Cliff Notes – Silent Hill f is not banned in Australia despite what it says
- The Australian Classification Board clarified that Silent Hill f has not been classified as ‘Refused Classification’, despite initial reports suggesting otherwise.
- The game, featuring a teenage protagonist and graphic content, may still face potential bans due to Australia’s strict censorship laws regarding violence and drug use.
- Although no release date has been confirmed, speculation suggests that Silent Hill f could launch before the end of the year, potentially aligning with Halloween.
Silent Hill f is not banned in Australia despite what website says
Australia is very strict about the kind of games it allows (Konami)
Although the Australian Classification Board’s website said otherwise, Silent Hill f has not been hit with the ban hammer… at least not yet.
When Konami laid out all its new Silent Hill projects, it was naturally the remake of Silent Hill 2 that generated the most interest. However, of all the many new titles that have been announced it’s always Silent Hill f that has looked the most interesting.
Written by Ryukishi07, creator of the When They Cry horror visual novel series, its first real trailer is very promising, confirming a new 1960s Japanese setting, a schoolgirl protagonist, and a lot of twisted imagery.
With the game’s website promising ‘drug-induced hallucinations, torture, and graphic violence’, it wasn’t too surprising to hear that Silent Hill f was already being banned in Australia… except it hasn’t been.
Over the weekend, it was reported that the Australian Classification Board (ACB), which is responsible for providing age ratings for video games (as well as movies and TV shows) had refused classification for Silent Hill f, based on details on their own website.
However, in a statement to Stevivor the ACB said this wasn’t the case: ‘Silent Hill f is not currently classified as ‘Refused Classification’ in Australia.’
It has now removed the incorrect data from the ACB website, adding that ‘a classification decision will be published to the National Classification Database ahead of the game’s release.’
Although no official explanation has been given for the error, it is speculated that it was due to a self-reporting tool. The tool requires developers to answer a questionnaire about their game’s content, so it’s possible the tool automatically decided Silent Hill f wasn’t viable for a release in Australia.
Will Silent Hill f be banned?
It wouldn’t be too shocking if Australia wound up banning Silent Hill f anyway, considering the country is far stricter with censorship than the UK or the US. For the longest time, video games that featured extreme violence, drug use, and nudity were typically banned in Australia, making it the strictest country in the Western world.
Silent Hill f’s ESRB rating makes it clear that the game will feature such content, listing specific moments that are particularly gory as well as mentioning ‘a nude mannequin-like character, with exposed buttocks and partially exposed breasts.’
Silent Hill’s been violent before but the new one sounds like it’ll take things further (Konami)
In 2013 though, Australia introduced the R18+ rating, allowing more mature games to be released in the country. That said, there are still plenty of games that remain banned even with the new age rating, particularly ones that depict or imply sexual violence towards minors.
Silent Hill f’s protagonist is a teenager, and the trailer and website show she will come to harm throughout the game (as evidenced by her torn school uniform). Not to mention the game will feature instances, or at leastreferences to, child abuse.
Depending on how far the violence goes, the ACB could deem the game inappropriate even for an R18+ rating. That or force Konami and developer NeoBards Entertainment to make a censored version, which is what happened with 2008’s Silent Hill: Homecoming.
When is the Silent Hill f release date?
As it stands, Silent Hill f doesn’t have any sort of release window. Although given it has already been rated by the ESRB, it stands to reason that it’ll be out before the end of the year.
Finnish outlet Muropaketti did suggest the game would launch in July (as shared in the Silent Hill subreddit), but this is likely a mistake on its part since the article has since been updated to remove mention of any date.
An autumn launch would make sense, to match the Halloween vibes, but Konami may be eager to avoid clashing with GTA 6, which is still scheduled for a vague autumn release window.
In the meantime, Bloober Team, the developer behind the Silent Hill 2 remake, has its own original horror game scheduled for 2025. Titled Cronos: The New Dawn, it has more of a sci-fi aesthetic, as it sees you travel back in time to 1980s Poland after a cataclysmic event has turned people into monsters.
After Silent Hill 2, Bloober’s earned some cautious optimism for its next original game (Bloober Team)