Both Resident Evil and Silent Hill are iconic franchises in the realm of video game horror, and they continue to launch new titles today. These series both debuted in the late 1990s on the original Sony PlayStation.
However, Silent Hill’s psychological approach to horror has attracted a more niche following compared to the broadly appealing Resident Evil.
While Resident Evil features police officers and secret agents delivering quips amid a zombie apocalypse, Silent Hill immerses players in tense environments filled with unreliable narrators and symbols that represent confronting past traumas or sins.
Silent Hill: Townfall, published by Konami and developed by Glasgow-based Screen Burn Interactive, contains moments that epitomize horror in gaming today. Yet, with a mix of mechanics that sometimes clash, you may find certain aspects of the game thrilling, while others might frustrate you.
Welcome to St. Amelia
The initial premise of Townfall is unusual. Set in 1996, we follow American Simon Ordell (voiced by The Leftovers‘ Jovan Adepo) as he washes ashore in St. Amelia, an abandoned Scottish fishing village, completely unaware of how he arrived. He has an IV bag attached to his arm, with tubing inserted into his left hand.
Protest signs populate the town square, implying a corporation is involved in a disaster of some sort. When Simon picks up a ringing payphone, he speaks with a man named Richard (Lost’s Terry O’Quinn), who instructs him to find a nurse named Zoe Ellis (Kezia Burrows). Although she knows Simon, he has no recollection of her.
The once-bustling fishing village is now inhabited by grotesque, humanoid creatures that moan and growl, despite their lack of facial features.
The haunting and seemingly deserted Scottish fishing town of St. Amelia serves as the backdrop for Silent Hill: Townfall. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
A crucial element for Simon’s survival is the CRTV, a handheld portable television reminiscent of Sony’s Sport Watchman. By tuning this device, he can see the shivering silhouettes of enemies against a static red screen, enabling him to evade them stealthily.
From the fuzzy screen, cryptic messages appear, providing glimpses of his next destination, like Zoe’s house, or clues to unlock a rusty pharmacy locker, occasionally accompanied by snippets of audio from Zoe or Richard through its low-fidelity speaker.
As for dealing with enemies, your options are quite limited: throwing a bottle can divert their attention; a decaying wooden plank can withstand one hit but will break soon after. A handgun serves as a powerful last resort, but ammunition is scarce, often leaving you with only a few bullets.
This setup cultivates a sense of dread and powerlessness, compelling you to avoid confrontations whenever feasible.
The CRTV, a portable handheld television, helps players locate clues and track enemy movements. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
First-person stumbles
In a first for the series, Townfall is entirely experienced from a first-person viewpoint, allowing players to see the world through Simon’s eyes (though some chapters switch to Zoe or Richard).
Since your field of vision is limited to what is directly in front of you, you’ll constantly be scanning left and right while using sound cues and your CRTV to monitor potential threats.
The player rushes into a clinic and successfully locks the door just in time to evade a terrifying creature. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
However, this shift comes with challenges; button prompts appear when you approach items or interactable objects, but the displayed icons and text can often be too small to read quickly.
Frequently, while scrambling to find a closet to evade a pursuing monster, I wasted crucial seconds searching for the “X” button prompt. At times, while attempting to sidestep an enemy in a narrow corridor, I accidentally pressed the button, thinking I was picking up a health item, only to slam a door shut on myself, leading to my demise.
Simon is searching for Zoe Ellis (Kezia Burrows), a nurse who might have insights into his situation in St. Amelia. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
Masters of unlocking
Silent Hill: Townfall shines brightest when you’re navigating various sections of the town as if it were a colossal puzzle, exploring eerie homes and alleys to reach your next objective.
You will refer to your paper map, marked in red to indicate locked doors and previously searched areas, strategizing your next moves, mentally noting enemy locations, and taking a deep breath before embarking on your quest for the next clue or item. Each step draws you in, compelling you to follow the trail of breadcrumbs for hours.
Players will explore old emails and programs on floppy disks using retro ’90s computers in Silent Hill: Townfall. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
A significant amount of time will also be spent interacting with ’90s-era computers, checking answering machines for messages alongside landline phones, and searching for floppy disks and cassette tapes during your journey.
This intrigue with vintage technology is a hallmark of developer Screen Burn, previously known as No Code, who effectively employed the unsettling ambiance of a monitor’s low capacitor hum in their 2017 sleeper hit Stories Untold.
The Weight of it all
The stakes escalate (and become metaphysical) when St. Amelia transitions into an alternate dimension, potentially reflecting a fragment of Simon’s mind. This realm is drenched in a crimson light. Black iron pipes obstruct paths that were once clear, and enemies pursue you in greater numbers.
This is a hallmark of Silent Hill games, intensified by the introduction of The Weight — a larger, grotesque entity capable of killing you instantly if it catches you.
The common horror game trope of “hiding from the big bad” is present here, with Screen Burn’s team boasting members who contributed to Alien: Isolation, a standout in this subgenre.
Silent Hill: Townfall becomes most perilous when it thrusts players into a haunted alternate version of St. Amelia, illuminated by blood-red light. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
However, this becomes a source of frustration, as The Weight often moves unpredictably and can sometimes position itself directly in front of your hiding spot, leaving you trapped for extended periods.
Most frustratingly, if it catches you, the game frequently respawns you right at the point of your death — with The Weight still looming in front of you, creating a maddening cycle of death.
While the visuals in St. Amelia’s nightmare version are initially striking, they can become monotonous over time.
This is particularly regrettable because some elements of “normal” St. Amelia stand out for their originality. A flat within a corporate housing block shifts and transforms seemingly at the whim of haunted cassette tapes. Later, Richard attempts to scale an office tower teeming with monsters, scavenging precious shotgun shells left by the bodies of those who failed before him.
Another attempt? For die-hards, maybe
After an exhausting 18-plus hours in Silent Hill: Townfall, I arrived at the conclusion of the storyline — or one of them, at least. The game features at least five different endings, each (hopefully) illuminating the tragedy of St. Amelia and the roles played by Richard, Zoe, and Simon.
While the series is noted for its atmospheric focus rather than a cohesive narrative, I still felt disheartened by how many questions remained unanswered or how many times I would need to replay to discover new insights.
A grim situation awaits nurse Zoe in Silent Hill: Townfall. (Screen Burn/Konami Digital Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive)
The thrill I experienced while exploring the town was countered by the frustration of hiding from The Weight — suggesting that perhaps only the most devoted Silent Hill enthusiasts, or those who genuinely appreciate every conflicting aspect of horror in video games, will be able to endure the entire experience, let alone replay it multiple times.