Maybe horror games are already your thing. You don’t need convincing to walk into a dark room when every sensible part of your brain is telling you not to.
Then Silent Hill: Townfall catches your eye.
And suddenly you notice the name attached to it: Silent Hill. Decades of games. Remakes. Lore. Fans who seem to know what every radio crackle, patch of fog and suspiciously wrong hallway means.
Now you’re wondering whether you need to play a small mountain of Silent Hill games before Townfall just to avoid arriving completely lost.
You don’t.
My pick: start with Townfall.
Konami describes Townfall as a self-contained psychological horror and says the standalone game welcomes newcomers as well as long-time fans. Its creators have also spoken directly to people who have never played a Silent Hill title before. Konami’s September Townfall update
So you are not being asked to clear decades of franchise homework before St. Amelia lets you in.
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That does not mean the finished game cannot hide an Easter egg, callback or old reference somewhere. It just means earlier games are not being presented as something you need to finish first to follow Townfall‘s own story.
Why Townfall Doesn’t Expect You to Know Everything Already
Townfall gives you its own protagonist, its own place and its own mystery.
You play as Simon Ordell, whose story brings him to St. Amelia, a fictional Scottish island in 1996. His connection to the island and the people there sits at the centre of what Townfall wants you to uncover.
So you are not walking in halfway through Simon’s adventure wondering who everyone is supposed to be.
The creators have been pretty welcoming about this too. Series producer Motoi Okamoto and writer-director Jon McKellan have said they hope people who have never played a Silent Hill title before will enjoy this new story.
I would not stretch that into a promise that every single idea from the wider series will be explained from scratch. We do not know that.
But you also do not need a notebook full of twenty-year-old lore before Simon sets foot on St. Amelia.
If you looked at the franchise backlog and thought, Do I seriously need all of that first? you can put the checklist down.
What Playing Silent Hill Games Before Townfall Actually Adds
Older games can still give you something.
Mostly, they give you more things to recognise.
A returning player may notice that Screen Burn has taken an old Silent Hill idea and twisted it into a new shape. If this is your first game, you simply meet the new version first.
How Townfall Turns the Old Radio Into the CRTV
The CRTV is probably the clearest example.
Older Silent Hill players know the handheld radio. Townfall takes that idea and gives it a much bigger job.
McKellan has explained that Screen Burn deliberately developed the familiar radio concept into the CRTV, which can pick up visual signals, help locate threats and feed information to you as you explore. Read the PlayStation developer interview
If you’ve played the older games, you may spot the family resemblance immediately. If you haven’t, the CRTV is still just the strange little machine Townfall is teaching you to trust while everything around you gives you reasons not to.
You don’t need to know how the old radio worked first.
Why Townfall Goes First Person
Townfall is also the first full-length Silent Hill presented in first person.
That makes it an unusual doorway into the series, but unusual does not mean wrong.
McKellan has said first person was fundamental to the way Screen Burn wanted the CRTV to work. Holding it, reading it and using it inside the environment all depend on seeing the world this way.
So if Townfall is your first Silent Hill, you are beginning with one team’s deliberate take on some familiar series ideas.
Returning players may notice the difference immediately. You can simply experience it.
How Townfall’s Endings Compare With Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2
One older idea does carry through in the ending structure.
McKellan has said your actions across the game help shape the ending you reach, rather than everything resting on one obvious choice at the finish. Okamoto compared that setup with the original Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2.
That does not mean shared lore, shared symbolism or identical ending triggers. You certainly do not need to know those older endings beforehand.
What We Still Don’t Know Before Townfall Releases
This is where I would leave one small question mark in the corner.
We know Townfall is self-contained. We know newcomers are welcome.
What we do not know yet is whether the finished game quietly includes an unannounced callback, Easter egg, returning character, reference to an older event or some deeper story connection Konami has simply chosen not to reveal before release.
Maybe longtime fans eventually spot something you don’t.
That’s fine.
Not required beforehand does not mean nothing from older Silent Hill material can appear.
And I would not delay the game you actually want to play because there might be a wink somewhere for somebody who has been here since 1999.
If something really matters to Townfall‘s own story, you shouldn’t need an older game just to make sense of it. That’s what the self-contained, newcomer-friendly positioning is telling us.
Want Some Extra Context First?
If you already wanted to play Silent Hill 2 Remake, go ahead. It can give you another modern point of comparison for some Silent Hill ideas.
I just would not turn it into a job you need to complete before Townfall.
Play Silent Hill 2 Remake because you want Silent Hill 2 Remake, not because you’re worried somebody is checking your franchise credentials at the door.
For this decision, my answer stays the same: start with Townfall.
What About The Dock House Comic?
Then there is Silent Hill: Townfall – The Dock House, which is tied directly to the new game.
Konami describes it as an official prequel and narrative companion set in St. Amelia. It was written by Townfall lead writer and game director Jon McKellan and released digitally on September 16, 2026 as part of 2000 AD Prog 2500. Konami says it offers another perspective on St. Amelia and expands the world around the game. Konami’s official The Dock House announcement
Konami doesn’t tell you that you need to read it first, but it doesn’t explicitly label the comic optional either.
My read is that it is supplementary context rather than established prerequisite homework. Townfall itself is still presented as self-contained and newcomer-friendly, while The Dock House is offered separately as a companion.
If a little extra St. Amelia sounds fun, lovely. Read it.
If not, I would not let a prequel comic become another item on an imaginary entrance exam.
If intimidating horror backlogs have a habit of making you second-guess yourself, I use the same approach in my guide to where to start with Junji Ito: start with the thing that actually made you curious, then explore backwards if you want more.
Resident Evil creates a very similar newcomer problem with its numbered sequels and remakes. If that series is sitting in your backlog too, our guide to which Resident Evil game to play first on PS5 gives you one clear starting point without turning the franchise into homework.
Townfall caught your eye, but is it actually your kind of psychological horror?
If you’re still deciding between fighting back, being hunted, slow dread, sharp scares or story-heavy horror, our PS5 psychological horror guide puts Townfall beside eight very different games and shows where each one starts to feel wrong for the wrong player.
That is exactly what I would do here.
If Silent Hill: Townfall is the game that finally made you look at this series and think, Okay, now I’m interested, follow that instinct.
Start with Townfall.
The older games are not going anywhere. Neither is Silent Hill 2 Remake. You can wander backwards through the fog later if Townfall leaves you wanting more.
For now, you do not need to earn your way into the series.
You already found the door you want to open.
