This summer I had the privilege of playing both Alan Wake and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and of course I only played them at night tricking myself into "getting the most of them". I had a great time playing each title and I found the story of both games to be very interesting and engaging to say the least. Though both games have big differences, I thought that it would be interesting to discuss the similarities between the two titles… so here it goes.

The gameplay of both games mainly focuses on using flashlights. In the Wii version of SH: SM, which is the one I played, controlling the flashlights feels very natural and simple thanks to the Wii remote, but it's mostly used to navigate the environment rather than in combat like Alan Wake. You can also turn it off if you like unlike Alan Wake. In Alan Wake the flashlight is used to weaken and sometimes kill enemies. It can also be used to show hidden messages that are scattered across the game and arrow signs that lead to treasure. Alan Wake also offers you somewhat different kinds of flashlights during the course of the game, which act like upgrades rather than varied and different flashlights, unlike SH: SM where you're stuck with one flashlight, which isn't an issue really.

Alan Wake is trying to save his wife from the darkness while Harry Mason is desperately trying to find his lost daughter, Cheryl. This clearly adds an emotional effect on the story of both games, thus making it more engaging.

Alan Wake is a writer for sure, but I'm not sure about Harry Mason. In my playthrough of SH: SM, he did say that he is a writer, but I'm not quite sure if that's really the case or it is because of my answers to the psychologist's questions….

SH: SM is filled with these and Harry will often react to them saying a few words about them. In Alan Wake, they provide some nice information if you're interested. 

This is clearly more prevalent and well executed in SH: SM, but you'll see Alan using his phone more often than you expect.

Collectibles are common in video games nowadays, but I think I'll mention them anyway.

In SH: SM, you'll be collecting toys. On the other hand, you'll be collecting manuscript pages in Alan Wake, which help to further explain the story, and coffee thermos, which are every writer's best friend! ….. I guess…

So that's all I could think of at the moment. Feel free to add more similarities if you like. This is my first blog and I hope it was an interesting read! You can also follow my twitter account @AvengerNinja if you like. I mostly tweet about video games.

Thanks for reading my blog!