The darkness is closing in around me, and my flashlight barely cuts through it. Something moves out of the corner of my eye. Or did it? I stop, staring into the gloom, trying to convince myself it was just a trick of the light. Then something moves again. This time, there’s no mistaking it. A deformed monstrosity comes lurching out of the shadows straight toward me. Welcome to Silent Hill: Townfall!
Developed by Scottish outfit Screen Burn Interactive, this latest entry boasts a couple of firsts for the franchise. Not only is it the first game in Konami’s iconic horror series to take place in the UK, but it’s also the first mainline Silent Hill to fully embrace a first-person perspective. Yes, Silent Hill 4: The Room featured first-person moments while exploring Henry’s apartment, Hideo Kojima’s ill-fated P.T. famously took the series into first-person territory, and free-to-play spin-off Silent Hill: The Message was played entirely from that perspective, too. However, Townfall marks the first time a full-fledged mainline entry has completely committed to this viewpoint.
A Town With a Dark Past
You assume the role of a handful of interconnected characters in the rain-soaked seaside town of St. Amelia, an old Scottish fishing community with a long history tied to the sea. Though the story shifts between several perspectives, the main protagonist Townfall focuses on is Simon Ordell. Washing up at the harbor with no memory of how he got there, Simon makes his way through St. Amelia’s fog-shrouded streets in search of answers, slowly unraveling the mystery surrounding the town and his own connection to it.
Much like the original games, guilt and trauma still play a pivotal role in the overarching narrative, but instead of clandestine cults and religious fanatics, Townfall gives the formula a more modern twist, with a mysterious corporate presence casting its shadow over St. Amelia. Without venturing too far into spoiler territory, Townfall takes these familiar ingredients and weaves them into a surprisingly intricate web of intrigue.
The opening hours deliberately leave you with far more questions than answers, drip-feeding pieces of St. Amelia’s troubled history while gradually revealing how its seemingly disparate characters fit into the bigger picture. For the most part, the story’s slow-burn approach works remarkably well, particularly because the game rarely spells things out for you, instead trusting players to piece the jigsaw together for themselves.
While the overall narrative doesn’t quite hit the emotional highs of previous games in the series, it more than makes up for it elsewhere. The signature bleak atmosphere is captured incredibly effectively, while its three enigmatic yet grounded central characters give the journey a relatable, beating human heart. The voice work is equally commendable, with solid performances across the board, and there’s just enough tension and mystique in the writing to keep the plot moving forward.
One More Soul to the Call
Story aside, Townfall brings a handful of its own ideas to the gameplay side of the equation. Instead of the trademark hiss of a radio, Simon is equipped with the slightly more advanced CRTV, a pocket television that reimagines one of the series’ most iconic mechanics. Rather than simply warning you when something nasty is lurking nearby, the retro device plays a much more active role in exploration, allowing you to tune into analogue signals, uncover clues, and even see through walls to detect incoming threats, much like the Listening Mode in The Last of Us.
Speaking of threats, the monster designs across the board are all deliciously twisted. From humanoid monstrosities with axes for noggins to naked old men that shoot needles out from cavities in their chest, each creature is unique and disturbing in equal measure. While the menagerie of horrors is fairly limited — there are only around five different types of beastie this time round — there’s plenty of variety between them, including one particularly Lovecraftian abomination that feels like it’s wandered in from a cosmic nightmare. The creature AI is pretty impressive, too, as they typically behave in quite unpredictable ways.
Thankfully, Simon isn’t completely helpless when this grotesque assortment of nasties comes shambling his way. The emphasis on stealth is more pronounced this time around, with straight-up gunishment taking something of a back seat, but you soon discover several weapons to add to your arsenal, ranging from breakable melee options like planks and pipes to firearms such as a revolver, flare gun, and even a shotgun.
Shooting is deliberately rough around the edges, so you never feel particularly powerful in the traditional gaming sense, while ammunition is incredibly scarce, forcing you to think twice before pulling the trigger. If anything, those limitations only add to the intensity and tension, which is exactly what you want from a survival horror game like Silent Hill.
Alone in the Town
Of course, the monsters aren’t the only things standing in Simon’s way. Townfall also features a myriad of puzzles, and some of them are arguably more terrifying than anything lurking in the fog. Not only are they among the trickiest and most convoluted the franchise has ever seen, but they occasionally border on frustrating busywork, which is a bit of a shame. Fortunately, it’s not across the board, as a few are genuinely superb, but others become tedious exercises in going to and fro, especially when that means repeatedly sneaking past one particularly ruthless monster that can kill you in a single hit.
Frustrations aside, though, there’s a reason the thought of repeatedly sneaking past these creatures fills you with dread: Townfall is absolutely bloody terrifying. In fact, it may well be one of the scariest entries in the entire franchise. There’s a touch of the cat-and-mouse gameplay of stalk ’em ups like Alien: Isolation and Outlast in there, creating a relentless sense of unease and paranoia as you slink your way through the shadows, with your CRTV keeping a watchful eye on the nightmarish critters that want to bite your bonce off.
Rounding things out, Townfall is a remarkably polished experience from a technical standpoint. The visuals are suitably grim and detailed, while performance remains rock-solid throughout, with a consistently smooth framerate even when things get hectic. The audio design is arguably even more impressive, with every distant creak, unsettling groan, and unseen movement helping St. Amelia get under your skin. Legendary longtime series composer Akira Yamaoka may have sat this one out, but Anthony Scott Burns — better known as Pilotpriest — proves himself a worthy replacement, while Alien: Isolation sound designer Byron Bullock and the team at Arrival deserve equal praise for crafting such an unsettling soundscape.
Ultimately, Silent Hill: Townfall is another strong entry in Konami’s rejuvenated horror franchise. Its story may not quite reach the emotional heights of the series at its best, and convoluted puzzles threaten to test your patience for all the wrong reasons, but those frustrations rarely overshadow what Screen Burn Interactive gets right. St. Amelia is a wonderfully bleak setting, the monster designs are beautifully macabre, and the combination of stealth, limited resources, and its clever use of the CRTV makes this one of the most nerve-shredding Silent Hill games in years. Top it off with polished visuals, superb audio design, and atmosphere thick enough to rival the fog itself, and Townfall proves there’s still plenty of life — and nightmares — in the ol’ town yet.
Silent Hill: Townfall (PS5 Reviewed)
Despite a few frustrating puzzles, Townfall is a terrifying and atmospheric addition to the Silent Hill legacy, proving there's still plenty of life — and nightmares — in the ol' town yet.
The Good
- One of the scariest Silent Hill games to date
- Smooth performance
- Great audio design and atmosphere
- Intense combat and stealth gameplay
The Bad
- Overly convoluted puzzles can be a chore
- Doesn't quite hit the emotional heights of its predecessors
