Silent Hill Retrospective Part 12: Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Welcome to the 12th installment of our Silent Hill Retrospective, featuring Silent Hill Shattered Memories.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009)

Konami turned to Climax Studios for the development of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, originally created for the Wii and then ported to PSP and PlayStation 2 later. Since they worked on Silent Hill: Origins in 2007, they wanted to take another stab at one of the original stories in the series. This time, it was a reimagining of Silent Hill 1.

There are two parts to this game. The first is someone speaking in a psychiatrist’s office, answering questions. The second part is playing Harry Mason again in Silent Hill looking for his daughter, Cheryl. Yet, there’s more of a focus on investigating and solving puzzles. As a matter of fact, you’ll run away from creatures instead of fighting them in some of the scenes.

For the most part, you’ll use your phone and flashlight. There is also an ice nightmare dimension that’s a stark contrast to the fires of the Otherworld. Also, the story seems to diverge from the original, and you’ll also come across new characters.

This is intentional, though. Later in Silent Hill Shattered Memories, you discover you were playing the distorted memories of an older Heather. Back in the psychiatrist’s office, all your choices and answers from before present a diagnosis of your personality and traits. It’s scary how many players found that final report to be true to their nature in real life.