Silent Hill Townfall runs about 11 hours, but 100% will demand many more

Konami has a new Silent Hill out on the streets, and this time development falls to Screen Burn, the studio behind Stories Untold, with Annapurna Interactive backing the project. Silent Hill Townfall is a first-person survival horror game and one of the week's biggest releases, so the question everyone asks before checking out is the usual one: how long is it?

According to the review published by Vandal, the primary source for this article, a first playthrough takes around 11 hours. That figure lines up with the estimate Konami gave months ago, between 10 and 14 hours, and hides something more interesting for those who play thoroughly: there are five endings, unlockable extras and conclusions that can only be seen in New Game+. In other words, the headline number is just the starting point.

What you need to know

• First playthrough length: about 11 hours in Vandal's run.
• Official estimate: Konami quoted between 10 and 14 hours depending on the chosen difficulty.
• Two independent difficulty settings: combat and puzzles are adjusted separately, and that affects the total time.
• Five endings: some only appear in New Game+, with new weapons and outfits as a reward for replaying.
• Vandal's score: 7.5 out of 10, a good horror game though more uneven than the series' latest entries.

A classic length for the series, with fine print

Eleven hours for a Silent Hill game is no surprise. The series has always favored concentrated horror over a bloated open world, and Townfall keeps that philosophy. What changes compared to other entries is the first-person perspective, territory Screen Burn knows well from its previous work and which tends to make every corridor feel longer than it really is.

The detail that interests us most is the separate settings for combat and puzzles. It's a smart decision: some people want to suffer against the enemies but not get stuck for half an hour in front of a lock, and vice versa. It also explains Konami's range, because a playthrough with both options maxed out is nothing like a relaxed run to enjoy the story.

100%: where the real challenge begins

Anyone who wants to see everything has work ahead of them. With five endings, some of them reserved for New Game+, Vandal itself estimates that fully completing the game will run to several dozen hours. Later playthroughs will be faster, of course, because you already know the puzzles and the route, but the multiple-ending structure is, as always in Silent Hill, the real hook for replayability. The extras, new weapons and outfits, are the prize for those who persist.

As for quality, Vandal's 7.5 makes it clear that this is a good survival horror game, though they warn it is somewhat more uneven than the latest Silent Hill titles. It's not the score of a flawless game, but it is the score of a game with an identity of its own.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz editorial desk, we see Townfall's length as an honest one. Eleven hours is the perfect stretch for a horror game: enough to build atmosphere and wear the player down, and short enough not to dilute the fear with filler. For content creators it's pure gold: it fits into a series of three or four streams, with a different ending each time if you play your cards right, which gives you material to replay without the audience feeling they're watching the same thing.

That said, we have to be critical about one thing. Hiding endings behind New Game+ is a formula that's getting tiresome. We understand it extends the game's lifespan, but in a genre where the first impression is everything, forcing players to replay to see the full conclusion can feel more like a toll than a reward. If the five endings genuinely add to the story, fine; if they're cosmetic variations, it will be time many won't want to invest.

That 7.5 and the word uneven also leave us somewhat cautious. When critics themselves place it below the latest entries, a misstep in pacing shows. For competitive players, used to every minute counting, a survival horror game that doesn't maintain tension from start to finish may end up shelved halfway through. Even so, a first-person Silent Hill with separately configurable difficulty is an experiment worth trying.

What do you think?

Eleven hours of story and dozens more to see all five endings: does that feel like a fair length for a survival horror game, or do you prefer your horror shorter and more direct? Tell us in the team chat or drop by our Discord and let's debate which ending is most worth chasing.