This beginner’s guide explains how to make horror games less overwhelming.
It highlights practical tips worth knowing before your first playthrough.
Please use this guide to assist you throughout your playthrough.
① Explore Thoroughly
This is because there are missable elements.
Missed Items Are Difficult to Recover
This game is not open-world. The areas you can explore are limited by story progression.
Opportunities to revisit areas you have already passed through are quite rare, so make sure to explore each map thoroughly to avoid missing items.
While there are cases where you can return and pick items up later, those are the exception rather than the rule.
Each walkthrough on this site includes map images showing the locations of obtainable items, so feel free to use them as a reference.
Guide → Complete Walkthrough Guide Hub
Because You Can Find Equipment and Upgrade Items
Exploration allows you to obtain high-priority items such as Omamori, which grant various combat effects, and Ema, which permanently enhance your stats.
Collecting these thoroughly will make later sections of the game much easier to handle.
Our walkthroughs also include map images showing the exact locations of all Omamori and Ema, so you can pick them up without missing any.
Because You Can Earn Faith
Faith is a point-based resource used to obtain Omamori through Omikuji and to enhance your stats via Ema.
You earn Faith by offering items that can be converted into Faith at a Hokora, many of which are scattered throughout each stage.
If you simply rush straight to your objective, you will earn far less Faith than if you explore the surroundings and collect items along the way.
If done well, you can collect items worth roughly 20,000 Faith by the time you finish the game. 20,200 Faith is the exact amount needed to draw all Omikuji and complete the set.
You Can Make Up for Missed Items in New Game+
This game is not designed to end after a single playthrough.
From your second playthrough onward, New Game+ becomes available, allowing you to revisit the game with carryover elements and collect any Omamori or Ema you may have missed.
New Game+ is far more than just a repeat run. It introduces alternative endings, hidden weapons, and entirely new areas where additional Ema and Omamori can be obtained—far too many features to fully cover here.
Guide → New Game+ Guide
② Recommended Difficulty Settings
This game allows you to set the difficulty for Action and Puzzles separately.
Personally, I recommend starting with the Action difficulty set to Story at the very least. Puzzle difficulty can be whatever you prefer.
Choosing Hard for Action on your first playthrough can feel unfairly punishing. You won’t have many Omamori yet, your stats won’t be upgraded through Ema, and going in under those conditions simply feels like fighting on uneven ground—based on both my experience and personal judgment.
After several playthroughs, once your build and upgrades are properly in place, I think selecting Hard or higher from your second run onward offers a much more satisfying kind of challenge.
Of course, if you want to start on Hard right away, that’s perfectly fine.
That said, I struggled quite a bit on my first run. Enough that I genuinely wished I had chosen Story instead.
③ You Don’t Need to Defeat Every Enemy You Encounter
Unless there is a specific reason, you are free to avoid combat and run away.
When you’re still getting used to the game, fighting often leads to unnecessary damage, and it also wears down your weapon durability—so escaping is usually the better option.
Forced combat tied to stage gimmicks is unavoidable, but outside of those cases, defeating enemies yields no drops or rewards.
Some enemies will relentlessly chase you even if you try to flee—those are the ones you should take down.
④ There Are Some Tricks to Fighting
There will be plenty of situations where combat is unavoidable, so here are a few practical tips to keep in mind.
Fight While Watching for Enemy Counterattacks
In this game, going full offense without thinking will often get you hit hard by enemy counterattacks. You need to approach combat with a bit of intention.
That’s why it’s important to keep the following core tactics in mind:
• Use Heavy Attacks to trigger Stagger
• Aim for Counters to force Stagger
• Use Focus Attacks (gauge-consuming attacks) to Stagger enemies
All three strategies focus on forcing Stagger, and for good reason: attacking enemies while they are staggered grants a damage bonus, making it the most efficient way to take them down quickly.
Heavy Attack
When using Heavy Attacks, watch the enemy’s openings and spacing, then step in and strike at the right moment.
Attack speed, range, and how easily you can cause Stagger vary by weapon, so while Heavy Attacks are effective, you shouldn’t rely on them blindly.
After landing a Heavy Attack, immediately be ready for a counterattack. If needed, use Dodge to create distance. Think hit-and-run.
If possible, we recommend using Heavy Attacks while in Focus MAX.
← Focus MAX
Attacks performed in this state deal increased damage. (Be careful: using a Light Attack will trigger a Focus Attack.)
Waiting for a Counter Is the Safer Option
A Counter works much like a parry. When successful, the enemy is guaranteed to Stagger, letting you follow up with additional attacks. (Against bosses, this usually results in an attack interruption rather than a full Stagger.)
Not every enemy attack can be Countered, so you will often need to wait for specific attacks that allow it.
Waiting may feel inefficient at first, but once a Counter lands, most enemies can be taken down during the Stagger window with a sustained follow-up.
For a detailed explanation of Counters, see this guide.
Focus Attack
By performing a Light Attack while in a full Focus state, you unleash a powerful, weapon-specific technique. This is what’s known as a Focus Attack.
It offers excellent reach (depending on the weapon), comes out quickly enough to land before an enemy’s attack, and has a high chance to cause Stagger—an all-in-one powerhouse.
However, triggering it consumes a noticeable portion of your Sanity maximum, so using it repeatedly in a single fight can quickly drain your reserves.
That said, being too stingy with it can drag fights out and put you in danger. Especially in group encounters, it’s often best to thin the herd quickly—so when you can use it, commit and strike decisively.
For a detailed breakdown of Focus Attacks and Sanity management, see this guide.
Light Attacks Are Best During Stagger
When an enemy is downed, the damage you deal is increased—making it a clear window for follow-up attacks. In these moments, I recommend chaining Light Attacks.
The game doesn’t allow for precise damage calculations, so this is more based on experience than hard numbers, but for some reason, Light Attack combos tend to finish enemies off before the Stagger ends.
Always Keep Your Stamina in Reserve
Along with offense, Stamina management is something you should always keep in mind.
Early in your first playthrough—when your Stamina pool is small and Omamori support is limited—it’s easy to run out of Stamina very quickly.
Once that happens, you won’t just struggle to attack—you’ll also be unable to Dash or Dodge enemy attacks. No matter what you’re doing, always keep enough Stamina in reserve to Dodge.
As you strengthen your character through Pray, these concerns gradually fade away—but early on, they matter a lot.
Learn Each Enemy’s Attack Patterns
Not just bosses—regular enemies along the way can be surprisingly dangerous too. (Whether it’s fair to even call them “trash mobs” is debatable.)
To take enemies down efficiently, it helps to carefully observe their movements and identify the timing windows where you can land a Counter.
⑤ Look Forward to Your Second Playthrough
The game really starts to shine from the second playthrough.
As mentioned earlier, this isn’t a game that simply ends after your first clear.
And that’s absolutely true—SILENT HILL f becomes genuinely more enjoyable in NG+. Keeping that in mind while playing your first run helps maintain motivation all the way through.
Conclusion
Those were the five beginner tips I recommend.
If you keep these five points in mind, you should be able to approach the game with confidence and play more effectively.
Related Guides
Here are my other SILENT HILL f guides. Feel free to check out anything that catches your eye.
