Silent Hill: Townfall [Review]

I can't really say that I was well received in the humid and foggy city of St. Amelia. Empty streets and houses were filled with stories about a catastrophe that severed people from each other some years ago, but as Simon, someone who just mysteriously emerged from the pier, it is a quiet town, serenaded by the sea that surrounds it. Wandering through eerie alleyways, details of Simon's medical condition start to become impossible to ignore, starting with the ominous catheter feeding him a black liquid and the feeling that everything is wrong.

The early memory loss sure is an inconvenience for Simon, and the stillness all around him somehow makes the town claustrophobic to explore, in a gloomy environment that seems to be walled off from existence, like a side reality. Hidden in one of the many empty houses, a pocket CRT TV is suspiciously tuned to a channel that calls the protagonist by his name:

Simon, you shouldn't have come back.

From this moment on, normalcy becomes a rare exception. With a first-person perspective, Silent Hill: Townfall is a rollercoaster ride through someone's broken emotions and perspectives, with a surrealistic yet grounded narrative that boldly suggests trusting the environment as a gameplay loop, never failing to be frightening and tense. It doesn't take that long for humanoid creatures to appear around town, and they are going after anything they see.

While violence is an option most times, the resources are indeed finite, making Townfall more of a hide-and-seek kind of horror game, less bombastic, and focused more on world interactions rather than navigating through combat or hordes of enemies. Eventually, puzzles become the biggest loop and incentive of the game, with not only the standard fetching keys to new areas, but also contextual puzzles that require reading documents and interacting with key items to find the hints to progress.

In many ways, Townfall has an "horror immersive-sim" vibe, needing to navigate through computers and software that are around, as well as contextually "saving" the game by calling for a specific number on the many telephones around town and peeking before entering in monster ridden areas. I liked this aspect of the game, and it is strongest when everything that is relevant to the chapter is key to understand the puzzle at the end, like on the chapter that takes place in a hospital and the player needs to perform a surgery. In many ways, the scope of Silent Hill: Townfall surprised me, with many buildings, alleyways and secrets all around, but also with gameplay twists for spooky problems and challenges.

The pocket CRT Simon found in the beginning of the game is useful to track enemies that are around him, and it also delivers relevant plot points and destinations for him to go next. It is one of the more freeing games, that let me think and plan before moving, hidden, and with a map screen that doesn't pause the game. Knowing how to backtrack is important to navigate without much headaches, and fortunately, St. Amelia isn't as labyrinthine as it first seems to be, with well-placed shortcuts and the eventual lockable door that gives a time to rest. A gripe, though, is that sometimes non-intractable things, like doors or fences, can look intractable because they share props with the real thing – a problem that happens more on the first 3 chapters (of 6).

There are moments, though, that the world seems to break. When the skies turn black and a red hue seeps in, infecting even the thick fog. These surreal and horrific moments are way darker and more hostile than the "real" world, with scares galore and a sense of urgency to leave. I liked these sections, but as the game progresses, they can look the same, a feeling enhanced by the poor enemy variety and poorly lit environments.

Hiding from enemies is a bit standard, with empty bottles and bricks to be thrown that will attract enemies and places to hide here and there. The enemies can be aggressive and unpredictable, but Silent Hill: Townfall isn't reinventing the wheel of the hiding mechanics, but it is polished and works well. It would be nice to interact with things in the city other than car alarms to attract foes, though.

The tragedy of St. Amelia starts to become more and more relevant, and understanding Simon's role on it all is an endearing mystery that I liked to uncover. I do think that some of the documents and narratives can be a bit too heavy handed, but the main themes of corporate greed and indifference were mostly well delivered and crafted.

Although the first person view makes the narrative more intimate and immersive, I needed to do some tweaks to make the game more enjoyable, like removing the black letterboxes and turning off the intrusive motion blur. The game ran well on the PlayStation 5 and it is a looker, with absurdly detailed environments that convincingly structure this now empty island, with great voice acting and dialogue.

When the great conclusions are given and the whole picture is painted, the story of Silent Hill: Townfall ends up being surprisingly easy to understand, considering the chaotic and amnesiac beginning. Sometimes, the themes can be a bit over explained, as if the writers weren't sure that they'd be clear enough. Regardless, I liked what I got, and I loved how an empty, abandoned place can house so many stories.

With great puzzles and a killer atmosphere, Silent Hill: Townfall is a fun and memorable horror game that perfectly delivers on its themes while being frightening to play. It can be repetitive, and sometimes it relies too much on hide-and-seek sections that can frustrate, but its successes outshine its failures.

8.5/10