Silent Hill: Homecoming is a 2008 survival horror game developed by Double Helix Games and published by Konami. The sixth installment in the Silent Hill series, Homecoming follows the journey of Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning from war, to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen, where he finds the town in disarray, and his younger brother missing. As he continues on his search to find his younger brother, he discovers more about the Order, the town's history and his own past.
The game was released on September 30, 2008, in North America for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the Windows version was released in North America on November 6, 2008, exclusively through Valve's Steam digital content delivery service. Versions were simultaneously released in Europe, including a retail Windows version, on February 27, 2009. The Japanese release was cancelled. On July 25, 2018, the game alongside Silent Hill HD Collection became backward compatible on Xbox One.
Gameplay
The player assumes the role of Alex Shepherd, a Special Forces soldier who returns home from an overseas tour of duty to find that his father and younger brother are missing, and that his mother has gone into catatonia. Alex begins to search for his brother, leading him to Silent Hill after searching his hometown of Shepherd's Glen.
Overall gameplay is similar to past entries in the series. The player, as Alex, explores the various environments and locales, searching for clues to advance the plot, such as photographs, drawings and other items which are placed inside Alex's journal, which the player may read at any time. To assist the player, Alex will turn his head towards items and clues to inform the player that the object may be picked up; other recurring items include weapons and ammunition, which give off a glow as a visual cue to the player, and health drinks. Puzzle elements also play a part in the game, and Alex's journal may refer to photographs and other items that can help the player decipher such puzzles as keypad entries. For the first time in the series, the player may select responses when engaging in dialogue with other characters encountered in the game, which in turn may affect how the player sees the plot unfold.
In addition to exploration, combat is another major element to the gameplay, and the player must fight the various monsters that appear. In contrast to the more naïve everyman protagonists of previous games, combat in Homecoming takes into account Alex's experience as a soldier. The player is able to perform light and heavy attacks, or mix them to perform combinations, and may also perform a variety of finishing moves to ensure that the monsters are dead, a gameplay mechanic first featured in a rudimentary form in Silent Hill: Origins. Attacking enemies also leaves wounds in them that match the motion carried out by Alex in inflicting the attack. In terms of controlling Alex, the player may also perform new maneuvers such as targeting the enemy before attacking them, dodging enemy attacks, and performing counter-attacks. As well as melee weapons, pistols, rifles and shotguns are available as firearms, which can be upgraded to stronger versions later in the game: firearm handling is also rendered in a more realistic manner, with Alex having to shoulder long guns and suffering aim effects like recoil. In addition to the changes in combat, and unlike previous entries in the series, the player is also able to fully control and rotate the camera as they choose; one analog stick controls player movement, and the other controls the camera.
Plot At the start of the game, the player controls Alex through a nightmare concerning his younger brother, Josh, before Alex wakes up in the cab of a truck driven by Travis Grady (the protagonist of Silent Hill: Origins) who gives him a ride to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen.Travis: "Bad dream?" Alex: "Yeah." [They arrive in Shepherd's Glen.] Travis: "Hometown?" Alex: "You could say that." Travis: "Well, good luck, soldier." Alex: "Thanks." The town, named for a distant ancestor who helped found it,Alex: "This is my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Isaac Shepherd. He was one of the founders, and they named the town after him." is covered in fog and deserted. At home, he finds his mother in a catatonic state, murmuring about his father leaving to find Josh;Alex's mother: "Alex. What are you doing here?" Alex: "I just got discharged. I've been in the hospital for a bit, but I'm all right now." Alex's mother: "You've been gone too long." Alex: "Yeah. Where is everybody? Where's Josh?" Alex's mother: "I don't know. Your father went to look for him. But now he's gone. Everyone's gone." promising to find Josh, Alex leaves.Alex's mother: "I miss your brother, Alex." Alex: "Look, I'll find him. I had this dream... I just have a feeling he's in trouble. Don't worry about it, I'll find Joshua."
Alex soon discovers that many more people have gone missing in Shepherd's Glen since he left, when he finds his childhood friend Elle Holloway pinning "missing" signs to a board outside the police department.Elle falls off a chair she is using to reach the noticeboard. Elle: "Dammit!" Alex: "You always were a klutz. You okay?" Elle: "Alex? Oh, my God, Alex!" Alex: "Hey, Elle. Your mom told me I might find you out here." Elle: "Oh my God, it's so good to see you. Feels like it's been forever. [...]" Alex: "Jesus. What the hell's going on here?" Elle: "I don't know. Every day there are more flyers to put up, every day more people disappear." As Alex explores the town, he witnesses the separate deaths of Mayor Bartlett and Dr. Fitch by monsters in the Otherworld, both of whom have a child who is missing.Alex: "Mayor Bartlett? Mayor Bartlett, I need to talk to you. [...] What about your son? Don't you wanna protect him?" Mayor Bartlett: "My boy? I didn't do much right with him, but I did buy him some nice things... remember, Joey? Remember that nice present I got you?" Alex: "I'm looking for my brother Joshua, and I know he used to be friends with your son. Have you seen either of them?" Mayor Bartlett: "Joey? Er, Joey doesn't want to play with you." Alex: "Doctor, do you need help? You're bleeding bad." Dr. Fitch: "Don't you TOUCH me! I bleed out the sin, but it grows back. So I must let it out every day." Alex: "I can stop the bleeding." Dr. Fitch: "I don't want your help! These wounds cannot heal." Alex: "Why did you come to this place?" Dr. Fitch: "I come here to remind myself. It's the only place I go where she listens to me." Alex: "Who listens to you? Scarlet? Is she here?" Dr. Fitch: "She's here with me, now. My baby... my beautiful child. Daddy forgot to bring you a present today. She loves dollies." Back in Shepherd's Glen, Alex allies himself with Deputy Wheeler in the police department.Alex: "Deputy Wheeler?" Wheeler: "Well, well. Back in the land of the living. [...]" Alex: "Last I saw him he was passed out drunk on the ground. [...] I'm just trying to find my brother, okay? I thought the mayor might know something. His son is missing too. [...]" Wheeler: "So you've seen the creatures too...?" Alex eventually learns that his father was involved in the secrets of the town and had left to attempt to resolve the town's problems,Adam's letter: "I have failed, and they know it. They blame me. They should. I swore to protect this town, but I can't. The streets decay before our eyes. The curse we always feared has come upon us. Worse yet, The Order has returned, kidnapping and killing with impunity [...] But they've taken our people. The only thing left is to face the source of this evil, to fight it, and pray that some hope can be restored." but before Alex is able to get answers from his mother at home, he is knocked unconscious as The Order—a religious cult from Silent Hill which has been taking people from the town— kidnaps his mother.Alex's mother: "You don't know anything about Silent Hill!" Alex: "I know dad went there. He went to go fight something. Did he go to get Joshua? Is that where Josh is? God damn it, tell me!" Alex's mother: "Oh Alex, I'm sorry." Alex: "Stop pretending you care about me! Start telling me what's going on! Joshua is the only one you ever cared about, and I can help him, if you tell me what's going on!" [The Order members arrive and kidnap his mother, and knock Alex to the floor in the struggle.] Order member: "Forget the Shepherd kid, let's move."
Alex, Elle, and Wheeler take a boat across Toluca Lake to find Alex's father in Silent Hill but are intercepted by the Order.Wheeler: "Alex. There's a light up ahead. I think we might be at the pier." Alex: "What should we do?" Wheeler: "Turn off our light. I don't want anyone to know we're coming." Elle: "Aaah!" Alex: "Elle!" Two Order members are holding onto Elle at the back of the boat. Elle: "Get your hands off me!" More Order members grab Wheeler. Alex: "Wheeler!" Another boat crashes into theirs, sending Alex into the water. Elle and Wheeler are taken to Silent Hill's penitentiary, where Alex attempts to rescue them.Wheeler: "Alex, are you there?" Alex: "Wheeler, is that you?" Wheeler: "Talk quietly, Alex. Thank God you're okay. Listen, they've taken us to the prison. It's horrible. They took Elle, and they're about to..." The radio cuts out. He finds his mother bound; the player must make a decision regarding whether to kill her out of mercy or not, which will affect the outcome of the game.Alex: (whispers) "Mom. Jesus, what did they do?" Alex's mother: "Alex? Is that you? [...] Your father and I, we loved you so much. But they said we could only choose one. [...] Ahhh! It hurts so much. Please stop. Make it stop." Alex: "Mom, I... I can't... I..." Alex's mother: "Please, Alex. please..." Alex gets his gun out. Choice 1: "Ok, I'll do it." Choice 2: "I'm sorry, I can't." After rescuing Elle's mother, Judge Holloway, and separating from Wheeler once more,Alex: "Judge Holloway..." Holloway: "Alex!!!" Wheeler: "Quick, you get her loose before they start pumping the gas, I'll shut off the valves. [...]" Wheeler is swallowed by a monstrous wall opening. Alex: "Run! Get out! Get out of here! I'll save Wheeler!" Holloway leaves. Alex finds the Order's church, where he secretly listens to his father in the confessional; the player may choose to forgive him, again affecting the outcome of the game.Alex's father: "Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. It has been four years since my last confession. [...]" Alex: "What could you have done that was so terrible?" Alex's father: "I took my role as a father and I turned it into a daily chore. I fed him, I cleaned him, I put him to bed. I treated my dog with more respect. And when I was given a second son, the first might as well have been a stranger sleeping in our house." Choice 1: "Sounds like you can change." Choice 2: "You don't sound sorry." Alex later runs into his father, who reveals that Alex was never a soldier and has been in a mental hospital since "the accident" occurred. He begs forgiveness before he is killed by a monster called the Bogeyman (resembling Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2).Adam: "I never meant to hurt you, son,. I had to make a choice, and now I'm paying for it. We all are. After all I've done, you still wear my old dog tags... that must mean something." Alex: "What are you talking about? These are mine... I'm a soldier just like you wanted." Adam: "Alex... you've been in the hospital..." Alex: "I know. I was wounded in battle." Adam: "No... a mental hospital. You've been there ever since the accident. [...] Alex, forgive me." Alex: "No!!!!" Adam is skewered and cut in two by the Bogeyman, who then leaves.