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If you're not interested in the story, you'll probably hate this game.

It depends on what matters to you.

In games like Silent Hill, I've always viewed the need to kill monsters a necessary evil that mostly serves to distract me from the story. Thus, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was totally okay by me with it not having combat at all.

If you define Silent Hill by the complexity and challenge of its interactive violence, you're not going to like it--but, that raises the question of why you like the series in the first place.

Agreed. And even if you liked the challenge of some of the puzzles in some of the previous games, you'll find that a bit lacking here as well.

Certainly, it was different. I thought it was cool, but it did have its share of flaws. The running from monsters got a bit monotonous after a while. I thought the story saved it, though.


Yeah, the story is really what SHSM is all about. So if you're looking for a game with combat and hard puzzles, you probably should look elsewhere. I appreciated that they took some risks with this, though.

The gameplay is very simple, yet repetitive. It's very new and worth a try

Bear in mind this game is not trying to "replace" SH1 in any way. You could practically call it a spiritual successor, than a replacement.

"that raises the question of why you like the series in the first place"

No it dosnt.

Silent Hill can be loved from many different things.

Some think the story is the most important and some think being on the edge of your seat constantly, is the most important thing.

Im in the latter. I like a good story, but silent hill is just such a great horror franchise, some of the best. The story is a big plus.

But shattered memories felt very shallow compared to the other games. Didnt feel like Silent Hill too me.

But again, Silent Hill is different for everybody.

My point is that this series (minus maybe Silent Hill: Homecoming) has always handed the interactive violence with a minimum of attention. It's never been the series' draw. It's never been unique or even very exciting. At the best of times, it simply didn't obstruct the story very much.

Which brings me back to being curious why anyone would really miss it. If it bothers you that much, there's always Resident Evil to satisfy your urge to punch Cthulu in the face.

I dont really see why you take a shot at homecoming. Its very similar to the older silent hill games, but with a better combat system.

A better combat system dosnt mean its worse or focuses on something else. It means if you choose to take on a monster, then its more enjoyable. Has a little learning curve, which is nice, so you dont just go and slaughter everything.

I can enjoy Resident Evil aswell. But I love Silent Hill. Homecoming was great too, and actually a real survival horror game. That game barely gave you any ammo, and you really thought about each round you used.

I didn't 'take a shot' at Silent Hill: Homecoming. I subtracted it from my analysis because I have not played it.

"because I have not played it."

Then for the love of god...PLAY IT! And eat some bread with leverpostej on it, in the breaks.

It does feel like Resident Evil 4 to the Silent Hill series - the one which is radically different but as a result brings a series to modern day by discarding it's dated fundamentals... But like RE4, suspense and atmosphere can be lost in favour of intensity.

The concept has been done before and executed much nicer in various titles.

Name them, please? I can't think of any.

Penumbra: black plague, overture does the running away without weapons 10 x better (and most times you won't know where the enemies are or where to run when it's pitch dark) Think harder or play better games, being chased by the old lady in paper boy was more startling than scrawny humans without faces.

Oh no the entire screen just turned blue I guess that's the cue to start running and pay attention to the shiney exits. I'm so glad I wasnt surprised by anything that would catch me off guard. Oh heres a random locker i can knock over just bc it looks semi badass. That's shattered memories and it's execution of a defense mechanism, it has been done better.

Its method of story telling may be innovative (questionnaire), but its concept of hands on gameplay (oh I can control this hand to unbolt a door) and utilizing flight instead of combat has already been accomplished.

Okay, except we were talking about the psychological profile thing, not the no combat thing. It's no question that other games have done that better (Clock Tower, for example), but that's never, ever been what Shattered Memories was making it's main draw.

well, it certainly isn't a step back, both for the psych as the combat system

I think choosing to do new concepts (new as in new to the series) at all, regardless of what the quality of the result is, is a step forward. Things won't develop if they stick to the same formula for every game. Even though I still enjoyed them, the games were getting awfully familiar and I was more than happy to try out something new like this.

Even if they don't nail new concepts right away, at least they tried and now have a base to work with. Then they have the opportunity to expand or refine those concepts, and maybe another game or two down the line their experiments can culminate into an even better game.

I mean, everything has to start somewhere. It's unreasonable to expect a radical departure in a series to get things absolutely perfect the first time.
I could say this about any game series really...

Regarding this game specifically, I did enjoy it very much, though it's not without a few notable flaws in my opinion.

Original Post: I have yet to play the game, but am cruious about it, i'm not interested in the story in all honesty, you can't replace SH1. However i am interesting the in the new style of gameplay. i've watched a few reviews. the concept does not seem to bad, i like the idea of running for once, although this game proves to be weak due to the lack of monster vareity, i see this game as more of a trial.


No we were talking about the combat and running away thing.

I thought it was okay... It became rather repetitive after a while, a little too easy too. You explore, things change, you run.. Could have been a little more subtle about it.