SlitterHead (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X\S) - Horror Game Review

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Release date: 8th November 2024
Developer: Bokeh Game Studio
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X\S

"SLITTERHEAD" is a new horror project from the creators of Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren, which fans have been waiting for several years.

All the basic information about the story, gameplay, authors, and main features of the game can be found in our previous article:

>> All About SlitterHead <<

And now we will have a detailed review of "SlitterHead". Let's analyze all the good points and flaws of the game and find out - did the developers manage to live up to expectations?

Length and Quality of the Game

Before the release, many people thought that SlitterHead would be a very short and extremely low-budget game. After all, it is being developed by a small Japanese studio working almost in an indie format.

But in fact, the game turned out to be surprisingly large. A full playthrough with the "true ending" took me 34 hours on "Hard" difficulty. The game can be completed faster if you play on lower difficulty levels and skip some optional side quests - but even in this case, at least 20 hours of gameplay are guaranteed.

And from a technical point of view, everything is done quite well. The graphics look very good by horror game standards, and the optimization is excellent. Also, during the entire playthrough, I did not encounter any serious glitches.

Overall, it feels like a lot of work and a substantial amount of money was invested in the game. Of course, SlitterHead's budget was quite modest compared to some mainstream "AAA"-class shooters. But among horror projects, this is clearly one of the highest-quality and high-budget games in 2024.

The Strange City of Kowlong

One of the most striking and memorable elements of the game is the setting. The events of the story unfold in the Asian city of "Kowlong", and this place looks very unusual and impressive.

Everywhere you can see weird tall buildings, shining neon signs, and bizarre posters. And you can get a lot of pleasure just by wandering around this city, looking at everything around and enjoying the atmosphere.

Moreover, the game gives us the opportunity not only to walk along the streets of the city - but also to climb onto the roof of any building (much like in Gravity Rush). And enjoy the beautiful view from the roof. Or jump down and crash to the ground from a tremendous height.

This place was inspired by the real Hong Kong city called "Kowloon". The creator of the game, Keiichiro Toyama, dreamed of visiting this city in his youth - but did not manage to see it because Kowloon was completely destroyed in the early 90s.

So Toyama decided to fulfill his dream in the game and create a virtual Kowloon. But here the city looks much more surreal - like a place from some strange dream or someone's subconscious. And its vibes even remind me somehow of the weird town from the game "Garage: Bad Dream Adventure".

Scenario Impressions

Keiichiro Toyama's horror games have always been famous for excellent narrative - and SlitterHead continues this tradition. The story in the game turned out to be very interesting and thought-provoking.

Here's what I liked about the scenario (without spoilers):

1) The story has a lot of unexpected turns, so it is always interesting to follow the development of events. At the same time, the narrative constantly balances on the edge between realism and dreamlike surrealism.

2) The plot is presented in such a way that even after completing the game, there are many secrets and mysteries that you can ponder and discuss with friends. This approach will surely appeal to fans of Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren.

3) The game has a very cool cast of characters. These are people from different social strata, different cultures, and with very different worldviews.

4) I liked how the story implements the idea of trying to correct the past events. Attempts to change the past sometimes lead to very unexpected consequences due to the "butterfly effect".

5) The plot also has interesting gimmicks with deciphering a mysterious coded language and searching for 36 secret "lost memories".

6) During the game, you can find many references to Silent Hill and Siren. And even meet "reimagined" characters from previous games (for example, there is a nurse named Lisa).

7) SlitterHead has two endings, and both of them make a strong impression. Also, the conditions for getting the "true ending" are quite original (the game basically evaluates the degree of your humanism).

8) The story interestingly reflects the moral conflict between humanistic ideas and the concept of "the end justifies the means". This is one of the main themes of the game.

9) The story turned out to be very dark and cruel. There are many creepy scenes, and in general the game leaves a heavy feeling (especially after the bad ending). So this is a must-play for those who appreciate horror games with a tragic twist.

Overall, I really liked the scenario of SlitterHead. Keiichiro Toyama was able to once again come up with an excellent story and prove that he is one of the most talented scenario writers in the gaming industry.

Sex and Violence

Another interesting feature of "SlitterHead" is the abundance of adult content. The game has sexual themes, nudity, explicit sex scenes, and one of the main characters even works as a prostitute. Also, among the monsters there are strange creatures resembling huge penises with legs.

Of course, SlitterHead is not a hentai game - but in terms of the abundance of frivolous sexual content, it is quite comparable to the legendary weird game "Linda Cube".

It's nice to see that Toyama and his comrades were able to give free rein to their wild imagination. I like it when developers go beyond the usual censorship framework and try to create something risky and provocative.

And SlitterHead also has quite a lot of bloody and violent scenes. Here you can see how people's heads are bitten off and their hands are cut off; there are mass murders, cannibalism, mutations, body horror, and other scary things.

And this combination of horror, sex, and ultra-violence helps to create an unusual style that is rarely found in games these days.

Gameplay

At first, I was worried that SlitterHead's gameplay might become flawed and unplayable. Because the game is very experimental and uses a lot of exotic ideas that are difficult to implement properly.

But fortunately, my fears turned out to be in vain. The developers managed to make a really cool and exciting gameplay out of their strange ideas.

Here's what I liked about the gameplay:

1) The game turned out to be quite diverse. There are battles with monsters, exploration of the town, stealth elements, elements of an open-world detective game, a 3D platformer, a logical puzzle, a visual novel, and even some elements of a dog simulator. The developers skillfully alternate between different styles of gameplay to keep us from getting bored.

2) The idea of possessing other people's bodies is implemented very well - we can possess and control almost any person in the city (as well as some stray dogs). And all sorts of interesting game situations are constantly created around this idea.

3) Flexible system with four difficulty levels. Here anyone can choose the difficulty to their taste. For me, the best option is "Hard" - the difficulty of the battles is perfectly balanced there.

4) The battles with monsters turned out to be cool and dynamic. Also, the developers almost completely removed battles with weak "standard" enemies from the game. Most of the battles here are made like boss fights.

5) We can control other people's bodies even during the battles, and this allows us to approach the battles creatively and come up with all sorts of unusual tactics to defeat the monsters.

6) There are many playable characters; they have different weapons and different sets of combat skills. This also helps make the combat more interesting and varied.

7) There is also a leveling system. For completing each episode, we are given several experience points. They can be spent to upgrade weapons, skills, or hit points for your favorite character.

8) There are not too many fights in the game. For example, in the first 4 hours of the game, you will encounter only four or five fights. Therefore, SlitterHead is not a standard action/slasher game, but an unusual mix of different genres.

9) I liked the idea of searching for monsters among the city's inhabitants. It brings interesting elements of an interactive horror detective game in the spirit of "GERMS" and "Deadly Premonition".

10) The game also has some very nice chase scenes. They turned out to be quite exciting.

11) Exploring the city is also an important part of the gameplay. In order to collect all the characters and find all the "lost memories" scattered around the city, we must carefully examine everything around and look for all sorts of secret nooks and crannies.

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However, there are also some gameplay-related drawbacks:

1) Too many hints and intrusive tutorials that cannot be turned off. Sometimes it can be really irritating. I hope that the developers will make a patch with the ability to turn off all these tutorials.

2) The game has very few varieties of ordinary enemies - only 5 types or so (excluding bosses). But here it is not as annoying as in "Silent Hill 2 Remake" or in "Alan Wake". Because fights with ordinary enemies are very rare in SlitterHead.

3) I really enjoyed the first 20-25 hours of the gameplay. But towards the end, the game becomes drawn out and repetitive, as it forces us to replay some episodes again to complete the "old lady quest" and to unlock the "true ending". These unnecessary replays can be avoided if you know in advance where to look for the old lady and what criteria are needed for the ending.

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Graphics and Design

The graphics are good by horror game standards. The city looks very beautiful, and the game's engine gives much more draw distance than we are used to seeing in Silent Hill games. So here you can look into the distance and enjoy the cityscapes.

I liked the designs of the main characters. They look quite realistic, but at the same time they have individuality and are memorable.

It's also nice to see that the developers came up with more than 100 different design variations for NPC characters who walk the streets of the city. It's just a pity that the 3D models of these ordinary citizens are sometimes very simple.

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The designs of the monsters in the game evoke mixed feelings. Most of the bosses look cool and impressive. I also liked the weird and grotesque penis-monsters.

But the ordinary humanoid slitterheads look somehow unimpressive. Personally, I would like to see more creepy designs in a game from the creators of Silent Hill.

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Cutscenes

It's also necessary to say some praising words about the cutscenes in the game, because they turned out very cool. I was pleasantly surprised by the high standard of direction in the main cutscenes - sometimes they look really awe-inspiring.

The mutation scenes, when people turn into huge monsters, are especially impressive. They look very creepy and are made in the best traditions of the famous "rat mutation scene" from Parasite Eve.

The cutscenes for SlitterHead were directed by a man named Minoru Kusakabe (he was one of the Japanese pioneers in the field of 3DCG animation in the 1990s), and he did very professional work here.

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Voice Acting

The biggest flaw of the game is the lack of full voice acting. It's disappointing that only the main cutscenes are voiced here.

In the rest of the dialogues, instead of full voice acting, we hear only some sighs and gasps, symbolizing different emotions of the characters. This was common in the days of Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast, but now it just looks strange.

Apparently, the authors spent too much money on developing the game, and by the end they had no budget left for voice acting.

And if you are not used to playing voiceless retro games, then the lack of full voice acting can significantly spoil your impressions of "SlitterHead".

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Music

The music for SlitterHead was created by a famous Japanese composer, Akira Yamaoka. It feels like he was very inspired by the new project and decided to give it his all.

The soundtrack turned out to be very unique, atmospheric, and diverse. Moreover, the game really has a huge amount of music - you can find more than 200 different tracks here! It seems that this is an absolute record - as far as I know, no horror game has ever had so much music before.

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There are creepy ambient tracks reminiscent of the Silent Hill OSTs. And tracks with strange religious chants like in Forbidden Siren. And melancholic guitar compositions. And upbeat electronic music. And tracks with female opera vocals. And even some shamanic-voodoo music.

And also many more unusual and experimental tracks that cannot be described in words. But they help to create the feeling that we are gradually entering into some kind of incomprehensible dream world.

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And to emphasize the Asian themes in the game, Yamaoka even created two exotic songs with Chinese vocals with the participation of the singer Liang Xiangning. These songs can be heard in the opening cutscene and the final credits - they are called "Blood Snow" and "Game of Reincarnation".

So overall, the soundtrack in "SlitterHead" is very cool. In my opinion, this is one of Yamaoka's best works. And maybe even the best.

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Atmosphere

SlitterHead was originally conceived as a lighter horror game than Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren. Therefore, the game does not try to scare too much and doesn't aim for such an oppressive and frightening kind of atmosphere.

The developers' approach here is more reminiscent of Parasite Eve 1. The game itself is not particularly scary, but at the same time it creates a dark and creepy feeling that stays with you even after you finish it. And sometimes it shocks you with some extremely grotesque scenes that you will probably remember for a long time.

Also, "SlitterHead" resembles Parasite Eve in the sense that it is able to organically combine the aesthetics of horror and action without looking cringey.

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However, SlitterHead makes a much greater inclination towards surrealism than most other action-horror games. There is a constant feeling as if we are drawn inside a strange dream. And this dark and creepy dreamlike atmosphere is an important feature of the game.

The game is also permeated with a melancholic feeling of loneliness and alienation. While wandering around the city, sometimes there is an inexplicable feeling as if we are alone here. And all the other people on the streets are perceived almost as some kind of ghosts. The developers managed to convey this feeling of loneliness in a big city in a very interesting way.

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A Mix of Everything I Love

I was also pleased that "SlitterHead" essentially combines elements from many games that I like.

Firstly, the game absorbed ideas from all of Keiichiro Toyama's previous projects - Silent Hill, Forbidden Siren, and Gravity Rush. And it was nice to find all sorts of references and interesting parallels here.

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In addition, the authors of "SlitterHead" were probably inspired by games like Germs, Relics, Snatcher, Parasite Eve, Deadly Premonition, SplatterHouse, Devil May Cry, and Maken X. I also love and respect all of these things.

And Toyama also mentioned in an interview that the game was influenced by the manga "Gantz". This was a pleasant surprise for me, since I also really like this manga.

But at the same time, SlitterHead is not trying to become a copy of previous things. Instead, it tries to combine the most interesting ideas in order to create something fundamentally new and unique. And this is the right approach.

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Pros and Cons of the Game

Pros:

+ Excellent story.
+ Cool cast of characters.
+ Unusual Kowloon-inspired Asian setting.
+ Atmosphere of a strange dream.
+ Good graphics.
+ The city looks very beautiful.
+ Creepy boss designs.
+ Many unique gameplay ideas.
+ You can possess the body of almost any person.
+ The game nicely combines elements of horror and action.
+ Interesting combat mechanics.
+ A lot of battle skills and leveling-up system.
+ Impressive cutscenes.
+ 20-30 hours length.
+ Awesome soundtrack from Akira Yamaoka.
+ The game is not shy about the sexual themes.
+ Good optimization.
+ Lots of references to Siren and Silent Hill.

Cons:

- Almost no voice acting.
- Few standard enemy types.
- The designs of the humanoid Slitterheads are unimpressive.
- The game gets repetitive towards the end.
- Too many annoying hints and tutorials.

The Verdict

SlitterHead is one of the most unique horror projects in recent years. A daring experiment that brings together many original gameplay mechanics, stylistic features, and story ideas. In many ways, the game continues the traditions of Siren and Silent Hill - but at the same time reimagines them into something new and extraordinary. If you like unusual and story-driven horror games, then I highly recommend to check out "SlitterHead".