Category: Video Games

We’ve already heard a lot about how Silent Hill f hopes to set itself apart from its predecessors, particularly by honing in on its Japanese roots. But it’s also hoping to stand out to avoid “clone” comparisons to Silent Hill 2, and appeal to younger players by racheting up the combat.

Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto and Silent Hill f director Al Yang have been making the rounds just recently, and an interview has popped up at Game*Spark. Okamoto discussed that whilst his aims for the remake of Silent Hill 2 were to respect the source material, for f, he’s interested in “more entertaining and thrilling action.”

“Inserting more entertaining and thrilling action into Silent Hill f was an idea I had ever since the early phases of the development,” Okamoto said, as transcribed by Automaton.

“And, since NeoBards is a company that’s tremendously good at making action games, this is also one of the reasons why we decided to choose them as the developers.

“The Silent Hill series isn’t considered a game that has entertaining action per se, but as we’re opening our doors to new players, we began to wonder what it would be like if we added more of those elements into the game.” Okamoto added.

“Challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays, so I believed that if we implemented such elements into the game, it would resonate well even with people who are new to the series.”

Yang added: “We didn’t want to end up recreating Silent Hill 2 over and over again, and we were aware that there was no reason to keep making clones of it. So, in order to avoid repeating what previous major titles did, we decided to make the action stand out more.”

Silent Hill f is not a sequel to any of the existing Silent Hill games. Instead, it will offer a standalone story “independent from the series.” That came from publisher Konami itself, which finally confirmed on X/Twitter that the latest instalment of the horror series — which is usually, if not always, based in a sleepy resort town on east-coast America — will be “a completely new title” that “people who have never played the Silent Hill series can enjoy.”

Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.”

Higurashi and When They Cry creator Ryukishi07 also recently opened up about writing Silent Hill f, likening the game’s supernatural and psychological elements to, uh, “salad dressing.” The writer explained that it would initially be difficult for players to distinguish between the game’s supernatural and psychological horror motifs, as they’ll often feel like one and the same. As the game progresses, however, players will understand more of what’s going on —and it’s here that the game “will be like a salad dressing”, he said.

Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan. It’s out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 25.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The latest Magic: The Gathering set, Edge of Eternities, has finally arrived, but if you’re wondering which cards from the new set are worth keeping an eye out for, we’ve got you covered.

From spaceships to planets, this new sci-fi universe is a stark departure even in a year that’s included Aetherdrift, Tarkir, and Final Fantasy, and early impressions seem to be positive.

To clarify, these are the best-selling Edge of Eternities cards so far, thanks to data from TCGPlayer, and it’s changed a fair amount from our initial coverage during pre-release.

Here are the best-selling Magic: The Gathering cards of Edge of Eternities so far.

Breeding Pool

Quality assurance workers at Raven Software, one of the developers of Call of Duty, have officially ratified their first union contract with Microsoft three years after they first unionized.

In a press release, the union shared several highlights of the new contract, including a guaranteed 10% wage increase over two years plus additional raises through merit and promotions, significant restrictions on mandatory overtime, layoff protections, expanded disability accommodations, and more.

“After more than three years of organizing and bargaining, seeing it finally pay off feels incredible,” said bargaining committee member and QA tester Erin Hall in a statement. “From day one, we made it a priority to include every voice in the room, and the contract we came out with reflects what we need—better pay, real career paths, and protection from burnout. It’s a contract that actually values the work QA does. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I hope it shows other game workers that organizing works—and it’s worth it.”

Raven Software’s QA union has had a long road to get here. The inciting incident for its unionization was a round of layoffs back in December of 2021 as a part of a studio restructure instituted by then-parent company Activision Blizzard. The following day, employees walked out to protest the cuts, garnering the support of employees at other Activision Blizzard companies. Raven Software continued to strike for weeks before the company finally responded in January, only to be acquired by Microsoft just over a week later. By the end of the month, Raven QA workers had announced the formation of Activision Blizzard’s very first union. While Activision Blizzard declined to recognize the union voluntarily, the group won its union election the following May anyway.

Since then, a number of other groups under Microsoft Xbox have unionized, both within Activision Blizzard and in other subsidiaries such as ZeniMax. This past May, QA workers at ZeniMax Media reached a contract agreement with the company, while many others are still at the bargaining table.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.