SILENT HILL: Townfall [Preview] – Discovering a new place on the telly

The fog is back again to obscure the horrors of St. Amelia island.

SILENT HILL: Townfall continues the series’ tradition of narrative driven psychological horror that it is known for. This time players control Simon Ordell, who is on the island to ‘put things right’, instead of going to therapy about it. Simon finds himself alone in town but comes across a CRTV, a small portable CRT that can search for analog frequencies on the island. These broadcasts help guide the player to locations by hinting at puzzles or showing landmarks that might provide the player with a destination to investigate.

The town itself is a seemingly connected world, allowing you to explore a number of the interiors of buildings while searching for answers or resources. We only caught a brief glimpse of the map during the hands-off demo but it seemed to suggest that a large number of the homes would be explorable. The town is incredibly atmospheric, with honestly some of the best looking fog I’ve seen in gaming. The Scottish streets are wet and gloomy, giving off the vibe of a town that’s lost whatever light it once had.

Of course Simon is also able to protect himself, locating different materials and weapons around the map to help in his struggles. We only saw one quick encounter with an axe-head enemy shown off in the trailer. Direct confrontation does not seem preferable unless you’re packing and prepared to face an enemy. However Simon did wake up with some sort of experiment attached to his hand, giving him some leverage in dangerous situations. What exactly it is or how it got there wasn’t explained, but I would expect it to play some part in the evolving narrative. At least I would be trying to figure out why I seeming have an unexplained IV port installed in my hand.

Players don’t have long to wait to wade into the fog for themselves as SILENT HILL: Townfall launches on Steam, Epic Game Store, and PlayStation 5 September 24th.