Silent Hill Townfall: Iconic horror game gets a clever Scottish makeover

As I creep through the heavy fog of Silent Hill: Townfall, I'm met by an oddly familiar sight amid the terror - a sign for a Sunday roast. For the first time, one of gaming's biggest horror franchises, created in Japan but traditionally set in the US, has come to the UK, set on a fictional Scottish island.

Jon McKellan, director at Glaswegian developers Screen Burn, described taking on the mega brand as an "absolutely terrifying" prospect for the relatively small team. As a fan of the games, I was keen to find out what one of the most iconic survival horror series looks like in Scotland and whether it can live up to its legacy.

I played Silent Hill: Townfall, which was released on Thursday, on my PlayStation 5. The game ran well, though there have been some reports of performance issues from other players. Set in 1996, the game follows the plight of an American man named Simon Ordell, who washes up on St Amelia with a red hospital ID band around his wrist and an IV drip in his arm. As expected from the Silent Hill games, the real reasons for Simon's presence and the island's mysteries are teased as the story progresses in a typically vague manner.

The team drew inspiration for the setting from the tiny fishing village of St Monans in Fife. McKellan emphasized that he wanted the game to feel "authentic and natural," stating, "It's not tartan everywhere, but if you grew up in a working-class town in the 90s, you will get a lot of the references."

In Townfall, I walked past film-quality models of red pillar boxes, 20 mph speed limit signs, and charity collection boxes shaped like guide dogs. To save the game, I had to use a phone, often stepping inside a "coins and card" telephone box, a sight familiar to anyone old enough to remember them on British streets.