Bokeh Game Studios’Slitterheadis one of the strangest games I’ve ever played, for better or worse. The product of collaboration byseveralSilent Hillalumni, including series creator Keiichiro Toyama and composer Akira Yamaoka,Slitterheadis actually more of a spiritualsuccessor to theSirenseries. Difficult to categorize, it features elements of stealth games, detective games, action RPGs, and puzzle platformers,all wrapped up in a body horror bow.
Slitterheadfollows an intangible spirit called a Hyoki (later nicknamed Night Owl by one of his allies). At the beginning of the game, he appears to remember nothing of his past, except that he can briefly inhabit the bodies of other living beings. On the shadowy, neon-lit streets of the Kowlong Slums, a blighted, impoverished neighborhood destined for destruction,Night Owl hears tell of a series of murders, purportedly perpetrated by vicious monsters nicknamed Slitterheadsfor their tendency to suck their victims' brains out of their heads with straw-like proboscides. It makes the total destruction of these foul creatures its mission.
Slitterhead
Night Owl then discovers the existence of powerful humans called Rarities, able to channel their willpower into blood-soaked spectral weapons, and to maintain some of their consciousness even as Night Owl possesses them. With their help, Night Owl seeks to discover the origin of the Slitterhead conspiracy, and end their reign of terror upon Kowlong, ina terrifying journey chock-full of innovative ideas that don’t always coagulate into a cohesivewhole.
The majority ofSlitterheadis arguably action-focused, with RPG-style combat. Players have access to simple combos, dodges, parries, and special abilities, each of which are unique to the Rarities they choose to bring along. Its terrifying twist on this, though, comes in the form of its core mechanic: possession. Both in and out of battle, Night Owl can transfer itself (and thus the player’s control) into other bodies - either of fellow Rarities or of innocent bystanders. Human bodies are disposable in combat, as players must swap between them frequently to stymie the Slitterheads' strategies, often sacrificing one in order to gain an advantage with another.
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The fights are admittedly difficult, and arguably a little clunky, but that seems to be by design. And it works:Slitterheaddemands skill in exchange for satisfaction. You almost always need to take full advantage of every mechanic, especially possession, to win a fight. At times, it feels a little unbalanced in the enemy’s favor, but you always have the tools to overcome even the hardest challenges.
Each Rarity’s moveset is distinct enough that unlocking a new one always feels game-changing. Coming up with clever Rarity synergies, using one to lure an enemy while the other lines up a powerful strike from behind - this can be incredibly satisfying when you pull it off. To support these desperate battles,Slitterheadlays it on thick with grotesque creature designs and buckets of blood. It’s all very well executed, but again, repetitive; there are only a handful of enemy types, most of which are variations on the same two or three themes.
Between battles,you need to use Night Owl’s possession abilities to solve a series of puzzles. These vary in nature: you might have to impersonate a neighbor in order to get intel from a local gossip, control people around corners in order to sneak past guards, or perform possession parkour to get onto a distant rooftop.
These puzzles have a lot of potential, butthey aren’t as consistently challenging or interesting as they could be. There are some great set pieces, like when two of the Rarities find themselves in prison, and have to use Night Owl to jump between cells, or when they have to possess crane operators in order to create a path to a nearby roof. But by the midgame, these get repetitive, which takes a lot of the novelty out of the concept. There are seemingly endless chase sequences, and certain puzzles are reused almost note-for-note in multiple missions.
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Slitterheadalso has a tendency to overexplain its puzzlesthrough dialogue. I often encountered characters muttering things to themselves like, “Is there another route around?” while staring at a blatantly open door to a side corridor. At times, I felt like the tutorial had gone on too long, and I was just waiting for the game to let me loose and start trusting my instincts.
A Beautiful But Small Playground
Limited Time, Limited Space
Many games have attempted takes on Kowloon Walled City, butfew have ever rendered it in such slick detail asSlitterhead. Its main streets are bathed in colorful lighting, as neon signs announce the availability of every manner of good and service. Its back alleys are dark and dingy, littered with piles of garbage and slouched-over smokers in their underwear. Behind closed doors, players will find lavish triad boardrooms, secret brothels, ornate cult chapels, and many other surprises.It’s all perfectly scored by Yamaoka’s music, which, while it doesn’t reachSilent Hill 2levels, is excellent in its own right.
What’s there is rendered with obvious care and attention to detail, but it’s also an incredibly small city.Slitterheadtakes players through the same few maps over and over again, which, again, gets boring quickly. You do have the opportunity to explore different parts of the maps from time to time, but you’re retreading the same areas so often thatexploration becomes a chore.
That’d be okay in a more linear game, butSlitterheadrequires exploration in order to progress. At certain times, the story grinds to a halt, and you’re required to discover another Rarity in a previous mission to unlock the next one.
The game tips you off as to where you might find them, but there’s usually only a single phase of the mission during which it’s possible to do so. If you attempt to leave the appointed mission area, the game will simply plop you back down at the last checkpoint.The missions are so strictly segmented, and the levels so labyrinthine, that it’s entirely possible to progress too far to discover the required Rarity, at which point you have to start the mission all over again.
Lost In Time
There is an in-universe reason for all this tedium:Slitterheadis secretly a time loop game. The entire thing takes place over three days, as Night Owl and his allies return to various places around the city in order to investigate pivotal events and prevent tragedies. Again, this concept has a lot of potential, but is underutilized. In effect, it often means replaying the same missions over and over, with barely noticeable variations. All that backtracking is never fun, and has little thematic impact until the final chapters of the game.
A series of eleventh-hour twists (which I won’t spoil) suddenly make the time loop central to the story, and it genuinely becomes one of the scariest parts of the setting. This leads up to some earth-shattering revelations and the best boss fight in the game (even though you have to play through it twice). But after that,Slitterheadsimply ends, just as it was starting to get good.
It’s not an abrupt ending by any means; if anything, the game goes on about five hours too long. Rather,the issue is an overlong beginning. Having to run through pivotal events over and over again cheapens their impact, and the constant hopping between storylines deflates any and all tension.Slitterhead’s final hours tie the plot together pretty well, but don’t justify all the monotony that precedes them.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
6/10 - Good, Not Great
I can see the vision that Bokeh had forSlitterhead. It has a lot going for it: slick combat, monstrous creature designs, and the involvement of many of the artists whomadeSilent Hillthe enduring classicit is today. But it’s bogged down by a plodding story, repetitive gameplay, and hobbled exploration.
When it’s good, it’s really good, but it’s hard to recommend wholeheatedly with all that confusion and tedium. HardcoreSirenfans who have been longing for another entry in the defunct franchise will certainly like it. Players with open minds and a lot of patience should certainly check it out.Slitterheadhas a lot of great ideas: I just wish it was better at doling them out consistently.
Reviewed On PlayStation 5
A PlayStation 5 code forSlitterheadwas provided toScreen Rantfor the purpose of this review.
