Silent Hill f: Complete Shrine Vault Puzzle Guide
Master the challenging shrine vault puzzle and unlock the secrets of Silent Hill f's mysterious temple
Silent Hill f Shrine Vault Puzzle Overview
The second major area in Silent Hill f drops Hinako into a mysterious otherworld, where a man known only as "Fox Mask" leads her through what appears to be a massive temple at night, then immediately ditches her behind two separate locked doors. This comprehensive guide will show you exactly how to crack the combination on the Shrine Vault and progress through this challenging section.
Key Objectives
- • Find 3 specific ema throughout the Shrine Path
- • Decode the combination symbols from each ema
- • Avoid the shackled monster while solving the puzzle
- • Retrieve the Jade Key from the Shrine Vault
Difficulty Levels
- • Story Mode: Standard puzzle complexity
- • Hard Mode: More challenging ema identification
- • Lost in the Fog: Advanced multi-symbol puzzle
Getting Started with the Shrine Vault Puzzle
Initial Setup and Exploration
You begin this puzzle standing outside the Shrine Vault's locked door. You can freely explore much of the Shrine Path at this point, and you should, as there are a lot of useful items, documents, and lore drops scattered around its various passageways. It can also be helpful to find and open the locks on the two swinging gates in the area.
However, you cannot make any progress on the Shrine Vault puzzle until you return to the central shrine and examine the doll you'll find there. Starting the puzzle also triggers the first appearance of a shackled monster, which cannot be permanently killed with the tools you currently have on hand.
The shackled monster that appears when you start the puzzle
The doll in the central shrine that starts the puzzle
Dealing with the Shackled Monster
While you can knock the monster down for a while, it'll always get back up and go on patrol around the central Shrine Path. Fortunately, since it doesn't actually have eyes, it's not that hard to sneak past the monster by moving slowly; unfortunately, when it first appears, it already has a seemingly unbreakable target lock on you, which forces you to fight.
Pro Tip: Untouchable Achievement
If you can open the Shrine Vault without ever taking damage from the shackled monster, you'll unlock the trophy/achievement "Untouchable." This is essentially a test of whether or not you've grasped the counterattack system, as you generally have to knock the monster down at least once before you can get out of here.
Silent Hill f Shrine Vault Puzzle Mechanics
Finding the Correct Ema
On every difficulty, the trick to the Shrine Vault puzzle is to find 3 particular ema that are hanging in 3 separate places throughout the Shrine Path. Each of those 3 ema has part of the combination to the shrine's lock written on its back. Your only clue about which ema you need comes from the plaque that you initially find with the doll.
Northwest Area
Smallest collection of ema
Southern Area
Medium-sized ema collection
Tunnel Area
Largest ema collection from Fox Mask path
When you find the correct ema, Hinako will announce it and record the symbol
Silent Hill f Story Mode Shrine Vault Solution
Clue: "Send forth to the sky a crane; to the earth, a serpent; and to the spring, a tortoise."
You're looking for the crane, serpent, and tortoise ema. None of them are particularly hard to spot, although they're all a little faded.
Crane Ema Location
Look for this distinctive crane design among the ema collections.
Serpent Ema Location
The serpent ema features a snake-like design that stands out from other ema.
Tortoise Ema Location
The tortoise is one of the harder ema to spot. Remember that SHf has color-blind options if you're having trouble picking the tortoise out from the ema's background color.
Story Mode Combination Solution
| Picture | Symbol | Ema Type |
|---|---|---|
| Crane |
|
Sky |
| Serpent |
|
Earth |
| Tortoise |
|
Spring |
Important Note: One of the possible symbols on the Shrine Vault lock has an extra V-shaped bit on its top half. There's another symbol that's almost identical except for the V. If your combination isn't working, make sure you're not using the one instead of the other.
Silent Hill f Hard Mode Shrine Vault Solution
Clue: "Lightning cast down from the heavens split asunder the decayed tree. From the earth grows kudzu, the prophet of eternal prosperity."
There aren't any extra complications on Hard mode vs. Story. You're still looking for 3 specific ema in the 3 specific zones throughout the Shrine Path.
Lightning Ema Location
The lightning ema is one of the only ema in the field that's primarily bright yellow, making it easier to spot among the collections.
Decayed Tree Ema Location
The decayed tree ema is moderately easy to spot because it actually has background art, unlike most other ema.
Kudzu Ema Location
If you aren't a gardener, the first real barrier here is figuring out what the kudzu ema is supposed to look like in the first place. It might be easiest to spot by looking for its big white flowers.
Hard Mode Combination Solution
| Picture | Symbol | Ema Type |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning |
|
Heavens |
| Decayed Tree |
|
Earth |
| Kudzu |
|
Prosperity |
Silent Hill f Lost in the Fog Shrine Vault Solution
Clue: "To those corrupted souls who dare encroach upon our sacred land, may you be met with calamity and destruction. The Yokai of the Carriage had their heads removed. The Yokai of the Umbrella, their arms. And the Yokai of the Kettle, their legs. Only the losses of each shall purify this corruption."
As expected, this is a big jump up from Hard. You need to find 3 monster-themed ema, which have considerably more complex designs than the ema on previous difficulties.
Yokai of the Umbrella Ema
This ema features a distinctive umbrella yokai design. Look for the umbrella shape in the artwork.
Yokai of the Carriage Ema
The Yokai of the Carriage ema is easiest to spot if you look for the big wagon wheel on the lower right corner of its ema. The rest of it tends to look like a big blob of white due to the glare from Hinako's lantern.
Yokai of the Kettle Ema
This ema is colorful, but it's got a lot of small, fiddly details. Keep an eye out for its gray hat and multiple legs.
Lost in the Fog Advanced Puzzle Solution
You can now return to the Vault, but there's one more complication: you've got 12 digits for a 3-digit code. The additional clue you need is in your journal, and the pictures of each yokai that Hinako has drawn there.
Yokai of the Carriage
Has 2 heads
Yokai of the Umbrella
Has 4 arms
Yokai of the Kettle
Has 3 legs
The code to the Vault lock consists of the 2nd character from the Carriage ema, the 4th character from the Umbrella ema, and the 3rd character from the Kettle ema.
| Symbol 1 | Symbol 2 | Symbol 3 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
2nd from Carriage, 4th from Umbrella, 3rd from Kettle |
Completing the Silent Hill f Shrine Vault Puzzle
Retrieving the Jade Key
Once you've got the entire combination to the Shrine Vault door, you can head back there and open it to receive the Jade Key. This triggers a chase sequence where you must get back to the central shrine before you run out of Sanity or get trampled by monsters.
Once you're able to unlock that door, however, you're home free. The Jade Key is essential for progressing to the next area of the game and uncovering more of Silent Hill f's mysterious story.
Progression Tip
Make sure you've collected any additional items in the area before opening the vault, as the chase sequence may prevent you from returning to explore further.
New Game+ Considerations
The puzzle combinations have been consistent throughout multiple runs through the game, but they may be subject to change on New Game+. We've had a few playthroughs where they simply didn't work and we were forced to solve them manually.
On your initial run through the game, the lock on the Shrine Vault is initially missing one of its Combination Lock Dials, which is found behind the third ema you need. This appears to be unique to your first run through the game.
Speedrun Strategy
This design is presumably one of several measures taken to help you speedrun NG+, as it means you can save outside the Shrine Vault, solve the puzzle as normal, then restore the save and input the combination immediately.
Master the Silent Hill f Shrine Vault
With this comprehensive guide, you're now equipped to solve the Shrine Vault puzzle on any difficulty level. Remember to stay alert for the shackled monster and carefully examine each ema you find.