Stored game record
Silent Hill: Townfall
Simon Ordell is called back to the island of St. Amelia to ‘put things right’, encountering a town lying quiet beneath a heavy fog, seemingly abandoned but not at rest. Venturing deeper, and driven to understand his connection to the place and its inhabitants, Simon begins to discover fragments of a past rising to the surface. Preserving the core identity of psychological horror that the series is renowned for, SILENT HILL: Townfall presents an all-new, self-contained story, suitable for those both new to the series, and those who have ventured into the fog before. Fog-soaked streets, abandoned communities, and forgotten corners tell their story through atmosphere and history. Reality and delusion subtly intertwine to lure players into the depths of the grounded, tangible world of St. Amelia. SILENT HILL: Townfall exudes the beautiful and foggy streets of Scotland, offering a new setting to tell a unique and haunting story. More than just a horror game, this is a tale of introspection, loss, and consequence. Fear grows from small details, quiet moments, and the long shadow of Simon's past. Swing and block with melee weapons in frenetic melee combat, or keep your distance and use firearms to survive. Choose how to engage in each encounter, using both the tools at your disposal and the environment around you. Beyond fighting or fleeing, carefully sneak past danger through stealth, tracking enemy positions from cover or luring them away with distractions. [Konami]
- Screen Burn
Platform scores
| Platform | Metascore | Userscore |
|---|---|---|
| PC | 80 | 6.6 |
| PlayStation 5 | 80 | 7.1 |
What players said
Praise
- A beautiful game with a good story. ️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
Criticism
- Sneaking sections and stalker enemy are annoying and so is the last puzzle that's was ridiculous and boring almost quit there but I o forced myself through it
Mixed
- Entertaining enough to want to see the credits, but one particular recurring enemy with very bad AI tested my patience and will to push through very hard. Some very good puzzles, but also a few too cryptic ones.
- Better than I expected and much scarier than Silent Hill f. The first Silent Hill in first person is basically a mix between Alien: Isolation and a classic SH. For the first two-thirds of the game, ammo is extremely scarce and shooting is almost never worth it, as it attracts other enemies and takes several shots to bring one down. Melee combat only works to a certain extent as well, so hiding is almost always the best option. The use of the CRTV is interesting, both for finding clues and locating enemies. In the final third, ammo becomes more plentiful, and the situation changes. The puzzles are good and the graphics look great, with extremely high-definition textures. It’s just a shame that the character models look weak compared to everything else and the characters themselves lack charisma, while enemy variety is also quite limited. Still, the more you play, the more you enjoy it, thanks to some genuinely interesting and well-designed gameplay situations.Great job, Scots!
Stored video
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What critics said
Praise
- Silent Hill: Townfall successfully adapts the series to a first-person perspective, with strong environmental design, oppressive sound work, intricate puzzles, and a greater emphasis on stealth and limited resources. The CRTV mechanic gives exploration and puzzle-solving a distinct identity, while St. Amelia provides a convincing new setting for the franchise. Inconsistent enemy behavior, limited creature variety, and overly obscure puzzles can create frustration, but the game remains a technically confident and atmospheric interpretation of Silent Hill.
- Silent Hill: Townfall is a very mixed experience. I like its protagonists, its Scottish setting steeped in brutalist architecture, and the changes Screen Burn has made to the series. The first-person perspective and the art direction and urban design in particular deserve a lot of praise. However, the decision to take the action underground, into dark corridors, completely destroys the otherwise excellent pacing and flow of the story. Without one particular enemy type, Townfall would probably be one of the best Silent Hill games I’ve ever played. Now, hanging over all the great moments and agonizingly tense sequences is one big toxic cloud that ruins the atmosphere. It’s a shame that one single element spoils what is otherwise a highly successful and genuinely atmospheric horror adventure. Or at least part of it.
Criticism
- An unsettling, disturbing, and narratively compelling work. Imperfections arise when gameplay feels weak; when its horror hits the mark, it makes you forget those imperfections.
Mixed
- Silent Hill: Townfall exasperates with a story that’s obtuse in all the wrong ways and gameplay that occasionally just doesn't work. At the same time, it delivers genuinely scary sequences and demonstrates a clear respect for Silent Hill’s stylistic trappings, at times being able to make my shoulders tense up like rocks. When Townfall’s good it’s f.cking good, but when it’s not, it’s more likely to be clumsy, frustrating, or just plain boring. The question, however, is whether or not it has enough going for it to be considered good on the whole, and that’s an assessment I had been hemming and hawing on since I started playing. Then the last act of the game kicked in and wore out my patience, so I’m settling on “it’s alright mostly.”