Psychology Warning: This article reads you as much as you read it.
Artwork by Anna Becker
“Do you enjoy going to horror movies? Silent Hill is a horror movie that you can play. You’re Harry Mason and you wake up after a car crash to find your daughter missing in the creepy town of Silent Hill. Find your daughter and watch out for the twisted creatures that pursue you,” says Tomm Hulett, lead producer of the horror-survival game Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. It is the seventh game in the Silent Hill series, and is a reimagining of the original Silent Hill.
For those of you who have never played Silent Hill (or even those who have, but still don’t understand it), I will try to stuff the series into as small a nutshell as possible. The first Silent Hill follows protagonist Harry Mason, whose daughter, Cheryl Mason, appears to have run off after a car crash on the way to Silent Hill; a town the two were traveling to after repeated requests from Cheryl, who has been having dreams about the town. Harry sees her disappearing in the fog several times throughout his journey, giving him hope she’s still alive. During the course of the game, Harry gains the camaraderie of Cybil Bennett, a cop, Lisa Garland, a nurse, and Michael Kauffman, a doctor. He also runs into Dahlia Gillespie, a religious fanatic who tells Harry several cryptic messages about his daughter, and a young girl, Alessa Gillespie, who looks somehow familiar to him. The ending is open to interpretation, but for the sense of continuing the story, we’ll say that at the end of the game, Harry is given back his daughter, but as a baby.
Silent Hill 2 (Restless Dreams, for the Xbox) follows the protagonist James Sunderland, who has been brought to Silent Hill by a letter from what he believes to be his dead wife, Mary. As he’s searching, he runs into a woman who looks identical to his late wife besides her hair and clothing, named Maria. She also acts completely different, but James confuses Maria for Mary several times throughout the game. A major theme in the game is atoning for sins; and other characters who appear in the game, such as Angela Orosco and Eddie Dombrowski, are being punished in a way that mirrors James’ punishment.
Silent Hill 3 takes place seventeen years after the first Silent Hill, and follows the teenage protagonist Heather Mason (the baby Harry got at the end of the first game). Her father moved them into hiding in Portland, dyed her hair blonde, and changed her name from Cheryl to Heather. As she walks through a mall on an errand for her father, she runs into detective Douglas Cartland, who she believes to be a stalker, and manages to get away from. Then she runs into a member of the Order (a religious group that Dahlia was a part of), Claudia Wolf, who tells Heather to “remember her true self.” Heather adventures through Silent Hill and runs into several other members of the order who all, in some way or another, try to kill her. For the first half of the game, Heather is just trying to get home, but after a tragic incident, Heather finds herself on her way to Silent Hill to find answers.
Silent Hill 4: The Room, follows protagonist Henry Townshend. Unlike other protagonists, Henry wasn’t brought into Silent Hill by any sin or greatly important reason, nor is he trying to find anyone. He was just pulled into Silent Hill because he chose to live in a certain apartment. He spends the game jumping from otherworld to otherworld, sometimes accompanied by his neighbor, Eileen Gavin, and dealing with a member of the Order, Walter Sullivan. This game was not originally meant to be a part of the series, but was made a Silent Hill game regardless, and had several references to other Silent Hill games incorporated, such as Toluca Lake and Frank Sunderland (the father of James from SH2).
Silent Hill: Origins is the fifth game, and a prequel to the series. It follows protagonist Travis Grady, a trucker who decides to take a shortcut through Silent Hill and wrecks his truck. Travis then sees a young girl who appears to be Alessa, and chases after her. He finds the girl nearly dead inside of a burning house, but passes out before he can get her out of the house. Before he is completely unconscious, he hears sirens. He wakes up on a bench and, remembering the girl, runs to the hospital and asks Dr. Kauffman what happened to the girl. Dr. Kaufmann responds that there have been no new patients admitted. Later in the hospital, Travis finds a mirror with a strange reflection and is transported through it to the otherworld. Travis also runs into other characters Harry encountered in the first game, such as Dahlia Gillespie and Lisa Garland.
Silent Hill: Homecoming, the sixth installment in the series, follows protagonist Alex Shepherd. After being discharged from the military, Alex returns home only to find that his father and younger brother, Joshua, have disappeared, and his mother is in a near catatonic state. Alex then begins the search for his younger brother. On his way, he is given a ride by Travis and later has to face off with Pyramid Head, a major monster from the second game (a.k.a. The Bogeyman). Another reference to the other Silent Hill games is when Alex finds a Robbie the Rabbit doll (a character from SH3), and gives it to his brother through a door of metal bars.
Which brings us, finally, to Shattered Memories. The game opens with a shot of Michael Kauffman, now a psychiatrist, preparing for a patient. The game cuts to Harry (from the first Silent Hill, remember), crashing his car similarly to the first game. He once again finds that his daughter, Cheryl, is missing and sets out to find her. He then arrives at a bar where he runs into either Cybil or a barmaid, depending on the choices the player has made.
As opposed to other games in the series, the producers have decided to leave combat out of Shattered Memories. “We have noticed that a lot of recent survival horror games have started focusing far more on action than ‘survival.’ Really, they’re action games with ickier monsters,” said Hullet. “So we wanted to step back, clean the slate, and go back to the roots of what makes a ‘survival horror’ game. How would we scare the player?” However, Harry (the protagonist) can knock objects in the environment over in order to impede his opponents.
In previous Silent Hill games, the player would solve riddles while avoiding or fighting off monsters, but in Shattered Memories the “exploration” (puzzle-solving) part of the game is separate from the nightmarish otherworld, and the appearance of monsters is accompanied by the world distorting and becoming covered in ice.
It has been a major concern of hardcore Silent Hill fans that, because of the lack of combat and the fact that monsters are not found in the exploration part of the game, that Shattered Memories will not be as scary as previous games in the series. “We have had focus testers ask to stop playing because they are ‘too scared’ during exploration. The world of Silent Hill is not a nice place, so exploring it isn’t a walk in the park. Yes there are scares, but mainly it’s about suspense — the atmosphere of dread and not knowing when the nightmare is coming,” said Sam Barlow, the lead designer of Shattered Memories.
In the nightmare world, places that the player can go (doors they can enter, walls they can jump over, ledges they can crawl under, etc.) are highlighted by bright blue; but do not fear, Silent Hill fans! These indications do not necessarily tell the player the right way to go. Additionally, in the otherworld the player will be pursued by monsters called “Raw Shocks,” which may change form throughout the game to match the player’s worst fears. Because Harry cannot fight these monsters, their form of attack is tackling Harry and essentially freezing him to death. The player must shake off the monsters and run. As Cheryl says in the first nightmare sequence: “You can’t fight them, daddy! You have to run!”
My main concern with the game is the lack of variety in the monsters. There is only one kind of monster, and although they change throughout the game, all of the monsters change at once. Also, having played the other Silent Hill games, the fact that the flashlight is on a different joystick than the one that makes Harry move is pretty disorienting.
Despite that, Shattered Memories is the best Silent Hill game so far. The story is unique, even if it is a re-imagining, and the psychological aspect of the game is mind-blowing. Where the character looks, what the character does, and how the player answers in therapy sessions with Dr. Kauffman all influence major aspects of the game, which makes it very difficult to get a specific ending. The best improvement, however, is the phone. Because of the lack of weapons, ammo, health drinks and puzzle items, the inventory has been completely eliminated, and Harry’s phone has taken its place. There are no longer save points, you just use the phone. No more navigating to your inventory to look at memos, you just use the phone. I could sing its praises for days… but I won’t.
In comparison to other Silent Hill games, I give Shattered Memories five stars. The gameplay is very different, but much improved and the storyline is fresh despite being a re-imagining. In comparison to other video games, I have to give it four stars because the game is so short and because of the lack of variety of the monsters.
Overall rating: ★★★★★
