You should be very sure of yourself if you plan to watch Silent Hill f. This horror game is probably pretty intense and not everyone can handle it.
Horror games are not known for appealing to the faint-hearted. But even in this rather brutal genre, there are some games that are more tame than others. So far, Silent Hill has mostly been more psychologically challenging. It was depressing and had some gory scenes, but was rarely overwhelmingly brutal.
Silent Hill f changes that. At least everything points to that. Currently, information about this new horror game from Konami is constantly coming to light, which suggests quite harrowing content. Most recently, the game was reviewed by the US age rating board ESRBand received an M rating – 17 years and older.
There is also a small summary to help you understand the rating, which lists a number of contents that were decisive for the high rating. Since the contents were described quite specifically, you should better consider it a mild spoiler However, no story details were revealed.
Most recently, there was a new trailer for Silent Hill f, which was very well received by many fans:
Bloody content in Silent Hill f
According to the ESRB rating, it can be assumed that Silent Hill f will probably be the bloodiest game in the series to date, with much more explicit depictions of violence than before. This is also supported by the fact that the game is the first part itself in Japan to be given an 18 rating The ESRB summary shows why. It talks about:
- Blood splatters when attacking
- Large puddles of blood in the environment and on corpses
- The character is impaled on the neck when attacking and has their face torn apart
- Bloody scenes and intense violence in cutscenes
- A character is burned alive in a cage
- A woman is branded with a hot iron
- Guts and tendons are presented on serving plates
- One character saws off his own arm
- Another character cuts off the face of another
According to the ESRB, in addition to these really intense-sounding depictions of violence, there is also mild nudity in Silent Hill f. The decisive factor here is probably a mannequin-like monster that shows partially exposed breasts and buttocks.
How explicit and, above all, how glorifying all this is shown, we do not yet know. On paper, it sounds bad, but violence in video games is always very dependent on the context and on how it is staged exactly.
Even the developers warn
Incidentally, it is not only the raw violence that is pointed out.On the Steam page of the horror game, there is a content warning that reveals many, many more sensitive topics. It is also recommended that you take a break if you need it or talk to a trusted person if any of this gets to you. The content mentioned here includes:
- gender discrimination
- child abuse
- Mobbing
- Drogeninduzierte Halluzinationen
- Folter
- Grafische Gewalt
The content is partly explained by the fact that Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan and unflatteringly depicts various customs and cultures of the time. The game does not reflect the values and opinions of the developers.
So think twice about whether you can and want to play Silent Hill f. It takes a great deal of self-awareness to issue content warnings like this, so please take them seriously and choose another game if you’re not sure.
At the same time, we advise against confusing references to explicit violence with a promise of quality, especially in horror games. As with all games, wait for the first neutral tests and learn more about the exact content before you buy the game.
