As we get closer to the September 25 release of survival horror game Silent Hill f, it has been clear that the title, while keeping to its traditional roots, will still be quite a different experience from other games in the franchise. In an interview with PCGamer, game director Al-Yang and series producer Motoi Okamoto spoke about how Silent Hill f will be more action-focused than previous titles, while still maintaining its horror themes.
Yang spoke about how the fact that the game is more action focused also means that it is easier to bring a new audience into the Silent Hill franchise who might not be fans of the series’ traditional clunky and slow combat. The focus on combat has also given the developers at NeoBards more room to adjust balancing and difficulty settings.
“This entry in the Silent Hill series is more action-focused than previous ones,” said Yang. “But because of this, we tuned our difficulty to be more suitable for players from both classic Silent Hill titles.”
When it comes to difficulty options, the demo for Silent Hill f at Gamescom 2025 seemingly provided three, with Story being the easiest one, meant for newcomers to the franchise. Through these options, NeoBards wants to make the survival horror title more accessible depending on what kind of difficulty players might be more accustomed to.
“We want to give old fans, the classic fans, kind of like, ‘Ah, this is what I came here for, a succulent Silent Hill meal,’ you know,” explained Yang. “But also something for newer fans, or people who want to try something a little bit different. We’re trying to keep the classic Silent Hill vibes and atmosphere, but change the gameplay a little bit. We don’t want everything to be the same.”
When it comes to going with a more action-heavy title for the Silent Hill franchise, Okamoto explained the decision by Konami to team up with NeoBards for the game, citing the fact that it has been teaming up with various studios for quite a few Silent Hill projects, including with Bloober Team for last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake. Through these partnerships, Konami wants each Silent Hill project to offer up its own distinct flavours of survival horror.
“Silent Hill is a type of series that we’ve been partnering with many different groups for,” Okamoto explained. “For the remake, we partnered with Bloober Team. Future titles will probably carry their own flavour, depending on who we will be working with.”
Okamoto had also spoken at length about how slapping the Soulslike label on Silent Hill f wasn’t just misleading, but disingenuous as well. In an interview, he spoke about how Silent Hill games have always featured similar styles of combat, and how Silent Hill 3 even had its own stamina meter.
Silent Hill f is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details on the upcoming title, check out the recent trailer showcasing the game’s take on the franchise’s traditional Otherworld.
