Notably absent yet absolutely vital, Silent Hill Townfall's women are everywhere and nowhere. That's how it felt for me at first, creeping through the misty streets of St. Amelia. A woman's soft voice speaks to me through time and space – or rather, through protagonist Simon's handheld CRTV – but she's not a tangible presence here.
Townfall feels significantly Gothic in that regard, and not just because of all this fog. Women in Gothic horror typically fall under one of three things: damsels in distress (Lucy in Dracula), femme fatales (Carmilla in, well, Carmilla), or nowhere to be seen for a very long time (Frankenstein, pretty much). As I play through the horror game's first hour and a half, I'm prepared for Townfall's women to be grouped into that last category; framing devices, intended to buoy the male hero's journey toward redemption. But after completing Part 2: Zoe, Screen Burn's depiction of women cuts far deeper than the tragic beauty of doomed, transient females.
Hiding in horror is a nightmare for me, but Silent Hill Townfall gives me confidence to fight back
Women are both the antidote and the scapegoat of Silent Hill Townfall 's predicament. I see that no clearer than in Zoe Ellis, the nurse speaking to Simon through the CRTV in hushed, desperate tones, imploring him to "come back" and "set her free". It's a very Silent Hill 2 set-up... until it isn't. Zoe's role as a nurse is not made obvious until clues direct me to St.
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