Silent Hill: Downpour is a survival horror game played from the over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective, in which the player controls Murphy Pendleton, an escaped convict, as he navigates the titular supernatural town. While the extent to which the game is an open-world environment is debated, Downpour allows for more environmental exploration than previous installments in the series.[3] While Murphy explores the town on foot, he can use the abandoned subway tunnels as a short-cut to various parts of the town.[3] 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.[4] Parts of his backstory can be learned from in-game notes and flashbacks;[4] secret messages can be uncovered through the use of a UV flashlight, while clues and maps are stored in his journal to access freely.[5] The player also can shape Murphy's character through several moral choices presented throughout the game, by allowing him to either act on or refuse opportunities to save non-player characters.[4]
While exploring, Murphy may periodically encounter monsters, either alone or in groups. The monsters can harm him, causing his "health" to decline; as it does so, his clothes take on a bloodied and torn appearance to reflect this damage.[6] Items to replenish his health can be found throughout the game.[6] Murphy can obtain a range of melee weapons, including chairs, bottles, shovels, and axes to defend himself, although he can only carry one at a time, which will gradually deteriorate with use and eventually break.[6] Firearms and ammunition are limited, and Murphy has difficulty aiming guns.[4] Murphy can also fight with his fists, although this prevents him from blocking attacks. Additionally, phantom police cruisers roam the streets of Silent Hill; if one spots Murphy, a group of monsters will appear and attack him.[3] The game also features a weather system which alternates fog with varying degrees of rainfall; during heavy rainfall, monsters appear more frequently and behave more violently towards Murphy.[4][7]
At scripted intervals, Murphy will find himself in the Otherworld, a supernatural, rusty location where he may have to solve a puzzle to progress, navigate traps, or successfully evade the red, indestructible light chasing him. The light causes him harm in close proximity, and being caught by it will produce a "game over".[3] Murphy can attempt to slow it down by knocking items into its path.[3] Other monsters can damage him as he attempts to escape, while the environment will often change during these sequences: doors may suddenly close when Murphy runs towards them, for example.[3]
The game offers fourteen optional side quests, one of which is unlocked in a second playthrough.[8] These are intended to replace the fetch quests in earlier Silent Hill games, which were necessary to progress and often involved a thematically related side story.[9] In Downpour, some of the side quests consist of investigating a local murder scene, freeing caged birds, or returning stolen items to the unseen inhabitants of a local apartment complex.[10][3][4] The side quests often end in a tangible reward for Murphy, and after a certain point in the narrative, they are no longer accessible.[
