When creating Silent Hill f’s fictional town of Ebisugaoka, the developers scoured Japan for real-life inspirations. While Ebisugaoka was ultimately inspired by Kanayama, Gero in the Gifu prefecture, other locations came pretty close to hosting a new breed of fictional horrors.
In a joint media interview at Anime Expo 2025, Silent Hill f scenario writer Ryukishi07 revealed that he initially considered the prefecture of Shizuoka for the game’s setting, as it literally translates to “silent hill” (source: Famitsu). Unfortunately, the looming presence of the nearby Mount Fuji (12.390 feet) was so overwhelming in Shizuoka that Ryukishi07 decided against it. He explained how the mountain’s shadow would overpower Silent Hill f’s misty world and ultimately wouldn’t suit his vision.
While fans of Ryukishi07’s work may draw parallels between his visual novel Higurashi When They Cry and Silent Hill f (that being they are both psychological horror games set in rural Japanese areas inspired by Gifu), he never once considered approaching the latter in the same way as the former
“The scenario for this work (Silent Hill f) was not written with Higurashi as a premise. This is a story created entirely within the world of Silent Hill.”
As a fan of Ryukishi07’s work, Silent Hill producer Motoi Okamoto was confident that the writer would be able to craft a great title for the franchise. This is why he contacted Ryukishi07 to work on Silent Hill f.
Silent Hill f is set to release on September 25 for the PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X|S.
