Konami says Silent Hill f has extra “thrilling,” action-heavy fight as a result of youthful gamers are interested in “difficult motion video games.”
In a latest interview with Recreation*Spark, transcribed by Automatonand picked up by IGNSilent Hill sequence producer Motoi Okamoto and Silent Hill f director Al Yang opened up in regards to the determination to offer Silent Hill f a higher concentrate on melee fight, suggesting it was based mostly a minimum of partly on trade developments.
“Inserting extra entertaining and thrilling motion into Silent Hill f was an concept I had ever because the early phases of the event,” Okamoto stated.
“And, since NeoBards is an organization that is tremendously good at making motion video games, that is additionally one of many the reason why we determined to decide on them because the builders,” he added.
This elevated emphasis on fight was highlighted in the course of the Silent Hill f showcase on the June 2025 Sony State of Play, at which period Okamoto stated the sport could have “a heavier concentrate on melee and be extra action-oriented in comparison with final yr’s Silent Hill 2.”
“The Silent Hill sequence is not thought-about a recreation that has entertaining motion per se, however as we’re opening our doorways to new gamers, we started to surprise what it will be like if we added extra of these parts into the sport.” Okamoto added.
“Difficult motion video games are gaining reputation amongst youthful gamers these days, so I believed that if we applied such parts into the sport, it will resonate effectively even with people who find themselves new to the sequence.”
Full disclosure: Darkish Souls has by no means been my jam. I will not wade into the discourse there; I simply do not have enjoyable enjoying them, so I often do not. That stated, I’ve felt some sense of petty vindication in recent times as the subject of Soulslike fatigue turns into an increasing number of prevalent. I’ve nothing in opposition to these video games and perceive why some individuals like them, nevertheless it’s good to see a rising refrain of individuals basically settlement that, hey, perhaps there are sufficient Soulslikes.
Once I first heard Silent Hill f can be extra fight heavy, I wasn’t apprehensive in any respect. I like fight! I simply do not vibe with the Soulslike rhythm of dodging, parrying, and dealing poke injury as an enormous bizarre factor lumbers round a confined fight zone for 45 minutes. That is why, when GamesRadar’s Oscar Taylor-Kent went hands-on with Silent Hill f and stated he is “anxious in regards to the parry-heavy fight,” which he explicitly in comparison with the Darkish Souls sequence, I used to be like, shit.
He wasn’t the one one both. After varied previews from different media retailers talked about this imprecise FromSoftness of the fight, a spirited on-line dialogue was spurred into movement, with many expressing the same trepidation to Oscar’s and my very own.
Alas, Yang stated, “We did not need to find yourself recreating Silent Hill 2 again and again, and we had been conscious that there was no cause to maintain making clones of it. So, with the intention to keep away from repeating what earlier main titles did, we determined to make the motion stand out extra.”
I do know, I do know, I am getting manner forward of myself right here. With adjustable problem choices and just about nothing connecting it to Darkish Souls past some imprecise similarities in fight, Silent Hill f is not a Soulslike by any stretch of the creativeness. It is simply that Yang and Okamoto appeared to suggest that Silent Hill f’s fight was designed to chase an trade development that sounds quite a bit like Darkish Souls that rubs me the improper manner.
In equity, the quotes I am decoding had been translated from Japanese, and there is an inherent murkiness to intent that occurs once you cross language borders like that. They could not have had Darkish Souls or Soulslikes on their minds in any respect after they stated that, so this might very effectively all be an entire lot of scuttlebutt over nothing. This is hoping, anyway.
