Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was, in retrospect, a tremendous departure for the Silent Hill series. While it initially appeared to be a remake of the first game crammed full of gimmicky motion control (though there were PS2 and PSP versions), it turned out to be a strangely forward-thinking title. It’s a pioneer in the walking sim genre, four years before Gone Home popularized it. It even had VHS tracking effects before it was cool.
One of the biggest deviations was that there was no combat. Previous Silent Hill games allowed the protagonists to very clumsily defend themselves, but Harry Mason in Shattered Memories had no defense. Monsters were even pushed into the background, only existing in brief encounters between segments of the game. These monsters were known as Raw Shocks.
The name “Raw Shocks” isn’t actually mentioned within Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. For that matter, I dug out my manual for the Wii version, and they’re not named there either. They’re only mentioned as “the creatures.” The name was revealed in an interview with Tom Hulett, the producer of the game.
In Silent Hill: Shattered Memory, usually after a revelation or reveal is made in the plot, the world will freeze over. This is when the Raw Shocks appear and attack Harry. Harry doesn’t have much defense against them, only being able to light a flare to keep them at bay. At the same time, the Raw Shocks don’t outwardly attack Harry. In the interview with Tom Hulett, he says that the monsters merely fatigue Harry until he collapses.
The reason for this goes into spoiler territory, so skip this next part if you’ve got the answer you were looking for.
The events of Silent Hill: Shattered Memory aren’t actually happening. Harry Mason is dead, and the game is playing out through Cheryl Mason’s memories. As Harry Mason is exploring, he’s visiting important and traumatic moments in Cheryl’s life. The Raw Shocks are one of Cheryl’s defenses, as they try to stop Harry from continuing on and keeping Cheryl’s pain under wraps, allowing her to continue to live in the fantasy she has constructed.
The appearance of Raw Shocks also changes depending on the player’s actions. Things like what the player looks like and how much of a jerk they are makes small changes to their shape. They always appear like fleshy humanoids, but sometimes they’ll look more feminine, and other times they’ll have big holes in them.
While Raw Shocks only initially appeared in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, they also made an appearance in Silent Hill: Book of Memories, a game that most people prefer to pretend never happened.
Published: Nov 1, 2023 01:42 pm