Author: Game Infliction

Is Silent Hill f a soulslike? It’s a question the Silent Hill fandom has been debating for some time now. But in a recent interview with IGN, Konami insisted it’s not, and expressed a degree of frustration with the ongoing debate.

Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As IGN reported in our Silent Hill f hands-on preview, its combat has a similar feel to Silent Hill 2 Remake’s close-range combat. You can dodge enemy attacks with the DualSense’s circle button and activate a light and heavy attack with R1 and R2, respectively. Your limited reach and lengthy attack motions give a realistic, weighty feel to combat. Heavy attacks, especially, feel slow and need to be timed well, “contributing to the feeling that Hinako is just a teenager with limited strength.”

On top of that, Silent Hill f’s combat also features timed dodges and counterattacks, with the latter particularly important in combat sequences. Enemies briefly show a sign when a counterattack can be utilized, but we suggested that “unless you have trained your reflex skills by playing games like of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you will likely have a hard time reacting.” That’s where the Focus mode comes in, which can be triggered by holding L2. It allows counterattacks to last longer, while also charging up a power attack that staggers an enemy.

Talk of parries and counterattacks has come as a surprise to some Silent Hill fans, and Konami’s suggestion that Silent Hill f’s combat sequences were ratcheted up because “challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays” has split the fandom.

But in an interview with IGN at gamescom 2025, Silent Hill producer Motoi Okamoto set the record straight. He insisted Silent Hill f is not a soulslike, despite the mechanics at play in its combat, and even said applying that label to the game is “disingenuous.”

“This is one of the things that we see — the term soulslike — being thrown around on the internet quite a bit,” he began. “And I think it’s a label that’s a little bit disingenuous. Modern players will see like, oh there’s a stamina meter, there’s a dodge, and they’re like, ‘Okay, it’s a soulslike.’

“But to be very honest, a lot of these things we actually pulled from classic Silent Hill titles. Look at Silent Hill 4 — there’s a charge meter for your attacks, kind of like our Focus meter. And even for Silent Hill 3 there’s a stamina meter. You see it later on.”

Okamoto went on to say Silent Hill f’s combat mechanics aren’t exclusive to the soulslike genre, expressing a degree of frustration with the online dialogue surrounding the game.

“These things aren’t new and exclusive to soulslike games,” he said. “They’ve been a part of action horror games for a very, very long time. If you have these things you’re labeled a soulslike. And we’d like to reiterate we are an action horror game, but we are not a soulslike.”

Silent Hill f comes out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on September 25.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Surprise! Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the slimmer, Baghdad-set adventure launched in 2023, is getting fresh content set in AlUla, an ancient oasis city now found in Saudi Arabia.

A new story chapter with additional missions, plus general gameplay improvements for the whole game, will launch for free later this year.

Ubisoft made the announcement this morning via social media, in a post that’s come rather out of the blue on a Saturday at the end of this year’s busy Gamescom week.

That said, the arrival of more Assassin’s Creed Mirage content has been expected. Earlier this year, Ubisoft declined to comment on a report in French financial newspaper Les Echoes that detailed a deal between Ubisoft and Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund for additional Mirage content.

Today’s confirmation that Mirage will soon get content set in 9th century Saudi Arabia therefore makes sense.

As for the location itself, AlUla seems a natural fit for an Assassin’s Creed game, as an UNESCO World Heritage site with more than 7,000 years of history and towering rock formations that look perfect for a spot of Assassin’s Creed parkour.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage players, we have a surprise coming your way later this year!

📖 New story chapter & missions set in 9th century AlUla
🎮 Gameplay improvements for the base game and the new location
🎁 All for free

Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/8CjB3MRvfR

— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) August 23, 2025

Launched in 2023, Assassin’s Creed Mirage arrived as something of a palate cleanser between the epic Viking-set Valhalla and this year’s similarly enormous Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Mirage returned to the Assassin’s Creed franchise’s smaller, stealthier city-set roots for an adventure that felt inspired by the series’ initial game.

Developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, the game originally began life as an expansion for Valhalla focused on its mysterious Assassin character Basim, someone who ends up playing a pivotal role in the events of that game’s finale. Fans had subsequently hoped to see more from the character, though it’s unclear if this add-on will include any new answers to his ultimate fate.

After Mirage was released, players found an odd post-credits scene hidden in the game’s files that Ubisoft has since acknowledged, though never fully explained. Perhaps this too will finally be addressed in Mirage’s upcoming new content, more details of which will follow in the weeks to come.

Next up for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, meanwhile, is the game’s big Claws of Awaji expansion, curiously also developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, that’s due for launch on September 16.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

There are so many different ways to experience The Witcher these days. My own entry point into this world was playing through the first Witcher game back when it first came out in 2007. But it wasn’t until The Witcher 3 that I really felt the depth of the story. I loved exploring the world, playing Gwent, and getting an up close and personal look at Geralt’s complicated love life.

I got a similar feeling with the first couple of seasons of The Witcher series on Netflix, but now that Henry Cavill has left the show I find myself mostly just looking forward to the next Witcher game in the franchise. Since that game is still years away, however, I’ve been recently looking into The Witcher TTRPG as a potential new way to experience that world. It’s currently only $15 for a six-book bundle at Humble Bundle and it certainly looks intriguing at that price.

Ubisoft is keeping Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 updates coming with the announcement of a new survival extraction experience called Survivors.

The team behind the long-running third-person shooter talked about how it plans to keep the sequel chugging along for at least another year during a gamescom 2025 panel livestream and in a blog post published on its website. It comes with a roadmap for the next few months of content, including a promise to keep players in the loop as development continues.