Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan. Official materials consistently describe the timeframe as the 1960s rather than a single calendar year, and the story takes place in the fictional mountain town of Ebisugaoka.

How the 1960s setting shapes the story

The game follows Hinako Shimizu, a teenage girl navigating family pressures, social expectations, and fraying relationships in a small rural community. As the narrative progresses, the everyday stresses of that era’s social norms give way to psychological unease and overt horror—the town’s beauty slips into rot and fog, and internal conflict materializes as monsters and hostile spaces.

This time period is not aesthetic dressing; it’s the lens for the game’s themes. The 1960s backdrop foregrounds rigid gender roles and community surveillance, motifs that recur in environmental details (such as dolls woven into the world and enemy designs) and in how characters relate, fracture, and turn on one another. Hinako’s in-game journal reinforces this perspective, with entries that evolve over time to reflect her shifting understanding of the town and the people in it.

At-a-glance: Silent Hill f

Category Detail
Time period 1960s (no single year specified)
Location Ebisugaoka, a fictional rural town in Japan
Protagonist Hinako Shimizu (teenage student)
Series position Standalone spin-off, not a mainline entry
Platforms PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S
Core themes Societal roles and conformity, isolation, trauma, decay
Notable devices Hinako’s evolving journal, shrine and charm systems
Release window September 2025 (edition-based access windows)

What “spin-off” means for the series

Silent Hill f is a standalone spin-off in the Silent Hill franchise rather than a traditional mainline entry. It relocates the action to Japan and situates the narrative decades in the past, using a fresh setting to explore familiar series preoccupations: trauma, isolation, and decay rendered through personal psychology.

Being a spin-off, it’s designed to stand on its own. You don’t need prior series knowledge to follow the plot, and the shift in place and time gives the game freedom to build new lore within the broader Silent Hill framework.

Mechanics and systems that reflect the setting

Beyond mood and narrative, the 1960s Japan context informs play. You’ll find regional religious touchpoints and rituals integrated into systems—small roadside shrines and charms, for example—used to manage resources tied to physical and mental resilience. Hinako’s journal acts as both a narrative device and a practical reference for lore and puzzle clues, with descriptions that change as her experience intensifies.

Platforms, release timing, and format

Silent Hill f is a single-player survival horror title for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Launch is slated for September 2025, with standard and early access windows depending on edition. Reviews and official previews frame it as an atmospheric, story-led entry focused on psychological horror over action.

If you’re trying to place Silent Hill f on a timeline, it sits firmly in the 1960s—an earlier era that the game uses to examine control, community pressures, and the ways internal pain reshapes the world around its characters.