Silent Hill f Writer, Ryukishi07, Gave a Message That Has the Fandom Divided

With the recent success of Konami’s newest game, Silent Hill f, Silent Hill writer Ryukishi07 opens up about why this game was set away from the titular American town. Silent Hill f takes place in a village in 1960s Japan, and before its release, many fans were worried about this particular choice the devs made, asking how this could be a Silent Hill game if it doesn’t take place in Silent Hill? Here’s all there is to know about the Silent Hill Phenomenon theory and what Ryukishi07 had to say about it.

Silent Hill f Dev New Interview with Famitsu

Ryukishi07 sat down in an interview with Famitsu, where he talks about his experiences writing the story for Silent Hill f. He goes on to explain how surprised he was that Konami would decide to set the game in Japan, and not in Silent Hill, especially for a main original title in the franchise. Because of this, he worried that changing the setting in this game made him uncertain of how fans would react.

Joining the writing team for Silent Hill f was a challenging prospect for Ryukishi07. But when he realized that Silent Hill is not just a haunted town, it became easier to write the story of Silent Hill f, aligning the story with the Silent Hill Phenomenon theory. Here’s what Ryukishi07 said during the interview, when asked about the subject:

“I discussed a lot of things with series producer Okamoto in a meeting after I received the request [to write Silent Hill f,]”

“Like ‘Why is it set in Japan?’ and ‘What exactly is Silent Hill?’ In the end, we came to the conclusion that Silent Hill is not just the name of a place, it is a phenomenon. Looking back I think I was able to create a pretty satisfying base for the story and world from this.”

The Silent Hill Phenomenon is Confirmed, According to Dev

For the past decade, the Silent Hill series has struggled to regain its former glory, especially given the original games’ immense success when they were released 25-30 years ago. The negativity that The Short Message and Ascension recieved slightly diminished the popularity of the franchise. Then came the Silent Hill 2 Remake, which revived the series.

Yes, the name of the game is based around the town of Silent Hill, but the series is more focused on the otherworld, a realm similar to Hell for the main characters of the games. This is the general idea behind the Silent Hill Phenomenon theory, and Ryukishi7’s interview confirms this theory.

What Do Fans Think?

When the Silent Hill Phenomenon theory was first introduced, many people were not fans of this idea. The idea of treating Silent Hill as a disease that could spread to different places didn’t appeal to fans who felt it would have been better to keep Silent Hill as a creepy haunted town in America. Here’s what a few fans had to say in the The Silent Hill Phenomenon subreddit:

“It gives me The Grudge 2/3 vibes – where the curse spreads outside of Japan / that one house. But I mean, this isn’t Resident Evil where you can take the virus with you and mutate it, this was a creepy, cursed town and I don’t know how many things you can do with that town until you run out of the ideas,” said scrambledeggdragoon.

“In my experience, the more foreign and unknowable something is, the scarier it is and having Silent Hill spreading to people all over the world to the point that it’s studied robs it of a bit of its mystique,” said MarkT_D_W.

“I both hate this idea and love this idea, I’m very conflicted about a “Silent Hill phenomenon” and it being nearly globally known, it’s bothering me,” said Terramoin.

“I think I prefer Silent Hill not having so much agency,” said leftshoe18.