Silent Hill Shattered Memories Preview: A Psychological Journey

The release of the original Silent Hill for the original Sony Playstation heralded a change in both survival horror games and the ways games were perceived in general. A little more artistically inclined than most people anticipated, it quickly developed a cult following by delivering nightmarish imagery, reminiscent of a Francis Bacon painting, alongside rich, plot related psychological symbolism.

A new set of trailers for the upcoming Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Playstation 2, PSP and Nintendo Wii have been released during the E3 entertainment expo and overall the game is looking quite impressive. The game serves as something resembling a remake of the first Silent Hill game in the series. However, it is looking quite different and original in its own rights. This time, the nightmarish otherworld has a particularly icy appearance as Harry Mason, the first and this game's protagonist, attempts to deal with the events that have transpired in silent hill and find his lost daughter.

The story appears to be told as though Harry is going through the events of the first game with a psychologist or psychiatrist, recounting them as he goes along. It has been stated by the developers that the game itself will change, including the monsters, depending on how the player behaves and what this says about Harry's mind. Approach a poster of a pinup girl and female characters in the game will change accordingly. This first begins with the psychologist giving Harry a short 'true or false' psychological evaluation asking the player to answer questions such as "I make friends easily?" and "Having a drink helps me relax".

One particular example of this manifesting in game that I noticed during the trailers was that depending on how a player answered certain questions or behaved in game drink cans seemed to be of a different type. For one player the cans were clearly beer, for another they were cola. Although this seems like a small matter, it adds that extra bit of connection with the protagonist if he is more like the player. Another example was that a female police officer was more brash and disagreeable for one player than another, with quite a different appearance. She also mentioned that the player might have been drinking, in line with the beer cans seen earlier. It seemed that the response of this police officer was different due to the player's social tendencies as he answered 'true' to the "I make friends easily?" question. As such, the game may be trying to turn his own tendencies against him by making the characters refuse to befriend Harry. This type of dynamic plot existed to a lesser extent in Silent Hill 2, but if the news concerning Shattered Dreams has any validity then this game will bring the concept to an entirely new level.

Overall, this seems like a game that may have the chance of reinventing games in general. A game that will make predictions about the player's personality to truly attempt to get under his or her skin. It could very well represent a new kind of game that will attempt to adapt itself to different kinds of personalities. Should the game be unsuccessful, the idea itself deserves credit and the developers' praise for the attempt. Hopefully, it will be the game to revive the Silent Hill series and psychological horror games in general.