Moving away from the quiet, touristy town of Silent Hill, Silent Hill f introduces us to the rural community of Ebisugaoka in Japan during the 1960s, shortly after the post-war economic boom has ended. This town sits on the border of modern progress and traditional customs, with many residents holding onto their religious beliefs and rejecting the advances of modern medicine and technology.
This cultural clash is reflected in the gameplay, which heavily relies on local religious practices. Even basic actions like saving your game are performed at small shrines called Hokora. These shrines serve multiple functions beyond saving, and players should definitely take advantage of what they offer.
What Is The Hokora?
The Hokora is more than just a save point. It functions as your hub for managing your inventory, making offerings to increase Faith, and improving your abilities. When you visit a Hokora, you can save your progress, which is important for survival, especially on higher difficulty levels.
Additionally, the Hokora lets you increase your Faith, expand your inventory slots, and make offerings that boost your stats. Given that autosaves are frequent, it’s recommended to visit a Hokora whenever possible—not just for saving but also to strengthen your character for upcoming battles.
Functions of the Hokora
The Hokora provides six main options most of the time, depending on the difficulty setting. Here are each of them and what they do:
Record
This is the most common and essential function, allowing you to save the game. You can create multiple save files, giving you the flexibility to return to earlier points if needed. The game also keeps around three autosave backups in case you forget to save manually.
Enshrine
This function is key to gaining Faith and managing your inventory. You can discard items and turn them into Faith points—rare items yield more Faith, especially those designed solely for enshrinement, like Antique Combs or Dried Carcasses, which don’t serve any other purpose.
You can also enshrine food items such as Higashi or Inari Sushi, which grant Faith based on their rarity—more valuable items like Kudzu Tea give higher Faith. Note that modern healing items like Red Capsules, Bandages, or Toolkits can’t be enshrined, so it’s best to use or waste these items as soon as possible.
Draw Omamori
In the game, there are two types of Omamori—Regular and Unique. Unique Omamori can be found throughout the world, while Regular Omamori are obtained from the Hokora by using the Draw Omamori feature.
This feature allows you to trade Faith for a random Omamori from the Hokora’s limited stock. All Hokora offer the same selection, but the Omamori you receive are completely random, and the cost increases by 100 Faith each time you draw one. The good news is that Omamori are kept across different playthroughs, giving you plenty of time to collect them all.
Pray
Using Pray upgrades your core stats: Health, Sanity, Stamina, and the number of Omamori slots you can equip. To improve a stat, you need Faith and Ema Plates, which you find in the world. Ema Plates are limited in each run but become more available in subsequent playthroughs, enabling you to boost all your stats eventually.
Clear Mind
This feature restores your maximum Sanity, which is used for various actions like Focusing and Offensive Attacks. Sanity naturally regenerates over time but can be lost quickly—using Focus Attacks or taking damage reduces the maximum Sanity. It can be restored either with items like Divine Water or Kudzu Tea or by visiting a Hokora with the Clear Mind function.
On Story Action difficulty, maximum Sanity can only be lost from enemy attacks or psychological effects, and visiting a Hokora will automatically restore it for free.
Change Costume
The simplest of the options, this allows you to change Hinoka’s costume. The costumes adapt to the story’s progression, tearing at the same spots to maintain their visual integrity, so you don’t lose the aesthetic appeal of her original outfit.
What Is Faith?
Faith is a special currency used exclusively at the Hokora. You earn Faith by enshrining items, particularly dedicated ones like Shriveled Abura-age. The amount of Faith gained correlates with the rarity of the item; rare items give more Faith. You can also gain Faith from food items like Divine Water or Arare, with higher-value foods awarding more Faith.
Faith can’t be lost directly; you gain it by enshrining items, and you spend it on upgrades, Omamori, or other services. Faith is retained between playthroughs, so you’re free to accumulate it over time without rushing.
However, since items are limited, there’s a cap on the total Faith you can earn during a single game. Be sure to spend Faith wisely on upgrades and items you truly value, because you won’t be able to obtain everything in one run.
