Silent Hill: Townfall is one of the most intense games I’ve ever played — and I loved (nearly) every moment

Silent Hill: Townfall achieves what only the very best horror games can. It slowly worked its way into my psyche. Even when I wasn’t playing, part of my subconscious remained trapped in the game’s remote town setting. Like its protagonist, I felt haunted by my experience.

It’s one of the most intense and unsettling play experiences I’ve had this generation, and I say that as a huge compliment. Last year’s Silent Hill: f opened up the franchise with a new setting (‘60s rural Japan) and refreshed gameplay. It signaled that Silent Hill was expanding. Silent Hill: Townfall fully lives up to that potential. It delivers a survival horror that is unmistakably Silent Hill but unlike anything in the series before.

Townfall is the best new Silent Hill game since 2001’s legendary Silent Hill 2 — assuming you don’t count the acclaimed 2024 remake as a wholly “new” game. Its story and setting are masterfully crafted, its first-person perspective is vital to the experience, its puzzles are (mostly) excellent, and the enemy encounters had my fingers trembling on my controller.

I loved nearly every moment of my time with Silent Hill: Townfall, and whether you’re a long-time fan or taking your first steps into the series, you must play it. Want to know more about what chilling moments await? Read on for my full Silent Hill: Townfall review…

Silent Hill: Townfall: The Basics

• What is it? Silent Hill Townfall is a first-person survival horror. You play a man named Simon exploring a remote Scottish town in 1996. Your mission is to survive long enough to unearth its spooky mysteries.
• Who is it for? Anybody looking for a genuinely nerve-wracking horror experience, as well as players who enjoy a game with a strong story and a best-in-class sense of atmosphere.
• What’s the price? Silent Hill: Townfall costs $49 at Amazon. Or you can get the Digital Deluxe Edition for $59 with a bonus outfit for Simon and access to a digital artbook and soundtrack application.
• What other games has the developer made? Silent Hill: Townfall is a collaboration between Konami, Annapurna Interactive and developer Screen Burn; the latter made the indie adventure game Observation.
• What games is it similar to? Silent Hill: Townfall takes inspiration from the franchise’s past, mixed with modern horror favorites like Alien: Isolation and elements of the modern Resident Evil titles.

New town, same terror

Much like Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: Townfall opens with a disembodied voice playing over a scene-setting introductory cutscene. It was effective in 2001, and it’s no less potent in 2026. By the time I was given control, my interest was piqued, and I wanted to unravel the story.

In Townfall, you play Simon Ordell, an American who washes up on the dock of the remote (fictional) Scottish town of St. Amelia. The isolated location is blanketed in a thick fog and seemingly deserted. While Simon believes he’s never been to St. Amelia before, he’s unnerved when he finds clues suggesting he has a forgotten connection to the place.

On the surface, it’s a safe but strong setup for a horror game. Simon acts initially as a player surrogate. Much like the player, Simon is a foreigner in the setting, and so together, you’re attempting to unravel its mysteries. The story definitely leans heavily on the cryptic clues in its first act, but towards the end the full picture becomes clear, and answers are dished out.

One of the most intriguing story elements is how Simon’s past is intertwined with two residents, Zoe and Simon. Both appear to know Simon, yet he doesn’t remember them at all. How these three perspectives come together in the game’s final portion is deeply satisfying.

I greatly appreciated how Townfall sets up a raft of questions in its early hours, and then delivers firm resolution towards the end. It doesn’t leave players frustrated with too many unresolved threads, but still leaves tantalizing morsels open for your own interpretation.

Danger around every corner

Before long, Simon discovers that St. Amelia is very much not a ghost town, and has instead been infested with all manner of horrific human-like monsters. Unfortunately, these creatures are usually standing in his way, so navigating around these enemies is a key gameplay pillar.

"Fight or flight" is a critical tenet of enemy encounters in Silent Hill: Townfall. You have access to a few improvised melee weapons — a wooden plank and metal pipe — and eventually you unlock firearms. But as an on-screen prompt advises, stealth is typically the best option.

To make slowly creeping around your foes easier, you’re given a CRT handheld device, which is key to every single element of the gameplay. This portable television can be tuned to mark enemies on its low-fi display and can also pick up signals that unlock ambiguous story details. It’s also required to solve some of the game’s more obscure puzzles.

Playing Silent Hill: Townfall feels highly reminiscent of Alien: Isolation since you’re always using your CRT to check for a creature coming your way. There’s even an especially deformed monster that appears at specific moments who can’t be killed, so when they appear, you'd best hide and hope you’re not spotted.

Played on the normal difficulty setting, Silent Hill: Townfall is extremely intense. Enemies have sharp powers of detection, so if you’re not careful and moving very slowly, you will be spotted, and Simon can’t take many hits before he succumbs to his injuries. Thankfully, safe zones and save stations are very generously placed, so failure never sets you back very far.

When you are spotted, you can run or stand your ground. Here the game’s clunky melee combat comes into focus, making fighting a little irritating. Things do get easier once you have access to a pistol, which can down enemies fast, but its trade-off is that it makes a lot of noise, so it’s more of a last resort. I often opt to reload a save when spotted rather than fight.

Pay close attention

Like previous Silent Hill entries and the best Resident Evil games, Townfall regularly drops you into open areas that you slowly unlock as you find items, keys, and new equipment.

It’s a classic formula for a reason, and while having to explore, say, a street block to find three parts of a contraption that will open a large gate is a little illogical, it’s hugely rewarding to start with a map covered in locked door icons and then slowly open them via exploration.

Naturally, environmental puzzles are thrown into the mix at a steady clip, and for the most part they’re excellent. Some really challenge you to look closely at your surroundings. You might be momentarily stumped, but eventually puzzles culminate in an exciting moment where everything clicks together, which is always worth the time spent figuring them out.

The best puzzles mix problem-solving with exploration and combat, like one where you need to locate a series of blood bags and arrange them in the correct order to bypass a locked door, or a creepy hospital sequence, which may just be the game’s single best section.

Unfortunately, I can’t say all of the puzzles are winners. There was one in the game’s final stretch which is so convoluted and poorly explained that I feared I might never solve it. Turns out my game had glitched, making it impossible. But even when a reload corrected this problem, I still found the puzzle to be a rare moment where Townfall comes up short.

Spooky but utterly stunning

For a game so crammed with unsettling sights, Silent Hill: Townfall is still utterly stunning.

As a U.K. native, I got a real kick out of Screen Burn’s commitment to crafting a believable slice of 1990s Great Britain. I suspect I’ll be a rare player who spent a solid few minutes just marveling at how perfectly the developer’s replicated a U.K. ATM and our old-school ugly phone boxes.

Graphically, the game looks almost photorealistic at times, which only brings the horror into sharper focus, and the sound design is remarkable. Playing with headphones to hear every wail or chilling shriek in the distance is a must. It all comes together to create a deeply oppressive atmosphere. At multiple points, a part of me was so creeped out that I considered pausing for a moment to let the fear fade before pressing on.

Townfall also marks the first full Silent Hill game played from a first-person perspective, and while the decision has been controversial with some fans, it’s very vital to the game’s overall feel. Seeing the game through Simon’s eyes draws you in and makes St. Amelia feel even more ominous. Townfall would be a weaker horror experience if played in third-person.

The only thing that vaguely blights the otherwise stunning presentation is a few pesky technical hiccups. These include framerate drops during the more hectic combat moments and, during a key cutscene, a black screen. Not to mention the aforementioned bug that made a puzzle unsolvable. I wanted to mention that again, as that particular puzzle can go to hell!

Silent Hill: Townfall review: Verdict

Silent Hill: Townfall offers everything I want from a survival horror game. Its story and setting blend beautifully, enemy encounters always get your heart racing, and it’s a visual treat — even when it’s rendering disturbing images in stunning detail. Plus, it offers five different endings, two only unlockable in New Game+, giving you reason to return to St. Amelia.

Silent Hill was once considered the premier video game horror series, and while it lost its way in subsequent releases and even looked abandoned at one point, Silent Hill: Townfall puts it back on the horror map. Watch out, Resident Evil, your old rival has truly returned.