Japanese actress Konatsu Kato has opened up about the psychological strain she endured while portraying Hinako Shimizu, the protagonist of Silent Hill f. The piece includes minor spoilers.
Before the game’s launch, Kato admitted that she sometimes lost touch with reality during recording sessions. Later she revealed more details, explaining why the role proved so demanding.
SPOILERS Silent Hill f!
The actress said the first sessions were relatively calm, but as the plot deepened the recordings became increasingly intense, reflecting the mounting psychological pressure in the story.
She frequently re-recorded the same scenes with different lines and emotional deliveries — akin to New Game+ or alternative player choices. That process led her to ask herself: “Who am I? What is Hinako doing? Where is she?”
Scenes featuring two versions of Hinako interacting were particularly harrowing. Kato confessed she stopped being sure whether she was the actress or the character.
“Sometimes I would begin to cry without understanding why. The more time I spent as Hinako, the more disoriented I became. There were days when I felt like I was losing my mind.”
She acknowledged the project was a severe test. She recalls almost nothing from the Silent Hill f sessions — only fragments remain. The most vivid memory is the sensation of having lost herself.
Still, Kato admires Hinako as a character — despite her youth, she displays deep inner conflicts and surprising maturity. Yet the actress added she would never want to meet Hinako or find herself in the world of Silent Hill f:
“Just the thought of that terrifies me. If I were there, I would want to vanish instantly.”
Source: iXBT.games