Silent Hill series lets players take control of a character as they attempt to escape an oppressive environment and discover its secret. Players use environmental clues and puzzle-solving as weapons against creatures while also experiencing violent and psychological horror elements in gameplay. Origins and Downpour include firearms as well as melee weapons; Shattered Memories is the sole installment without fighting; its soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka has attracted an avid following known colloquially as Silent_Chill. However, little has been written systematically about this genre of audio design. To address this lacunae in knowledge about Silent Hill franchise pieces’ audio design, this article proposes a timbral analysis framework using Lavengood (2017)’s spectrogram-based method and Blake’s (2012) culturally informed approach for Silent_Chill pieces from Silent Hill franchise; using Lavengood’s (2017) spectrogram-based method with Blake’s (2012) culturally informed approach as sources. Timbral analysis framework devised using both techniques found that Silent_Chill pieces’ characteristics include dark timbres with beating harmonics as well as fullness due to overlapping frequencies.

Shattered Memories follows Harry Mason as he struggles with amnesia while searching for his daughter in Silent Hill. Along the way he encounters a cult conducting an elaborate ceremony to revive its god. Based on how Harry acts throughout, five different endings may unfold depending on his actions.

The game offers various puzzles that fans find overly easy or simplistic, such as Toy Piano Puzzle which has no immediate solution. A notable puzzle in this regard is Toy Piano Puzzle’s unexpected solution. Additionally, mobile phones were introduced as replacements to radio in previous titles; these phones could capture Echo Photos that reveal hidden clues or secrets while creating and saving maps of their surroundings and warning players when Raw Shocks are nearby.