By admin 
Need to know
What is it? A blood-soaked action game where you jump into different bodies to fight monsters.
Release date November 8, 2024
Expect to pay TBA
Developer Bokeh Game Studio Inc
Publisher Bokeh Game Studio Inc
Rated by Gigabyte G5 (Nvidia RTX 4060, Intel Core i5 12500H, 16GB DDR4-3200)
Steam deck TBA
Link Official website
From the creator of Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren comes a game that spits in the eye of survival horror. Slitterhead is a bloody, ridiculous action slaughterhouse. True, there are countless Cronenbergian monstrosities to battle, and many unpleasant things happen to people’s constantly popping heads. But this is pure lame nonsense, with few of the real fears one can have in a game where you throw spears of blood at beasts and try not to giggle at “blood” as a prefix for pretty much every other word in the vocabulary.
You play as a mysterious floating entity with no memories (obviously) that can possess virtually any NPC in the game. You spend your first moments bouncing between bodies until someone in a dark alley greets you with their head exploding, revealing your first Slitterhead beneath: the game’s monstrous antagonists. They’re gloriously terrible, especially when they reveal their massive final forms, as if the designers saw a typical Resident Evil boss fight and thought ‘hmm, way too understated and subtle’.
Luckily, you can fight back with any NPC you own. Less fortunately, most people are easily slaughtered by Slitterheads with just a few hits. So you’re encouraged to constantly jump between civilians, with a short damage bonus each time you do so. But if you die three times before escaping your host body, it’s game over. Slitterhead isn’t an open-world game, but the large levels packed with NPCs are still a great showcase for this impressive body-hopping technology, which brings back fond memories of the criminally underrated Driver San Francisco.
Punching a Slitterhead in the back, watching him turn his understandably angry attention to you, then jumping into another body behind it and punching him in the back again is a deliciously cheap treat. NPCs can also throw a blood grenade of sorts, although there is an understandable high health cost to ripping vital fluids from your own body. Luckily, you soon meet Julee, a ‘rarity’ that unlocks a whole new set of powers when you first possess her.
Julee can grow huge Wolverine-style claws from her hands, made of (you guessed it!) surprisingly solid blood. Rarities are made of slightly tougher material and are discovered at a decent speed, keeping the battles varied with new powers. Anita’s Devil Scent summons a crowd of NPCs, which pairs perfectly with her Mind Hack, causing them all to go on the attack without the need for nuisance possession. Blake’s Bloody Shot is essentially an OP minigun that fires blood bullets, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for helping me get this review done on time.
Evil wretch Alex also gets an excellent blood rifle which, along with its power to draw every enemy to the same spot, allows for some immensely satisfying killing blows. It takes a while to charge, so naturally you’ll want to use rarities that complement each other’s powers (you can take two at each level). Sometimes it feels like you’re trying to play a hero shooter in single player, and often it’s just as dizzyingly rewarding (and sometimes incomprehensible) as that sounds.
Blood simple
(Image credit: Bokeh Game Studio Inc)
Outside of the ferocious core combat, however, the game struggles. Slitterheads can disguise themselves as regular people and the levels often start with them being hunted down. There’s little challenge here, as the screen distorts and almost points you in the right direction. You can even press a button to see the action from the Slitterhead’s POV, a mechanic that will feel familiar to Forbidden Siren veterans. Once you’ve tracked down your target, check to see if it’s a Slitterhead by brilliantly spraying blood on it. Unobtrusive!
Often the Slitterhead will then try to flee, causing a chase to begin. These can be exciting, as you jump between bodies to make up the distance and keep firing attacks like poison darts to wear them down. The problem starts with the ‘blood jump’. Or, to give it its full, unofficial name: the “bloody awful jump.” These huge leaps into the air are completely context-sensitive, an exhausting bit of game design that I honestly can’t wait for to die out. They often bring a chase to a halt as you spin the camera around, looking for the stupid prompt to tell you the specific spot where you can jump to the next spot with the blood. It’s a good thing there is no time limit.
Wait a minute, why is not is there a time limit? Surely the desperate pursuit of a Slitterhead before they gobble up another victim should be the game’s big motivator? No, you have all the time in the world. It’s truly deflating to sprint around the corner during a dramatic chase only to see the Slitterhead patiently waiting for you.
(Image credit: Bokeh Game Studio Inc)
Likewise, the initial search for a Slitterhead feels frustratingly limited. You can’t spray blood on anyone other than the target, which feels like a missed opportunity for some fun detective work. The game also never takes advantage of the fact that these are monsters that feed on people to build urgency. When you step into their POV, you see them just casually hanging out, basically on a smoke break, instead of looking forward to a new victim that only you can save.
Maybe I just want to save people because of my bad conscience, since the game is hilariously blasé about collateral damage. Julee is working with you because she wants to stop Slitterheads from killing people. Unfortunately, she stars in a game that openly suggests throwing possessed NPCs off buildings so you can reach ground level faster. Then the game has the cheek to yell at one of its characters for taking an innocent human life later in the story, seemingly forgetting that it recommended throwing people off buildings earlier because it’s easier than climbing stairs.
(Image credit: Bokeh Game Studio Inc)
This is hardly a complaint, though, as Slitterhead sings as he leans into the silliness. Like an unnecessary sex scene interrupted by a monster attack (perverts annoyed that Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake toned down the sexuality will be happy to hear that Slitterhead is often hotter than the average orgy). A rare housekeeper who uses oven mitts as a weapon And a villain so evil that he probably burns down orphanages on their days off are both invited to this party. I almost applauded when a rarity left the place and the main character started talking to all the other rarities as if they had been through a bad breakup. Bless his melodramatic, absurd little heart.
Still, after fifteen hours, when all rarities have long been unlocked and the game runs out of new enemy types to throw at you, Slitterhead begins to overstay its welcome. Especially when it forces you to replay previous levels to progress. There are more skill points and optional boss fights to be found, but this just feels like unnecessary padding in a game that could easily have lost a few hours anyway.
(Image credit: Bokeh Game Studio Inc)
This is probably the closest thing to Slitterhead falling apart, as replaying levels makes combat errors more apparent. For the love of God, unlock all the ability of your rarities to get back up quickly after being knocked down as quickly as possible. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been cornered in one of Slitterhead’s battle arenas, with the camera hiding me from view and my opponent waiting patiently to strike me again, while it took me about five hundred years to get back up.
One fight, set in a tiny room, which at least had the good grace to be optional, hit me with constant, unblockable attacks, while leaving me nowhere to dodge. Slitterhead’s character-hopping combat can be exciting, but I don’t think it’s quite enough to reward true mastery.
But it’s still a stylish, gleefully goofy playable B-movie with a great central body-hopping idea, and I’d be first in line for a sequel that finds more creative uses for it. Until then, a bloodbath with crazy action will be more than enough.