It won't be long until Silent Hill F terrorizes us all from the comfort of home, but Konami debuted a new trailer during today's Opening Night Live with a smidge less gore and violent spearing than the last, in exchange for a more focused look at its story.
It's another peek at Silent Hill F's trip to 1960s Japan, where the fog sets in on a Showa era town. As usual, nothing good comes crawling out of the woodwork when the mist gets so thick you can't make out strange shapes in the distance and an Akira Yamaoka banger kicks in, but someone always goes wandering in anyway.
Hinako Shimizu is the latest unfortunate soul to experience whatever shape Silent Hill takes in the next game, whether that be a real town, an apartment complex, or someone's weird mind palace. The trailer's back and forth between the perfectly normal-looking (albeit a bit dreary) village to bloody hellscape swaps just as fast as that mean lady's attitude, whoever she is.
It's all quite Silent Hill in even smaller details—like when the radio static kicks in, or when Hinako stumbles around with the town's souvenir pipe. The Gamescom footage is more of what I like from the series—vague as hell dudes drip feeding cryptic hints about the past, gruesome monster designs, and a setting that instills a giddy sort of terror.
The setting is a big pivot, but series producer Motoi Okamoto's explanation on Silent Hill F's new direction checks out. While he saw it as a series that fused western and Japanese horror, he felt "that the essence of Japanese horror was lost" over time and wanted to make "a Silent Hill with 100% essence of Japanese-style horror."
Even if Silent Hill F seems more action focused than what I want from the series, I'm convinced the game is in good hands with Higurashi When They Cry creator Ryukishi07 and Spirit Hunter artist Kera. Silent Hill F even made its way into our Gamescom preview, highlighting everything we're most excited to see at this year's show.
We'll see how the latest take on the series' hellish fog shapes up soon enough. Silent Hill F launches next month, on September 25. That's right as Tokyo Game Show kicks off, so perhaps this is our last big reveal before its release date.
