Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Breakdown Part 1

Posted by Spider on April 6, 2009 in V.1, V.x | ∞

On April 1st there was a post on a website that showed low-res scans from Nintendo Power that purported to be touting a new Silent Hill game. While the timing was suspect the game is real. We here at SHR got our subscriber copy of Nintendo Power this past Friday and have been inspecting every last bit of the cover story. This is what has been found along with some speculation.

Holy $#!@!

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is being produced by Climax Studios, the same producers who did Silent Hill: 0rigins. They have been in contact with Konami and the original Team Silent as well as Akira Yamaoka about re-imagining this game. Note that the term is re-imagining, as they are not remaking the game but taking everything you thought you knew and twisting it around. Hence the moniker “Shattered Memories”. What you thought you knew is no longer what you know.

From the demo scenario played by the Nintendo Power staff we have the following wonderful game play features and a glimpse into how the re-imagining is going to work.

Some obvious changes is the technology available to protagonist Harry Mason. Gone is the radio from before and hello iPhone.

Lost your child? Don't worry, there is an app for that.

Or at least a facsimile thereof. Interesting side note is that Apple Inc. had no problem with Hideo Kojima placing their products into Metal Gear Solid 4. They were more than happy to even help with the rendering and give schematics so that they were shown perfectly in the game. I know Climax is apart from Konami but couldn’t Konami talk to Apple Inc. and get permission to use the iPhone in this game?

Harry seems to be spending a good amount of time using his cell phone within this game as it is your main tool. All your maps, some communication with characters (Cheryl even calls you on it) and using it to find hidden messages needed to progress are all done through the use of the cell phone.

Should have made a left at Albuquerque

Dude, I have to send this to James!

"James, you are going to love it here. Bring the wife!"

Since the almighty cell phone is your closest buddy in this game (and for some people in real life too) you no longer have weapons. Gone are the days of planks, pipes, guns and katanas. Your weapon of choice? Legs baby, because you are going to be running from everything. You do get some incidental weaponry but nothing to really hurt anything it would appear so far. Monsters still are attracted to light so while you are running from these mobs you can find some flares to drop to distract them.

Sometimes hemorrhoids are a bitch to fight

Hopefully there will be more of a fighting dynamic that hasn’t been revealed because so far nothing besides running, running, and more running has been revealed. This was done because Climax feels that survival horror means surviving, not being able to use a gun and kill these demons. This will come as a shock to many fans of the series who feel that a gun is your best friend, but it does add an element of “what the hell am I supposed to do?” to the game. If done right this could be very good.

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this game is the psychological profile at the almost beginning of the game. At the beginning of the game you do have the familiar car crash and your daughter Cheryl disappears, so you go out hunting for her. Difference is that you are no longer visiting the town for a vacation, as the crash happens on a main street in the town. Later on in a bar Harry asks the bartender if she has seen Cheryl and the bartender asks for ID. The ID shows that the Masons live in Silent Hill. A bit of a twist.

After the crash you are taken(flashback, not in game) to an office of a shrink named Dr. K. (Michael Kaufmann perhaps?) He gives you a question and answer profile. The profile itself affects the gameplay. Your answers determine what the monsters look like, when certain events happen, when you meet certain people, and a myriad of other things. There is an area where you can choose to go to a used clothing store or a video preservation company. Depending upon the answers given one or the other will be open to you. During the demo played by Nintendo Power they were able to get into the video preservation company. During searching they found an answering machine and played the message. It was an angry male customer threatening death to the company for accidentally erasing over his wedding video. Konami PR man Jay Boor had played the demo previously and got a completely different message on the machine and it was a female voice. The choices made on the profile and how you go about searching the town affect everything. This becomes a complete “what if” scenario. “What if I turned left instead of right, would I have met that hot blonde that walked by instead of getting hit by a car?”

Dr. Kaufmann, have you lost weight?

The way it is described the “choices” system can completely change the way a survival horror game is made. There have been many games (including Silent Hill games) where choice affects the outcome but none I have seen to this level. The fact that music, monsters, scenarios and more are completely affected by your answers to the profile as well as simple things as opening the east door instead of the west is a massive mountain to climb. It can completely backfire in execution, but if done correctly lend almost infinite replay value to the game as long as there is enough difference in how the profile and decisions affect story and gameplay.

Yes, I am happy with my long distance carrier.

Speaking of doors gone are the days of trying to open every single door with a 90% failure rate. Climax has stated that every door in the game can be opened, but there are times where you have to figure out how to do it. Whether this be from completing a puzzle or coming back at a different time you CAN open it.

Puzzles are also redone. Instead of having to scour the town to find the Keys from Oz all the items or notes you will need to figure out a puzzle will be right within the immediate vicinity of the puzzle itself. So if you want to figure out who played Sweeney Todd in the 1978 Off-broadway production to get into the next room there will be hints and answers within walking distance.

I feel this is good and bad. It doesn’t promote exploration as much as the previous games but controls the exploration. It is nice to not have to do something like the garbage chute puzzle in V.2 wherein you had to run up and down two flights of stairs twice just to dump some soda cans so you can get a key outside of the apartments, then go back up to enter the room that the key opens, but some people will feel this is hand holding.

This look into Shattered Memories is done for the moment. More will be coming tomorrow. Until then I leave you with a mystery portrait. Who is this man and what does he have to do with the Silent Hill mythos?