Lastly, Konami Has Discovered a Correct Successor to the Otherworld with Silent Hill f

Probably the most attention-grabbing issues about Silent Hill f is how unmistakably “Silent Hill” it feels whereas nonetheless being completely distinct, extra so than many different entries within the collection. A lot of this distinctiveness may be attributed to its setting—Silent Hill f takes place in Japan, 1000’s of miles away from the precise city of Silent Hill, Maine.

Spoilers forward for Silent Hill f.

This new setting communicates adjustments which can be excess of skin-deep: Silent Hill f is a basically Japanese recreation, rooted in that nation’s historical past and customs. Naturally, this provides the sport a way of authenticity that earlier, US-based entries might have lacked, nevertheless it additionally results in fascinating, distinctive narrative angles. One of many ways in which Silent Hill f‘s Japanese roots categorical themselves is thru the Darkish Shrine, a realm on the road of unreality and actuality, of life and loss of life, that displays conventional Japanese folklore, non secular practices, artwork, and structure. The Darkish Shrine might or will not be a results of the identical metaphysical phenomena because the Otherworld, the astral aircraft featured in different Silent Hill video games, however they’ve so much in widespread regardless. The Darkish Shrine is not the Otherworld—not fairly—and it is all the higher for it.

Silent Hill f, Darkish Shrine, and the Otherworld

Silent hill f trailer screenshot shrine feature

Just like the Otherworld, the Darkish Shrine Is a Limbo World On the Verge of Actuality

The Darkish Shrine and the Otherworld are each actual, tangible locations that exist in several planes of existence. They are not goals or hallucinations (although they are often summoned via hallucinogenics), nor do they adhere to the identical legal guidelines of physics or time as the actual world or Fog World. For instance, Silent Hill f‘s different characters do not expertise the passage of time as Hinako does when she is within the Darkish Shrine. She may very well be there for hours, however solely minutes can have handed in the actual world.

When within the Darkish Shrine, Hinako is beset by all method of spirits, none of them pleasant. Even the Fox Masks, an ostensibly benevolent power, is clearly benefiting from Hinako or hypnotizing her indirectly, demonstrating his energy as an outsider. Although his strategies are basically totally different, this places him in the same class as a character like Pyramid Head: Fox Masks performs on Hinako’s cultural expectations and pressures, showing as a power for good, in an try to control her towards his purpose of human-god congress.

The Darkish Shrine Is the Greatest Strategy Silent Hill f May Have Taken

The Dark Shrine is a successor to the Otherworld, even when solely in a non secular sense. With Silent Hill f being a daring new course for the horror franchise, it wanted to really feel distinct whereas nonetheless linked to the collection’ identification. The Darkish Shrine is an ideal instance of the way it succeeds on this regard: it serves the identical narrative objective because the Otherworld, nevertheless it’s additionally notably, meaningfully totally different, in a manner that is acceptable for the undertaking at hand.

There are not any rusted partitions or fleshy contraptions within the Darkish Shrine; it lacks the visible identifiers of the Otherworld. Maybe the commercial aesthetic of the Otherworld may be attributed to its American location: it displays the practices, existence, conventions, and traumas of post-industrialization North America. By that very same token, the Darkish Shrine displays the social and non secular customs of rural Japan, tethering itself to highly effective real-world beliefs and feelings and adapting to its real-world setting.