Silent Hill f shifts the series’ focus to 1960s Japan and centers on Hinako Shimizu, a teenager navigating family and social pressures in the town of Ebisugaoka. The narrative leans into psychological horror and personal trauma while pushing Hinako to make assertive choices rather than simply following a predetermined path. That emphasis on agency becomes most visible in her relationship with the masked figure who keeps appearing at her side.

Who Fox Mask is and why he matters

Fox Mask is the enigmatic guide who appears whenever Hinako enters the Dark Shrine, seemingly knowing far more about her than he lets on. After the events in the Dark Shrine Main Hall, he’s revealed to be Tsuneki Kotoyuki — someone Hinako knew as a child before he moved away. That revelation reframes his guidance as something more personal and more invasive than a neutral spirit shepherding her through danger.

Kotoyuki and the fox deity: possession, control, and a “bride”

The mask isn’t just a disguise. In Ebisugaoka’s folklore, a nine-tailed fox god takes human form to groom a chosen woman for marriage. One of Hinako’s memories shows the deity biting a boy in a park; from there, Kotoyuki changes, moves away, and dedicates himself to studies, as noted in an in-game journal. Across Hinako’s trials, the Fox Mask’s behavior trends controlling — pressing her to stop thinking and let him decide, signaling his goal isn’t protection but dominion over every part of her life.

Character snapshot

Item Detail
Name Tsuneki Kotoyuki
Alias Fox Mask
Role in gameplay Guide during Dark Shrine sequences
Identity reveal After the Dark Shrine Main Hall events
Connection to lore Vessel for Ebisugaoka’s nine-tailed fox deity

Voice actors for Tsuneki Kotoyuki (Fox Mask)

Language Voice actor
English Caleb Yen
Japanese Kazuaki Yasue
Note: Some listings invert language credits; the widely cited pairing is Caleb Yen for English and Kazuaki Yasue for Japanese.

How key endings treat Fox Mask and Hinako’s agency

Silent Hill f’s endings pivot on whether Hinako yields to control or asserts independence — especially against Fox Mask’s designs.

  • The Fox Wets Its Tail: Hinako rejects the deity’s control. The fox reveals its nine-tailed form in the spirit world, but she defeats it; he’s forced to accept she won’t be taken as a wife.
  • Marriage-leaning outcome: At points, the story insinuates Hinako and Fox Mask (Kotoyuki) marry; a post-credits scene frames married life as distressing for Hinako, pushing the theme of imposed roles to a grim extreme.
  • Autonomy-leaning outcome: The shrine collapses; Fox Mask declares love, but Hinako withholds an answer. A later letter from Kotoyuki says he will find himself first; Hinako speaks of pursuing passion and choosing on her own timeline.
  • The Great Space Invasion!: A secret, upbeat ending that cuts to a playful aliens-and-robots vignette, deliberately undercutting the game’s darker mood.

Some guides identify an “Ebisugaoka in Silence” route as the most narratively satisfying because it emphasizes Hinako’s self-determination and reconciles her competing selves: the outwardly driven Hinako and the more traditional “Fox Hinako” who feels drawn to Kotoyuki.

Why Fox Mask is central to Silent Hill f’s themes

Fox Mask works as both a plot engine and a metaphor. As a character, he ushers Hinako through rituals, fights, and choices. As a symbol — a deity wearing the face of her childhood friend — he embodies the pressure to conform, to be chosen rather than to choose, and the lure of surrendering agency for a promise of safety. The endings that resonate most pull that tension taut, then let Hinako cut it on her terms.

Whether you read Kotoyuki as an individual warped by possession or as a vessel fully subsumed by a god, the mask turns out to be less about mystery and more about consent. The game’s best beats arrive when Hinako lifts it.