Horror Review: Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Harry Mason awakens in a car crash to find his daughter missing, and goes into the frozen town of Silent Hill to try and find her. But at the same time, someone sit's down in a psychiatrists office and starts filling out forms.
This is the Playstation 2 version of the game captured from an emulator.
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[@HorrorReview]

Halloween Begins! 31 days of videos starts now! Support me on patreon: www.patreon.com/horrorreview Join the discord: discord.gg/mzWSfU7kbH

[@kylemitchell6866]

Been looking forward to your 31 days! Keep your great content coming! Cheers.

[@childofthe80s1981]

I love this channel "that's one Harry Mason"

[@pakkitman]

This was the first horror game I ever played all the way through, likely aided by the fact that it wasn't really scary (as you pointed out). I will say that the game is pretty short, which means a second run to see how much can change will only take you around 4 hours. And this was one of the first games written by Sam Barlow, who went on to make the excellent Her Story and Immortality, two other games that take the benign and layer it with meaning that isn't recognizable at first. This game is an interesting reinterpretation of the first Silent Hill and I think it's probably one of the most ambitious third party titles in the Wii's library. Just don't go in expecting to get truly spooked

[@rosysyntax]

Just got around to watching this - good stuff as always. I was interested to hear your take on this entry, as there are quite a few negative takes floating around out there (some being fair, I'll admit). It has a weird quality to it, in that repeat playthroughs actually do devalue the initial experience, as you start to see cracks in the underlying systems. I can forgive it, though - those systems ARE cool (if just a little flawed), the writing is definitely a measure of quality above most other titles in the series, and coupled with the great OST and VA work, I'm still quick to recommend it. The Wii version especially holds a frozen little corner of my heart (look, I like waggling the flashlight, it's cool, okay?).

[@HorrorReview]

I really took me a while to appreciate the writing in this game for what it was but it was worth it.

[@Impalingthorn]

Silent Hill Shattered Memories is very similar to Downpour in a meta sense. Out of all the terrible Silent Hill games to come out of the "Konami Era" os Silent Hill (Everything after 4), Shattered Memories and Downpour came the closest to actually realizing what the original games were about. The downfall came from the fact that Shattered Memories wasn't really so much a "game", let alone a "Silent Hill" game, as much as it was a Walking Simulator with a good story. You do things interact with objects and you run from enemies sometimes, but it's a very shallow experience for the most part aside from the therapy sessions, and you only learn to appreciate those after you know what the story is actually about. Its problem as a game is that it doesn't actually do enough to keep the player engaged and therefore its risk of not explaining anything until the end isna 50/50 gamble. It's why I can't fault people for just taking the easy route and saying it's "bad", a few good ideas don't rescue it from the rest of the game's issues. Same with Downpour unfortunately. It probably has the best middleground when it comes to combat out of all of the new games, actually has a good story to it and understand what the essence of the original games was (parenthood and the death of loved ones), but what drags it down (other than the bugs) are the poor enemies designs, lack of good horror and shoddy gimmicks like the chase segments where you are pursued by a black hole. Compared to Homecoming and Origins these games are gold... Compared to Ascension and Short Message they are diamonds.

[@HorrorReview]

I remember enjoying origins but it was just trying to emulate the earlier games without bringing anything new or realising what really made them good.

[@Mamushi]

Really liked the idea of Shattered Memories with the psychological assessments and changes in the environment it's just a shame there was no real gameplay outside of chase sequences. Also it had one of the best ways the Wii Mote speaker was actively used throughout. Another great use of the speaker was in Fragile Dreams.

[@raimundopilotto2675]

So, this is how we begin our spooky month??? Nice one!!!! Haven't played it, but I've always heard that it's the weakest game in the series. Seem more like a visual novel than a proper horror game, still worth exploring and trying. Thanks

[@HorrorReview]

I had heard the opposite! I remember seeing somewhere people saying this was the best post team silent game, but it’s obviously a big matter for debate since they’re all different.

[@JorguinTorpedo-ff5vk]

When i was little I buy all Silent Games except the ones made by Kojima, so Shattered memories, Homecoming, downpour and that one movie are my association with the franchise, needless to say, The games are a banger.

[@michaelelmes2135]

I do want to add another vote of disagreement on the atmospehere. It definitely feels different than the other games and is going for almost an entirely different genre. But i do think it has a great atmosphere and soundtrack and it cultivates a tone closer to david lynch than even some of the older games did But i digress. Just dont see it the same way there

[@ALocalClown]

Won't lie, I feel like this game could've used more gore/body horror. It's a pretty key aspect of the psychological fear that Silent Hill gets across, and Shattered Memories just felt so sanitized in comparison. I'm not sure if you'd personally include body horror in your 'gore' category, but for me the game really came up short in this regard. Keep up the good stuff!

[@HorrorReview]

I usually would, I'm not as disappointed that there wasn't any gore in the story as I was a bit let down by some of the other aspects.

[@sikevillain]

Thanks for the review! Great way to start off the horror month. This was a SH game with a interesting concept but was executed poorly.. still an intriguing game it its own right.. Can't wait for your next video 👀

[@Zorrio]

Shattered Memories Is my fav after 2 🤐

[@HorrorReview]

It is very good, kept on hearing praise about it and it’s very deserving.

[@Fan_Of_Film96]

I respectfully disagree about the atmosphere. The cold, snowy setting gives off a bleak feeling that I liked. Love your videos, man!

[@HorrorReview]

I have to be honest it just didn’t do it for me, but I get what people are saying.

[@jarlwhiterun7478]

Love that type of atmosphere. I hope the remake of The Thing can capture that feeling too. The night time snowy atmosphere needs to be in more games

[@adriansalcedo3913]

I don't think I was interested in this one because like I said before, these western made silent hill games don't retain the spirit of the originals. Which is why I'll be looking forward to your review for the remake... Watching an early access walkthrough from another KZbinr and the game seems fine so far but I'm not feeling it.. guess we'll see how it does after release.

[@HorrorReview]

I’ll be reviewing the Silent Hill 2 remake on the 30th of all goes well.

[@RubiMew]

❤❤❤

[@TheUbberman]

Fascinating. So this is why I didn't hear much about this game... This was a bloody dull walking simulator! Interesting experiment, but an ultimately failed one.