Silent Hill: Townfall Opens To "Mixed" Reviews

Shocker, Silent Hill: Townfall Gets "Mixed" Reviews On PC Over UE5 Performance Published Sep 25, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life 3, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Fog isn't the only thing that the newest Silent Hill games have in common. All of them, from the 2 remake to f to Townfall, are built in Unreal Engine 5, which is like tossing a weighted coin if you're playing on PC: you're almost certainly going to land with performance issues. It's no surprise, then, that Townfall has opened to "Mixed" reviews on Steam, with players citing the constant stuttering, crashes, and shoddy framerate. You're supposed to get the jitters from the unsettling atmosphere, Konami, not poor optimization. "Please fix the performance issues," reads a review from glen "This game crashes a lot," Tactical S.U.S. writes. "Like almost every 15–30 minutes, totally unacceptable given the deluxe version costs more to play early. Wish I could refund." "Refunded due to performance issues," says Daved. "Running a 5080 and still dealing with stutters on high settings. SH2 had it, but it's SH2 come on. SHf had it, and I endured through the stutters to learn more about Hinako's story, and I like Simon and the story in Townfall but I just can't deal with this sh*t anymore." "You pay $10 extra for 'early access' to a jittery engine that crashes every 20 minutes," risnerking writes. "You're not fighting against the enemies in this Silent Hill, you're praying you can get to the next save station before the game gives up on you. Insane that this is the condition companies put games out in." Even some positive reviews note the "minor UE5 stuttering," like Aerith, who writes, "The real horror is getting to the save point in time before your game crashes. For the love of Silent Hill I will give this a positive review despite the 8937784872 crashes I have experienced." Performance issues obviously aren't universal. A handful of players report that the game "runs well" for them, which isn't surprising given the sheer variety of PC hardware out there. So, if you're on the fence, it's worth checking out reviewers' PC specs and comparing them to your own rig first. It'd be disingenuous to say all the negative reviews boil down to performance issues, though. For instance, DancingGavin calls St. Amelia "one of the best settings" in horror, but argues that the story "falls flat" and that "everything was predictable." Others simply didn't gel with the Zoe segments, first-person POV, or stealth, describing them as a "massive time waster" and "a big disappointment." "It's honestly quite tedious and boring," Taraszilla says. "There are a few sections which I enjoyed but apart from that nothing stood out to me." Silent Hill Townfall Praised For Its "Great" Atmosphere And "Classic Psychological Horror" We're talking "Mixed" reviews, here, though, not "Mostly Negative." There are plenty of fans who are enjoying the game, with roughly two positive reviews for every negative one. Players praise the "great" visuals and atmosphere, "engaging" story, and "classic psychological horror" that has made the series so enduring. "Silent Hill Townfall has become one of my favorite survival horror games of 2026," writes Imperial. "What makes it stand out is how much it trusts the player to uncover its mysteries through exploration, puzzles, and environmental details without excessive hand-holding." "It's Silent Hill in spirit with an Amnesia/Alien: Isolation style of gameplay in a setting which all comes together to complement the style of the franchise really well," says Adamski. "Townfall gets what it takes to be a Silent Hill game," GAME_OVER writes. "Creepy small rural town? Check. Confusing emotional story? Check. Mesmerizing sound design? Somewhat check. Sh*t combat? Check. Overall SH Townfall is a surprisingly good entry, worth a buy." Hopefully, developer Screen Burn can wrangle Simon Ordell out of the fog (read: stuttering and performance woes), but otherwise, Townfall is faring pretty well. Let's just hope the next Silent Hill game manages to avoid falling into the UE5 pit for a fourth time, eh? Systems Released September 24, 2026 ESRB Mature 17+ / Blood, Strong Language, Violence Developer(s) Screen Burn Publisher(s) Annapurna Interactive, Konami Genre(s) Horror, Action, Adventure, Exploration