Silent Hill Homecoming follows 22-year-old Alex Shepherd, asoldier wounded in combat and recently released from hospital. At thestart of the game, Alex has a nightmare concerning his younger brother,Josh; he wakes up to find himself travelling to Shepherd's
Glen,hitching a ride in a truck driven by Travis Grady.The town is covered in fog and deserted, with several roads havingfallen into disrepair or simply collapsed into nothingness. At home, hefinds his mother in a near catatonic state, murmuring about his fatherleaving to find Josh, as well as a Lurker creature terrorizing the waterlogged basement. Alex leaves, promising to find Josh.
He soon discovers that many more people have gone missing inShepherd's Glen since he left, and finds childhood friend Elle Hollowaystill pinning "missing" signs to a board outside the police department.As Alex explores the town, he finds himself teleported to Silent Hill,where he encounters "the Bogeyman" – familiar to players of Silent Hill 2 as Pyramid Head– and Mayor Bartlett in the Grand Hotel. His son Joey is also missing,but after speaking with Alex he is crushed by Sepulcher, a giantsubterranean monster. After Alex defeats it, he is returned toShepherd's Glen, where he allies himself with Deputy Wheeler in thepolice department. After they become separated, Alex finds a Dr. Fitchback in the hellish Otherworld, who has also lost his daughterScarlett, and has been cutting himself to "repent for his sins". Soonafter discovering him, Fitch begins to bleed from every pore, and hishead is devoured by another giant monster, the stocky doll-likeScarlett. Alex eventually learns that the town's four founding families– Shepherd, Fitch, Bartlett and Holloway – are connected to thehorrific events taking place, and after visiting home once again,soldiers from the Order (the cult which worships Silent Hill's god)kidnap his mother.
Alex, Elle and Wheeler chase after the soldiers across Toluca Lake,but are intercepted by the Order before they can reach Silent Hill.Elle and Wheeler are taken to Silent Hill's penitentiary,where Alex attempts to rescue them. In the Otherworld version of theprison, he finds his mother, Lillian, strapped to a stretching rack bythe Order; here, the player make a decision regarding whether to killher out of mercy, which will affect the outcome of the game. Alexrescues Wheeler, who is later captured again by Asphyxia, a longcaterpillar-like monster composed of many arms and torsos. Afterdefeating Asphyxia, Alex finds the Order's church, where his father isimprisoned. Alex's father reveals that Alex was never a soldier, andhas been in a mental hospital since "the accident", before he isskewered and cut in half by the Bogeyman. Alex continues on to find theOrder's underground facility, where they have taken and murdered mostof the population of Shepherd's Glen.
In the facility, Alex is captured by Elle's mother, Judge Holloway,who reveals that everything that has happened is due to a broken pact.One hundred and fifty years ago, the four founding families broke awayfrom Silent Hill's Order to move to Shepherd's Glen. They were allowedto do so on the condition that once every fifty years, they wouldsacrifice one of their children in a pre-ordained fashion. On thisoccasion, while Joey Bartlett, Scarlett Fitch and Nora Holloway weresuccessfully sacrificed by their parents, the Shepherd sacrifice wasbotched. Thus, the Order had been reformed to try to appease the godsof Silent Hill. Judge Holloway tries to kill Alex, who gains the upperhand and lodges a power drill through her skull. Alex rescues Elle fromthe facility and after finding Wheeler gravely injured, continues onalone to find Josh. He eventually finds the sacrificial chamber witheach families' sacrifices inscribed. His name is listed, confirmingAlex as the intended sacrifice for the Shepherd family.
As Shepherd enters the final chamber, he experiences a flashbackshowing Josh's true fate. When Alex was younger, he had taken Joshrowing out on the lake, jealous of the attention he was receiving fromhis parents. He gave his brother a hard time, they struggledmomentarily and Josh accidentally slipped, breaking his neck andfalling into the lake. Unable to accept Josh's death, he was sent to amental hospital, making the sacrifice impossible and breaking theOrder's pact. Alex fights Amnion, a giant and bloated spider-likemonstrosity, and upon defeating it is faced with Josh's corpse. Alex isgiven one final chance to face reality and say goodbye to Josh for thelast time, before leaving his brother and the facility.
There are Five endings available, which depend on the player'sactions during the game, including whether the player saves Alex'smother, forgives Alex's father, and saves Deputy Wheeler. These rangefrom the single positive ending to the game – the Good ending,where Alex comes to terms with his past actions and reunites with Elleto leave Shepherd's Glen – to four endings where Alex's fate isnegative. In addition, the tradition of a UFO ending also returns,where both Alex and Elle are abducted by a UFO.
