Silent Hill: Book of Memories

Silent Hill: Book of Memories is a spin-off that tears the series away from its established horror roots and turns it into a top-down action dungeon crawler. The player discovers a mysterious book in which simply writing a name is enough to rewrite the past, and sets off through labyrinths full of traps and monsters to find out what the book did to their life. Instead of the slow, atmospheric, and terrifying pace of the series' main entries, it offers faster action built on item collecting, crafting, and gradual character upgrades, and familiar faces from other series entries return in the labyrinths as playable or supporting characters whose fate depends on which name the player wrote into the book.

The game was designed specifically for the PlayStation Vita handheld and its touchscreen, with procedurally generated levels, cooperative play for up to four players over an online connection, and a system for crafting weapons, armor, and talismans from gathered resources and materials obtained from defeated monsters. Given that development was handled by the American studio WayForward Technologies instead of the traditional Japanese Silent Hill team, the game leans more on action mechanics, loot collecting, gear crafting, and a sense of humor than on the psychological horror the series' main entries are known for, making it a notable departure from the established style even for long-time fans who know the series more from slow, quiet corridors than from four-player co-op action.

Why play: Book of Memories is for PS Vita players who want light-hearted co-op action with gear collecting and names and faces from the world of Silent Hill, not classic survival horror. It's an interesting detour for series fans willing to accept an entirely different genre and pace of playing with friends online, as well as quick handheld entertainment between the main entries that can be played in short bursts on the go.