Must know
What’s it? A single-player psychological horror sport which takes place on an remoted Scottish island. The protagonist Simon Ordell has to unravel puzzles, struggle monsters, and work out what the hell is occurring.
Launch date September 24, 2026
Anticipate to pay $50 / £45
Developer Display Burn
Writer Konami
Reviewed on RTX 3070, Core AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, 16GB RAM
Multiplayer No
Steam Deck Unknown
Hyperlink Steam
Strolling as much as the outdated city of St Amelia for the primary time in Silent Hill: Townfall, I used to be greeted by that acquainted thick fog and eerie quiet—an omen of the horrors to come back. I do know what sort of monsters are ready for me past the fog and I’m painfully conscious of simply how unprepared I’m for it—with no flashlight, therapeutic gadgets, or weapon available. However weirdly sufficient none of that issues, as a result of for the primary time in a Silent Hill sport I really feel content material.
St Amelia is a fictional city, however as I am positive many gamers based mostly within the UK will quickly uncover, developer Display Burn breathes a lot life into this sleepy fishing village that I may’ve sworn I would been right here earlier than. It is actually a wierd feeling to have in a sport like this, however with Konami opening Silent Hill as much as the world it is now the UK’s flip to have our sense of dwelling toyed with.
Right here to undergo
The story follows Simon Ordell, a person unknown to us and himself. The one sense of individual he has comes from a medical bracelet together with his identify, date of beginning, and blood sort written on it. I watched as he dragged himself up from the waves of the North Sea, onto the docks, and headed into St Amelia in search of assist and solutions as to why he is right here on this chilly foggy island.
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A Silent Hill sport is nothing with out its setting and St Amelia delivers. I spent extra time than I would care to confess studying information boards in regards to the historical past of fishing on the island and peeping over fences to see how the locals had achieved up their gardens. The extra I explored, the higher sense I received of the sort of people that lived on this city and what had occurred to them.
Simon additionally sees extra than simply the outdated city as he ventures to a hospital, a company workplace, your basic Silent Hill supernatural ‘different place’, and, brace your self, some new builds. My time in St Amelia flew by moderately shortly, with simply 13 hours spent in complete, however that was greater than sufficient to be rewarded with heaps of sensible visible storytelling and the same old reward of anxious encounters.
(Picture credit score: Konami)
St Amelia has its justifiable share of gut-wrenching horrors lurking round every nook, although—you do not spend a grand complete of 35 minutes and 5 seconds hiding in lockers except there’s one thing fairly unhealthy ready for you on the opposite aspect. However even nonetheless, I discovered myself drawn to exploring the fog as a result of my curiosity outweighed my worry.
However the additional I progressed the much less content material I grew to become. Not as a result of there have been extra faceless and certain monsters stumbling round (though that did not assist), however as a result of there was extra to the island than St Amelia’s historic outdated city. There was a aspect that was painfully acquainted—cobblestone streets shifted into tarmac roads and cottages have been was flats for higher effectivity. The island modified as Simon moved away from the center of St Amelia and in the direction of the parasite which had latched onto it.
The city itself felt alive extra than simply lived in, and if that does not tick all of the packing containers for a world-class Silent Hill setting, I do not know what does.
Attempt to B constructive
A great rule of thumb in Silent Hill is to strategy its puzzles with lateral considering, and Townfall isn’t any totally different. They begin pretty simple, teaching you within the artwork of taking in completely every thing out of your environment, digesting it, after which stitching collectively a solution from what has been gathered. It is the basic case of discovering the mixture to a lock by sifting by way of letters conveniently left scattered across the close to neighborhood.
However as I spent extra time in St Amelia, my mind progressively received the dangle of taking a look at issues from a Silent Hill perspective. And though the puzzles received more durable it did not really feel like a noticeable distinction. Hell, the very first thing I assumed when stumbling throughout a bunch of blood varieties scribbled throughout the wall was “It is a puzzle and it needs me to determine the way to create blood sort A+”. If it weren’t for the 7+ hours I would already spent in Townfall I doubt that may have been my default response.
There have been just a few exceptions in the direction of the very finish of the sport, nonetheless, I feel a recent mind would have had far much less points. Take the dreaded pipe room for instance, the place I had to make use of what morse code to twist a room stuffed with levers in the correct path. After bashing my head towards my desk my synapses sparked, a thought was fashioned, and I figured it out—I want you all the very best of luck with that one.
The puzzles aren’t the one sensible design options in Townfall, although, with the very best and brightest being the hand-held CRTV. This shortly grew to become my closest companion because it allowed me to see the creepies by way of any wall or impediment. It could look like a little bit of a cheat code attending to know the place the monsters are however there are some limitations.
The CRTV would be the most artistic, enjoyable, and helpful puzzle fixing software I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking part in with.
It isn’t all the time crystal clear the place the monsters have been, typically the CRTV could possibly be a smidge off or it would not relay {that a} monster is definitely additional away than it first appeared. It can also’t present a number of enemies on one frequency, which implies I needed to toggle between a number of to see all of the monsters that have been shut.
I would not say I am a lot of a pacifist however I opted to forgo the planks of wooden, pipes, and firearms for a lot of the sport, as a substitute favouring the CRTV as my weapon towards the monsters to assist me stealth round them. I performed on the traditional problem and I did not have a run in with a monster till fairly far into the latter levels of the sport. They are not blind, I used to be simply in a position to transfer round them with some ease if I used the CRTV accurately and was cautiously optimistic about how briskly Simon may run.
Even with all its finicky buttons the CRTV would be the most artistic, enjoyable, and helpful puzzle fixing software I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking part in with. It turned navigating Townfall into one large scary puzzle, which is precisely what I search for in Silent Hill.
You possibly can’t change
However all of those wonderful puzzles and incredible world constructing could be for nought if Townfall hadn’t additionally been in a position to pull off the type of stunning and psychologically jarring storytelling we have come to anticipate from the Silent Hill collection.
However the truth that there’s one thing off about Simon is not what pursuits me—the enjoyable half is discovering out what he did.
To say there’s one thing fallacious with Simon could be to state the plain. We’re in a Silent Hill sport in spite of everything, and nobody of their sound thoughts would hallucinate grotesque faceless monsters which shoot needles out from their abdomens. However the truth that there’s one thing off about Simon is not what pursuits me—the enjoyable half is discovering out what he did to finish up like this. It is clear that individuals within the city are offended, that some terrible catastrophe occurred on this island which rocked its neighborhood to its core. What’s unclear, nonetheless, is why it entails some seemingly random American dude with induced amnesia.
However Simon’s not on his personal. There are two different characters who additionally inhabit this liminal area with him—Zoe and Richard. At first I simply thought these to be your typical filler characters however because it seems these two are maybe essentially the most fascinating characters to have ever fallen into the fog.
Zoe and Richard painting totally different sides of the identical catastrophe that Simon’s caught in the midst of, with one being wrongfully responsible and the opposite willfully ignorant. Each have their very own playable segments inside the sport during which their characters are explored in depth alongside the roles they performed within the disaster, and thru this I started to piece collectively Simon’s story.
My favorite sequence in all of Townfall was truly Zoe’s half. On this she relives the aftermath of the catastrophe as a nurse and a primary responder to the victims as she tries to save lots of the lifetime of an unknown affected person.
I’m not a educated nurse so taking the affected person’s readings, working exams, and finally medicating them was in all probability one of many extra anxious experiences I’ve had in a horror sport. Nevertheless it was value it as a result of by way of the stress I understood her guilt and trauma with painful readability. It additionally made it clear why she’s discovered herself wrapped up on this mess.
Then there’s Richard who’s an reverse to Zoe in each sense of the phrase. He isn’t innocent or caring; he is an asshole. However boy, is he an fascinating character research. I will not go into an excessive amount of element regarding Richard as his story is one that’s higher skilled firsthand. However, like with Zoe, after taking part in by way of his sequence it grew to become clear to me what this sport’s curse is. Whereas the reply appeared easy at first inspecting the curse by way of the lens of three totally different characters provides sufficient range for an extremely rewarding story and evaluation of its characters.
(Picture credit score: Konami)
My solely difficulty with Townfall was that I did not get to spend extra time with Zoe and Richard, as a result of compared Simon is just a bit boring. His function as a clean template for gamers to print themselves onto labored wonders for immersion however finally his character suffered for it. I discovered myself drawn extra to Zoe and Richard, two characters who had extra invested on this neighborhood from the get go.
That is to not say I dislike Simon. He is a incredible character who comes into his personal in the course of the latter levels of the story and is somebody who will develop on me the extra time I spend mulling Townfall over.
In any case was mentioned and achieved and I would lastly reached the tip of Townfall’s sensible story, my overwhelming feeling was one in all reduction. Like Silent Hill f earlier than it, Townfall had some monumental expectations to reside as much as and the unenviable activity of proving that but once more the mystique of Silent Hill shouldn’t be restricted to 1 mountainous city. Nevertheless it’s now clear that Display Burn completely understands what makes an excellent Silent Hill sport and the collection is healthier off for it.
