Set in an industrialized Silent Hill rather than a resort town, drug abuse among the residents is no small secret, however it's relatively peaceful with a low crime rate. The place is suddenly overrun with thick fog and aggressive, unearthly creatures that hide within it. The town's population is massacred, survivors strewn throughout.
Enter "the narrator", a recovering yet brain-damaged drug addict that recently escaped the hospital's psych ward amidst the confusion and chaos. She retreats to her home, shared by her boyfriend and their child. However, her memory before admitting herself to the hospital is fragmented, and believes that something terrible happened to them before the fog invasion. Racked with guilt for reasons unknown, she is indifferent to the threat outside. The threat that may or may not be there, due to her impaired perception of reality (visual hallucinations and whatnot) because of drug induced brain damage.
Later, we switch to a lone pre-teen boy (we'll call him "Bob") searching for his mother. Bob is a child prodigy, yet something is not quite right with him. He regularly addresses an imaginary friend of his (an older, teenage boy who we see, but other characters don't) who acts as a moral conduit for him. Without an inherent sense of fear, Bob is utterly brave in the face of the lethal situation before him. Almost eerily so for someone his age... As a prodigy, Bob is very intuitive with mechanical workings, and can reverse engineer almost anything that can be built by hand, using a custom workshop in the garage of his home. However, when it comes to reading other people, he is nearly clueless. But with his skills and agile footwork, he is determined to find his mother and make sure that she's safe.
Integrates the idea from The Room, of having a home-base of sorts to return to and further the plot, after venturing out into the town. The two character's stories reflect their styles of gameplay: Bob's more action style - creating makeshift weapons/accessories and quick dodging, while the Narrator is more about stealth and (if the player so chooses) using substances to enhance her abilities. However, in using certain drugs, you run the risk of altering her story, causing her to permanently relapse into addiction.
