Discover everything you need to know about Dark Shrine Path Walkthrough in Silent Hill f, including some useful tips.
Dark Shrine Path is the second chapter in Silent Hill f and is one of the story sections you enter after the events in Ebisugaoka. Solving two puzzles while progressing here is essential to moving further. You’ll find yourself in a dim shrine facing an altar after starting the chapter. Place each item on the matching pedestal plate to complete the Altar puzzle. Be aware of the deadly monsters that come with devastating attacks.
You will see the Fox Mask entity guiding you with a blue lantern after the Altar. Find the correct Ema for Shrine Vault and open it to get the key. Head to the door with the Inari Statues and you’ll be knocked out after the cutscene. Completing the objectives in the Dark Shrine path can be challenging due to the two distinct puzzles. In this guide, we’ll discuss how to progress in Dark Shrine Path, including tips to solve the puzzles.
Solve the Altar Puzzle
After waking up in the Dark Shrine, head towards the Altar and solve the puzzle. You need to place the items in their corresponding plates. Solving this little mini-game can be challenging, as you need hints or clues for it. The symbol must match the items in Story mode.
The goal is to solve the Altar puzzle to explore the Dark Shrine Path. You’ll see five pedestals, each with a decoration like a knot symbol, plant symbol, or no symbol, depending on difficulty, and five offerings. Place the correct offering on the matching pedestal from left to right to solve the puzzle. The order for Story Difficulty is Dress, Rat, Pot, Branches, and Fan.
Look at the pedestal in the shrine. Each one of them has an image painted below it. Pick one of the items, as remembering them is not required here. Match the string bow with the image on the pedestals. Make sure to match the knots wrapped around the items with the knot symbols. Below is the correct sequence for placing the items to solve the puzzle.
- Dress
- Rat
- Pot
- Branches
- Fan
While playing on a hard mode, the sequence is totally changed. The Altar pedestals show flower and plant symbols on Hard Difficulty. This time, there are no knots, as that was in the Story Difficulty Solution. You can get the clue from the Altar, but it lacks bearing on solving the puzzle. Inspect each time carefully to match its floral or botanical patterns to the respective pedestal symbol and place them in order. Initiate from left to right to solve this puzzle. Rotate the items to find markings on these items.
- Fan
- Branches
- Pot
- Dress
- Rat
Upon completing the puzzle, a cutscene will appear on the screen. Now, escape the area to follow the Fox Mask.
Follow the Fox Mask
Once the cutscene ends, your new objective is to follow Fox Mask. You can see blue light on the Fox Mask, making it easy to follow it on the path. You will reach the shrine while following The Fox Mask. Interact with the Ema while passing through, but this doesn’t work right now.
A new cutscene will appear while moving ahead. After that, keep following the Fox Mask to get your hands on the dagger (Kaiken). Open the shrine vault and move to the end of the path to get some more puzzles. Make sure to save the game at the shrine on the left of the vault door over there.
Unlock The Vault Door
Progressing here requires you to investigate the doll to get more hints or clues. Return to the shrine where you saved the game and interact with the doll near the pillar. You need to unlock the vault to get inside enter another area. A cutscene will appear after investigating the doll, and the Shackled Monster will appear. Equip your dagger to fight this enemy in an intense combat. Counter the deadly attacks and use the dagger to stun this monster. Once the monster is stunned, do heavy attacks to deal additional damage.
The monster can run fast and attack very quickly. His chain attacks can deal much damage to you, so you need to be careful and dodge the attacks. Once you defeat this monster, move to the locked wooden door to find another clue. You can find it on the stone near this locked door. Move all the way back to the area where you encounter hanging ema to find the clue to get access to the vault door.
Locate Correct Ema
You are required to solve the Shrine Vault Puzzle to get your hands on the Stone Key in Silent Hill f. You can find the hints for this puzzle around the map. Move to the west area of the map to get Crane’s hint and south side for the Tortoise. The hint for the Serpent is located in the area just below the Crane. Read the Journal to get clues about the correct Ema you want to find. Spot the Ema with the Crane, Serpent, and Tortoise painted on them. Below is the sequence for completing this puzzle.
- Crane
- Serpent
- Tortoise
However, if you’re playing the game on Hard Difficulty, then the sequence is not the same. The clues you’re looking for three correct Ema are for the Lightning, Decayed tree, and Kudzu in the Dark Shrine Path. Below is the sequence you need to follow to complete the puzzle in Hard Difficulty.
- Lightning
- Decayed Tree
- Kudzu
Once you solve the puzzle, the lock will open. Open the gate to collect the Stone Key, and a cutscene will appear on the screen.
Approach the Door with Inari Statues
Move towards the door with the Inari Statues once the cutscene ends. Make your way to the top left side of the map to get to the door. Move to the right after moving to the land filled with red fog. Take the stairs to move upward. However, you don’t want your sanity to be depleted, so consume a red capsule. Keep moving on the path, and you will encounter the Shackled Monster. Your best bet here is to avoid it and keep running to reach your destination.
Be aware of another Shackled Monster that you can face on the outside of the door. You can dodge its attack and run towards the door. A cutscene will appear after reaching the door. Here, you will find the Fox Mask again. You will interact with the Shu in Ebisugaoka after the cutscene ends. Doing all these steps allows you to unlock the field area of the map, and here the second chapter (Dark Shrine Path) ends in Silent Hill f.
