A New Bloom with Silent Hill f: Interview with NeoBards
With Silent Hill f, NeoBards Entertainment delivers not only an unexpected shift for the saga, but also one of the most intriguing bets in recent years: transposing Silent Hill’s dread into the rural Japan of the 1960s, at the crossroads of myth and trauma.
Guided by producer Okamoto, with a script by Ryukishi07 (Higurashi, Umineko) and conceptual design by Kera, Silent Hill f explores the idea of finding beauty within terror—flowers that decay, bodies that bloom, and a teenage heroine surrounded by violence and shame. It’s a humid, organic, visceral horror, somewhere between Nihonga art and symbolic nightmare.
We spoke with the key creative minds behind the game: Wonder Lin (COO), Albert Lee (Producer), Al Yang (Game Director), Box Shih (Art Director), Capra Shih (Associate Design Director), Kaiyu Chang (Lead Level Designer), and Corey Chan (Audio Director). Together, they discuss the project’s origins, their collaboration with Konami and Ryukishi07, the redefinition of melee gameplay, and how beauty, memory, and fear intertwine in this new vision of Silent Hill.
Point’n Think : How did the connection with Konami happen? What convinced the publisher to entrust you with a mainline entry in such an iconic series?
COO – Wonder Lin : Compared to the Western market, NeoBards Entertainment already enjoys a certain level of recognition in the Japanese gaming market. Over the past fifteen years, our team has accumulated extensive experience in console game development, collaborating and working with many of the world’s most renowned publishers.
Producer Okamoto first approached us through an internal referral—he already had knowledge of some of the titles our team had developed in the past. Looking back now, it really feels like fate brought us together.
Of course, you never know what you’re capable of until you try. When we first began reading Ryukishi07’s story outline and saw several of kera’s concept illustrations, the NeoBards core development team immediately realized this project was an incredibly bold undertaking.
During the first year of collaboration, from narrative interpretation to gameplay design, there were countless in-depth discussions among the four parties—Producer Okamoto, Ryukishi07, Kera, and NeoBards. We exchanged ideas constantly, iterating on story flow, gameplay systems, and visual presentation to ensure that the creative direction could be fully realized through concrete technical solutions. Naturally, this also involved multiple implementation trials and prototypes.
At a certain point, I believe Producer Okamoto came to feel confident in entrusting this groundbreaking project to NeoBards, whether it was on the creative side such as IP interpretation and narrative design, or on the engineering side such as technical implementation. It was a decision he could make with peace of mind.
Traditionally, NeoBards has not been known for developing horror titles or heavily narrative-driven games. So it’s fair to say that KONAMI and Producer Okamoto made a very brave decision in choosing us.
That said, our team of roughly one hundred developers working on SILENT HILL f poured immense effort into every aspect of the game. We also fully leveraged the expertise and development know-how we’ve accumulated over the years.
I truly believe this has been a collaboration to be cherished—one that pushed all parties to new creative heights.
PnT : From the outset, was the brief to “restart” Silent Hill in a standalone frame (accessible to new players), or did that direction emerge after your first prototypes?
Producer – Albert Lee : From the start of our collaboration, SILENT HILL series producer Okamoto already had some clear ideas about how the IP could evolve. A Japan-based story was one of those concepts, along with the intention to include stronger action elements. Under this framework, NeoBards began development. In other words, from the outset we understood that this would be a challenging project, one that needed to balance SILENT HILL f’s distinct identity with the expectations long-time fans already had for this classic franchise.)
NeoBards has previously worked on several projects involving the revival of classic IPs, and each time there is a similar mission: to bring in new audiences, especially younger players. This requires the team to put in extensive effort studying and understanding the core spirit of the IP, its key defining elements, and how to align those with the preferences and habits of modern players.
It is demanding work, but truthfully, we enjoy every bit of it.
PnT : Why set the story in rural 1960s Japan (Ebisugaoka), and how did you research that era to avoid surface-level exoticism? We read that you captured sounds and references on location for authenticity, how did that concretely translate in production?
Game Director – Al Yang : The setting and time frame was set by our script writer Ryukishi07 and discussion between Konami. In particular he mentioned that the Showa era was chosen as it was just far enough in the past to be between the modern and mythical. Besides on-site research of key areas, such as the town itself (modeled after Kanayama in Gifu prefecture), we also visited several locations such as schools and even mountains.
The main reason for this was to better understand and capture not the exact physical specifications of each place, as it may not be suitable for a video game, but to really understand the atmosphere and aura of these locations and bring that feeling into SILENT HILL f. Of course, this included recording ambient sounds as you know, sound design is an absolutely critical part of atmospheric design in horror games.
Besides our external research, Taiwan has a complex colonial history that intertwines with Japan. Because of this, broadly speaking, people here have a more in-depth understanding of Japanese culture, especially the older generation, so those Showa era posters you see everywhere are also fairly common to see in Taiwan. It also made it easier for us to acquire physical historical material to help us create our in-game objects. For example, our first aid kit is based directly on a Showa era medicine box that we acquired at a flea market, among other things seen in the game.
Of course, no matter how much research we do ourselves, it’s always best to those most familiar with the culture on board, so while the initial research and choices were done on our side, we always worked together closely with our partners at Konami to check and ensure the authenticity and validity of our direction and they definitely caught many things that slipped through the cracks on our end.
PnT : The concept of finding beauty in terror clearly structures the art direction (scarlet flowers, vegetal “mold,” bodies that bloom). Which references most shaped that idea?
Art Director – Box Shih : When shifting the stage of SHf from a Western setting to Japan, Producer Okamoto proposed changing the signature theme of rust in the Otherworld. This led to the idea of fusing Japanese horror with the uncanny and bizarre style of Nihonga. The aesthetic most related to the spread of grime is mostly related to floral elements, but upon closer look, you’ll often notice that they actually resemble something rotting and spreading, and may even look like internal organs. Moreover, Japanese horror conveys a sense of dampness, and the mold-like diffusion and bleeding within that dampness is also very consistent with this conceptual theme.
PnT : How did the collaboration with Ryukishi07 (Higurashi/Umineko) work in practice, narrative bible, joint workshops, approvals around taboo themes, iterations on the twists? What did you “Silent-Hill-ize” in his approach to trauma?
Producer – Albert Lee : From the beginning, Producer Okamoto was set on having Ryukishi07 pen the script of SHf. Likewise, they had determined the theme and drafted an outline to begin discussions with our team. Throughout this process, the dev team at NeoBards would propose necessary adjustments regarding the game’s pacing and flow. Being a deeply passionate gamer and having prior experience in game production allowed him to quickly grasp our needs and make the corresponding adjustments. For example, the school location was originally not in the outline but we had suggested adding it during our planning, and Ryukishi07 helped fill in the details. It was an honor and a very interesting experience to have collaborated this way with Ryukishi07.
Game Director – Al Yang : As Albert mentioned before, our main challenge was twofold:
- How to create an entire game from a written script.
- Ensure the game felt like both a “SILENT HILL” title and a “Ryukishi07” story.
There were definitely several months of rewrites and adjustments on both of our sides as we discussed how to best hit those two goals. As you know, it’s impossible to just take a story and directly make it into a game, as things such as the linear pacing of words on paper will translate very differently to an experience that can not only be controlled, but in various ways by many different types of players.
Besides pacing, we also paid close attention to cultural themes and topics that, while correct, might not be understood as easily from an international audience as we wanted players from all over the world to be able to enjoy SILENT HILL f. As you know, Ryukishi07 is known for his grand and twisting narratives, so we also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to best express this in the game. There is a specific section near the end of the game that I think players who have gotten to will know what I mean. It was also incredible foresight to have Ryukishi07 write for SILENT HILL f as his works are very cyclical narrative wise, which meshes perfectly with how the SILENT HILL series has traditionally been, but with a bit of a twist, and we worked closely together to make sure that we could express this in the best way possible.
PnT : Hinako is written as a teenager caught between domestic violence, social pressure, and ambiguous friendships. How did you balance raw realism and restraint, especially in an M-rated game, so that psychological horror stays central?
Game Director – Al Yang : This is a great question as there’s always a fine line between “how real” things should be depicted in media, especially for the sensitive topics that are shown in SILENT HILL f. At its core, the SILENT HILL series has also had fairly ambiguous storytelling that slowly builds up to a moment of realization, using visual metaphors to coax the player closer and closer to that point. For these more ambiguous moments that had a lot of impact, we used more traditional methods like cutscenes to control the flow of the narrative and what the player would and wouldn’t see on screen, letting the imagination do the bulk of the work. The strong use of strong metaphorical imagery is to us the key of maintaining that mystery and psychological apprehension that the SILENT HILL series is known for.
For more direct information, things such as notes the player would find and Hinako’s own journal would offer and allude to points in a more straightforward way, but their appearance could also be paced more carefully by the dev team. For example, many notes and information would only become available on subsequent playthroughs, allowing the story to be slowly peeled back, with players being able to look at the same cutscenes through a different lens because of the new information they gained, oftentimes completely changing the emotions they would feel towards specific characters or situations.
PnT : You’ve announced five endings, some of which only appear in New Game+. Why that choice (tribute to classic Silent Hill?), and how did it influence level design, retention, and the economy of clues?
Game Director – Al Yang : As mentioned previously, the structure of SILENT HILL f is largely due in part to both the unique writing style that Ryukishi07 is known for and the traditional ambiguous narrative storytelling style of the SILENT HILL series. Locking an ending to the first playthrough was a tough choice, but in order to have the entire story slowly reveal itself, we had to make sure that the skin of our story onion was peeled first before proceeding to the other layers. Additionally, we felt the ambiguity and tone of the first ending was also perfectly set the stage for what many players came to expect from the series, while subverting some classic tropes at the same time.
For horror games, many times, only the first playthrough is truly “scary”, as players get accustomed to both the story and the mechanics, so we spent a great deal of time trying to fit what we were able budget and time wise to into the subsequent playthroughs not just in terms of story, but also mechanically through level design and gameplay variations, so that players who enjoyed playing the game would find new ways to approach gameplay situations on top of the new cutscenes and additionally information that would alter player perception of Hinako’s situation. Again, each playthrough we hoped players would peel back another layer of the onion, not just story wise, but gameplay wise.
PnT : Several previews praise old-school puzzles (poems, symbols, trapped spaces) while noting instructions that can be cryptic. What internal rule guides you to stay esoteric without becoming opaque? Can you share an example of a puzzle reworked after playtests?
Lead Level Designer – Kaiyu Chang : We maintained two guiding principles in puzzle design, the first being Japanese style, and the second being their connection to narrative and psychological elements. For example, the mystery box puzzle at school required extensive studying on how to design a puzzle in an empty classroom without the object looking out of place. We finally drew inspiration from the Japanese Yosegi-zaiku secret box, which is a fascinating real-world mechanical design. Using this object as inspiration, we asked Ryukish07 to write Rinko’s letter to fit the gameplay, allowing the player to delve deeper into Rinko’s story through the puzzle. We wonder if players noticed the bird corpse that appears on the desk after the puzzle is solved as this represents a projection of Rinko’s inner thoughts.Furthermore, our team members actually bought a real Yosegi-zaiku box for reference in order to ensure our designs remained authentic.
We have Ryukishi07 to thank for the contents of the puzzles. We would inform him of the puzzle’s mechanisms and he would write the questions. The difficulty of each puzzle was tested internally, which involved several revisions. I want to give a special shout out to our puzzle king, Director Al Yang. The story mode puzzles were tuned based on whether he could successfully solve them (laughs).
One of our team’s favorite puzzle designs was the field puzzle. I can share an interesting adjustment we made: in one of the earliest versions of the puzzle, selecting the wrong answer would result in getting hit by the scarecrow with no way to dodge it. Team members found this incredibly frustrating (laughs) which is why we changed it to the current version where you can dodge the scarecrow’s attack even if you guess incorrectly. I wonder, does everyone prefer the adjusted version?
PnT : The narrow, vertical, labyrinthine village conveys a sense of confinement. What technical/artistic constraints led you to favor these spatial layouts, and how did you maintain variety to avoid visual fatigue?
Lead Level Designer – Kaiyu Chang : We referenced actual scenes from Kanayama Town in Japan for our level design. We discovered the town had these narrow paths lined with buildings of varying height that prevented a full view of the spatial architecture; these enclosed, oppressive connecting spaces were especially suited for our levels, which is why we adopted “maze-like terrain” into our core design. We wanted to disorient players and increase their psychological stress by increasing the number of corners, complex pathways, and making these spaces look similar. We understand that terror often stems from the unknown. For example, hearing footsteps from afar in the fog but not knowing where they’re from, a long narrow hallway ending in pitch blackness with nothing but a flickering light – rather than monsters, these horrors are captivating due to the “possibility of what could be within the unknown.” Our levels are designed with visual obstructions and disorienting layout to craft a powerful sense of horror to further enhance player tension.
The levels also include additional designs that I want to share with players. We placed many celluloid dolls, many of which have yet to be discovered, throughout the levels. The placement of each doll carries some significance and we hope players can begin to discover these cleverly designed elements.
Art Director – Box Shih : When the levels were completed to a degree where we could validate the visuals in-game, we began to deliberate how we could make the game visually interesting and leave a deep impression with players. In order to prevent visual fatigue, the design and art teams initially proposed methods to shift players’ visual focus by placing eye-catching easter eggs or changing the environment’s dynamic/static atmosphere and color palette to achieve the desired effect. We even tested how long it took for us to get bored of the level’s visuals (laughs).
Ultimately, the team’s consensus was that our objective should be to maintain the diversity of environments. After all, we can maintain a fresh visual experience for the player by changing the placement of different objects, the sense of space in each environment, explorable areas, different paths, and overall color palette; other aspects such as gameplay and audio also have a certain impact.
PnT : You lean into almost exclusively melee combat (degrading weapons, stamina/dodge management, focus/counter). Why sideline firearms, and what “fantasy” did you want to evoke for the player?
Associate Design Director – Capra Shih : In the earliest concept stage, we actually included firearms. After all, for SILENT HILL, guns are something players instinctively expect to see. We even researched firearms from 1960s Japan to determine what kinds of pistols or hunting rifles would be appropriate and under what circumstances they might appear.
However, the more we studied it, the more we realized how contradictory that approach felt. Given Japan’s strict gun control laws, it would be unrealistic for a girl growing up in a small rural town to conveniently find bullets lying around. It would completely break the carefully constructed world we were building.
So we turned the question around: If this game relied solely on melee weapons, how could we still recreate the tension of a gunfight? That line of thinking led us to several design choices: using Focus instead of aiming, using weapon durability instead of ammunition, and introducing a counter system inspired by kendo principles, where players observe enemy weaknesses to strike back effectively. We also added the Perfect Dodge mechanic, which restores stamina through an adrenaline boost, encouraging players to stay aggressive and fight up close.
We intentionally designed these actions to feel grounded, as if they were things an ordinary person could perform with enough effort. At the same time, we incorporated a few non-realistic, almost cinematic touches—like the brief pause when an enemy is struck back, or the way time slows when a weak point is revealed during Focus. These elements not only enhance the sense of impact and reward, but also reinforce the idea that this is not a game where you can win by mindlessly attacking.
When we discussed these ideas with Ryukishi07, he was very enthusiastic and even added a background detail for Hinako, making her a member of the track and field club at school. That backstory fits perfectly with the game’s combat system, which demands both physical stamina and quick reflexes. He was eager to provide reference material and seamlessly integrated the gameplay requirements into the story. The development team was truly grateful for his support.
Game Director – Al Yang : In addition, on a more practical note, because of the unique way the story and character development is structured, we essentially had to create two different characters and gameplay styles for Hinako, in addition to enemies that would only be fought with stringent character and weapon requirements. Adding ranged weapons would also greatly increase the time needed for development and after discussing this at length during our pre-production phase, we decided to purely focus on melee combat.
PnT : Feedback highlights a strict stamina regen and a very demanding boss. What have you adjusted since (i-frames, dodge cost, AI, readability of tells) to keep tension without tipping into frustration?
Associate Design Director – Capra Shih : The main reason we made the combat system fairly demanding was to encourage players to approach battles carefully. If you mash buttons without much thought, your stamina will run out quickly. And because enemy attacks are quite lethal, that naturally heightens the tension and makes players want to avoid getting hit.
However, through the pre-release media playtests, we realized that this level of difficulty might be too punishing for first-time players. As a result, we made a last-minute adjustment and set Story Mode as the most recommended difficulty for newcomers. In Story Mode, stamina consumption during dodges and the damage dealt by enemies are both reduced to a more forgiving level. Our hope is that players can first enjoy the narrative appeal of SILENT HILL f, and then, on subsequent playthroughs, challenge themselves with higher difficulty levels.
The strict stamina system is balanced by the Perfect Dodge mechanic. In SILENT HILL f, the timing window for executing a Perfect Dodge is intentionally generous. We wanted players, once they become familiar with a monster’s attack patterns, to be able to use Perfect Dodge more easily to recover stamina. This allows them to extend their “action turns” and gain a stronger sense of accomplishment in combat.
Although the game features a counterattack system that gives players a clear advantage, we did not want the AI behavior to become predictable. After all, if every move can be perfectly read and anticipated, it would no longer feel like a horror game.
As the story progresses and the action becomes more intense, monsters gradually gain additional attack animations that are harder to read. These moves do not necessarily deal high damage, but they disrupt the player’s combat rhythm, almost like having your breathing thrown off. This unpredictability is key to maintaining tension while ensuring that taking damage never feels overly discouraging.
Game Director – Al Yang : Discussing with Konami during pre-production, in order to differentiate ourselves from all the other SILENT HILL titles that were in development, we decided to push this title in a more action focused direction. However, a big lesson we took away from SILENT HILL f is the behaviors and expectations that both traditional action game players and horror game players would be able to accept from a title that was both more action focused, but also melee only, something very rare in the horror game space. The main thing we had to pay attention to during development was to maintain the tension during combat, so everything would go back to that, so pacing in particular was very important. To us, one of the big differences between action games and horror games is not what you’re able to do, but the rate and pace at which you’re able to do these things.
PnT : The sanctuaries/prayer shrines act as checkpoints and introduce Faith and omamori, with partially random acquisition. What metaprogression philosophy underpins this system, and how do you avoid an unwanted “lootbox” feel?
Associate Design Director – Capra Shih : When we were considering how to integrate the save-point and ability-enhancement systems into the story, we drew inspiration from the faith and belief system of the village of Ebisugaoka described in the script. We then wrapped these ideas in the imagery of Kṣitigarbha statues and omamori charms. To make the save points stand out visually, while also ensuring they could function in both the Otherworld and real world as well as indoors and outdoors, we eventually evolved the concept from Kṣitigarbha statues into shrines, which became the form players see in the final game.
At the same time, we wanted players who explore carefully to feel rewarded for their efforts. To achieve this, we took inspiration from Tsukumogami folklore, where believers would offer old tools or unused items to a shrine for consecration. We turned that idea into a system where players can offer items, accumulate Faith points, and then use those points for upgrades and omamori draws—which is what players see in the final game.
Although we know that in reality, visitors to shrines usually draw omikuji (fortune slips) rather than omamori, the forms and traditions of omikuji vary from shrine to shrine, and some even include small keepsakes. Both elements are deeply tied to traditional Japanese faith, so we felt this was the most intuitive way for players to understand the system.
The omamori draw is essentially a way to expand Hinako’s options, allowing players to tailor her abilities according to their preferences. Each omamori is unique and can never be drawn twice, so the act of drawing them is also a process of accumulating strength. In the end, every player invests the same total amount of resources, with nothing going to waste. I believe that is what makes the omamori draw system in SILENT HILL f fundamentally different from a typical loot box mechanic.
PnT : The bestiary draws on folkloric motifs (hina dolls, animated “scarecrows,” flowering flesh masses). How do you link each creature to an aspect of Hinako’s trauma to keep the saga’s cherished “monster-as-symptom” coherence?
Associate Design Director – Capra Shih : When designing the monsters, we began by using the stress and traumas that Hinako experiences as our primary source of inspiration. The process started with the NeoBards team developing the symbolic meanings, personalities, behaviors, and attack patterns for each creature. We then discussed these ideas with the two creators to align our interpretations, after which kera-san designed the visual appearances of the monsters.
Because the two versions of Hinako come from different perspectives, the monsters they face were also divided into two distinct factions. These two factions are conceptually very different, so when designing them, we gave careful thought to how each characteristic would reflect the deeper meaning behind it.
That said, even though the development team has its own internal interpretations, we ultimately wanted to leave this part for players to discover on their own. We believe that as players gain a deeper understanding of Hinako, they will form their own interpretations of the various symbols throughout the game. Leaving this space for reflection and interpretation is precisely what makes the SILENT HILL series so fascinating.
PnT : Akira Yamaoka’s return: how did you weave his identity with the musical color of the ’60s and your 3D audio mixing constraints? Did you iterate on specific leitmotifs for Hinako/Ebisugaoka?
Audio Director – Corey Chan : Yamaoka-san’s music has a uniquely strong identity, which makes it both a privilege and a challenge to incorporate into our game. Blending his distinctive sound with the rest of the game’s audio, such as sound effects, dialogue, and ambience requires a careful and respectful approach.
One of the breakthroughs that helped us was the use of 3D audio technology. It essentially gave us a larger canvas to paint the soundscape on. With the music mixed in Dolby Atmos, we were able to envelop players in Yamaoka-san’s creativity. This “extra space” also allowed us to blend in other carefully crafted sound elements that support the emotional tone we wanted to convey, such as dread, sorrow, and unease.
There’s also a recurring musical motif throughout the game. This piece is inspired by 1960s Japanese folk music but is performed by a children’s choir. The result is a haunting and chilling track that captures the innocence and inner contradictions of Hinako’s character.