The terrific Silent Hill 2 remake brought the series back from the dead, but the equally good yet very different Silent Hill f proved it could experiment, evolve, and expand the idea of what a Silent Hill game could be. So when I saw Silent Hill: Townfall ($49.99, played on PlayStation 5 Pro and also available on PC) at this year’s Summer Game Fest, I hoped it would continue that trend. Townfall features a new location, new gameplay mechanics, and a shift to first person, something the series has flirted with in both the infamous Silent Hills demo (also known as P.T.), and the much maligned, free-to-play Silent Hill: The Short Message, but hasn’t utilized in a full retail release until now.
To that end,Ithink Silent Hill: Townfall gets the atmosphere right, with gorgeous visuals and chilling, moody music from Anthony Scott Burns (also known as Pilotpriest). In addition, it has a compelling approach to navigation and puzzle-solving. But unlike Silent Hill f, Townfall’s combat is clunky, and its stealth mechanics, unique as they may be, are more annoying than thrilling. But worst of all are its weak characters and story, which ultimately don’t feel as personal as other recent entries in the series.
Xbox Mode for Windows 11: Why You Need This Update
Welcome to St. Amelia: Fog, Retro Tech, and First-Person Dread
Taking a note from Silent Hill f, Townfall moves the titular town to a new setting and time period, this time set in the fictional Scottish town of St. Amelia in 1996. Emerging from the water without his memories and a strange IV line running from his hand to his heart, you assume the control of Simon Ordell. An ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, Simon also marks the series’ first Black protagonist.
It’s technically not the first time the series has dabbled in first-person perspective, but Townfall certainly uses it in ways previous attempts did not. The new perspective adds a layer of immersion to a series that was already dripping with layers of surreal ambiance. The abandoned seaside town, sealed off by tall concrete walls that disappear into the sky, the thick rolling fog, and inhuman squelches coming from creatures still unseen, all set an unsettling scene. Couple that with movie-style letterboxing, and Townfall feels far more cinematic than ever before, much to the credit of developer Screen Burn Interactive and publisher Annapurna Interactive.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
Townfall is an especially gorgeous game, and while the exploration is limited to small chunks of St. Amelia, I found a lot of fun in Townfall’s uniquely cerebral puzzle-solving and navigation. Being set in the mid ’90s does help, as puzzles are built around inserting a floppy disk into separate disk drives, and navigating the chunky chassis of ’90s-era hardware did coax a sense of nostalgia as well as dread as you wait for email inboxes to refresh over dial-up connections. Another one had me performing surgery, but also measuring correct dosages by searching through medical records. I’m not ashamed to admit that some of the puzzles had me stumped for hours at a time. To me, this is one of Townfall’s strongest elements.
Early in the game, Simon discovers a pocket-sized TV. This device not only warns you of incoming threats (similar to the radio static in previous games) but also gently nudges you in the right direction by showing a garbled feed of landmarks. You do have a map, but you’ll have to navigate the streets and seek out landmarks yourself to figure out what’s calling you from the other side of the screen.
The mini TV is not only for navigation but also serves as a radar, detecting enemies lurking behind walls and out of view. Using this, along with the audio cues and good old-fashioned peeking around the corner, you can gauge how close or far enemies are and sneak up on them, avoiding conflict rather than fighting.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
Slow-Moving Stealth
At its core, to borrow the term from Thief: The Dark Prophecy, Townfall is a “first-person sneaker.” Therein lies Townfall’s first hurdle. Stealth games that want you to choose combat as a last resort can be a difficult sell, as stealth-focused games must ensure that playing cat and mouse is always engaging.
There are plenty of examples of good stealth gameplay in third-person games, though far fewer in first-person. Titles like the aforementioned Thief: The Dark Prophecy give you ample tools to lure guards and disrupt their environments, while the dynamic AI of the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation keeps encounters from becoming stale. Unfortunately for Townfall, stealth is not very engaging and, after a while, becomes pretty tedious.
The slow-moving enemies typically follow predetermined paths, which means most encounters are a game of patience. Wait for the monster to turn around, or chuck a brick or bottle to make a noise and lure it away. Aside from the occasional car alarm, there aren’t many other options for dealing with the creatures.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
At its best, it can lead to creepy, claustrophobic encounters, but at its worst, it makes the already plodding pace of exploration feel even slower. So slow, in fact, that you might be tempted to beat the monsters to death rather than sneak and wait. But combat, which in truth has never been a highlight in any of these games (Silent Hill f being the only exception), feels like an afterthought in Townfall.
A Half-Baked Melee System
Armed with a plank of wood or a lead pipe, you engage in an almost Simon Says routine of “hit-hit-block” until you kill the enemy or your weapon breaks. Occasionally, the enemy will grab you and force you to smash a button to break free. But the worst encounter was with a creature called The Weight, which results in instant death if it grabs you. In many cases, I just found myself sprinting from one spot to the next, in hopes that I could avoid the encounter altogether.
It’s such a shame because it’s not like first-person combat is a new thing. Games like Chivalry 2, Dying Light: The Beast, and Dishonored got it right. Hell, Condemned: Criminal Origins got it right in 2005. Attacks don’t really have weight to them, and grabby enemies can sometimes just stop the flow of combat, grabbing you over and over again. One instance, after I was caught by The Weight, an item I had equipped, bought me back to life, only for The Weight to be standing right in front of me, grabbing me again and killing me again, this time for good.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
High Atmosphere, Low Emotional Stakes
With gameplay ranging from boring to annoying, I was hoping that the story might engage me enough to push on through. And it does, for the most part, but I found the story lacking a distinct heart in its motivations. It’s natural, but I couldn’t help but compare it with the recent Silent Hill games.
In Silent Hill 2, the game starts with James Sunderland reading a note from his dead wife, giving us a reason to move into this suspiciously foggy town. As the game progresses, the events unfold, prompting you to question what kind of person James really is. At every save point, the game forces James to stare at his reflection, and after the story’s plot twist, James averts his eyes, unable to face his own guilt. Despite being shared with other characters, James’ version of Silent Hill feels like his personal hell, one born of his twisted psyche. The remake delivers these themes and more, slightly tweaking the story to make James’ journey feel more Sisyphean.
Recommended by Our Editors
I’ll Be Honest, I’m Dreading the Launch of GTA 6
The Best PC Games for 2026
The Best Sony PlayStation 5 Games for 2026
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
Similarly, Silent Hill f’s Hinako Shimizu undergoes a deeply personal version of Silent Hill. Hinako, on the cusp of adulthood, resents her subservient mother and abusive father, and sees her sister’s marriage as a trap rather than an escape. As the fog of Silent Hill takes over her town, she has to fight for her autonomy, both literally and as a critique of gender roles for women in more conservative 1960s Japan.
Silent Hill: Townfall, on the other hand, feels impersonal. Simon is a total outsider to St. Amelia, and we never get a good idea of who Simon is. And with the addition of multiple protagonists, we don’t really get to spend time with one person long enough to build a connection with them. The game switches between Simon, Zoey Ellis, a local nurse, and a mysterious man named Richard, all of whom are connected to a man-made disaster that caused the small town to fall apart.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
While you play as Zoey and Richard at certain points of the game, their stories are both centered around Simon, but as you learn the circumstances of his arrival and his choices, you can see the outcome coming. Without delving into spoilers, it became obvious really quickly that the disaster and Simon’s guilt were woven into one another. Did he cause it? Did he try to stop it? And can he fix it? Those are questions that may or may not be answered as you play.
Now, yes, when it comes to storytelling, Christopher Nolan did rightfully say that being “able to identify the mechanism does not invalidate the mechanism.” Still, I also think that Townfall’s pacing falls flat. The atmosphere is rich, but the story unfolds at a pace that’s just as unsatisfyingly slow as its stealth gameplay. It does pick up toward the back half of the game, but by the time it does, it’s over.
(Credit: Annapurna Interactive)
Experimentation Isn’t Enough to Save Townfall
It’s hard for any game or movie to be so clever every time, but what sets Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill f apart from f is that both managed to get me to care about my character’s story, and then surprise me with the twists that come. Townfall’s story is nowhere near as bad as The Short Message, but it lacks the heart of those other games that ultimately make me care about the characters.
I’m happy that Silent Hill remains dedicated to experimentation, though I worry that annual releases may muddy the comeback of a series that has more bad games than good. Although there are moments in the game that are genuinely interesting, by the end of it, I didn’t really care about Simon or St. Amelia. And thanks to annoying stealth gameplay and clunky combat, it just isn’t that fun to play.
About Our Expert
Zackery Cuevas
Writer, Hardware
Experience
I’m a PCMag reviewer and ISF-certified TV calibrator focused on computer accessories, laptops, gaming monitors, and video games. I’ve been writing, playing, and complaining about games for as long as I remember, but it wasn’t until recently that I’ve been able to shout my opinions directly at a larger audience. My work has appeared on iMore, Windows Central, Android Central, and TWICE, and I have a diverse portfolio of editing work under my belt from my time spent at Scholastic and Oxford University Press. I also have a few book-author credits under my belt—I’ve contributed to the sci-fi anthology Under New Suns, and I’ve even written a Peppa Pig book.
Areas of Expertise
Latest By Zackery Cuevas
- Asus ROG Swift PG34WCDN Review: An Ultrawide Powerhouse for Work and Play
- Razer Reclusa X Mini 65% Review: Small Keyboard, Small Price, Big Value
- The Best Curved Monitors for 2026
- Hertz So Good: Acer’s Latest Predator Gaming Monitor Joins the 1,000Hz Club
- Acer’s New Predator Atlas 7 Proves the Intel Arc G3 Can Fit Almost Anywhere
- More from Zackery Cuevas
