Silent Hill F would be better if the combat was less enjoyable, or if there was just less combat

When the previews started coming in I was worried that Silent Hill F seemed like it emphasized the combat more than I prefer in my games of dread and slow-burn tension. What I want from a Silent Hill is an in-depth psychological portrait of someone who is deeply unwell. If I have to shoot a few mannequins to get it that's fine, but it's not why I'm here. I don't want a combat system where I can master the timings and get into a flow state, I want it to be janky and panicked like it's simulating what it would be like for an ordinary person to be handed a plank with a nail in it and thrown in a room with a monster made of nightmares.

To cut a long story short, Silent Hill F is not that kind of game. It's the kind with an involved combat system it really wants you to get to grips with. You may be playing a teenage girl in the 1960s, but by god you're going to have to master the blade.

It's not just a matter of "light attack, heavy attack, maybe a dodge if you ask nicely." In Silent Hill F you can time a heavy attack right to do a counterattack, and can spend focus to broaden the counterattack window. Stay in focus mode till a bar fills up and you can launch a special focus attack. Dodge at the right time and you'll get your stamina back, because of course there's a stamina bar, that's the kind of game this is.

By the time I unlocked something called "awakened mode" I realized I'd hit the limit of combat mechanics I could be bothered internalizing. Silent Hill F keeps tutorializing new combat ideas even in its final act, well after the point where I'd bothered caring about them.

There are times when you can avoid fights, which is good. The weapon degradation system—yeah, it has one of those as well—means in theory you could end up unarmed because your crowbar, lead pipe, and kitchen knife all break while you're in a field somewhere whomping undead scarecrows dressed as high school students. So being able to run past and around enemies is an option, but unfortunately it's only a sometimes option.

At other times you'll need to kill someone to unlock a box holding a crest you need to solve a puzzle, or just to be allowed into the next area. This seems particularly true in the dark shrine world that is Silent Hill F's replacement for the usual rusty chainlink hellscape otherworld. In the dark shrine world weapon degradation is disabled and you get to wield a naginata like you're in Soul Calibur 6. But combat eventually stops being optional back in the foggy world as well, with a gauntlet of enemies who have to be killed to make skin walls go away before you're allowed into the underwhelming finale and inevitable twist ending.

Early on, there's a moment where you have to get a key out of a well while being menaced by a monster who is like the Hulk wearing the flower outfit from Midsommar. You don't actually need to fight him, though. Get him to chase you around the other well in the yard and you can buy time to turn the crank and raise the bucket, eventually getting the key you need without having to master another enemy's precise counterattack window and perfect-dodge timing.

I wish Silent Hill F had leaned into that style of play, but it's just not that kind of game. It's an action game with a horror veneer, and that's something I go to Resident Evil for rather than Silent Hill.