The line between supernatural horrors and the psychological struggles of characters is often blurred between Silent Hill games, but it might never have been as hazy as it is in Silent Hill: Townfall. I recently played about four hours of the first-person survival-horror game, in which protagonist Simon finds himself in a foggy Scottish town full of horrors, but seemingly can’t quite make out what’s real and what’s only in his mind.
My preview began at the start of Townfall, with Simon apparently responding to a letter asking him to return to the mysterious town of St. Amelia. One moment it appears Simon is drifting towards the dock aboard a boat. The next, he bursts out of the water and pulls himself ashore as if he’s just awoken there. The details of Simon’s arrival to St. Amelia seems intentionally ambiguous.
He sets off into St. Amelia, trying to find out what’s going on, but it seems to be abandoned. As you make your way down the city streets, he hears shouting and sees flashes, implying there’s a protest or a riot — only to discover the town square is empty of people.
Is Simon hallucinating, or are dark forces leading him on in St. Amelia? It’s impossible to say, especially after Simon answers a ringing pay phone and hears a cryptic voice pushing him to find a woman named Zoe. He’s suddenly transported into an underground structure hued in red light, which indicates it as part of Silent Hill’s twisted version of the real world, known as the Otherworld.