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Silent Hill: Downpour
PAL region box art
Developer(s)	Vatra Games
Publisher(s)	Konami Digital Entertainment
Composer(s)	Daniel Licht
Series	Silent Hill
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Silent Hill: Downpour is a survival horror video game and the eighth installment in the Silent Hill series. Developed by Vatra Games and published by Konami Digital Entertainment, the game was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 on March 13, 2012 in North America, March 30, 2012 in Europe and April 5, 2012 in Australia. Downpour is 3D.

Gameplay

Downpour is a survival horror in which the player explores environments, solving puzzles and fighting monsters. Players control Murphy Pendleton from a third-person perspective.

Murphy can only carry one firearm and one melee weapon. Murphy's weapons will gradually deteriorate and break. Murphy's clothing will become bloodier as well. Downpour features a "decision making" system, which may deal with moral choices. The player's decisions will have an impact on how the game unfolds, and the ending the player receives. There are also optional side quests that the player can do.

The game features a real time weather system. Every so often, it will rain and this will alert the player that danger is approaching; the player can attempt to fight the danger, or run away and hide in a nearby building.

Plot

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The protagonist of the game is a convict, Murphy Pendleton. Murphy has been incarcerated for several years at Ryall State Corrections Facility for stealing a police cruiser. Seeking revenge for an unspecified incident, Murphy strikes a deal with George Sewell, a corrections officer at Ryall. Sewell secretly grants Murphy access to a sequestered inmate, Patrick Napier, in the shower room. After reminding Napier that they used to be neighbors, Murphy savagely beats and kills him.

Following a riot at Ryall, Murphy and a few other inmates are scheduled for transfer to Wayside Maximum Security Prison. They are accompanied on the transport bus by Anne Cunningham, a Wayside corrections officer who seems to hold particular disdain towards Murphy. The bus route passes just outside of eastern Silent Hill. Here, the road suddenly drops off into nothingness, and the driver pulls on the wheel. The bus breaks through the road barriers and rolls down a hill. Murphy wakes up in the forest, sees the wrecked bus, and makes a run for it. Anne goes after him, but slips above a deep ravine, barely managing to hold on. Here, Murphy can choose to either leave her or try to save her.

Murphy moves on to the outskirts of Silent Hill, and meets Howard Blackwood, a mailman. During their conversation, Howard tells Murphy that the roads are all out and that the best way to leave this area is the nearby sky-tram. Murphy also glimpses a creature in the window of a nearby house. Apparently not seeing the figure, Howard leaves to deliver his mail. Murphy does more traveling and enters the Otherworld through the Devil's Pitstop Diner and escapes. Murphy then explores more and is able to get clothes and play the arcade game "Jailbreak" to find a ticket to the sky-tram. The tram then takes him to the main attraction tour of the Devil's Pit.

Murphy meets JP Sater, a depressed former tour guide for this area. JP tells Murphy of an railcar train in the mines that can take him to the main town. In the caverns, Murphy finds a newspaper article and learns that JP accidentally killed eight children when his on-the-job drinking derailed the Devil's Pit train. Murphy soon finds a suicidal JP hanging over a lookout rail, and can choose to either console him or taunt him. Either way, JP jumps to his death. Murphy finds and powers up the railcar, but his ride through the mines turns into a tour with monsters trying to kill him. Murphy awakens near an exit, but runs into a bloodied Anne. While making the arrest, Anne finds the mourning badge and becomes shocked, apparently knowing who it belonged to. Enraged, she nearly shoots Murphy, but bursts into tears and tells him to leave her alone.

Murphy wanders the town's main streets and when the rain picks up, he takes refuge in an abandoned building, where the radio picks up broadcasts from DJ Bobby Ricks. Some of these broadcasts are song requests specifically made out to Murphy; others are quiet pleas for help from anyone who's listening. When the rain dies down, Murphy begins searching for Ricks and runs into mailman Howard. Howard tells Murphy that the radio station is located at the Centennial Building, and walks off again into the fog. At the Centennial Building, Murphy has a vision of Ryall Prison, where Sewell goes over the plan to kill Napier and ominously tells Murphy, "You owe me one."

Murphy finds Ricks and he reveals that he's been operating this radio station for a very long time, waiting for help. Now that Murphy's here, they can try to escape the town via a boat that Ricks has docked at the marina, but they must first find the boat's keys, which were apparently stolen by an intruder. Before they can leave, Anne walks in, once again determined to arrest Murphy. However, as an apparent punishment for Ricks' breaking the "rules," Screamers attack the studio. The building shifts to a prison-like Otherworld while Murphy flees the Void, sees the Wheelman again, and ends up falling down the exterior of the building's clock tower.

Waking up on a bench back in the "normal" world, Murphy again meets Howard, who gives him a letter requesting his presence at St. Maria's Monastery. Confused and frustrated, Murphy goes through the stormy town and arrives at the broken-down monastery, where a nun tells him, "You were the only family we were able to locate." Murphy enters the monastery and finds it in a very dilapidated state, and must take an alternate route to the morgue. On the way he encounters a small boy on the other side of a locked door. The boy refuses to unlock the door because he believes that Murphy is the Bogeyman. Murphy tries to recite a poem that the children of the monastery's orphanage recite in order to make the Bogeyman disappear. As he treks through the entire monastery gathering the pieces of the poem, flashbacks show that Murphy's son Charlie had been found dead in a lake years before. Murphy attempts to recite the poem but forgets the words and the real bogeyman kills the boy who turns out to be Charlie.

The door unlocks and Murphy approaches the boy, now in the form of his son Charlie. He mourns, but is then interrupted by a young girl who accuses Murphy of killing the boy/Charlie. She runs and Murphy, scared that the Bogeyman will kill her too, runs after her. The monastery transforms into the Otherworld during the chase, forcing Murphy to dodge The Void and at one point even the Bogeyman himself. Eventually Murphy winds up in the morgue with the nun from earlier standing near a covered gurney. Murphy tells her that there has been a mistake, that he buried his son years before. The nun responds by telling him everyone grieves in their own way and removes the sheet covering the body, revealing the Bogeyman underneath. Angered, Murphy cries that that isn't his son, it's a murderer. As the nun comments about the trait running in the family, Murphy notices a key with a silver keychain around the Bogeyman's neck, matching the description of Ricks' missing boat keys. He grabs the keys and the Bogeyman awakens, grabbing Murphy's arm. They are then transported to a wooded area just outside a lakeshore. They attack each other, and eventually Murphy wins. He finds himself back in the morgue with the nun, the Bogeyman dead on the gurney with his mask removed; his face repeatedly switches between that of Napier and Murphy.

Now that Murphy has the boat keys, he makes his way through the sewers and up to the town, heading for the marina. Once he reaches it, he starts the boat and heads away from Silent Hill. Anne comes up behind him while the boat is in the middle of the lake, a gun to his back, and orders him to turn the boat back around and return to Silent Hill. She tells him that the town showed her things, that it knows her, and that they can't leave until they complete their unfinished business. Murphy refuses to return, and tells her "You may as well shoot me." Anne obliges.

A flashback shows a meeting between Sewell and Murphy. Sewell reminds Murphy that he set up the meeting between him and Napier, the man who killed Charlie, and looked the other way; the least Murphy could do is return the favor. Sewell tells Murphy that his job is to kill an unnamed person who "deserves it." He then explains that there will be a riot at the prison that evening, allowing Murphy to slip away to the showers, where the person will be.

Murphy wakes up in a prison cell in Overlook Penitentiary, with The Wheelman sitting right outside the bars watching him. After a few seconds he wheels off and the doors open, letting Murphy explore the prison. He finds a note addressed to him, telling him to meet someone in the showers. Going through the prison and fighting enemies, Murphy eventually makes his way to the showers, where he finds evidence of a violent assault. A voice calls out, leading him to a bagged body laying in the center of the floor.

As Murphy approaches the body, the world around him transitions to the Otherworld. Murphy runs through it, avoiding enemies and the Void yet again, and eventually comes to two large doors with the Scales of Justice bordering it. Murphy places evidence of the crime on the scales, causing doors to open. Inside, surrounded by platforms and prison cells, is a larger version of the Wheelman who had been haunting Murphy throughout the game. Murphy must run around the room and pull out the monster's life support, eventually killing it.

After the Wheelman is dead, Murphy finds himself back in the showers with the smaller version of the monster's body laying dead at his feet. Anne enters, horrified at what Murphy has done. Confused, Murphy looks down and finds in place of the Wheelman's body is the body of Frank Coleridge, a friendly corrections officer from Ryall who had continuously warned Murphy about socializing with Sewell. Through a few flashbacks, it is revealed that when Murphy made his way to the showers that night of the prison riot, a prison shank hidden behind his back, Coleridge was waiting for him. Coleridge tells Murphy that Sewell was supposed to meet him there, then notices that Murphy is hiding something behind his back. Sewell comes in and eggs Murphy on, trying to convince him to finish the job and uphold his end of the bargain, while Coleridge attempts to talk Murphy into dropping the weapon. Eventually it is shown that Murphy refuses to kill Coleridge. Instead, Sewell savagely beats Coleridge and stabs him in the shoulder with the knife. He calls over the radio for backup, and points out that Murphy's prints were on the knife, not his own (as Sewell wears gloves). He has framed Murphy for the crime.

In the present, Anne reveals that Coleridge was her father. She tells Murphy that he was a good man and she idolized him. But then after he was beaten so badly he was put in a vegetative state, in a wheelchair and on life support until the day he died. She tells Murphy that every time she looked at her father in that state, she only saw a monster: Murphy. Murphy then transforms into the Bogeyman, from Anne's perspective, as she describes that she had strings pulled in order to get Murphy transferred to the prison where she worked, likely as a way to be close to him and kill him as revenge. Anne begins to shoot Murphy, who chases after her in his Bogeyman state. Depending on whether the player survives this encounter or not, along with the moral choices they had to make throughout the game, the ending will vary.

Endings

"Forgiveness" Murphy arrives at the showers and finds Frank alone, then realizing what Sewell wanted him to do, he refuses. Sewell arrives and knocks Frank and Murphy to the ground, berating Murphy for having to kill Napier for him as well. He then stabs Frank in the neck with the shiv Murphy dropped and frames Murphy for it. Murphy accepts the blame for the accident and Anne forgives him for it. They then hug and are transported to the shores of Toluca Lake, freed from the town's influence. Anne immediately receives a call from dispatch and she fakes a reports that Murphy is dead and she's somewhere on the shore of a lake. She then tells Murphy he should go. This ending is achieved in conjunction with the "Good Behavior" requirements: Good choices and no enemies killed.

"Truth & Justice" Murphy arrives at the showers and finds Frank alone. Realizing what Sewell wanted him to do, he refuses. Sewell arrives and knocks Frank and Murphy to the floor, then berates Murphy that he had to kill Napier for Murphy as well. He then stabs Frank in the face with the shank and calls for backup while framing Murphy for the attack. Murphy kneels by Frank's body and keeps apologizing. Anne comes over and tells him it wasn't his fault. Murphy accepts the blame, but Anne forgives him. They are transported to the bus accident, both freed from Silent Hill's influence. Anne lets Murphy walk away while thanking him for showing her the truth. Anne later pays Sewell a visit, holding a gun behind her back.

"Role Reversal" Anne is woken up in a cell by Murphy as a guard.

"Full Circle" Murphy is shown killing Frank with the shiv. He then claims that this is all wrong and tries to shoot himself in the head; however after pulling the trigger he's back in the prison cell in Overlook Penitentiary. Murphy then hears the voices of Howard, Bobby, and JP and realizes he too is now stuck in an endless loop.

"Execution" Murphy is shown at an execution chamber. A reporter nearby reveals that Murphy has been sentenced to death for the suspected of drowning his child Charlie and killing a prison guard (Frank). Sewell arrives to administer the injection and asks if Murphy has any last words. Murphy replies "See you in Hell, Cupcake" and is then executed.

"Surprise" It shows Murphy digging himself out of prison only to break through a hole into a room with a cake that has candles on it. Suddenly a startling "Surprise!" is yelled and giving the impression that it's a birthday party for Murphy. The birthday party features Silent Hill characters Sewell, Anne, Frank, Bobby Ricks, Charlie (the little boy who is strangled by the boogeyman), Heather Mason, James Sunderland, Mary Sunderland, Laura, and some silent hill nurses. Suddenly Pyramid Head appears and cuts the cake in half.

Development

In April 2010, Konami screened its first trailer of Silent Hill: Downpour at a press conference in San Francisco, California, United States, and confirmed that the game was, at the time, being developed by Czech developer Vatra Games; it was given the working title Silent Hill 8 at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, the tenth edition of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo trade fair, which focuses on the video game industry. An online profile of Vatra by its video game talent agency Digital Development Management had led to speculation that Downpour would be a first-person shooter, which would have marked a dramatic shift from the usual gameplay format of the series.

Audio

Downpour's soundtrack belongs to the industrial music genre, but to a lesser extent in comparison to the previous games in the series, which all made more prominent use of such music; Downpour emphasizes sounds produced by the use of objects made of organic matter as musical instruments. The soundtrack has been scored by composer Daniel Licht, who replaced the series' composer Akira Yamaoka. Regular series vocalist Mary Elizabeth McGlynn announced that she would not be involved with the production of Downpour, but producer Tomm Hulett confirmed in June 2011 that McGlynn would be providing music for the game. Downpour's main theme is performed by American nu metal band Korn. A group of fans created an online petition for the removal of the main theme from Downpour. Hulett felt that Korn "made the most sense" when finding a new performer for its theme, and also said that the main theme is not "an integral part of Downpour's gameplay".

Licht studied the music from previous games:

I familiarized myself with the style and history of the previous Silent Hill themes and musical cues. I wanted this game to have the same flow as the previous games while adding my own signature sound. It was important for me to understand where the music was coming from, the overall story, and the use of the musical themes throughout the game. It was then that I was able to create new themes that were consistent with the game, but had my original touch.

Licht worked with McGlynn on several tracks, and called her voice an "essential component to the score." He avoided using water as a direct influence, instead opting for "distinctive sounds for the different locations, particularly the Otherworld, by using industrial noise and choir samples...I used a combination of industrial sounds and ambiences with overly processed voices featuring guitar, mandolin, and strings. I created an industrial rhythm with acoustic instruments that are heavily processed to add to its already dark atmosphere."

The soundtrack was released on March 13, 2012. Licht collaborated with Jonathan Davis for the opening title song "Silent Hill", while McGlynn contributed vocals on tracks "Intro Perk Walk" and "Bus to Nowhere".

Release

Silent Hill: Downpour was initially slated to be released in October 2011, but the release date was later changed to March 13, 2012.

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	C-
Electronic Gaming Monthly	7.5/10
Eurogamer	6/10
Game Informer	7/10
GameRevolution
GameSpot	7.5/10
GamesRadar+	7/10
GameTrailers	5.2/10
IGN	4.5/10
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK	6/10
Official Xbox Magazine (UK)	7/10
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	7.5/10
X-Play
Destructoid	8/10
Joystiq

Silent Hill: Downpour received mixed reviews, with aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic assigning the Xbox 360 version 67.06 percent and 69/100 and the PlayStation 3 version 66.73 percent and 64/100. In general, most critics were split on the game's story and atmosphere yet criticized the combat and technical performance.

Game Informer gave it a 7/10, stating "I don’t regret my time with Silent Hill: Downpour, but mediocrity hung over most of my playthrough." Destructoid gave it an 8/10, stating "When it's not forcing a sub-par combat system on players, and when it allows itself to be as imaginative as it can be, Silent Hill: Downpour is a stylish, slickly produced, beautifully foreboding game." Games Radar gave it a 7/10, stating "In spite of its flaws, Silent Hill: Downpour does manage to be smart and imaginative in bursts...The actual gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, but as recent Silent Hills go, this is one of the better ones." Gamespot gave the game a 7.5/10, saying "Downpour makes some questionable tweaks to the established formula, but those decisions distinguish it from the rest of the series." Official Xbox Magazine summed up its review with "the game’s many puzzles and open-world areas did leave us aimlessly wondering and wandering. But varied gameplay, solid combat, and an effective mix of psychological scares and freaky encounters make Downpour a worthwhile trip.", giving the game a 7.5/10.

The most negative review came from IGN, which gave it 4.5/10. The review said that "The most frustrating thing about Silent Hill Downpour isn't the lousy combat, dull exploration, or even the technical gaffes. It's the fact that every now and then while playing through the game's story, you'll see signs of brilliance; sunlight hinted from behind the overcast sky."

Several reviews singled out the soundtrack for praise, although one criticised the overall sound design, saying dead silence too often made combat commonplace instead of terrifying. The Joystiq review stated Licht did an "admirable job" with the score, yet lamented "the loss of longtime series composer Akira Yamaoka may be Downpour's biggest detriment."

References

1. ^ "Silent Hill: Downpour". Konami Digital Entertainment. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
2. ^ "Konami and Vatra present Silent Hill Downpour at three booths, debut 3D support at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo". Vatra Games. 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2011-07-07. Silent Hill Downpour is scheduled to launch in Winter 2011 on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
3. "Konami Announces Silent Hill 8 For PlayStation 3 And Xbox 360" (Press release). IGN. 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
4. ^ Makuch, Eddie (2012-01-12). "Silent Hill creeps up on March". GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
5. Haywald, Justin (04-09-2010). "Konami Announces the Next Silent Hill". 1UP.com. News Corporation. Retrieved January 8, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. McWhertor, Michael (2010-04-20). "Is The New Silent Hill A First Person Shooter?". Kotaku. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
7. ^ Turi, Tim. "Interview: Dexter Composer Dan Licht On Silent Hill: Downpour". Game Informer. GameStop Corporation. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
8. Schramm, Mike (2010-06-16). "Silent Hill 8 (working title) coming in 2011 from Vatra Games". Joystiq. Weblogs, Inc. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
9. Fletcher, JC (2010-06-01). "Silent Hill vocalist working with Yamaoka on Suda/Mikami game". Joystiq. Weblogs, Inc. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
10. ^ Mitchell, Richard (2011-06-10). "Tomm Hulett on Silent Hill Collection, Downpour, Book of Memories and Korn". Retrieved 2011-07-11.
11. ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig (2011-06-09). "Silent Hill Downpour: now with three dimensions and one Korn song". Joystiq. Weblogs, Inc. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
12. ^ Naypolitano, Jason (2012-03-12). "Dan Licht interview". Original Sound Version. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
13. http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Hill-Downpour-Daniel-Licht/dp/B006WAF3PO
14. Ogilvie, Tristan (2011-09-15). "TGS: Silent Hill: Downpour Needs More Work". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
15. ^ "Silent Hill: Downpour (X360)". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
16. ^ "Silent Hill: Downpour (PS3)". GameRankings. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
17. ^ "Silent Hill: Downpour (X360)". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
18. ^ "Silent Hill: Downpour (PS3)". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
19. "1UP review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
20. "EGM review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
21. "Eurogamer review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
22. "Game Revolution review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
23. ^ "Game Informer review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
24. ^ "GR review". Games Radar. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
25. ^ "GameSpot review". Gamespot UK. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
26. "Game Trailers review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
27. ^ "IGN review". IGN Review. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
28. "Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) review". Retrieved 2012-03-12.
29. ^ "OXM review". Official Xbox Magazine review. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
30. "OXM review". Official Xbox Magazine (UK) review. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
31. "OXM review". XPlay review. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
32. ^ Jim Sterling (2012-03-12). "Destructoid review". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
33. ^ "Joystiq review". Joystiq. 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-03-12.

External links

• Official website

• 2012 video games
• PlayStation 3 games
• Silent Hill games
• Unreal Engine games
• Video games developed in the Czech Republic
• Video games with stereoscopic 3D graphics
• Xbox 360 games