The Silent Hill series is back with Silent Hill F, adding a new spine-chilling story to the franchise's long-standing horror canon. Developed by NeoBards Entertainment and published by Konami, the new third-person action game is a standalone spin-off of the mainline Silent Hill franchise, being one of the few titles in the series to take place outside of the small American town from which it takes its name.
Silent Hill F is set in 1960s Japan and follows a high school student named Shimizu Hinako. It explores Hinako's scare-filled adventure, which involves alternate selves, mask-wearing spectres, and the franchise's iconic sanity-questioning twists and turns (which fans may be familiar with from last year's Silent Hill 2 remake).
Silent Hill F is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The new survival horror epic received generally positive reviews from critics, earning a stellar 87% on review aggregation platform OpenCritic. It marks the first Silent Hill title from NeoBards, a studio best known for its work on the Devil May Cry HD Collection, Marvel's Avengers, and Resident Evil Re:Verse.
Silent Hill F Story Is a Psychonautic Nightmare - Every Plot Point
The game opens with Hinako living her everyday life in a small Japanese village, known as Ebisugaoka. Hinako is unhappy with her life at home. Her older sister has left to get married, and her mother has become a shell of herself after years of abuse from Hinako's father.
After one particularly prickly argument with her family, Hinako confides in her friends, Shu, Rinko, and Sakuko. The quartet of high school students does as any wayward teen would do to escape the angst they have been harboring.
For this group of friends, that escape comes in the form of tiny red capsules that Shu offers Hinako. This mystery drug, which is said to help with Hinako's headaches, becomes the source of F's horror-tinged story. After she begins taking them, weird events start to happen around Ebisugaoka.
After trying the herbal remedy for the first time, Ebisugaoka is engulfed in a thick fog (a Silent Hill series staple), red spider lilies sprout all over town, and Hinako starts seeing a Shiromuku-wearing monster that serves as the game's major antagonist going forward.
Consuming some of the new red lilies, Hinako's friend Sakuko instantly dies, sending the game's hero on a quest to avenge her friend and take on the horrors that await across her rural Japanese home.
Very quickly, Hinako is introduced to a series of visions that come to her after she mysteriously loses consciousness. In this dream-like state, Hinako finds herself in a place that comes to be known as the Dark Shrine. In the Dark Shrine, she is greeted by a masked man called Fox Mask, who has unknown intentions and is protecting his identity through a traditional Japanese fox mask.
In this dream-like state, Fox Mask takes care of Hinako, but all is not as it seems. Despite Hinako's new masked caregiver seeming to have her best intentions in mind, she is continually told by those around her that she should trust no one in the Dark Shrine.
Eventually, Hinako awakens and reunites with Shu and Rinko. With the bridges leading out of Ebisugaoka having been broken by its feindish new inhabitants, the three teens plan to escape via a small mountainside path behind Shu's house.
On their journey, Hinako comes in and out of consciousness, revisiting the Dark Shrine and (most importantly) Fox Mask. However, during one visit, Hinako and Fox Mask's relationship takes a turn. After helping the teenager in this new, shady realm, Fox Mask eventually asked his ward to kill Shu and Rinko in the real world, hoping for Hinako to free herself of her childhood.
She also agrees to marry Fox Mask, as it is revealed that the character is a boy from her past, Tsuneki Kotoyuki. Kotoyuki was once a close friend of Hinako and potentially the (at one point) arranged husband of the young girl.
Fox Mask seems to know this, asking Hinako for her hand in marriage, which she weighs heavily in her head. In preparation for the ceremony, she completes three rituals: one that sees her arm severed from her body and replaced with a fox arm; another where she is banded along her back; and the last where the top of her face is mutilated and replaced with a fox mask.
The longer Hinako spends in the Dark Shrine, the more monster-like she becomes, eventually taking the form of the Shiromuku monster from the beginning of the game.
After this transformation, Hinako awakens once again in Ebisugaoka. This time, though, she has been separated from Shu and Rinko, with no explanation of where they went. It is assumed that she may have killed the friends in her Dark Shrine fugue state, but that is unclear.
Eventually, Hinako's mother calls her home for dinner, and Fox Mask continues to prod the teen about their impending nuptials. Back home, reality and the Dark Shrine dream world begin to converge. Hinako converses with her alternate world self, declaring she wants to kill her family and friends and give herself over to Kotoyuki.
This happens as Hinako's human form is still unsure of what the masked spectre asks of her and wonders about the potential of these two realities converging in front of her.
Hinako's worst fears come to fruition at this family dinner. Her human self becomes one with her Dark Shrine masked self, killing her parents and human form, leaving the runway clear for her Shiromuku form to marry the enticing Kotoyuki in the dream world.
This sets up an epic finale at Hinako and Kotoyuki's wedding, as the teenage hero's human self awakens in the Dark Shrine world, ready for one final stand-off with her masked alternate personality.
From here, the story can go one of five ways, opening the door to several alternate endings that take the story in dramatically different directions.
Every Silent Hill F Ending Explained
Coming Home To Roost Ending
The "Coming Home to Roost" ending is the only one available on a first playthrough of Silent Hill F. This conclusion sees Hinako's human self defeat her Fox Mask self, calling off the marriage and going about her life.
However, in the real world, it is revealed that not all is well. It turns out that this entire ordeal may have been induced by Hinako's substance abuse, with Shu's red pills being the straw that broke the camel's back.
It seems this drug habit came as a result of her parents marrying her off and the trauma of her home life. It is eventually revealed that Hinako did not kill another version of herself, and the wedding was not some metaphor, but rather a real event.
In a moment of psychosis, Hinako killed several people at her real-life arranged wedding, and is now living as a mentally unstable 20-something on the run from the law.
Fox's Wedding Ending
The "Fox's Wedding" ending is the opposite of "Coming Home to Roost." It follows Hinako's Fox Mask self killing her human form and accepting the marriage to Kotoyuki.
Just as this happens, Shu reemerges, revealing that he gave his friend the red capsules at the beginning of the game to bring her to her senses. Hinako and Shu fight, with the game's hero eventually prevailing. She gets married to Kotoyuki, losing all semblance of freedom and self.
To achieve this ending, players must decline red capsules throughout the game, purify or not obtain the Sacred Sword, and find the Agura no Hotei-Sama.
The Fox Wags Its Tail Ending
The "Fox Wags Its Tail" ending is the most defiant of the game's alternate final moments. This sees Hinako standing up to Fox Mask himself, turning her back on the marriage, defying her parents' wishes, and defeating her Dark Shrine alternate form.
This causes Fox Mask/Kotoyuki to become filled with rage. Hinako eventually fights and defeats him, allowing her to leave with Shu and live a relatively happy life.
Considered the 'good ending,' to get "The Fox Wags Its Tail," players must not take red capsules throughout the game and obtain the Unpurified Sacred Sword.
Ebisugaoka in Silence Ending
The "Ebisugaoka in Silence" ending leaves Hinako in the best mental state, allowing the hero to reconnect with herself above anyone else.
Like several other Silent Hill F endings, neither human nor Fox Mask Hinako prevails in the final confrontation, eventually leveling with each other. It is then revealed that Kotoyuki comes from a long line of men attracted to women with divine power and that Hinako holds a great power within her.
This leaves the character with both of her selves, granted the freedom to choose their future, accepting that both pieces of oneself are valuable, bruises and all.
Getting the "Ebisugaoka in Silence" ending (the True Ending) is slightly more complicated than the others. To achieve this, players must unlock two other endings, find and purify the sacred sword, not take any red capsules, and offer the Brooch to the Jizo Statue in Ebisugaoka Mountain Path.
The Great Space Invasion! Ending
It would not be a Silent Hill game without a goofy alternate ending thrown into the mix.
Following in the footsteps of the hilarious Shiba-Inu ending from Silent Hill 2, "The Great Space Invasion!" ending is completely non-canon. It ends with Hinako and friends talking about aliens, concluding that an alien abduction is likely the cause of Hinako's emptiness.
The game then ends with a pan up revealing a UFO hovering above the small Japanese town, piloted by a small dog, as a subtle nod to some of the other joke endings in the franchise.
To get this one, all one has to do is collect all the UFO radio broadcasts hidden throughout the game, find the three secret movie posters, and discover the movie review collectible while completing the game.
