For those who’ve learn any of my work, ever, you’d know that I love the Silent Hill video games, with Silent Hill f being my newest and best obsession since its launch. Every thing about this sport is masterfully achieved, cementing it as not solely certainly one of my favourite Silent Hill video games, not solely certainly one of my favourite horror video games, however certainly one of my favourite video games of all time.
Many veteran Silent Hill followers additionally adore this sport, and for a lot of causes — most of all, although, is how trustworthy it’s to the Staff Silent video games. There are numerous little particulars that principally reinforce that this sport is essentially the most Silent Hill since Silent Hill itself.
Interview: NeoBards Talks Silent Hill f Growth, Staff Origins and Subsequent Steps
NeoBards, the group behind Silent Hill f, spoke to DualShockers in regards to the improvement and the energy of the studio itself.
Not solely are there tons of parallels between Ebisugaoka and Silent Hill, there are literally simply as many similarities between the cities’ most vital residents: Shimizu Hinako and Alessa Gillespie. The truth is, there are such a lot of parallels between the 2, it feels such as you’re taking part in a Silent Hill sport from Alessa’s viewpoint, simply in Japan as an alternative of New England.
It isn’t apparent at first, however as you proceed by way of Hinako’s story, the mirroring is indistinguishable.
10
Themes Surrounding Lack of Childhood
Silent Hill has All the time Been About Abuse
The Silent Hill sequence, at its core, has all the time been about trauma and abuse, and the way that leaves folks afterward. Nevertheless, in each Alessa and in Hinako’s circumstances, there are much more themes surrounding the sudden, abrupt lack of childhood and the dizzying results of getting that ripped away from you.
With Alessa, ever since she was in single digits, she had been compelled to reside as a martyr, with a cult (known as The Order) anticipating her to turn into pregnant with god; her mom, Dahlia Gillespie, made certain that she was tunnel-visioned with this consequence, a lot to her detriment. Even when this included burning her in a ritual.
With Hinako, her lack of childhood stems from her fears of marriage, finest represented by one of many in-game monsters, the oi-omoi. In Japanese, oi-omoi can have a number of meanings relying on the kanji — and purposefully, no kanji was revealed for this creature, so the interpretation might be something from “many ideas” to “giant accountability” to even “drive out heaviness,” all phrases that may work in Hinako’s state of affairs.
The oi-omoi consists of a number of dolls that look just like the one we see Hinako throw away, and it repeatedly cries and wails, determined to be heard — and it even hop-scotches to you rather than strolling. Throwing away your childhood is an absolute tragedy, and it is precisely what occurred to each of those women.
9
The Women had One Shut Good friend
However Had been They a Good, TRUE Good friend?
Once we first play Silent Hill, it appears that evidently Alessa is totally remoted and alone; it isn’t till Silent Hill 3 that we discovered that she had one, true pal: Claudia Wolf. Claudia had appeared as much as Alessa, with the women seeing one another as sisters, however Claudia ended up taking issues method too far by the point we met her once more as Heather Mason.
Claudia is working tirelessly to hold out The Order’s needs, although Alessa (and finally Heather) had made it clear to her that she doesn’t wish to undergo with this. The very concept is torturous, however Claudia develops a sick sense of justice, and a good sicker sense of worship, in ensuring that Alessa carries it out.
In Hinako’s case, we see the fast friendship and chemistry between her and Shu Iwai, a boy with a present for prescription drugs. They had been childhood finest associates, taking part in House Wars collectively and seeing one another as equals. He offers Hinako drugs for her complications, which appears all tremendous and effectively — till we study that the pink capsules are literally comprised of White Claudia, a harmful, hallucinogenic drug — and Shu knew about these results, nonetheless giving them to her anyway as a result of he did not wish to watch her get married.
Whereas each of those women had associates that appeared to care about them, they in the end adopted their very own agendas, placing the whole friendship into query within the first place.
8
Involvement with White Claudia
Immediately and Not directly
Talking of the White Claudia, it performs a vital element in the whole Silent Hill franchise, however most particularly within the first sport and in SHf, particularly when it includes Alessa and Hinako.
White Claudia (when processed and made right into a liquid, known as PTV) is The Order’s go-to for rituals and sacrifices, and Alessa’s rituals had been no totally different. Even worse, whereas she was recovering from her burns, she was given White Claudia to maintain her alive, inflicting her horrific ache and hallucinations on prime of her present struggling.
Silent Hill f: 10 Parallels Between Ebisugaoka and Silent Hill Itself
In my stressed desires, I see that city.
In Ebisugaoka, the White Claudia is known as the kakura-makakura, referring to how customers of the drug find yourself face-to-face with their internal selves — simply as we see occurring to Hinako in her bed room. The Crimson Capsules that we take all through the whole sport are comprised of White Claudia, and Shu knew this, figuring out what it will do to her, and gave them to her anyway.
The White Claudia is basically a hidden character current in the whole sequence, slipping beneath the radar for a lot of within the first sport, however returning with a vengeance in almost each sport onward.
7
Their Personalities Modified After Trauma
They Was once Cheerful
When Silent Hill f was first being launched and marketed, Shimizu Hinako was described as: “A teenage lady struggling beneath the strain of expectations from her associates, household, and society. Cheerful and energetic as a baby, she’s grown to turn into way more restrained, and now hardly smiles.”
Even within the sport (most prominently within the Shimizu Residence) we see all the varied occasions in her dwelling, social, and college lives,
Tragically, Alessa could be very comparable; she was just a bit lady that simply needed to be together with her mommy, however the trauma and abuse that she endured made her into a sophisticated “antagonist” of the video games. By the point we lastly meet Alessa ourselves, she’s a shell of the reminiscences that we noticed of her earlier.
The truth is, the one time we see both of those women genuinely smile is in fan artwork.
6
Hometown Stuffed with Horrors
Ebisugaoka and Silent Hill are Additionally Parallels
It is easy to speak in regards to the numerous parallels between Hinako and Alessa, however their hometowns, Ebisugaoka and Silent Hill respectfully, are additionally parallels of one another. A lot so, actually, I referred to them as sister cities in my official overview of the sport.
Some would not instantly consider how this is able to be associated to the women, however the factor is, your environment directly influences the kind of person you grow up to be. The truth that each of those environments are so comparable might solely imply that the sort of folks it produces are going to even be comparable.
Each Ebisugaoka and Silent Hill are poorer coal-mining cities that home an intense spiritual following, resulting in a singular basis for each of the women’ lives.
5
Bullying Made Them Outcasts
Becoming in has By no means Been More durable
Silent Hill f showcases bullying in a barely totally different method — one which’s extra becoming to how bullying truly occurs in Japan. Hinako, being a tomboyish teenager who does not instantly slot in, is a first-rate goal of this bullying, whether or not it is straight from her so-called associates or not directly with the Origami of Grievances.
The bullying Hinako faces reinforces her place as an outcast, identified for not performing like a correct girl and being ostracized due to it. We see this prominently with the origami that we discover in Ebisugaoka Center Faculty — with a lot of them in Rinko’s handwriting.
Hinako’s Fears Of Marriage Aren’t Dumb In Silent Hill f — They’re Additionally Mine
Silent Hill f held up a harrowing mirror that I dared to face.
Alessa, then again, faces the bullying that is commonplace right here in America: direct, in-your-face, and inescapable. Look no additional than what we discover in Midwich Elementary Faculty, all the best way right down to a number of carvings on her desk, saying that she’s a witch, a thief, and that she must drop useless.
Alessa’s bullying is a outstanding plot level within the sport, to the place, as a type of vengeance, her classmates had been manifested as three totally different monsters: the Gray Youngsters, Mumblers, and Larval Stalkers. The Gray Youngsters are straight linked to the classmates that will bully her.
Oh, on a extra lighthearted observe in relation to their colleges: their uniforms are even comparable, as Alessa’s uniform was initially impressed by typical Japanese faculty uniforms. It was adjusted to look extra Americanized with Silent Hill: Origins, nonetheless.
4
Grew Up in Abusive Houses
Some Individuals Should not be Dad and mom
Within the opening cutscene of Silent Hill f, we see instantly that the Shimizu family is poisonous, with an alcoholic, violent father, and a spineless, enabling mom. We get a strong style proper off the bat, however we do not get the complete extent of their abuse (akin to Kanta, Hinako’s father, throwing a knife at her and promoting her off as a bride) till afterward.
Then again, with Alessa, her mom Dahlia is a frontrunner of Silent Hill’s underground cult, The Order, and is elevating her daughter in the very same religion. Nevertheless, in contrast to regular church indoctrination, Dahlia had made the invention that Alessa was notably particular, so she was chosen to turn into impregnated with their god, later birthing that god after a grueling incubation.
Neither of the women had the prospect to actually be kids, compelled to develop up unbelievably shortly in response to the abuse they’re dealing with on the very individuals who ought to be defending them. Some persons are merely unfit for parenthood, and it is clear that the mother and father highlighted in these video games are a part of that demographic — everybody, that’s, apart from the one and solely Chad, Harry Mason.
Oppression is a typical motif with each women, with Hinako’s mother and father representing post-war traditionalism and Alessa’s mom being a literal cult figurehead, their lives are so suffocating we are able to really feel it from right here.
3
Cults Focused and Groomed the Women
Each Might Even be The Order
For those who’ve performed any Silent Hill sport in any respect, you’d have at the very least heard about The Order, the antagonistic doomsday cult that serves as catalyst of basically all the things that is occurring with Alessa (and by extension, Silent Hill itself).
Cults have performed such a predominant position within the Silent Hill video games, so many people had been questioning how this was going to manifest on the opposite aspect of the world in a completely totally different nation. In f, we see that the principle “cult” determine is definitely a household (which, given the setting, is truthfully becoming) — the Tsuneki Clan. That is the clan that Fox Masks (actual identify Kotoyuki) is from.
Primarily based on how the kudzu Kamon (household crest) appears when in comparison with the Mark of Samael/the Halo of the Solar (The Order’s main image), many followers are left theorizing if the Tsuneki Clan is definitely an extension of The Order, particularly contemplating how the White Claudia was introduced in by a missionary. There isn’t any such factor as coincidence within the Silent Hill video games.
For causes that we uncover afterward, each women had been extremely coveted by these cults, and had been focused as such, with cult members attempting to groom them into the precise individual they want for his or her agendas.
2
Splitting in Two for Happiness
A Tragic Resort
Silent Hill f predominantly focuses on the inner wrestle Hinako has about getting married, with two variations of her residing inside her thoughts: Shimizu Hinako, who she has identified since beginning (catch the maiden identify), and simply Hinako, who’s desirous to undergo together with her wedding ceremony to Kotoyuki. Nevertheless, this turns into extra than simply metaphorical, however literal, by the point we get by way of the Shimizu Residence and encounter the Shiromuku.
It is easy to assume that that is the results of the White Claudia, nonetheless, there’s one explicit element that reframes all the things. When attempting to get all of the endings in Silent Hill f, particularly, in The Fox’s Marriage ceremony, Hinako confesses to Shu that she needs that she might simply cut up herself in two, with one aspect getting married and the opposite staying behind and taking part in fake perpetually. With one little want, there is a excessive chance that Hinako truly manifested this herself, and the 2 Hinakos are literal.
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You possibly can equip totally different omamori charms that can assist you all through encounters in Silent Hill f. These are the perfect ones.
Equally, in Alessa Gillespie’s case, after she was burned alive, she manifested a cut up of herself straight and deliberately, pulling out her final resort to ensure The Order could not get what they needed. She was simply so determined to expertise any type of happiness in her life, that she cut up herself in two in order that it might occur. Whereas Alessa herself stayed behind in her torturous existence in Silent Hill, consistently drugged and beneath spells that saved her in ache, her different self was discovered, adopted by Harry and Jodi Mason, named Cheryl, and really acquired to expertise this pleasure.
Within the first sport, Cheryl and Alessa find yourself collectively once more, merging to be reborn as Heather Mason, who takes over her personal life from there. Nevertheless, in Silent Hill f, each variations of Hinako do not merge with one another, however relatively, study to co-exist regardless of their fears, a much more hopeful ending than the tragic final resorts Alessa needed to run down.
1
Each Women Maintain Immense Divine Energy
They By no means Stood a Likelihood
What makes these two women so vital within the first place? They’re ostracized in basically each facet of their lives, but coveted by cults (which is one thing that always occurs with IRL victims; cults goal the weak), so on the floor it would not make a lot sense. That’s, till you get to the true ending of Silent Hill f, Ebisugaoka in Silence — whereas in Alessa’s case, it was made clear from the very begin.
The reply is straightforward: each Alessa and Hinako are women born with immense divine energy, so it is solely pure for unhealthy folks (and even gods) to wish to get their fingers on that energy. When there’s somebody younger with immeasurable expertise, there’ll all the time be somebody far older and way more evil who plans to take advantage of them.
The one distinction is that Hinako was unaware of her powers her entire life, whereas Alessa was raised with them front-and-center in her thoughts, permitting her to be a lot stronger by the point she reaches Hinako’s age. Plus, after the occasions of the primary sport, Alessa is thought to be a saint, a martyr regardless of all the things she tried to erase herself from The Order totally.
So once we lastly study this tidbit about Hinako, it slowly begins to daybreak on us that we have principally been taking part in as Alessa, however in a completely totally different method — and it is magnificent.
10 Particulars From Silent Hill f Western Audiences Would Utterly Miss
For those who aren’t Japanese, do not reside in Japan, or have not even studied overseas, there are various particulars that you simply would possibly miss in Silent Hill f.
- Launched
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September 25, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity
- Developer(s)
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Neobards Leisure
