Silent Hill f Was Almost Set in the Real 'Silent Hill'

The upcoming NeoBards-developed survival horror game Silent Hill f almost had the “real” Silent Hill in Japan as its setting. The ninth mainline game in the celebrated series is one that many fans of the franchise are looking forward to. With the release date approaching after three years of waiting, Silent Hill f has received two trailers in recent months and some behind-the scenes videos that are particularly feeding anticipation.

Konami has outsourced a number of new Silent Hill projects, which were announced during the company’s Silent Hill Transmission presentation in 2022. Of these, Silent Hill f will be the only new, full-fledged entry in the series, so it has expectations high. Silent Hill: Ascension was generally poorly received and came and went with minimal attention, as did 2024’s Silent Hill: The Short Message, the sole project developed by Konami. These dampened fan hopes quite a bit, but the release of Bloober Team’s multi award-winning and nominated Silent Hill 2 remake at the end of that same year peripherally revived enthusiasm for Silent Hill f.

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By Carley Garcia

The upcoming game represents a major and controversial break for the series, as Silent Hill f is the first mainline entry not actually set in the town of Silent Hill in Maine, USA. Instead, f will take place in Japan, and according to the game’s writer, Ryukishi07, it was almost set in the country’s literal Silent Hill, Shizuoka Prefecture, whose name translation means Quiet or Silent Hill. In an interview with Famitsu, the developer explained that, unfortunately, Shizuoka did not make an appropriate setting for the game’s fog-filled environment because Mount Fuji is visible from every location in the prefecture.

Silent Hill f Almost Took Place in Silent Hill...Prefecture

Instead of being able to take advantage of the tempting opportunity to locate the game in the real Silent Hill, the developers decided on the town of Kanayama in Gifu Prefecture as inspiration for the setting of Silent Hill f. Taking place in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, the next title in the Silent Hill series follows the terror-filled adventures of high schooler Hinako Shimizu as she makes her way through foggy streets, fights horrifying monsters, solves puzzles, and battles her own psyche.

Though many Silent Hill loyalists are a bit perturbed by the new setting of the upcoming Silent Hill f, developer NeoBards has added references to previous games, so hopefully the new entry won’t feel entirely disconnected from the rest of the franchise. And it will of course feature music by series composer Akira Yamaoka, who, if Silent Hill: The Short Message is any indication, will successfully recreate the telltale and iconic musical tone of the new game. It was also announced in June 2025 that Bloober Team is indeed working on a remake of the original Silent Hill, giving fans even more to be excited about.

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