Slitterhead (Bokeh Game Studio, multi-format)
GORE blimey! Much like Demi Moore-in-the-nuddy body horror The Substance, Slitterhead is a wild ride with more icky flesh than a butcher’s shop window.
It’s a far cry from director Keiichiro Toyama’s stone-cold classic Silent Hill, instead going full Cronenberg in a body-swapping splatterfest scored by J-horror legend Akira Yamaoka.
The maiden game from newly-minted Bokeh - formed from the ashes of Sony’s Japan Studio – is the kind of left-field experiment the legendary developer pumped out in its PS3-era pomp.
Set in the fictional city of Kowlong in the 1990s, players possess the bodies of hapless meatbags as Hyoki, a mysterious floating parasite who hunts grotesque monstrosities called Slitterheads that hole up in the brains of humans before bursting from their skulls when rumbled, erupting in a mass of Lovecraftian ick.
Players possess the bodies of hapless meatbags as Hyoki, a mysterious floating parasite who hunts grotesque monstrosities called Slitterheads that hole up in the brains of humans before bursting from their skulls
While Toyama’s previous flirts with horror– Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren - worked their way under your skin like ticks on a tramp’s foot, Slitterhead involves more character-driven detective work laced with brutal body horror as players puppeteer humans in combat with brain-chomping demons, leaping from host to host like a horny salmon.
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Its slow-burn missions involve tracking a Slitterhead or stealthily infiltrating its den, invariably leading to a chase sequence where players grapple over walls and gain ground on their target by zooming from person to person.
While most of Kowlong’s population can be hijacked as meaty minions, unique warriors called Rarities form your core team and come equipped with special moves, from Julee’s claws to Alex’s shotgun – all formed with congealed blood.
The red stuff can also be mopped from battlegrounds to recharge health and abilities during combat, which while clumsy, focuses on defence, with blows parried by pushing the analogue stick in the precise direction of attacks.
Yet, while there’s a gore-gasm of crazy ideas hung on Slitterhead’s frame, its cowboy builder scaffolding can’t quite support them. The low-rent sleuthing and slaughter looks positively last-gen, while its time-travel mechanic means revisiting the same locations ad nauseum, turning the 15 hour story into grindhog day - especially when you’ve seen all it has to offer in the first hour.
Against the odds, a game overflowing with WTF moments and flashes of brilliance manages to become a slog. Much like Deadly Premonition, Slitterhead is not without its low-rent charms, and in an age of big budget franchises playing things safe, there’s nothing quite like it. Maybe for good reason.
With too many half-baked ideas, Slitterhead’s leap of unbridled imagination fails to stick the landing – but sick puppies with a kink for quirky J-horror may have found their new cult favourite.
