Murphy Pendleton has been incarcerated for several years for stealing a police cruiser and crossing state borders. He murders the sequestered child molester and murderer, Patrick Napier, in prison, and after a riot, Murphy is placed under the supervision of officer Anne Cunningham, who has animosity toward him. In the process of being transported to another penitentiary, the transport vehicle crashes near Silent Hill. Surviving the impact, Murphy finds himself unexpectedly free. In his journey through the largely abandoned town, he encounters the cryptic postman, Howard Blackwood, and unlocks repressed memories.
The game uses a third-person view and can be played in 3D. Downpour allows for more environmental exploration than previous installments in the series. Murphy explores the town on foot and can use the abandoned subway tunnels as a short-cut to various parts. At times, Murphy will need to directly interact with the environment to progress, pulling down fire escapes with hooks or destroying boarded-up doors, for example. Parts of his backstory can be learned from in-game notes and flashbacks; secret messages can be uncovered through the use of a UV flashlight, while clues and maps are stored in his journal to access freely. The player can shape Murphy's character through several moral choices presented, by allowing him to either act on or refuse opportunities to save non-player characters. There are six endings available, based on choices made throughout the game. Each ending has a different culprit and outcome for the various characters; some contradictory to cutscenes shown in-game.
Source: Wikipedia, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill:_Downpour," available under the CC-BY-SA License.
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