Slitterhead PS5 Review. From its opening salvo involving the hollowed-out eye socket of a murder victim to the grotesque transformation of a woman into an ungodly creature not long after, Bokeh Game Studios’ Slitterhead isn’t one to pull its punches seemingly. Throw in the fact that you have the might of Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama behind it and as the late great Carl Weathers would say, ‘’baby you’ve got a stew going.”
Slitterhead PS5 Review
Toyama Returns To Horror Roots With Gripping Results
Set over three days, Slitterhead takes place in the densely populated city of Kowlong, where a mysterious spirit christened ‘Night Owl’ embarks on a mission to rid the streets of the titular antagonists who have been at the forefront of a number of recent murders. This manifests by way of possession as Night Owl bears the ability to inhabit and direct the bodies of civilians, which are used as a means of confronting and challenging the Slitterheads, a monstrous alien species hell-bent on consuming the brains of Kowlong’s inhabitants.
A central piece of the jigsaw are ‘rarities,’ individuals within the city who, when fused with Night Owl, awaken new powers which can be used against Slitterheads. The thrust of the narrative, then, is the interaction with these individuals, their place within the world, and their connection to its underbelly. With eight in total, each rarity offers different combat possibilities with the majority popping up organically within the story aside from two or three you’ll have to sound out for yourself.
Seemingly a nod to Kowloon Walled City, Kowlong is ostensibly another character, with a thick atmosphere conjured up by its narrow walkways and neon-strewn streets. Indeed, you’ll become very familiar with it due to its compact size, and though there is limited room for exploration, it feels justified in its design. There’s also a number of collectibles in each mission, such as clothing items, Hyoki memories which grant skill tokens for upgrades, and the odd talisman which initiates a bout with one of the more difficult enemies.
As the vendetta against the Slitterheads grows ever more intense, Night Owl uncovers the ability to retrace past steps, which enables variants of older missions to be replayed in order to alter the timeline going forward. Naturally, this gives rise to a bevy of unintended consequences but in a practical sense it means repeating parts of missions which in and of itself has the potential to slow down the pace.
There is already a level of prescription to the tasks you are to perform in each level but what’s perhaps surprising is that the introduction of the time loop mechanic doesn’t contribute to any burnout, if anything the pace of the story keeps any major feelings of repetition at bay. For those wondering, Slitterhead is not a particularly scary affair, and it does sometimes appear a little rough around the edges, but what’s evident throughout is that it has something about it; a confidence in its design, its story, and set pieces, even if some of its composite parts feel a little more rudimentary in execution. As reductive as it may sound, it’s just interesting to inhabit the world of Kowlong and it’s helped no end by what is a fantastic soundtrack.
Speaking in gameplay terms, each rarity has a blood weapon which is a manifestation of their personality or profession alongside a set of active and passive skills, all of which can be upgraded as mentioned by spending skill tokens found in or by completing missions. Active skills are specific to each rarity and come in two forms, one is offence-based, which is triggered by consuming your ‘Blood Level,’ and the other is more environment-based and consumes your ‘Spirit Power’ bar.
An example of each would be a more powerful strike which adds an element of jeopardy given you’ll need to use your health points to perform it versus a Spirit Power skill which may revive all deceased civilians in the immediate vicinity. Luckily the jeopardy is offset significantly by the manner in which you heal yourself, which involves absorbing pools of blood created amidst the chaos by holding R1.
In holding L2 you can target a specific enemy and wail accordingly with standard attacks or one of the aforementioned skills. This stance also allows you to deflect certain enemy attacks which appear as directional blue prompts and performing these consistently will activate ‘blood time’ which slows down time and allows you to really dish out the punishment.
Standard civilians also have a generic set of skills, one of which is ‘war cry’ which will summon additional people to the battlefield, widening the availability of possession targets which is useful if the Slitterhead you’re facing is on the aggressive side. You do, however, have three lives so it’s in your interest to shift bodies if you’re about to be downed, just to avoid losing one of the three. This is especially true if you enter a battle as a civilian and have to wait a time until your rarities enter the fray.
The key to success, then, is ultimately an aggressive use of possession in order to kite bosses, pull aggro, and shift their focus from the rarity you’ve identified as best equipped to deal damage. Another aspect to consider is that you get to bring a companion rarity of your choice into each mission which adds a layer of flexibility and customization in how you want to approach different enemies.
Blake and his gatling gun are the go-to options here, though it’s as if the power of it is directly proportional to the annoyance of having to listen to him utter variants of the word ‘right’ time and again. More on that later. In practice, the systems at play work very well, save for some slight awkwardness in the targeting and camera work. But given the fact that you can shift seamlessly between characters and have a plethora of different combat approaches at your disposal it more than does the job.
Outside of combat, the possession mechanic is naturally pervasive throughout and used to varying degrees in each mission, whether that be as a means of infiltration or traversal. Within Kowlong itself, oftentimes the game leans more heavily into its detective elements, where Night Owl – or rather the rarity it’s possessing – must hunt down a Slitterhead hidden in plain sight, either by using a sightjack mechanism not too dissimilar to the Siren series, or following a trail. Once you’ve narrowed down the suspicious-looking character, you can splash blood on them which will initiate a chase sequence across the streets and building tops.
Woven between missions are dialogue vignettes between Night Owl and each of the rarities under your possession. These conversations are mandatory and serve as a means of progressing the story and giving additional exposition of the world and motivation for the characters who inhabit it. These often act as a summation of the preceding events and are required in order to trigger new missions on the map. It’s a story mechanism that works, and given the bite-sized nature of some of the missions, having this time in between to digest the increasing complexity of the world is a welcome aside.
They are not always passive either – rooted in the exposition can be information that will have utility within a particular mission. These instances are few and far between and oftentimes explicit but they are nonetheless a neat additional element. They’ll usually involve a nod to a particular rarity who will be able to access a closed off area via certain means, such as a specific dialogue only they can navigate through.
As touched upon, this is how certain rarities are located as not all of them are granted automatically via story progression and seeking them out is a requirement in order to trigger new missions. Thankfully a mission will indicate what’s to be found within, be it an item, a Hyoki memory, a rarity, or even a brief chat with a mysterious old lady.
Slitterhead is somewhat graphically dated in spots, particularly that of the regular characters who all possess the same sort of plasticine-type look that lacks fine detail and expression. Given you’re up close and personal with many of them – be it by direct possession or watching the camera leer in as a Slitterheard bursts from within – it can be quite noticeable. Not necessarily distracting, mind, as the overall aesthetic does the majority of heavy lifting but it’s something you’ll come to notice at different times. What’s a little harder to swallow, and perhaps indicative of its lower price point, is the lack of voice acting. Though it is present in the infrequent CGI cutscenes, it is absent for both the in-game cutscenes and the vignettes between missions.
It’s not exactly a pressing matter when it comes to the latter as they are effectively short one-to-one conversations between Night Owl and each rarity, but what is present in its stead – a series of grunts and stock phrases repeated en masse by each rarity – can become grating before long. Some are worse than others, (this is the moment we’ll again throw shade at Blake) but either way you’ll come accustomed to the limits of each’s speech very quickly indeed.
What’s a little more egregious, however, is the use of these grunts and phases within in-game cutscenes throughout the missions, especially later in the story where the stakes are higher and there are confrontations aplenty. It’s commonplace to get to the end of a chase sequence only for its culmination to involve a series of back and forth grunts prior to an inevitable battle. It tends to undermine the narrative impact, which is a shame considering the story and the manner in which it’s delivered is another notch on the game’s belt.
As an overall package, however, Slitterhead does not disappoint. Though a touch heavy-handed in some spots, it adopts a ‘swing for the fences’-type approach that you can’t help but respect. Marry that with a design philosophy that oozes confidence and a soundtrack and story that manage to hit their mark and it’s easy to recommend a trip to Kowlong. Just stay out of the alleyways.
Slitterhead is out on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on November 8, 2024.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.