No, Silent Hill F wasn’t banned in Australia

Late last week, social media was awash with a bombastic revelation — Silent Hill f, the next main series game in the Silent Hill series, had been banned in Australia. It was a shock for fans of the series, many of whom suspected that the game was gorier or more intense than past games, leading to its ban. Here’s the thing though: it’s not true, and Silent Hill f hasn’t been banned.

The confusion came after a listing for the game appeared on the Australian Classification Board’s website, which lists recent classification decisions. The listing showed that Silent Hill f had been given the “Refused Classification” (RC) rating after being submitted via IARC, the International Age Rating Coalition scheme that allows digitally released games to be instantly classified in a number of countries.

An RC rating in most cases means a game cannot legally be sold in Australia, and typically a publisher would be required to either appeal the decision or alter the contents of the game, removing the offending parts, and resubmit it. Games get given an RC rating in Australia for a number of reasons, but the most common reasons are interactive drug use with benefits to the player, nude or inappropriate depictions of a character who appears to be a minor, and sexual violence.

None of the above reasons were listed on the rating on the ACB website, but the game’s Steam page says that it contains “gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying, drug-induced hallucinations, torture, and graphic violence.” Multiple news outlets and social media accounts reported the ban following the discovery, but the Australian Classification Board has said that Silent Hill f has not been banned, and that the game has not been officially rated in Australia.

“Silent Hill f is not currently classified as ‘Refused Classification’ in Australia,” the ACB said in a statement to press. “The 14 March 2025 entry on the National Classification Database has been removed.”

The ACB went on to say that the game would be officially rated and the decision published ahead of the game’s release. It’s possible that Silent Hill f could be refused classification after a manual decision by the ACB, but at the moment it looks like the game will release in Australia as expected.

The culprit of the confusion seems to have been the IARC process, which is self-reported by publishers using a questionnaire. After filling out the questionnaire, a rating for a number of regions – as well as a generic age rating – is algorithmically generated and able to be used on digital storefronts. The IARC process is helpful for developers and publishers who want to have their games released digitally, but it’s not the final say on classification decisions in Australia — only a manual decision by the ACB can ban a game permanently. Physical games are required to be officially rated for release, so Silent Hill f likely would have been given a manual review in any case.

Silent Hill f is set to be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. No release date has been announced.