Among the various challenges in Silent Hill F, the Locker Puzzle stands out as one of the most complex. This complexity stems largely from the extensive exploration required within Ebisugaoka Middle School to gather all necessary clues and pieces of information.
To fully complete Hinako’s journal and gain all the helpful hints, players must scour every classroom and corner of the school. The numerous pages scattered throughout the building are rich in clues; thus, overlooking even one can significantly hinder your problem-solving capability, particularly at higher difficulty levels.
Fortunately, understanding the code is consistent across all gameplay difficulties: each number corresponds to a specific letter. Players need to uncover the numerical representation of a coded word. Hinako humorously notes in her journal that secret codes seem to be quite the trend these days, adding to the eerie charm characteristic of the Silent Hill series.
Remarkably, nearly every locker retains the same combination throughout every playthrough, with the exception of one: All students, except Asakura Ayumi, possess unchanging locker combinations, allowing players to memorize these codes for New Game+ attempts.
Unchanging Locker Combinations
Where to Find Them
For the lockers with consistent codes, some students will disclose their combinations directly through documents such as the Origami of Grievances. In other instances, players will need to deduce the codes from hints discovered throughout the school.
Notes exchanged among students often contain clues about these combinations, which can be instrumental in cracking the codes needed for unlocking lockers.
Takeshi Aoi
Aoi Takeshi‘s locker is the first one players encounter, although it offers no immediate hints for unlocking it. To discover the code, you’ll need to explore thoroughly. Within one classroom, you can find an Origami of Grievances hidden away, revealing that Aoi’s locker code corresponds to his name, which numerically translates to 401.
Unlocking Aoi’s locker provides access to another Origami of Grievances, this time detailing the locker combination for Suga Yosie.
Suga Yosie
Inside Aoi’s locker lies an origami that addresses Suga Yosie. Aoi has managed to uncover her locker combination, but he expresses concern that the code appears to resemble a distress signal.
While initial speculation may lead players to think the code reflects Japan’s emergency number—119—it turns out to be simpler. The combination actually corresponds to 505, which is the numerical equivalent of Morse Code’s S. O.S.signal, a clever nod to the game’s themes. Resist the temptation to get the Arctic Monkeys song stuck in your head as you solve this!
Tsuchiya Taiko
On your journey through the school, another Origami of Grievances can be found on a second-floor classroom chair. In this origami, one student expresses her disdain for “TT“, her intention being to sabotage the locker of this person. Surprisingly, she reveals the locker code outright, 377.
Among the locker names, the only student with the initials T. T.is Tsuchiya Taiko. Using the code allows players to access her locker, which contains the Wolf Omamori charm—boosting weapon damage when their durability is high. In New Game+ modes, players will receive an alternative offering.
Story Difficulty
An Easy Equation
The most notable of all the puzzle lockers belongs to Asakura Ayumi, whose code varies by difficulty. This locker is crucial because it holds the key to the Key Box, which contains the Mountain Key necessary for advancing in the game.
Players will locate Asakura’s classroom situated within a Stairwell and discover her desk, which is marked on the teacher’s podium, standing out due to the presence of both a book and a key. This key is essential for unlocking the locker room.
The book’s content shifts with each difficulty level, revealing Asakura’s personal interests that serve as the basis for her locker combination—in a rather childish yet endearing manner, as noted by Hinako. On Story difficulty, Asakura reveals her love for the sea, translating her code to 534 through the usual alphabet-to-number conversion.
Hard Difficulty
Wait, What’s “B?”
In Hard difficulty mode, players encounter a greater number of papers scattered throughout the school that provide valuable hints for decoding letters into numbers. One letter of particular importance pertains to the letter B, as it significantly impacts Asakura’s code for her locker.
Reading her textbook reveals that Asakura’s current obsession is with buses, which amusingly connects her interest to her fascination with the American yellow school buses that often astonish foreign exchange students. When converting “Bus”into its numerical counterpart, the locker code becomes 865.
Lost in the Fog Difficulty
Time to Eat
On the Lost in the Fog difficulty, Asakura’s textbook provides a more cryptic clue regarding her current obsession. She rambles about how her fixation relates to different cooking methods such as frying, baking, poaching, and boiling.
Players will eventually deduce that the subject of her fascination must be eggs. However, while a few school documents offer hints concerning the letter G, it is reassuringly not misleading—since visually, the number 9 resembles a lowercase g.
Hence, when translated numerically, “egg”simplifies to 399, serving as her locker combination. Unlocking this locker rewards players with the key to advance, albeit while preparing for an ambush by several scarecrows along the way.
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