Slitterhead

Slitterhead is innovative, fresh, and different. This action-packed brawler with a unique possession mechanic occasionally shows some rough edges, but its cyclical narrative promises to earn its place as a future cult classic in gaming.

Slitterhead can be a slow-burn to begin with, but once its combat clicks, this is an action horror game like few others.

Slitterhead is an incredibly inventive game with a brilliant, novel idea at its core. It’s the exact kind of release we should be uplifting, a new IP that pushes graphics and trends aside to try something fresh.

Slitterhead relies on the mechanic of possessing and controlling human bodies, which is not new, but is used to great effect in the game. Once you get past the clunky start and get into it, Slitterhead manages to deliver an impressive experience. Although it would be more spectacular if more things were clearer and better handled.

Slitterhead is a unique blend of horror, action-adventure and time-loop mechanics, showcasing some intriguing concepts. However, it struggles to fully realise its potential due to various limitations. The creativity is commendable, but the execution is poor.

It is imperfect in a mysterious and sordid story that at times seems like an incomprehensible gibberish, but that ends up fitting with a structure that reminds us of Siren. It is imperfect in a combat system that lacks depth and precision, but that makes up for it with originality and rhythms different from those of any other hack and slash. It is imperfect in its gameplay loop, relying too much on a repetition that becomes repetitiveness, but which at the same time poses curious situations. And it is imperfect in its audiovisual finish, where there are tremendous contrasts that show that this is neither an indie game nor a great production, but neither is it something that is right in the middle, but rather it transits in that range as it sees fit. There will be those who think it is a mediocre video game, and it is true that you have to have a certain predisposition to enjoy it, whether for what it proposes in its mechanics, for its setting, for its tone or for the legacy of those who signed it. But we wouldn't want to miss it for anything. It's a victory for gamers and the industry that Slitterhead exists.

The thing about Slitterhead is that the main conceit of the possession mechanic is innovative. However, the story and one-note nature bog it down. Siren had a similar method of storytelling, in that it presented a comprehensible plot yet left enough things ambiguous that to this day, fans still discuss and debate on the finer details. The problem with Slitterhead, in my opinion, is that the story isn’t so gripping that it would have that kind of impact on the playerbase. I do really enjoy how the game feels and I’m still excited for future projects from Bokeh Game Studio though. This was a really cool debut from the studio. Despite its cult classic status and passionate fanbase, Siren got pretty middling reviews from critics at launch, so time will tell if Slitterhead is exonerated in the same way.

Slitterhead delivers a bloody and dark universe where its gameplay and mechanics can show its full potential. Even if it's not perfect, Slitterhead remains a good game.

A flawed but fun action slaughterfest with a great NPC-possession hook.

Slitterhead is a graphically and structurally rather old game that fails in any way to approach either modern productions or the other glorious works of the Keiichiro Toyama. The only good cues come in the form of the ability to control different characters through possession, which make the traversal and combat dynamics varied, but the dilution and repetitiveness of certain quests tend to dull enthusiasm soon.

Even when Slitterhead gets to its wilder stretches, and time travel enters the mix, the fundamentals fail its ideas early and often, making the relatively reasonable length of the thing feel so much longer and more arduous as a result.

Slitterhead demonstrates admirable creative courage, and functions less as a final product and more as a creative manifesto - a glimpse of future possibilities. However, the forced cyclicality raises questions about how such a promising concept - a time loop of supernatural horror - can be simultaneously so expansive in its ambitions and so claustrophobic in its execution. For an independent studio on its first flight, there is something courageously poetic about creating a game about a formless entity that seeks to define itself through others. Perhaps, in the end, that's Slitterhead's real victory: not so much what it achieves technically, but what it tries to suggest.

A unique premise, great sense of style, and a number of novel design concepts aren’t quite enough to compensate for Slitterhead’s repetitive mission structure and lifeless combat.

The body-swapping mechanic of Slitterhead and being able to control these wildly different characters in an Asian city full of creepy monsters sounds appealing, but unfortunately, this horror/action does not bring the spooks at all and, frankly, isn't enjoyable to play. If you're someone who likes a somewhat janky brawler that feels like it came out of the PS2/360 era, there might be something of value here, but otherwise, it's hard to recommend this one.

The body-swapping combat, RPG-like team of possessable people, the monster-hunting semi-paranormal narrative--they're all exciting until you engage with them a little, when they reveal themselves to be shallow and underdeveloped. The actual experience of playing Slitterhead is constant repetition of systems that aren't very engaging even their first time, across levels you'll see over and over again, telling a story that never makes much sense, with characters that feel like first-draft lists of stereotypes. Slitterhead has a lot of fascinating ideas and compelling gameplay on the surface, but beneath, it's just boring and banal--a bunch of scary-looking monsters who turn out not to be very scary at all.