Review by Jon Donnis
Silent Hill: Townfall is an ambitious new chapter for the series, and for much of its running time it feels like a very confident one. Set on the fictional Scottish island of St. Amelia in 1996, it takes Silent Hill away from its traditional American surroundings and gives the series a distinctly British setting. It is a change that works remarkably well. Unfortunately, Townfall also makes some questionable decisions with its stealth and combat, and those weaknesses become increasingly difficult to ignore as the game progresses.
The first thing that stands out is just how well St. Amelia has been created. The fog, deserted streets, abandoned communities and forgotten corners give the island an oppressive sense of isolation, while the recreation of 1990s Britain is one of the game's strongest achievements. Estates and shopping centres in particular have a convincing period feel, making the setting feel tangible rather than simply designed as a generic horror backdrop.
Screen Burn has done an excellent job with the world itself. There is a constant feeling that something is not quite right, even when nothing particularly frightening is happening. Townfall understands the value of atmosphere and small details, allowing the environment to tell parts of its story without constantly pushing information in front of the player.
The decision to present the entire game from a first-person perspective also suits this approach. It makes exploration feel more immediate and places the player directly inside Simon Ordell's experience. The restricted visibility provided by the fog adds to that sense of vulnerability, while the close perspective makes strange noises and unexpected discoveries considerably more effective.
Townfall's story takes a similarly measured approach. Rather than immediately explaining Simon's connection to St. Amelia, the game gradually exposes fragments of the past and allows the player to speculate about what they mean. That patience works in its favour. There is enough information to encourage theories, but enough uncertainty to keep the mystery alive.
The use of three character perspectives gives the narrative another dimension. Seeing events through different viewpoints makes the story more psychologically complicated than it might initially appear. Themes of loss, consequence and introspection sit naturally within the setting, and the multiple endings give the player's actions additional significance.
The CRTV is perhaps the game's most distinctive idea. The portable television acts as a modern reinterpretation of the series' familiar radio, allowing Simon to pick up unstable signals containing clues, fragments of conversations and glimpses of events. It is more than an alternative way of delivering exposition. It becomes part of exploration, puzzle solving and dealing with threats, giving Townfall a mechanic that feels genuinely connected to its story, even if it feels a bit like the nonsense they use on Most Haunted, or Ghost Hunters.
The puzzles are generally effective for the same reason. Many are rooted in the narrative and the environment rather than feeling like arbitrary challenges placed between sections of the game. Discovering the answer can therefore feel like piecing together another part of St. Amelia's history. A few later puzzles are less successful, however, with unclear solutions occasionally pushing the player towards trial and error instead of deduction.
Audio is another area where Townfall deserves considerable credit. Environmental sounds constantly keep the player alert, while the soundtrack by Pilotpriest dynamically responds to events and helps shape the mood. The combination of music, distant noises and the unsettling sounds of the environment creates some genuinely uncomfortable moments without relying exclusively on conventional jump scares.
Unfortunately, the game's biggest weakness is also one of its most prominent features. Stealth is central to a large portion of Townfall, but the mechanics are not reliable enough to support it. Enemies can sometimes detect or grab Simon despite what appears to be a successful attempt to remain hidden, leaving the player unsure whether they made a mistake or whether the detection system simply behaved unpredictably.
That problem becomes more noticeable because there is relatively little enemy variety. Once the initial novelty has worn off, several encounters begin to follow familiar patterns, and the emphasis on avoiding rather than confronting threats can make certain sections feel considerably longer than they need to be.
The situation is worse in some of the later areas, where enemies that cannot be killed force the player to concentrate almost entirely on finding a route past them. This can produce moments of genuine tension, but the effect does not last indefinitely. Eventually, hiding and waiting for an opening becomes an exercise in patience rather than fear.
The CRTV introduces another problem when Townfall occasionally places enemies into encounters where they cannot be detected through the device. While this can initially seem like a clever way of keeping the player uncertain, it can also feel as though the game's established rules have suddenly changed. The result is an encounter that feels unfair rather than frightening.
Combat does not provide a particularly satisfying alternative. The melee system can feel clumsy, while firearms do little to make confronting enemies especially enjoyable. There are situations where abandoning stealth and simply fighting becomes the less frustrating option, which is not ideal in a game so heavily built around avoiding danger.
These issues are particularly disappointing because Townfall's other systems are considerably more successful. The CRTV gives the game its own identity, the narrative has enough mystery to keep the player interested, and the setting is among the most convincing new environments the series has produced. The multiple perspectives also add something meaningful to the story rather than simply providing another gimmick.
There are also moments when the different elements come together beautifully. Exploring St. Amelia while listening to an unsettling soundtrack, discovering another fragment through the CRTV and gradually understanding what happened there captures the essence of psychological horror far better than some of the more action-focused encounters.
That contrast ultimately defines Townfall. The game is at its best when it slows down and allows its setting, story and atmosphere to do the work. It is at its weakest when it demands prolonged stealth sequences or awkward confrontations with enemies. The former can be genuinely memorable, while the latter can feel like obstacles standing between the player and the parts of the game that are considerably more interesting.
Despite those shortcomings, Townfall does succeed in reimagining Silent Hill without losing the qualities that have made the franchise distinctive. Scotland in 1996 proves to be a surprisingly effective setting, and the game's commitment to atmosphere, psychological storytelling and environmental detail gives it a strong identity of its own.
The problem is that the encounter design is not on the same level as the rest of the game. By the later stages, the stealth-heavy structure has become a slog, and some of the tension created so effectively earlier has been replaced by frustration. There is too much time spent waiting for enemies to move, searching for safe routes and dealing with systems that do not always behave consistently.
Silent Hill: Townfall is therefore a game of considerable strengths and some equally obvious weaknesses. The atmosphere is exceptional, the setting is superbly realised, the story is compelling, the CRTV is an inspired addition and the three perspectives give the narrative genuine depth. Unfortunately, the stealth and combat prevent those strengths from carrying the experience all the way through.
Townfall hits more often than it misses, but when it misses, it can miss badly. There is an excellent psychological horror experience here, buried beneath some frustrating encounter design and an increasingly tedious final stretch.
I score Silent Hill: Townfall a disappointing 6.5 out of 10.
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