Slitterhead (Multi)
By: Bokeh Game Studio
After jumping ship from PlayStation in 2020, Keiichiro Toyama - the legendary creator of Silent Hill - assembled a supergroup of Sony Japan alumni for his new company. And now Bokeh - perhaps the only studio named after Northern Irish vomit - is ready to bear some seriously strange fruit as the horror veteran, with Silent Hill’s famed composer Akira Yamaoka in tow, returns to his roots with the gloriously named Slitterhead.
Playable at this year’s Summer Game Fest, the titular Slitterheads (who, alas, don’t have noggins like hurling balls), are supernatural parasites that leap from host to host across the neon-soaked 1990s city of Kowlong. Hyoki has dedicated his existence to destroying these body-hopping beast, but without any physical form himself, players are introduced to our hero as he inhabits the body of a stray dog – and before long you’ll meet your first foe when a woman’s face opens up like a fleshy flower.
Spanning multiple genres, Toyama wants to broaden his appeal with Slitterhead. “The game doesn’t fully enter the horror genre”, he said. “It spans multiple genres where horror is expressed. From there, I wanted to widen the player base who could access the game, including players who don’t usually play horror games.”
Big on gore, the third-person actioner has a unique, gruesome twist. With players able to hijack any of Kowlong’s unsuspecting citizens, Hyoki sets up shop within innocent meatbags before discarding them like old tissues when close to death. And die they will, with the camera zipping from host to host as players body surf their flesh puppets, forcing them into battle before getting ripped to shreds by the Slitterheads. Strategy comes into play with your choice of host - while young bucks are handy in a fight, old duffers shuffle about like Joe Biden. You can even turn possessed bodies into bombs – though if Hyoki doesn’t jump ship in time, it’s sayonara. Later you’ll slip inside characters with special attacks, from sprouting Freddy Krueger-esque claws to wielding shotguns, and all fuelled by the blood fallen victims have left in claret puddles.
Whereas Silent Hill was a Lynchian nightmare that worked its way under your skin like scabies, Slitterhead leans more into action, with flashy violence and dizzying battles rather than hair-on-end frights. Still, with more pedigree than Crufts, the horror veterans at Bokeh hope to scare up a new generation of fans when Slitterhead lands on PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox on November 8.
