
The Silent Hill series has long been one of gaming's horror greats, often bringing a subtle and mature approach to the genre thanks to its deep characterisation and mature themes. With the high-profile cancellation of Silent Hills on PS4 and Konami's insatiable lust for Pachinko machines showing no signs of stopping, it's a good time to reflect on the past successes and curiosities of the series – and they don't come any more curious than Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, released on Nintendo Wii at the tail end of 2009. Although the franchise rarely flirted with Nintendo platforms (the only other offering being the obscure Japanese GBA title Silent Hill: Play Novel), Silent Hill: Shattered Memories delivering one of the finest horror games, and narratives, ever seen on the console.
"This started as a Wii project because we were really psyched by that tech, by the platform... the way it had disrupted the marketplace"
Developed by Climax UK – who had previous experience developing Silent Hill: Origins – Shattered Memories presented a reimagining of the original PlayStation game, offering a fresh take on protagonist Harry Mason's search for his missing daughter Cheryl. In the process it shook up the series formula by introducing a wintery version of the town, doing away with weaponry, creating new uses for the Wii hardware and introducing a psychological analysis system that altered the game's environment, characters and narrative.
Whilst the game also saw release on PS2 and PSP, it was primarily designed for Wii. Lead Writer and Designer Sam Barlow – who has since found futher fame with the award-winning Her Story – explains how Nintendo's console revolution provided inspiration for the team at Climax UK. "This started as a Wii project because we were really psyched by that tech, by the platform," he recalls. "And, on top of that, the way it had disrupted the marketplace and brought in, or at least put the games in front of, a new audience."
But the path to realising the team's vision was a long one, with several different concepts created along the way. "There were a few pitches back and forth with Konami for Wii and PSP." Barlow tells us. Among these were Brahms P.D., a Silent Hill spin-off located in the titular neighbouring town, and Silent Hill: Cold Heart, which featured a new protagonist called Jessica Chambers. But even with these pitches left on the shelf, Barlow explains the links between them and how they culminated in Shattered Memories. "They all shared connective DNA – the psychology, some of the uses of the Wiimote, our technical ambitions for a seamless world and a stripped-back approach that came from my love of the immersive sims of my youth."
"I don't like messing directly with characters someone else has created – it feels disingenuous"
Thanks to previously-approved ideas, Climax UK were given the opportunity to explore a lot of their early concepts. "If I remember correctly, at some point we got asked to try making this a reboot of Silent Hill 1 – as this was an idea that had already been greenlit." Barlow reveals, explaining how their previous work fitted into a new vision. "This was a pretty exciting idea as the stories we had been working on were very tied up in ideas of unreliable memory, nostalgia, and so on. Using Silent Hill 1 as a springboard seemed like a great way to do something fresh with those ideas."
Naturally there was scepticism surrounding a re-imagining with the old characters, especially with a fanbase that often theorizes and debates the lore and history of the franchise. But Barlow and the team knew there was a way to explore this route respectfully. "It felt like there was a way to reconcile the two titles with something a little meta, but in a way where we weren't stepping on the toes of those original games," he says. "This is something we had to do with Silent Hill: Origins, but it felt icky. I don't like messing directly with characters someone else has created – it feels disingenuous."

During this process of rewriting and creating, the team was allowed a surprising amount of creative autonomy. "Konami were on-board with everything we suggested," Barlow explains. "I think the only stipulation was that we had to have at least one Cybil that reflected the look popularized in the first game and in the movie." Barlow notes that new creations were a bit harder to sell. "The addition of Michelle to the core cast was something we had to push a little, but it was easy to make the case that we needed this character to flesh out the story we wanted to tell and that it also made sense to have at least one character that would feel like something entirely new."
"Working in the Silent Hill world was a godsend, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tackle these themes in a Triple-A video game"
And when it came to new elements, the approach towards narrative themes was bold and innovative. Although Silent Hill had its fair share of grand psychological terrors, Shattered Memories explored everyday fears, investigating subjects like mental illness and the anguish of loss in more relatable ways. "I think these are the kinds of themes that appeal to me," Barlow reveals. "I always have to connect things back to the human experience, to stories that emerge out of the world we live in. I'm particularly interested in the ways our own subjective view of the world can be twisted and used to skew things. Those are the types of stories that I'm naturally drawn to. Working in the Silent Hill world was a godsend, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tackle these themes in a Triple-A video game. I can't think of a single other franchise that would enable that."
This fresh perspective spread its way throughout almost every aspect of design, with several shake-ups to traditional horror games put in place. One of the most notable was the underlying psychology system. This manifested itself in two ways: the first being therapy sessions with Dr. Kaufman, a psychiatrist the player sees intermittently as they follow Harry's journey. Barlow explains the philosophy behind these sections. "It allowed us to sometimes 'play against' the player, rather than just validate their choices. Ultimately it tallied with the story we wanted to tell because it was important that the player feel a connection to Harry, as something that reflected them, something they'd created." One example of this was asking the player whether they had cheated on a partner, resulting in characters with altered behaviour or different clothing as a result of this player choice.
But the game also collected other information to alter the course of the game. Shattered Memories made note of players' more subtle actions in-game, keeping track of what they focused on in the environment. "I've always been interested in using implicit, behind-the-scenes ways to track players, rather than the more obvious kind of 'morality systems' in most games," says Barlow. These actions could be as simple as focusing on nude calendars, or where you look when talking to other characters.
"I think we could have done some subtle but fun things with those aspects integrated – just additional ways to get under the player's skin"
Barlow reveals that Climax intended to go further with these aspects and widen the uncanny valley by including the usage of players' Mii data, as well as using weather reports from the Wii Weather channel to recreate the local forecast in a player's game. Of course, his explanation for why these were left out is age-old. "Time and money!" he laughs. "I think we could have done some subtle but fun things with those aspects integrated – just additional ways to get under the player's skin! Especially with the Mii data – that could have been really freaky."
Even without these additions, Climax took advantage of the Wii's hardware in impressive ways. Although simple actions like controlling Harry's torch and moving the Wiimote to transfer items during puzzle-solving were well tweaked, the golden touches came from Harry's phone. One function was uncovering fragments of narrative related to Harry, or from stories of unknown people in specific locations. This played out by using the phone's camera to find ghostly images known as "Echo photos", as well as receive calls and voice messages from characters using the Wiimote's speaker. Hearing someone's call of distress as you held the Wiimote to your ear certainly brought a new level of emotion to the proceedings.
This fragmented approach to storytelling came from Barlow's own influences, namely the book The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard. "This is one of the books that I always go back to," he comments. "There's a texture to it, the way that you can experience it through the connected symbols and imagery, the sense of many fragmented pieces that come together if you look at them in the right way, like a Magic Eye picture."
"It was clear that the core component of most horror is running away, fleeing – being chased by unrelenting, powerful and faceless terrors"
Along with these approaches of intertwining narrative, gameplay and hardware, Climax shook up the series in another large way: by eliminating combat. Although early horror games like 3D Monster Maze took this approach, they were few and far between. Until recently, horror games usually had some form of combat system involved. Barlow explains how the team came to this conclusion for exclusion. "We asked what the core action component of a horror game should be if you disregarded the baggage of the genre. We looked at movies, books and so on, and it was clear that the core component of most horror is running away, fleeing – being chased by unrelenting, powerful and faceless terrors. The fact that most horror games at that time were built on the DNA of the zombie movie – head shots, shotguns, lead pipes, gore and lots of carnage – felt like a problem to us. It didn't fit the genre of psychological horror. So we tried to fix that."
This approach was concentrated in the team's icy vision of the Otherworld, where the game's environment would suddenly transition at specific moments in real-time, resulting in gargantuan shards of ice rising from the ground, blocking off paths of escape – leaving the player open to Raw Shocks, enemies which chase the player until they find an exit. They can be fended off with flares and by the player knocking over obstacles. If they catch the player, they must be thrown off with motion control gestures. Unfortunately, it's at this point the motion controls falter and these sections are the only times where the player is in a form of physical danger.
But regardless of the drawbacks, the ideas behind these sections were ahead of the curve, as these would become trends in horror games with the rise of the indies soon afterwards. "It's great to now look around and see that actually the majority of horror games work like this," says Barlow. "The genre has expanded and now contains these more pure horror experiences."
"I think Shattered Memories ended up being everything we wanted from Cold Heart and more, although it would have been nice to put out a title with an overt woman lead"
Moving from admiration for the current horror scene, Barlow reflects on the need for horror games to keep experimenting. "The horror genre is one that has suffered in the past from becoming too stagnant and fixated on specific mechanics. As the ultimate 'underground' genre, horror games should strive to push the envelope and experiment – it's what the audience expects!" And on this topic, Barlow comments on the promise shown by the now-cancelled Silent Hills. "The most recent stab at Silent Hill, Kojima's P.T., is a great case in point – I loved that it built on the surreal, domestic interiors in a way that went beyond what we were able to do in the 'nowhere' sequence in Shattered Memories, but worked with the way that a demo like that can be dropped onto the store and create a real social buzz and mystery around it."
Even though newer games have built on the genre further, Barlow is proud of what Climax accomplished with their second Silent Hill outing. "I think Shattered Memories ended up being everything we wanted from Cold Heart and more, although it would have been nice to put out a title with an overt woman lead." As a parting shot, Barlow outlines the importance of narrative not just in horror, but in games as a whole. "I think this is essential to the future of the genre – we need to keep evolving and finding better and more interesting ways to tell our stories."
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories remains a unique title in the series. And despite its odd niggles with motion controls during chase scenes, and the lack of enemy variety and moments of danger, it contains one of the most well-woven narratives you'll find on Nintendo's little money printer, with every ending to the story requiring a jumbo box of tissues. If you haven't visited Silent Hill, it's time you booked a trip you'll never forget.
Comments (37)
They should make an HD Wii Umake
This was a great spin off if you don't mind motion controls
this game scared the pants off of me. No attacking and all about getting the hell out of your current situation. Really cool game. Thanks for the article!
oh. Silent Hill. I could go on and on about my problems with Tom Hulett and western Silent Hills, but my comments would get too big and I would probably get banned.
So I'll just say I really liked Shattered Memories. It's the only western SH I feel that can stand along side the original 4. Much love and kisses. Ciao.
This was actually a really cool game on Wii, and I wish more people had played it. It had some great graphics for the system, especially the lighting and shadows, and it really used the Wii's pointer and motion controls well too for the most part. Also, it was just a unique take on Silent Hill and really trippy. In my opinion it's actually the best Silent Hill game, although very different to the other games in the series in many ways.
@JedRock They should. Unfortunately the Wii U has already been passed over for development on the NX. But!!!
There's a rumor that the NX will also support some sort of motion controls. I hope that's true because then that means the NX might see a remake or HD port of Wii games that, due to relying on motion controls, might be lost to history otherwise.
Lets keep our fingers crossed. x(^_^ )x
What an amazing game, actually among my favourite Silent Hill games. It also was a generation in advance by removing combat from the survival horror formula.
I would have loved a Wii U port using the gamepad for unique gameplay features but a NX version would be cool or another installment of Silent Hills.
Mazes sucked big time in this game, but other than that it was pretty gut. Sad it was ignored by many, but I can't blame them, after Homecoming I was nearly done with the series because of how horrendously bad it was.
This game honestly was one of the best horror game that I ever played. Loved the psychological aspect of it.
I only like the first 4 silent hill games, all the rest felt off with homecoming being the best of the remaining games.
I don't normally like this genre but I enjoyed this game. And the part where your car sinks is probably the most memorable part from any game I've ever played.
@Dave24 I loved what I played of this game, but during the chases I got lost or turned around so often, because everything looked the same to me, that I died constantly and the game went from scary to annoying, so I stopped playing. Maybe come Halloween I'll give it another go; it's been a while, so it might be scary again.
Probably the only good Western Silent Hill game, not up there with the original trilogy but a good game none the less.
I love this game. I would love to see it in HD as well
@Utena-mobile Say whaaaat? I actually liked Homecoming and Downpour...probably because I was prepared to absolutely HATE both of them before I actually played them haha. Nothing will ever be as good as the originals though!
I was pretty surprised about some of the themes hit upon in Shattered Memories. I'm pretty sure I remember a part when you get to the school where there's a memory of a kid that died from autoerotic asphyxiation. There were some other fairly disturbing memories as well throughout the game. It was a very creepy game if you let it absorb you.
@kupo lol. being prepared to hate something is a very low bar for a game to beat. (^_^ )
*edit: but yeah, I also had fun with Homecoming.
Take the name "Silent Hill" out of the title, and it's somewhat tolerable. This is what happens when a company will do anything to milk a franchise, even when they have no clue what they're making.
@hcfwesker Really? In my personal opinion this is one of the very few post Team Silent, Silent Hill games that deserves the name. It gives an interesting new spin on the original while also playing huge tribute to it. I personally loved it.
I never liked the Silent Hill games but I loved this one. The torch was a great mechanic and it was really creepy. Playing it in the dark with the volume up was great.
This game, man. I love it for what it is, especially in the midst of Homecoming being the worst thing ever, but I'm iffy on the way it reinterpreted the original. I just wish it had been a totally new character with his own story. Other than that, awesome. I'm going to play it again right now after reading this.
Fantastic game. Played through it at night, in the days leading up to Christmas. Freaky stuff!
In my opinion the second best SH game behind only SH2. Amazing story, trippy environments and very enjoyable in general. Oddly enough I think the somewhat unreliable motion controls actually improve the experience, since you're never 100% sure if you'll be able to shake the enemies off so you're more terrified of them.
This game's reputation isn't universally positive, but I liked it. I was honestly impressed by Dr. K's animation, considering the Wii's limitations. I love the music, too. There are things about it that I disliked, but it was one of my favorite memories on the Wii. Nostalgic sigh
Fantastic game that drew me back into horror at a time that I had all but given up on it.
I am a silent hill fan I admit, but this game is amazing. Easily my second favorite silent hill, (possibly even top ten games ever) I love the isolation and loneliness. The dark psycho- sexual nature of its plot and many sub plots.the music is up there with sh2 and really adds to the atmosphere.the graphics still stand up and I suspect will do for a long time ( clever art direction will do that)
For the most part motion controls were fsntastic and very immersive
A joy of a game I have played through many times.
Deserves more love for sure.
@Wolfenstein83 You're welcome!
I knew this could potentially be a mixed reaction as the Silent Hill fanbase can be quite divided over opinion (which can be a healthy thing!), but I'm glad to see some positive and/or fair judgments about it.
For me personally this game unlocked the concept of Silent Hill, if you change the "i" to an "e", you have a Silent Hell. And being trapped in one's own mental horror can be the most terrifying thing of all. See, I'm cheery like that.
The biggest upside and simultaneous downside of the game was that it relied too much on being a 're-run' of the first game. On the one hand, you'd get more kick out of it if you knew who Dahlia and Cybil were supposed to be, or how the original ended canonically, on the other, it wasn't that necessary to enjoying the game.
Also, it ruined "You Were Always On My Mind" for me FOREVER. 9/10, would crap my pants again.
I wish this was on the Eshop!
Never played it. I know some people who disliked the game because of the "no fighting".
one of the best games and storytelling Ive ever played, everything was connected, envery 3d model, map, has meaning... so underrated!
I've been meaning to buy this game for a few years, but never quite got around to it. I've got a big enough backlog as it is, but I intend to play it one day.
One of my favorite Wii games, hidden gem for sure. Would buy it again if they re-released it in HD.
wow, that was a cool interview! and I had no idea the guy behind Shattered Memories went on to make Her Story... good for him!
this was one of my favourite games on Wii: new ideas, great use of the Wiimote, really tense atmosphere, and looked pretty good as well. It was not perfect though [during the puzzles, sometimes using motion controls feels like a pain, the tension drops a bit once you've figured out the "rules" of the world, and the ending didn't make a whole lot of sense, at least to me], but overall a great experience and game I've beaten quite a few times. was very disappointed most SH fans don't find this to be 'one of the good ones', but oh well...
still one of the games I point to when people say the Wii didn't have any good games. and the Wii had quite a lot of these underrated gems as well, if you bothered to look!
@Wexter - I think he didn't finish it. Most of the time people who complain about the story of the game don't actually see the ending of it, which changes absolutely everything.
I love the fact that the game's marketing basically lies to you about the game, leaving the ending to hit you as a massive shock.
@PanurgeJr
Same problem. I didn't pass even the first action scene because of how frustrating it was navigating around.
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