The Most Underrated Silent Hill Game

The Western Silent Hill games tend to get lumped together as being collectively worse than the ones produced by Team Silent (Silent Hill 1-4). Is this deserved? Mostly... but with the exception of one game released back in 2009. A game that introduced many innovative qualities that were in keeping with the spirit of Silent Hill and have tragically remained mostly unexplored in horror games since then. This is Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
 
Extra Silent Hill 1 Footage borrowed from Shirrako

1. Introduction (When You Can't Please Everybody, Make the Best Game You Can): 0:00 - 2:29
2. Opening Arguments for Shattered Memories Being Underrated: 2:30 - 4:18
3. Development History: 4:19 - 7:37
4. Is Shattered Memories a Silent Hill 1 Remake?: 7:38 - 8:37
5. The Psych-Profiling System: 8:38 - 12:40
6. Poor Creature Design: 12:41 - 14:08
7. The Chase Sequences: 14:09 - 16:03
8. Why Shattered Memories Works, Despite the Negatives: 16:04 - 19:03
9. Outro: 19:04 - 19:48

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#silenthill #horror #konami

[aIasdair]

shattered memories was the first silent hill game I ever saw when I was little Idk why but I just instantly loved it, the music, art style, everything was just so good to me.

[Strictly_Jake]

Look dude, I don't get scared of anything. But those chase sequences may have been the most intense gaming experiences I ever had. The screams, the lockers, throwing obstacles in the way, the crackling of the wiimote, the look back and panic button... it was insane. But the worst part is when those things actually caught you. They weigh you down, drain your energy, and then...They caress you. Holy crow, I would have taken any deadspace game over any day. They weren't trying to move you forward. They were trying to drag you back. Keep you there.

We used to break it out at parties and load a save for people just so we could watch.

[tylertheguy]

Unpopular opinion but Shattered Memories might actually be my personal favorite. It's the only post Team Silent game that I think you could call great.

[Royalhanburglar]

That final therapy scene hits hard, it strikes me so personally. “you never knew him, and you never will” brings tears to my eyes without fail

[joshuareesor]

I think part of the reason people are more positive towards SM is due to how derivative the other Western Silent Hill games had been of the Japanese games. While Origins and Homecoming were closer to the style of Silent Hill compared to SM, they lost most of the substance that made those games stand out, which made them feel cheaper. SM might be very different from the past Silent Hill games, but it has its own substance to stand on, coming from inspiration from past games and introducing new elements.

Even if this game isn't the exact direction I would want the series to continue in, I can appreciate it as its own experience within the Silent Hill franchise, as trying to do your own thing without losing the spirit of the older games is a more worthwhile venture compared to sticking close to the originals to the detriment of a new game's identity.

[deadwho]

Every time acceptance comes on during the credits I bawl my eyes out. It might not play like a Silent Hill game but the story when everything is revealed to you by the end, captures the essence beautifully.

[truefaiterman]

The main issue about the western SH games is that, instead of taking a bunch and varied amount of inspirations and references, they kept looking at the Team Silent games for inspiration over and over, always looking inwards and adding fanservice for the sake of it. Which is why this game, which actively tries to ignore the series's conventions, shines over the rest by a wide margin (And also that's why the most interesting of the new games is probable Silent Hill F).

[CuntyMisanthrope]

Goated. What I loved the most about this game are the "echo messages" and pictures you get. They are all about the struggles of normal people (bullying, cheating, domestic abuse, rape, etc) and that's all the horror SM utilizes: the horror of trauma, of real life.

[Sophtym]

Shame I'm discovering this so late, great video!
It's worth mentioning, though, that the "house colouring" bit does also impact Harry's behaviour in the next scene. If you patiently coloured between the lines, Harry acts calmly with the occupants, whereas if you rush and scribble all over, he is impatient and angry.

[quandrixtwincaster]

I know it was likely just chance, but the psychological report it gave me at the end of my first playthrough left me sitting there for a while. I was freaked out. Every single thing it said about me at that point in my life was true.

[TehPiemaygor]

One thing you didn't mention but I feel should, because it seriously colorizes my enjoyment of the game, is the insane amount of detail that Shattered Memories has. There is so much to look at in the scenery. If you ever see a phone number in the game, you can call it. You also get a map on your phone of the area, and you can draw on it. It's so fun, legitimately.

[MiguelRPD]

"Ice isnt scary"

As a Floridian, Shattered Memorires is heaven to me. Sign me up for a vacation.

[attilabertoldbozo]

Great video! What I liked about the enemies not appearing outside of the chase scenes is that it made the town being empty more mysterious. In the other games, even when I had no idea what the story was gonna be about, I never really questioned why there were barely any people in the town, because the monsters running around made it seem obvoious, but here you don't get that seemingly obvious explanation, so it keeps you guessing (some characters say it's because of the snowstorm, but that doesn't actually explain a lot as you play the game).

[IceX]

The last hour actually really amazing. The credit song "Hell Frozen Rain" that plays right after it end just stuck to me ever since. I played it with my friends so I actually cherish the moment we got jump scared together. Those were the golden days of gaming for me

[IDoubleJ]

I have to admire this game for having so much attention to detail. A game that actually had a lot of effort to make psychological differences that matter

[cujohjolyne]

This was my first Silent Hill game, also the first game that made cry, and the one that made me realize videogames are another form of art. Thanks for uploading this video!

[theopeneyes]

I still vividly recall the marketing for Shattered Memories calling it a "re-imagining" of SH1, so the devs and marketing team knew full well that calling it a remake wouldn't sit well with fans and wanted to make it clear that it'll be "familiar but different" to temper expectations.

Origins is also an unfortunate sticking point for Climax(UK) as I recall people using it as a basis of why they assume SM would be terrible and never giving it a chance. If I recall Origins was originally being worked on by the US branch of Climax and it was basically going to turn into a Resident Evil clone with a Silent Hill skin until it got moved to the UK branch and they basically scrambled to get it in the state we got it in. So while they did work on Origins I only consider Shattered Memories to be Climax(UK)'s only proper SH title as they were more or less the clean up crew for the mess Climax(US) was about to make.

And honestly with seeing how well they nailed the psychological aspect of Silent Hill in Shattered Memories I would love to see a new SH game from the same team. They really understood what made SH2's horror tick more than any other western studio at the time.

[damian]

I'm glad you're making this video. I would hate for this game to be forgotten in time since I find it a very interesting take on the original

[Henrique-hc]

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was the first ever game that made me cry. I was 13 at the time, and the ending hit me like a truck – it left me speechless, and when I tried to speak, I found myself in tears.

This game will forever remain in my heart <3

[purpleguy]

While i can understand why cold weather is not scary to a Canadian, as an Australian sub 0°C is so strange and unnerving to me, so it worked well in this game for me. Also, while the chase sequences did trigger huge anxiety spikes in my gameplay consistently, i would think a more traditional enemy system would have made the game better.