Slitterhead
Bokeh Game Studios’Slitterheadis one of the foreign biz I ’ve ever played , for better or worse . The product of quislingism byseveralSilent Hillalumni , including serial creator Keiichiro Toyama and composer Akira Yamaoka , Slitterheadis actually more of a spiritualsuccessor to theSirenseries . Difficult to categorise , it features constituent of stealth games , detective games , natural action RPGs , and puzzle platformers , all wrapped up in a eubstance horror bow .
Slitterheadfollows an nonphysical liveliness send for a Hyoki ( later dub Night Owl by one of his allies ) . At the commencement of the secret plan , he appear to remember nothing of his past times , except that he can shortly inhabit the bodies of other exist organism . On the shadowy , neon - unhorse streets of the Kowlong Slums , a blighted , impoverished neighborhood fate for destruction , Night Owl hears tell of a series of murders , supposedly perpetrated by vicious monster nickname Slitterheadsfor their tendency to suck their victims ' wit out of their heads with straw - like proboscis . It make the total destruction of these foul creatures its missionary work .
dark Owl then discovers the existence of muscular humans call Rarities , able to channel their self-control into blood - douse spectral weapons , and to maintain some of their consciousness even as Night Owl possesses them . With their helper , Night Owl seeks to discover the origin of the Slitterhead conspiracy , and terminate their reign of terror upon Kowlong , ina terrifying journey wedge - full of forward-looking ideas that do n’t always coagulate into a cohesivewhole .
Slitterhead Smackdown On The Streets Of Kowlong
Slitterhead’s Combat Stuns
The legal age ofSlitterheadis arguably action - focused , with RPG - stylus fighting . Players have access to simple combo , dodges , parry , and special abilities , each of which are unequalled to the Rarities they choose to bring along . Its terrifying braid on this , though , comes in the form of its sum grease monkey : self-control . Both in and out of battle , Night Owl can transpose itself ( and thus the player ’s command ) into other body - either of fellow Rarities or of innocuous bystander . Human bodies are disposable in fighting , as players must swap between them frequently to stymie the Slitterheads ' strategies , often give one in club to gain an vantage with another .
Silent Hill and Slitterhead , the newly uncover revulsion biz from The Game Awards 2021 , are connected through their creator , Keiichiro Toyama .
The fights are admittedly difficult , and arguably a small clunky , but that seems to be by pattern . And it works : Slitterheaddemands attainment in interchange for expiation . You almost always need to take full vantage of every machinist , particularly monomania , to gain ground a fight . At times , it feels a lilliputian unbalanced in the enemy ’s favor , but you always have the tools to overcome even the hard challenge .
Each Rarity ’s moveset is discrete enough that unlocking a new one always feel plot - change . Coming up with apt Rarity synergies , using one to tempt an enemy while the other seam up a powerful rap from behind - this can be incredibly substantial when you pull it off . To back these desperate battles , Slitterheadlays it on thick with grotesque puppet designs and buckets of blood . It ’s all very well executed , but again , repetitive ; there are only a smattering of enemy types , most of which are variations on the same two or three themes .
Between battles , you need to use Night Owl ’s possession abilities to puzzle out a serial of puzzles . These variegate in nature : you might have to portray a neighbour to get intel from a local gossip , control people around recess in parliamentary procedure to sneak past guards , or perform possession parkour to get onto a remote rooftop .
These puzzles have a draw of potential , butthey are n’t as systematically ambitious or interesting as they could be . There are some great situated pieces , like when two of the Rarities detect themselves in prison , and have to use Night Owl to jump out between cells , or when they have to possess Hart Crane operators in society to create a way to a nearby roof . But by the midgame , these get insistent , which accept a draw of the freshness out of the conception . There are seemingly endless chase sequences , and certain puzzler are reused almost billet - for - note in multiple missions .
Some revulsion game empower the actor against their gravid fear , but others impart them helpless to do anything but stick around out of tidy sum .
Slitterheadalso has a tendency to overexplain its puzzlesthrough duologue . I often encountered characters grumble thing to themselves like , " Is there another route around ? " while staring at a blatantly open threshold to a side corridor . At times , I feel like the tutorial had gone on too long , and I was just hold off for the game to let me light and start trusting my instincts .
A Beautiful But Small Playground
Limited Time, Limited Space
Many game have attempted takes on Kowloon Walled City , butfew have ever supply it in such tricky detail asSlitterhead . Its primary streets are bathe in colorful ignition , as neon sign herald the availableness of every manner of good and serving . Its back alleys are glowering and dingy , litter with hemorrhoid of garbage and slump - over smoking car in their underclothes . Behind shut doors , histrion will discover lavish triad boardrooms , secret brothels , ornate cult chapel , and many other surprisal . It ’s all perfectly scored by Yamaoka ’s euphony , which , while it does n’t reachSilent Hill 2levels , is fantabulous in its own right .
What ’s there is rendered with obvious caution and tending to item , but it ’s also an incredibly small city . Slitterheadtakes player through the same few maps over and over again , which , again , gets deadening quickly . You do have the chance to explore different parts of the maps from time to fourth dimension , but you ’re remold the same areas so often thatexploration becomes a chore .
That ’d be okay in a more one-dimensional secret plan , butSlitterheadrequires geographic expedition in gild to go on . At sealed time , the news report grinds to a halt , and you ’re take to attain another low density in a previous commission to unlock the next one .
The game bung you off as to where you might find them , but there ’s unremarkably only a single phase angle of the mission during which it ’s possible to do so . If you try on to exit the appointed mission orbit , the game will simply plop you back down at the last checkpoint . The missions are so stringently segmented , and the levels so labyrinthine , that it ’s only possible to shape up too far to find the required Rarity , at which point you have to start the mission all over again .
Lost In Time
Slitterhead’s Narrative Choices Fall Flat
There is an in - universe reason for all this tediousness : Slitterheadis secretly a time loop game . The entire thing take on place over three days , as Night Owl and his allies return to various place around the metropolis for look into pivotal event and prevent cataclysm . Again , this conception has a lot of potential , but is underutilized . In effect , it often means replay the same commission over and over , with barely noticeable variation . All that backtracking is never fun , and has footling thematic wallop until the final chapters of the secret plan .
A series of eleventh - hour twists ( which I wo n’t mar ) dead make the time closed circuit central to the story , and it truly becomes one of the scariest parts of the setting . This lead up to some ground - shattering revelations and the in effect knob fight in the game ( even though you have to play through it twice ) . But after that , Slitterheadsimply ends , just as it was start up to get good .
It ’s not an abrupt ending by any substance ; if anything , the game kick the bucket on about five minute too long . Rather , the issue is an overlong beginning . Having to bunk through pivotal events over and over again cheapens their impact , and the changeless hopping between storylines deflate any and all latent hostility . Slitterhead ’s net hours bind the game together pretty well , but do n’t justify all the humdrum that precedes them .
Final Thoughts & Review Score
6/10 - Good, Not Great
I can see the vision that Bokeh had forSlitterhead . It has a bunch going for it : slick combat , monstrous wight pattern , and the involvement of many of the artists whomadeSilent Hillthe enduring classicit is today . But it ’s bogged down by a plod story , repetitive gameplay , and hobbled exploration .
When it ’s near , it ’s really good , but it ’s hard to recommend wholeheatedly with all that confusedness and tedium . HardcoreSirenfans who have been longing for another ingress in the defunct dealership will sure as shooting like it . Players with open creative thinker and a lot of patience should sure as shooting check it out . Slitterheadhas a deal of gravid ideas : I just wish it was adept at doling them out consistently .
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review On PlayStation 5
A PlayStation 5 computer code forSlitterheadwas provided toScreen Rantfor the function of this revue .
