*Light spoilers for Silent Hill f contained below. This guide was completed using the Hard Puzzle difficulty.
Following the confrontation in Silent Hill f at the Chizuruya General Store, Hinako passes out only to wake up in a mysterious shrine with no real indicator as to how she got there. The shrine, while big, has nothing of particular note outside the twin Inari statues in front of her and the offerings that are between them. This serves as a matching puzzle that Hinako will need to be able to solve to leave this shrine and continue on with her waking nightmare. The player will need to approach the table in front of the offerings, where a scroll sits, in order to begin the process.
When you interact with the scroll, it will read:
Thy restless heart betrays thee as unfit for this auspicious day.
Thou must first pay respect to the gods and spirits of thine ancestors.
A restless heart leads to a corrupt soul.
Only through sufficient offerings laid upon many stands may thy soul be cleansed.
After reading this note and exiting, the offerings on the shrine will be interactable, which triggers a perspective change to interact with everything in view. There are five sanbo pedestals and five offerings present, with the player’s goal being to place all of the offerings on all of the sanbo that correlate with them. The text we just read said as much, but it really doesn’t give much to go on when it comes to matching up the offerings correctly. Looking them over should begin to fill in those blanks, though.
Each of the pedestals has a symbol on its base, and each of the objects of offer does as well. The key here is to actually examine items to find the symbols. For instance, the fan might be hard to see on its offering plate, but examining and turning it showcases that it has a bamboo design on it, correlating with the symbol present on the first Sanbo, indicating the two go together. The jug has a symbol on its bottom, the rat is wrapped in its clue, the kimonos clue can most easily be seen on the back, and the fish’s wrapping paper has its clue when the paper is folded out.
The answer to this puzzle, then, is to place the fan on the left-most Sanbo, the fish on the next, the jug on the one left of that, the kimono is next, and finally, the rat. Upon placing them in this order, you will receive a cutscene in the shrine, becoming illuminated, and the exit will be revealed.
And there you have it, the shrine puzzle is complete, and you are ready to continue on your travels. If you are looking for more help with Silent Hill f, you can check out our walkthrough.
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