You’ll be jumping straight into the fog with Silent Hill, which is a continuation of a long-running survival horror franchise — but this game has a lot of new features that make it stand out on its own.
If you’re planning to jump into this psychological horror experience, or have already put some time into it, you can learn a lot from someone like me who has already finished a playthrough. Here are five important tips to know when playing Silent Hill f.
Master the Focus ability
Combat is a huge part of Silent Hill f, and it’s not the same without the Focus ability. Holding L2/LT will not only eat up some of your Sanity meter, but it can also allow you to counter easier and even make a strong attack.
It took me a while to truly comprehend how to counter attacks with the Focus ability, since you have to hold it down before the enemy gives the indicator that you use to hit back at them. Once you figure that out, it’ll give you an edge in combat that’ll make it easier to lay hits on enemies.
It’s also a great way to dish out a strong attack without having to wait for your heavy attack to land. A circular gauge will fill as you Focus, and once it’s full, you can hit R1/RB to deal a lot of damage to the enemy. You won’t make it far in Silent Hill f without using the Focus ability, so learn it sooner rather than later.
Unlock at least one more Omamori slot ASAP
One of your first upgrades when praying at a shrine should be the one that allows you to hold two omomoris instead of just one. Although it costs 1500 Faith, holding just one Omamori will hold you back.
There are multiple unique omomoris in Silent Hill f, each with its own ability, like improving your maximum stamina or giving you health back after each kill. Before you spend Faith on anything else, try to spend it on a second Omamori slot.
Always read your journal for lore and puzzle tips
There are many gamers out there who don’t care to read lore documents, but trust me when I say that your journal updates are important for understanding the story in Silent Hill f. Anytime your journal updates, the game will give you a notification, and you can read deeper into Hinako’s thoughts on a person, monster, or place.
Without these journal entries, you may be left wondering about story aspects that are only given context within the journal. Not only that, but finding out more about characters and Hinako’s thoughts on the world is always interesting.
Journal entries are also available for basically every puzzle once you’ve found any necessary documents in the game world. So, if you find yourself stuck on a tough puzzle, pull out your Journal for hints. You’ll probably return to your Journal most often for these puzzle hints, so make sure you’re checking it often.
Pick your battles
No, you do not have to fight every single enemy that gets in your way in Silent Hill f. You’ll spend half of the game wielding weapons that have durability and can easily break. Not only that, but you won’t always have a Toolkit to fix them or another weapon to pick up, so pick your battles wisely.
If it’s an enemy that you know will chase you even if you run from it, you may as well get rid of it. But if it’s one you can easily run or sneak by, just leave it be. You don’t want to be left in an important fight with little to no weapons to use. You also don’t want enemies to waste all of your consumables if you could’ve easily just ignored them.
Don’t be afraid to start on Story difficulty
Silent Hill f advises all players to start on Story combat difficulty during their first playthrough, and they weren’t kidding when they said that. There are only two options, Story and Hard, and the latter is pretty difficult for your first run.
Since NG+ is a thing and the game encourages more than one run due to there being multiple endings, you may as well start with Story difficulty. Just because it’s called Story, doesn’t mean it’s so easy that you can’t enjoy the combat. Save Hard mode for your next run, as you’ll start the game off with all your unlocked abilities.
Silent Hill f is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.
