How Xsens Motion Capture Helps Bring the Psychological Horror of Silent Hill f to Life

1st July 2025

Few franchises have left a deeper mark on psychological horror than Silent Hill. With its chilling blend of atmosphere, narrative depth, and disturbing beauty, the series has terrified and inspired players for decades.

Now, the next evolution, Silent Hill f, takes a new direction, shifting its setting to rural Japan. This comes with new aesthetics, cultural roots, and challenges, including performance and motion capture.

A New Chapter, Rooted in Japanese Horror

Silent Hill f is being developed by Taiwanese game developer NeoBards and published by Konami. They worked with famed Japanese writer Ryukishi07, known for his powerful and unsettling storytelling. Silent Hill f is set in 1960s Japan in the Showa era.

The game brings you to abandoned Japanese shrines and candy stores, and every aspect is designed to unsettle, yet mesmerize you. They wanted to create something that didn’t look like horror in a traditional way, but it should feel disturbing while being elegant, and culturally recognizable.

Motion Capture

NeoBards, a team of industry veterans with decades of experience, wanted to honor the past while exploring new creative territory. In Silent Hill f, protagonist Hinako is an ordinary schoolgirl caught in a horror adventure. She seems powerless. Bringing her, and the rest of the characters, to life required an emotional depth that only high-precision mocap could deliver.

For a narrative driven game with many emotional layers like Silent Hill f, the performance capture needed to be just as layered. That’s where Xsens Animate played a vital role. The Xsens inertial system allowed performers to move freely across tight sets.