Info on Silent Hill: Downpour Weapon System

Over at the Hell Descent forums, Silent Hill: Downpour producer Devin Shatsky dropped in to shed some light on the weapon system used in the game. Players will be able to use a variety of household items as weapons, but the interesting bit is that they have a system that allows each weapon to break down uniquely:

"One thing I’d like to mention is Downpour’s weapons break, but in different states, so often times what once was a 2 handed weapon, now becomes a 1 handed weapon upon breaking. Oh and some of the broken parts are still usable as well.

As for metal weapons it’s a tricky dilemma, obviously we didnt want to only create wooden objects, as that would seem like a cheap design “solution”. And we also didnt want to constantly have to “strategically” take away players weapons via design points (as in your water slide example), because that can come across as forced after a few times. So some metal weapons with wooden handles (EG axes or shovels, etc.) will break, and maybe only the handle is left as a functional weapon. Or in cases of an all metal weapon (such as a crow bar or pipe), it’s more durable, but doesnt have the reach that some other weapons do, and it also will eventually bend to the point where it’s not functional anymore."

Silent Hill: Downpour is tentatively scheduled for release in October for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. We expect to get plenty of new information and gameplay videos at this year's E3 expo in June.