Tomm – I knew there would be some reviews that didn’t like the direction or just didn’t get it. I felt really strongly about the game we were making (and everyone at Climax definitely did too) though, so I tried to focus on the positive reviews. It was very nice to see some fans accepting it as “the best SH since _____” though. One thing that surprised me was how many reviews said “it has nothing to do with SH1 beyond character names” considering the game’s flow mirrors SH1’s exactly, location to location. Whitney’s site actually has a really detailed chart explaining this.

Tomm – This was unfortunate. I’d wanted to keep the blog going through the EU release, and I’d planned to do a Let’s Play-style walkthrough of the original Silent Hill to get people geared up for the reimagining (and to point out some references to US players who had already completed SM). Unfortunately we hit crunch time on Rocket Knight and I couldn’t devote time to the playthrough. I apologize for leaving some of you hanging.

Q: I just wanted to say as a fan of the original games I loved all the little homages you guys fit into Shattered Memories! Were there any homages that you personally suggested to be included? Also after the game’s release, were there any unintentional connections pointed out by fans that surprised you?

Tomm – Well, the UFO Ending for one, as I explained above ☺ I’m sure there were others I suggested; I’m pretty annoying about this type of thing regardless of the game I’m working on (sorry Climax!). However, Climax has a lot of SH fans on the team and they didn’t need any help coming up with references. I really like the memento that resembles the Air Screamer from SH1. The homage to Alessa’s teacher also went over my head until right before release. I didn’t notice the Maria shadow in the UFO ending until the game came out. Rule 1 of being a super detailed SH-head is to hire other super detailed SH-heads to watch your back!