"Silent Hill f is in the latter category, which is why our review is somewhat delayed. This slowburn descent into psychological horror is set in 1960s Japan, but it also has pertinent things to say about the modern era and the tendrils of misogyny crawling out of the basement of the culture wars. Lead character Hinako Shimizu is a school girl in the small conservative town of Ebisugaoka."
"Her father is a bully who treats his wife like a servant and his daughter like an inconvenience, her best friend is Shu, a boy who may harbour deeper feelings for her much to the frustration of another friend Rinko, who has a serious crush on him. It reads like a teen drama, which in a way it is, until an apocalyptic supernatural fog descends on the town and almost everyone goes missing."
"You must explore the streets and alleys of the stricken town, now populated by a range of psychosexual monsters, from jolting marionettes with daggers to the wildly Freudian hatchers, who are covered in breast-like cysts and continuously give birth to more beasts. Whenever Hinako loses consciousness she finds herself in a shadowy underworld, where a man with a fox mask effectively gaslights her into a seemingly destructive quest of self-discovery and rebirth against the warnings of her childhood doll, which makes regular visitations."
Set in 1960s Japan, Silent Hill f follows schoolgirl Hinako Shimizu in the conservative town of Ebisugaoka. Hinako endures domestic bullying from her father and complicated adolescent relationships with friends Shu and Rinko. An apocalyptic supernatural fog envelops the town and causes many disappearances. Players explore streets and alleys populated by psychosexual monsters, including dagger-wielding marionettes and Freudian 'hatchers' covered in breast-like cysts that birth more creatures. When Hinako loses consciousness she enters a shadowy underworld where a fox-masked man gaslights her toward a destructive quest of self-discovery and rebirth despite warnings from her childhood doll. The narrative examines the transition from girl to woman and evokes the monstrous-feminine tradition of The Exorcist, Carrie, and Japanese onryo cinema.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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