First released: 2009 (Wii)
Now Available On: Wii, PS2, PSP
It's been a week to forget for survival-horror enthusiasts as Konami confirmed their worst fears by nailing the coffin shut on Silent Hills.
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The much-anticipated collaboration between Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro is no longer happening, so the only place we can turn for our Silent Hill fix is the past.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Nintendo Wii is frequently overlooked, yet still stands alone as one of the best and most ambitious entries in the series.
Developed by Climax Studios in 2009, the title was a reimagining of the original Silent Hill, and it offered unique twists on everything bar the core premise of writer Harry Mason searching for his missing daughter after a car crash.
A large portion of the game remains in the eponymous, snow-covered town, although it was located in a different fictional universe, had a plot that veered off in an alternative direction, characters that behaved differently than before, and brand new additions to the cast.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories wasn't afraid to shake things up on the gameplay front either, doing away with combat in a bold move that ultimately paid off.
Climax Studios felt that battles and omnipresent monsters were unnecessary to the story, instead focusing on psychological elements and unsettling the player at every opportunity.
The game was divided into two intertwined segments - psychotherapy sessions where the player dictated Harry's responses to his doctor and completed psychological tests on his behalf; and on the ground in Silent Hill as the protagonist searched for daughter Cheryl.
How the player responded during the therapy sessions had a far-reaching impact on the action in Silent Hill, with monsters assuming a different form, new areas opening up, and characters behaving differently depending on the choices made.
The segments in the town took place from the over-the-shoulder perspective, and gameplay was heavily tied to the various functions of Harry's smartphone and flashlight, both of which were controlled via the Wii Remote's motion functionality.
Occasionally, the action would shift to an icy dimension called Nightmare, where Harry had to flee from monsters in tense chase sequences, with only his wits and the occasional flare to defend himself.
With innovative puzzles that used the Wii Remote in creative new ways and these intense pursuits to contend with, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories didn't suffer for the lack of combat, yet some of its facets divided fans and critics.
The chase sequences, in particular, received a Marmite reception, with some dismissing them as frustratingly short, repetitive, and distracting - but we maintain that they brought balance to game as a whole, complementing the puzzles and narrative.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was a rarity for the Wii, an original entry in a triple-A series, made to measure for the console's interface - but it was only with the help of PlayStation 2 and PSP ports that this under-appreciated gem broke even commercially.
The game came along at a time when the survival-horror category was in danger of becoming a stagnant mire of Resident Evil clones, and it brought fresh, yet unconventional, ideas to the genre.
If you let Silent Hill: Shattered Memories slip under your radar the first time around, you missed out on one of the best, and most original, instalments in the series.
Sadly, it never materialised on PS Vita, despite reports that it was heading to the handheld, but it's well worth dusting off your Wii or PS2 and tracking down a copy.
That should tide you over while you are waiting to hear whether the Change.org petition to push Silent Hills back into development is successful.
