In more ways than one, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is all about exploring the past. Not only does the majority of the game take place with the main character on a therapist’s couch talking about traumatic experiences, but the plot itself is a retelling of the very first Silent Hill game. With stellar presentation and plenty of unexpected surprises, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories tasks you with confronting the past and demands you either correct your mistakes or muster the courage to live up to the consequences.

The game establishes its memory motif before you can even select “New Game.” The first thing you see is a grainy, static-ridden home movie of a young girl and her father at a carnival. It doesn’t affect gameplay directly, and its relation to the main plot doesn’t become apparent until the end, but it sets up a pattern that will become familiar as you progress.

Once you’re actually able to start playing, the game becomes instantly familiar to Silent Hill fans. You control Harry Mason, who is looking for his daughter Cheryl after losing her in a car accident in the mysterious town of Silent Hill. Although the major plot points of the game will be the same no matter what, the game will respond to the way you play — in essence, creating a “psychological profile” of you.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories periodically switches between Harry exploring Silent Hill and therapy sessions with you describing Harry’s story. Your psych profile is largely influenced by these sessions, and the impact on the game is usually unexpected and ingeniously implemented. For example, confessing to the therapist that you’ve been unfaithful in relationships changes the way female characters in Silent Hill react to Harry.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Silent Hill game if the town didn’t occasionally turn to hell — perhaps literally. As in previous games, at certain times, the town will suddenly turn into a nightmarish labyrinth from which Harry must escape. The big difference in this game, however, is that you never get a single weapon. Your only option is to run. At first, I welcomed this change, as combat has always been the iffiest part of Silent Hill games, but I think this game could have implemented it better.

The way it works is essentially you’re a rat in a maze frantically searching for an exit, except you’re being chased by mannequin-like monsters who grab on to you and will eventually kill you. It would be simple enough to just run away from them, except the mazes you find yourself in are annoyingly hard to navigate. The game does give you a map (in a clever touch, it’s the GPS on Harry’s smartphone), but stopping to look at the map usually means the monsters catch you. I frequently felt like a chicken without a head during these sequences.

However, this misstep is more than made up for by the rest of the game. I greatly appreciated this game’s seemingly deliberate attempt to downplay blood, gore and violence. Silent Hill: Homecoming particularly felt like it was crossing a line with its emphasis on guns and killing. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories thankfully does away with all that and squarely focuses on story, puzzles and genuine scares. Exploring the town of Silent Hill has never filled me with more dread as it did in this game.

Virtually everything within the game ties back into the “memory” motif. After the session in which the therapist asks you what high school was like, Harry explores Midwich High School. Harry is constantly finding “mementos” hidden like Easter eggs throughout the town. Disturbances in light and radio static alert you to residual spirits hanging onto times past, and these ghosts are constantly leaving voicemails and texts on Harry’s phone. As Harry searches for his daughter, he taps into the history of the town itself and all its residents. In a brilliant move, this all ties together into a shocking ending with a twist that bookends the story and doesn’t feel forced.

As far as story-driven games go, it doesn’t get much better than Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Hopefully the “M” rating doesn’t ward off too many people, as this is one of the mildest “M” games I’ve ever played. The “Silent Hill” in the title may conjure up memories of grotesque monsters getting beaten and blown away with an assortment of weapons, but it would be unfair to judge Silent Hill: Shattered Memories because of its past. If you enjoy a good scare and a deep story, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is what you’re looking for.