I've known about this for a while, but I figured I'd make a topic on it, since the game is hitting shelves tomorrow.
 
I don't know whether or not this is me being raised on action games, but I still do not understand why you cannot attack enemies. AT ALL.

If you want people to encourage people to run instead of fight, maybe you should just keep weapons in the game scarce- things that you need only in dire circumstances. I know that Silent Hill isn't known for its amazing combat or anything, but I still feel that it's a missed opportunity for our protagonist to have no defenses against these creatures whatsoever.
 
That's just me. I understand that whatever the developer was going for, they wanted the focus to be on the scares and tension and not the action. Totally cool. And I know I'm gonna get crap for this as well (I'm sure a lot of comments will be GO BACK TO PLAYIN MODERN WARFARE YOU LOSER or something to that effect), but I just wanted to say that this irks me a bit.  However, I still think the game looks phenomenal, and I want to try it on a friend's Wii sometime soon.

disappointing, i have to say. i knew silent hill didn't have the greatest combat, but still.. :(  

No, this isn't Devil May Cry.

Sure you could fight back against a dozen of crazed, deformed creatures going berserk on you.
 
The question is: Would you?
 
Without saying anything about the actual gameplay which I cannot yet comment upon, I think it is a brave, great and awesome decision that they developed a game that has a helpless, male protagonist. That's just awesome.

Ever played Penumbra? Not being able to fight back adds an immense amount of suspense/tension.
 
Though you could fight back in the original Resident Evil(s), it was so slow, clunky and gimped that there was still a massive amount of tension there. Being chased completely defenseless by Nemesis was also one of my favorite gaming moments.
 
More games need to put you in a completely defenseless position. Survival-horror games, anyway.

"  I've known about this for a while, but I figured I'd make a topic on it, since the game is hitting shelves tomorrow.
 
I don't know whether or not this is me being raised on action games, but I still do not understand why you cannot attack enemies. AT ALL.

If you want people to encourage people to run instead of fight, maybe you should just keep weapons in the game scarce- things that you need only in dire circumstances. I know that Silent Hill isn't known for its amazing combat or anything, but I still feel that it's a missed opportunity for our protagonist to have no defenses against these creatures whatsoever.  That's just me. I understand that whatever the developer was going for, they wanted the focus to be on the scares and tension and not the action. Totally cool. And I know I'm gonna get crap for this as well (I'm sure a lot of comments will be GO BACK TO PLAYIN MODERN WARFARE YOU LOSER or something to that effect), but I just wanted to say that this irks me a bit.  However, I still think the game looks phenomenal, and I want to try it on a friend's Wii sometime soon. "

I get why it might  irk someone but i think it is great that they did this. It bugs me when you can do too much in Survival-horror games. 

I think it's good like this.

This is why the game doesn't interest me. Why would I want to play as a character whose more of a pussy than I am? I'm no fighter, but at least I would attempt to fight those things. 

I mean, the Silent Hill series has always discouraged against fighting, but to actually go and forbid you too...well that's kinda messed up. 

Spend ten hours running from enemies...nah, no thanks.

" I think it's good like this. "

It might be cool to have the option to fight

Yeah, a videogame that discourages you to solve situations with brute force. What is the world coming to? :'(

The game follows the clocktower's mechanics.  
 
If really it is a good or bad idea, i'll reserve my thoughts till after i play the game. 
 
But i don't like to feel helpless.

There's a drill they have you do with pistol training where you have 3 seconds to shoot 2 shots at a target 7 yards away from the holster position and over half of the people that do this drill the first time miss both shots, usually wildly like up into the ceiling or down into the floor. Harry is a normal every day guy and like most everyday guys if you put a gun in their hand in a panic situation the normal everyday guy has about a 10% chance to hit his target, 10% chance to hit himself, and 80% chance to shoot that poor bird up in the tree that was just watching the action unfold.  
 
From what I understand there's a lot of things that chase you, and they move a little bit faster than you.  There just isn't any situation where you could stand and fight. I do like the idea of this overwhelming and oppressive force chasing you through a maze a lot more than random critters all over a map that are mostly a pain in the ass that you don't really fight anyway and can figure out ways to go around them. 
 
This game forces you to run, making you a helpless person in a hopeless situation.  I've never played a Silent Hill game but this was the element that really grabbed my attention.

I think it's an interesting gameplay mechanic that sets it apart from other games in the genre. 

I'm not sure exactly what the gameplay of this game will entail, but I feel like my biggest draw to the game is the uniqueness in the idea that you aren't really supposed to fight the enemies. They're supposed to be there to scare the shit out of you. Giving you a weapon takes away a lot of that scariness. Giving me weapons, but neutering them through awkward controls and ammo scarcity is pretty much what keeps me away from Silent Hill games. Crippling gameplay is a manufactured way of making things scary (and I'll also point my finger at Resident Evil, on that note).

They probably did this because people usually don't like playing the same type of game over and over again (from what I hear). 
 
It's actuallly a pretty nice change of pace from what I've played so far.

An intentional design choice which benefits the game. 

I like the fact that you can't attack, but it would be nice to have some kind of deterrent. If you found out, say, laundry detergent stunned them for a bit, for example. Something weird like that just to make escape easier, but you never have enough to make it too easy

I think if this game is supposed to scare the shit of you then to feel helpless by not being able to fight is a GREAT way to scare someone shitless. It's supposed to be unnerving and upsetting. I think this is an awesome idea. But I can definitely see how it can get less scary as time goes by. Oh look, its time to run again. Oh look, it's time to run again. Oh look, I'm running. I can definitely see a struggle with keeping the player feeling helpless.

" I think if this game is supposed to scare the shit of you then to feel helpless by not being able to fight is a GREAT way to scare someone shitless. It's supposed to be unnerving and upsetting. I think this is an awesome idea. But I can definitely see how it can get less scary as time goes by. Oh look, its time to run again. Oh look, it's time to run again. Oh look, I'm running. I can definitely see a struggle with keeping the player feeling helpless. "

Which dream would be scarier? A dream where you had a chainsaw and a shotgun or even a baseball bat to help you fight off the undead? Or you had nothing but your legs to carry your ass out of there?
 
This isn't exactly a new idea, but it looks like Shattered Memories is looking to be one of the best at doing it.
 
And there are deterrent's, at least from what I've seen. I've watched clips where Mason fends a monster back with a road flare. It probably isn't great but it would buy you a moment or two. I would dig this kind of game with a Mirror's Edge playstyle... Not having to fight guys by running right into them as they unload AK's into your face.

The game may not be the best it could be (don't know, haven't played) but having no fighting isn't the reason. Everything is up to the implementation.

You cannot please everybody.  If developers do the same mechanics in every game, gamers will yell out "Nothing's unique! Why can't they be original?!"
 
When developers try something different gamers will yell out "Why do they change?  This will ruin the series!".

" When developers try something different gamers will yell out "Why do they change?  This will ruin the series!". "

This game is essentially the antithesis of Silent Hill:  Homecoming, which emphasized combat to the point that it ruined the game for a lot of people.  Harry isn't a trained soldier.  He's a normal dude being scared shitless by fleshy abominations.  If I were him, I'd rather run for my life than face off against them, too.
 
For what it's worth, the game does provide a few rudimentary ways to "defend" yourself, like flares you can use to ward off approaching monsters, but I love the fact that combat has been deemphasized to a point I haven't seen since Clock Tower 3 (and even then, Clock Tower 3 had combat at the end of every chapter).

I am a little confused about reviews and players noting that they got completely lost in the nightmare sequences because they could never find cover to have enough time to look at the map. 
 More than one reviewer took that as one reason to downscore the game. 
 
This confuses me, because it seems like these people never tried making the map full-screen. If you just look at the real-time map on your phone, the game continues and the creatures will kill you, yes. 
However, if you press A to get the zoomed-in, full screen version of the map, the game pauses and you have all the time in the world to plan your course. You still lose a second or two for switching the phone on and off, but for me this is never really an issue, and I can check whether I am on the right course or not at every second turn, if I wanted to. 
 
I have now three or four of the nightmare sequences behind me, and not only do I not find them frustrating, I like them very much. The camera, the ability to look behind, the relentless creature AI, the music and the moves you can pull off make for some very, very well staged and scary interactive chase sequences.
Stressful, yes, but in a good way. But then again, I also liked Mirror's Edge.
 
Loving the game so far. Definatly a worthy successor to Silent Hill 2, although it is a really different experience and only very little scary.

" Ever played Penumbra? Not being able to fight back adds an immense amount of suspense/tension.  Though you could fight back in the original Resident Evil(s), it was so slow, clunky and gimped that there was still a massive amount of tension there. Being chased completely defenseless by Nemesis was also one of my favorite gaming moments.  More games need to put you in a completely defenseless position. Survival-horror games, anyway. "

" This is why the game doesn't interest me. Why would I want to play as a character whose more of a pussy than I am? I'm no fighter, but at least I would attempt to fight those things.  I mean, the Silent Hill series has always discouraged against fighting, but to actually go and forbid you too...well that's kinda messed up.  Spend ten hours running from enemies...nah, no thanks. "

Running away from zombies is a billion times scarier than shooting them with crappy controls.

 @Red: Sadly, you run away from them with crappy controls. 

Sometimes you can figure out where you're supposed to go 

 others where you might not be able to figure out where to go

 the motions needed to push the creatures off once they dig their claws into you can be really picky at registering.

" @Meowayne: Ruroh, made an ass of myself. Let me try that again.   In my experience the motion controls where unresponsive. I'd do the elbowing motion 5 times to get a damn monster off my back and it just would not want to listen. I've heard others that had a similar experience and other not, so it might be more based on where your sensor bar is and whatnot.  My navigation issues was really only in one spot, but it just left a sour taste in my mouth. The spot in particular is the nightmare sequence in the school. Up to that point the game was so well designed I didn't even need to check my map, then when I couldn't figure out where to go and what to do for those 30 minutes it had felt as if I had hit a brick wall.     Oh well, in the end the game was still friggen fantastic. "

   Oh well, in the end the game was still friggen fantastic. "

Im sorry do you fools know how a SURVIVAL HORROR game works? Its not about you getting a sweet gun and killing the monsters.

I think being defenceless is part of what makes this game terrifying to play. 
 
It's like that first encounter in Dead Space, where all you can (really) do is run for the elevator. I was bricking it. When you've got the guns it's an easier time.