Silent Hill has a rich history in the gaming space. It has provided some of the scariest moments in the horror genre and spawned a film franchise and many fans across several generations. The series consistently reinvents itself, and this is the key to its success.
The latest game in the series, Townfall, is here to reinvent it once again and shake things up, keeping Silent Hill feeling fresh for today’s generation of gamers.
This time around, a whole lot has changed. Set in a village on a remote island off the coast of Scotland and switching to a first-person perspective, this adjustment to the series allows Townfall to stand out from the overcrowded horror genre, delivering one of the best Silent Hill titles in recent years.
Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here
The game is set in St Amelia, a remote island off the coast of Scotland. You play as new protagonist Simon Ordell, who arrives on the island with an unexplained IV in his arm. You explore the seemingly deserted island that is shrouded in mist. Trying to find any survivors and piece together the events of what happened and most importantly why you are there.
The game uses similar mechanics to previous titles, with complicated puzzles, lengthy stealth sections, and plenty of deformed, unnerving creatures that will stay with you long after you finish playing.
Along with the IV that gives Simon a new lease on life when things get hairy (and they get VERY hairy!), you use a portable CRT TV and tune into various stations that give you clues to connect the pieces together. It also lets you see where enemies are and the direction they are in. It can feel a little like cheating at times, but it can definitely come in handy in the later parts of the game.
Keeping in theme with the 90s, there are phone booths that you use to save the game manually and dial around other numbers you find in your clues to get more information. There are also connected answering machines where you can listen to saved or new messages from residents around St Amelia that will lead you to more clues.
What I loved about these mechanics was feeling like a true detective moving from place to place, scenario to scenario, uncovering as much as you can, finding multiple clues and then moving onto the next area, while dodging or taking out any monsters along the way. You use the TV, phone booths and pick up any weapons and ammo along the way to aid you in your quest.
I found myself getting lost in the mystery and finding clues, and whenever I started feeling confident, the game would turn back into a horror survival and absolutely punish me for becoming too complacent (in all the best ways!) If you miss your TV pinging that an enemy is nearby and don’t tune in to see where it is, and you are not fully equipped weapon-wise, the game has no problem wiping you out and forcing you to do the whole sequence over again.
Simon is not the only character you play during this game, as you progress through the story and mystery, other characters that you discover become playable and are vital to learning about the outbreak and mystery of what happened in St Amelia. These characters replace the TV with other objects like a pager and various other tech from 1996.
Some photos that you need to look at on home computers don’t display because it’s only 1996, so you have to manually print them and then collect them to unlock the clue. It is a great way to flesh out the backstory of the game without resorting to a cut scene and helps immerse you in the plague of St Amelia.
Movie or Cinematic Game?
Visually, this game is unlike anything the franchise has done before. The photorealistic recreation of a misty abandoned village in coastal Scotland is dark, moody and completely intoxicating. The buildings in the town square and traditional fishing village vibes are immaculately detailed and are a large reason as to why this game works so well. The monsters are terrifying to look at, and some of the ones that I won’t spoil later in the game are beyond anything I’ve experienced in a horror game before, and I never wish to encounter anything like them in the future.
Performance-wise, this was a complete dream. I reviewed this on the PS5 Pro, and the flawless 60 fps combined with the incredible graphics is a strong case for the best-looking game of the year. Sure, when things get super intensive on the screen, it can dip a bit down to 40fps, but it still is miles above what any other studio has been able to deliver this year for a dev team of this size. I would find myself getting lost in apartment blocks and streets with the incredible attention to detail on display here.
For all of its positives, the main downside of this game is the length, clocking in at just over the 10-hour mark; the story is tight and could easily have a few more hours added to it, considering the large map the game has to work with. Sure, this could all be coming later with DLC (as of writing, there are no announced expansions or story DLC coming), but the world that they have created here is so great; I wanted more time in it.
Relying on the auto-save is not a smart move; if you need a break, finding a phone booth and performing a manual save is almost necessary to avoid having to redo parts of the game you have already finished. It’s not a big complaint, but enough to be an annoyance.
Final Thoughts
Silent Hill: Townfall is the revival this franchise needed. By moving locations and shrouding the release in complete mystery, the team at Konami have delivered arguably the best horror game of 2026. Simon as a protagonist is curious and endearing, and as a player, you want to uncover the mystery of what happened, find out why the place is deserted and why he has an IV drip in his arm.
Fair warning: if, like me, you are really afraid of needles, this game will make you confront that fear MANY times, but never enough to make you want to stop playing.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Flawless performance; Beautiful visuals; One of the most terrifying games in the series
Lowlights: Short campaign
Developer: ScreenBurn
Publisher: Konami Entertainment
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 Pro with a code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
