My first hours with Slitterhead They weren’t exactly pleasant. I made the mistake of expecting a AAA game and couldn’t help but focus on the mediocre graphics, feeling confused by its time-hopping narrative, strange gameplay decisions, and lack of voices. I was sure that this was not going to be a good game… but something curious happened as the hours passed. I began to understand the logic of its mechanics, to admire the risky decisions it makes and to enjoy the experience.
As it is a work produced by Keiichiro Toyama – director and writer of the first Silent Hill— with music by Akira Yamaoka, many were waiting for a title that would revolutionize the horror genre. This is not that kind of game. What I can say is that It’s a deeply troubled but supremely interesting experience that will definitely become a cult classic..
Slitterhead It looks like a PS2 game. That It seems like an insult referring to the quality of its graphics – which look as if they were from a much older generation – and the lack of common elements in today’s video games such as voice acting. But in reality it is something I say with the greatest affection and admiration possible. During the reign of the PlayStation 2 we enjoyed an incredible number of original games that dared to experiment with new ideas and styles. The results were not always the best, but thanks to that we had many interesting titles. Toyama himself participated in one of those curious experiments: Forbidden sirens.
Bokeh Game Studio’s debut game has quite a bit in common with that uneven but intriguing horror game. In both there are moments when we can see through the eyes of enemies and jump in the timeline to experience moments already lived in varied circumstances. It also has areas with a strong focus on stealth and some inspiration from East Asian legends.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. What is it about Slitterhead? It is is an action game in which we control a kind of “spirit” that has the ability to jump from body to body. He does not remember anything different from his mission, which is to eliminate all the ‘Gobblers’, bizarre monsters that take on human appearance and feed on brains.
The Gobblers are grotesque creatures that emerge as twisted shapes, replacing the head of their host in the purest style of Resident Evil 4. If they decide to show themselves in their true form, they can look like insects or giant sea creatures. The bodies we have to fight have the ability to create weapons with their own blood and some—called singularities—acquire special characteristics that make them stronger. They can even use powers.
The game has a mission structure. Before entering each of these we can talk with the singularities to discover more about the plot and their characters, level up their skills and decide which ones we are going to take on the next mission. The skills that the civilians we have along the way will also depend on this decision and interesting synergies can be created.
When we are hunting Gobblers we must overcome stealth and infiltration areas by jumping from body to body, pursue them if they try to flee and confront them in intense combat in which the ability to jump from body to body is used to the maximum. These fights use a nice parry system and are as entertaining as they are strategic. Of course, we can’t escape the curse that many games have with the camera and if we are unlucky enough to find ourselves backed into a corner, we lose sight of the action while the enemies destroy us.
Slitterhead feels like a game stuck in the past. Its graphics, without saying that they are bad, are between realism and the ‘CGI anime’ style with a quality suitable for a sixth generation console. The only thing that differentiates them from a game from 20 years ago is that they are in high resolution.
And yet, it has a certain beauty. The streets of Kowlon—aptly inspired by Kowloon Walled City— stand out for thousands of details that really make it feel like a lower-class neighborhood controlled by crime. We walk among drunks, beggars, and prostitutes as we watch poorly dressed people go about their lives.
Although the game does not make direct reference to poverty and the difficult situation in which people without privileges live, it does there is a clear subtext to the way the world views the poor and dispossessed as disposable. We use the people we meet as simple tools and let them die if it suits us — we can even turn them into bombs to throw at enemies. This message begins to sink in when we discover that the Gobblers we hunt are something very different than we initially believed.
Among the singularities we control are all kinds of people: from prostitutes, old people and beggars to doctors and police officers. When we talk to them we discover different ways of seeing the world that sometimes clash with each other. While some of them want to put an end to the Gobblers at any cost, others want to look for less violent solutions to the conflict. Some welcome the spirit and the power it gives them, while others reluctantly accept it.
Some of these singularities are “secret” and it is possible to complete a level without joining our team, but later we find out that we have to obtain them to advance the plot. This is an element that Slitterhead inherited from Forbidden sirens and that will probably be one of its most controversial aspects: It is necessary to repeat levels multiple times and although sometimes things change, the experience does not evolve much.
Many of these levels that we have to return to again and again can be a bit labyrinthine. Even if we eventually end up learning their routes, they become tedious and repetitive. The worst thing of all is having to repeat the stealth sequences. Possessing bodies and using the spirit to explore makes these moments somewhat novel compared to the dozens of titles that use similar mechanics, but it’s not enough to make how slow they can be tolerable. This all feels like filler in a game that doesn’t need to be as long as it ultimately is.
Another “problem” it has and that some will be more able to ignore than others is its “video game logic.” Civilians barely react to monster chases, appearing magically in the middle of a combat arena and vanishing into thin air when it’s over. The game tries to justify situations such as the calm of the streets in the middle of what is an open war against monsters by saying that “the government is hiding everything”, but there are still things that are too implausible even for a plot as exaggerated as this one. .
Play Slitterhead It feels like a trip to another time or an alternate dimension where video game design trends followed a very different path.. The absence of voices, the way we dialogue with the characters between missions, the convoluted mapping, the bizarre story and combination of styles create something truly unique with loose pieces from different genres and assembled in unexpected ways. I have no doubt that many people are going to hate it because they won’t be able to get used to its strange mechanical and narrative philosophies. Others, like me and perhaps you, will find a fascinating work that we will not be able to put down despite its many flaws.
Review made with a digital copy of Slitterhead for PS5 provided by Bokeh Game Studios. This game is also available for PS4, Xbox One, Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
