I say this as a compliment- Slitterhead is likely one of the weirdest video games I’ve performed this whole console era, and positively the weirdest recreation I’ve performed this 12 months. Coming from Bokeh Sport Studio – a brand new indie workforce fashioned by Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush – it has sure expectations to reside as much as, however quite than being a slave to these expectations, it carves out a novel id for itself. It’s not with out its points, and it definitely isn’t a recreation that I’d suggest to anybody with none caveats- however for those who can look previous its points, there’s a really totally different and attention-grabbing gaming expertise on provide right here.
Slitterhead is ready in Nineties Kowlong, a fictionalized model of Hong Kong, and sees you enjoying as Hyoki, a mysterious spirit with no physique or type of its personal, however able to possessing almost anyone they get their eyes on. In quite tropey vogue, Hyoki’s reminiscence is foggy as the sport begins out, so that you don’t get a lot info in your previous or backstory, however you do know that your mission is to search out and remove terrifying monsters referred to as Slitterheads, who’ve been leaving a path of mutilated our bodies and grisly murders all through town.
“It’s not with out its points, and it definitely isn’t a recreation that I’d suggest to anybody with none caveats- however for those who can look previous its points, there’s a really totally different and attention-grabbing gaming expertise on provide right here.”
Slitterhead may be very a lot not a story-focused recreation, and it reveals. Its narrative premise is definitely a captivating one, as is its Hong Kong-inspired setting, however although the sport does broach some intriguing concepts once in a while, it very hardly ever truly pulls at these threads in any significant method. Most of the time, the plot serves to permit Slitterhead’s gameplay mechanics to shine, with the precise storytelling often taking a backseat. From clunky writing to tough cutscenes to low manufacturing values throughout (extra on that in a bit), the sport doesn’t actually make a powerful impression within the narrative division.
In fact, one would possibly argue that that’s not the purpose. I kicked this assessment off by calling Slitterhead one of many weirdest video games I’ve performed in current reminiscence, and by stressing that that may be very a lot within the recreation’s favour. That comes at the start from its gameplay concepts. By placing gamers within the sneakers (so to talk) of a formless body-swapping spirit, Slitterhead embraces a core gameplay loop that feels completely in contrast to anything on the market, and although it does really feel greater than a bit tough across the edges, the professionals positively outweigh the cons right here.
Swapping out and in of our bodies and taking management of various NPCs is on the middle of Slitterhead’s gameplay expertise, and that’s true for almost each a part of the sport. Take the fight, for instance- on face worth, it really works like a quite easy motion recreation with a deal with melee mechanics, dodging and parrying, cooldown-based skills, and what have you ever, however the recreation places an attention-grabbing spin on the proceedings by encouraging gamers to by no means stay inside one physique for too lengthy. Each time you possess a brand new physique, you acquire a brief increase in your assaults and fight effectivity, which implies the sport retains encouraging you to maintain swapping between totally different our bodies.
“Swapping out and in of our bodies and taking management of various NPCs is on the middle of Slitterhead’s gameplay expertise, and that’s true for almost each a part of the sport.”
Equally, traversal and navigation encourage gamers to by no means stay accountable for anyone NPC for too lengthy. Standing in entrance of a locked gate that you could get previous? Merely discover a character on the opposite aspect to take management of. Have to extract info from an NPC that isn’t feeling to talkative? Discover a totally different character to talk to them as that they may be keen to share extra info with. Have to make your option to a constructing’s rooftop however can’t discover a regular option to rise up there? Merely hop from physique to physique on balconies and terraces to ultimately make it up there.
Slitterhead does an admirable job of taking its core hook and discovering distinctive and attention-grabbing methods to make it a central a part of the gameplay expertise. From fight to traversal, the physique swapping mechanic all the time stays a core a part of the moment-to-moment loop, which is why the sport feels as distinctive because it does. That, in flip, works out within the recreation’s favour, as a result of that uniqueness helps compensate for among the gameplay points that do plague Slitterhead.
Chief amongst these points is how tough the sport feels. Just about a textbook instance of a “diamond within the tough”, Slitterhead can really feel like fairly clunky at instances. Motion is usually a bit too jerky (thanks in no small half to the animations), but it surely’s the fight the place these issues are at their worst. Typically, common assaults, parries, and blocks really feel fairly tight and responsive, however typically, the janky motion could make your actions really feel a bit too imprecise and torpid, which is simply by no means what you need in an motion recreation like this one.
Slitterhead additionally suffers from a sense of repetition once in a while. The sport does attempt to alleviate considerations on this space by letting you play as quite a few totally different characters, which, in fact, does herald a sure degree of variation (although not an excessive amount of, for the reason that basic moveset of the people you management largely stays uniform). There are additionally quite a few extra highly effective and particular people referred to as Rarities to own, who include their very own distinctive skills and assaults, from a woman who unleashes melee assaults with Wolverine-like claws to a biker who blasts away at enemies with a shotgun. With enemy selection not being as much as scratch, nonetheless, fight encounters can begin feeling monotonous after some time. It’s good, then, that Slitterhead’s distinctive USP by no means fairly loses its appeal, even because the tough implementation of a few of these concepts can let the sport down a bit bit once in a while.
“If you happen to’re the kind of participant that may put up with the jank and the tough edges – of which Slitterhead has no scarcity – there’s a wealthy vein of gold ready to be tapped into right here.”
Slitterhead additionally suffers from having typically low manufacturing values throughout the board. From an artwork design standpoint, there’s so much to like right here, and from the nightmare-inducing designs of the monsters you combat to the neon-drenched streets of town that you just discover, there’s a lot right here that’s undeniably spectacular from a visible perspective. Past that, nonetheless, it’s exhausting to not discover the shockingly ugly and low-detail NPC faces, the janky actions and animations throughout, the final lack of voice performing within the majority of cutscenes (and the awkward grunts and pauses that that lack of voice performing goes hand in hand with).
If, nonetheless, you’re the kind of participant that may put up with the jank and the tough edges – of which Slitterhead has no scarcity – there’s a wealthy vein of gold ready to be tapped into right here. Bokeh Sport Studio’s debut outing is way from an ideal recreation, and its eccentricities might even flip some individuals off from what it’s attempting to promote entirely- however I may simply see this recreation amassing a veritable cult following over time. From its setting and its fascinating central premise to its physique swapping gameplay core and the way that’s used throughout the expertise, from fight to traversal, Slitterhead deserves plenty of credit score for not solely being a uncommon instance of a recreation being keen to attempt one thing new and dangerous, but in addition (principally) pulling it off.
This recreation was reviewed on the Xbox Collection X.
