic Games Store on September 24. Early Access for Silent Hill: Townfall will start on September 22nd at 16:00 BST/17:00 CEST and will be available for those who purchased the digital deluxe edition.
