Silent Hill Isn’t Just a Place, It’s a Phenomenon as SILENT HILL F Writer Reinforces a Divisive Series Theory

For decades, Silent Hill has been synonymous with a fog-drenched American town and the psychological horrors lurking beneath it. But according to the writer behind Silent Hill f, that idea has never told the full story.

New comments from Ryukishi07 are reopening a debate that split the fanbase during Silent Hill: The Short Message, and they suggest the franchise has been quietly evolving its core identity for years.

The Silent Hill series started with a very specific setting, but it hasn’t stayed confined there. Since Konami relaunched the franchise, fans have experienced a strange push and pull.

Projects like Silent Hill: The Short Message and Silent Hill Ascension left many players frustrated, while anticipation surged around the Silent Hill 2 remake and the promise of Silent Hill f. That uneven revival has made every new piece of information feel consequential, especially when it reframes what Silent Hill actually is.

Traditionally, the town gave the series its name, but the heart of Silent Hill has always been the otherworld. That shifting, decaying space manifests personal guilt, fear, and trauma.

Past games even included notes suggesting the otherworld was some kind of spreading illness, but the idea never fully lined up with what players experienced moment to moment. The horror wasn’t contagious in a medical sense, it was intimate and personal.

That tension became especially relevant when Silent Hill f was revealed as the first mainline entry set in Japan. As the acclaimed creator of When They Cry, Ryukishi07 was brought in to craft its story, and he immediately questioned how a series named after an American town could logically exist in his home country.

In an interview with Famitsu translated by GamesRadar+, he explained how that question led to a foundational shift in perspective.

"I discussed a lot of things with series producer Okamoto in a meeting after I received the request [to write Silent Hill f,]. Like 'Why is it set in Japan?' and 'What exactly is Silent Hill?'

“In the end, we came to the conclusion that Silent Hill is not just the name of a place, it is a phenomenon. Looking back I think I was able to create a pretty satisfying base for the story and world from this."

Silent Hill: The Short Message had already planted the seed with a piece of in-game text that reframed the mythology. One note describes the otherworld as, "the 'Silent Hill Phenomenon,' named after a similar event that occurred in an eponymous U.S. town."

By setting that game in Germany, Konami signaled that the franchise was ready to move beyond its original geography, even if not everyone was on board with the idea.

Silent Hill has always thrived on ambiguity, and this concept fits neatly into that tradition. Whether players embrace or reject the phenomenon explanation often comes down to how they interpret the series at large.

What does seem clear is that many fans are excited to see Silent Hill stretch outside the United States and explore new cultural lenses for its psychological horror.

With Silent Hill f leaning fully into that philosophy, the fog may be lifting on one long-running mystery. Silent Hill isn’t bound to a single town. It’s a manifestation of human darkness, and it can surface anywhere the conditions are right.