Silent Hill: Townfall Review - The Fog Moves to Scotland and It Works

What it is

Silent Hill: Townfall is the first Silent Hill I have played that does not feel like it is apologising for being a Silent Hill. Developed by Screen Burn Interactive and published by Konami with Annapurna Interactive, it lands on September 24, 2026 on PS5 and PC. No Xbox version, which is worth saying out loud before anyone pre-orders on the wrong machine. Standard edition is $49.99, the Digital Deluxe is $59.99 - check the euro price on your own storefront, it will not be far off.

You play Simon Ordell, who keeps waking up in St. Amelia, a fog-choked fishing town on the Scottish coast in 1996, with no memory of getting there. That is the whole hook and I will not spoil an inch more, because the story of guilt and penance is the reason to be here. It is a game about a man who did something, and a town that knows.

How it plays

The big swing is the perspective: this is a first-person Silent Hill, and after two hours I stopped noticing that anything was missing. The town is built on Unreal Engine 5 and the fog is not a cheap distance trick anymore - it has weight, it moves, and the sound design underneath it is genuinely the best I have heard in the genre this year. I played most of it with headphones and regretted it in the best way.

Your main tool is a handheld CRT device that flickers and hisses when something is close. It is the radio from the old games reborn as an object you actually hold, look at and argue with. Combat is scrappy melee - planks, pipes, whatever is nearby - and it is meant to feel bad. That works. The stealth, on the other hand, does not. Several sections force you to sneak past things that see you through what feels like a coin flip, and the trial-and-error there is where the game's mood repeatedly breaks. It is the one design choice I would cut without hesitation.

The structure is what the developer calls wide linear: a clear path with side streets and houses worth poking into. Your choices feed into one of five endings, and they are not binary prompts - it is about what you do, what you pick up and what you leave alone. I got an ending I did not expect and immediately understood why. That is good writing.

Highs and lows

- Atmosphere and audio at the top of the genre right now - A story about remorse that earns its ending - The CRT device is a brilliant piece of diegetic design - Stealth sections that kill pacing and patience - Some puzzles padded beyond what they need - Occasional stutter on both PC and PS5 at launch

Who it is for

If you loved the Silent Hill 2 remake but wanted something new rather than something remembered, this is exactly that. If you need combat to feel empowering, stay away - it is built to make you feel small. And if you are on Xbox, you are simply out of luck for now.

Verdict

Townfall is the bravest thing this series has done in twenty years and most of the bravery pays off. A tighter stealth design and a launch patch would push it higher; as it stands, it is an easy recommendation for anyone who wants to be scared by something that respects them.

Score: 8/10

Image: James Denham / CC BY-SA 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pettycur_Harbour_on_the_Fife_coast_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2487268.jpg