Let’s get one thing straight here right from the get-go. Slitterhead is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s perfectly fine. Keiichiro Toyama’s Bokeh Game Studio have produced a debut title with “cult classic contender” written all over it - and if you’re looking for a finely polished diamond or AAA cinematic storytelling experience, I suggest you quickly move right along. What it lacks in big budget production and heightened levels of polish, though, it more than makes up for with gritty atmosphere, unsettling creature design, decent body horror, simple (yet oddly engaging) narrative progression, and good old-fashioned violence.



Set in the city of Kowlong, a mashup of Hong Kong and the Kowloon Walled City, the events of Slitterhead revolve around a disembodied entity known as the “Hyoki” and its mission of removing a group of creatures from existence – the Slitterheads. These brain-sucking monstrosities are able to near-seamlessly blend into human society thanks to their shapeshifting abilities, and in order to physically deal with these threats the Hyoki can possess and control nearby people – including special, permanently available (once you narrow down their location) individuals with high levels of compatibility, known as Rarities.



Featuring elements of time travel I won’t get into here for the sake of spoilers, Slitterhead’s campaign is split up over multiple self-contained, reasonably paced levels with their own corresponding location or chunk of the city to explore. Before diving into the chosen mission, a primary (and companion) Rarity must be selected which acts as your starting, and most powerful, possession vessel - with some levels requiring a certain Rarity to be brought along.

Outside of navigating the maze-like streets and back alleys of Kowlong, possession is also extremely important in combat encounters, which this title leans heavily into.

This possession mechanic is the primary traversal method of the Hyoki (without a body, you won’t last long), and almost any NPC roaming around the city can be leapt into and controlled, as long as there are no physical obstructions between you and the target. For example, if you need to quickly find a way to the rooftop of a building, locating people on balconies and using them as a sort of possession “ladder” to ascend is the most efficient (or only) way of doing so. Outside of navigating the maze-like streets and back alleys of Kowlong, possession is also extremely important in combat encounters, which this title leans heavily into.



Hopping from host to host during battles is a good way of ensuring you’re dealing as much damage as possible, while reducing the risk of a game over (which occurs if three hosts die while you control them). Catching an enemy’s attention before possessing another civilian and attacking from behind for more damage is a technique you’ll be using often – and you won’t need to constantly babysit your Rarities, either, as they automatically avoid incoming enemy attacks when not your active host.

The other benefit of frequent body swaps mid-fight lies in the timed HP, attack, and combo boost bestowed upon the recently entered civilian. Deflecting enemy attacks is also possible through rotating the right stick in the direction indicated on the screen as the blow is about to land (while guarding), granting you time to pull off a counterattack.



Every Rarity has their own battle role, blood-powered weapon and selection of combat skills - like throwing poison needles or delivering a powerful frontal slash using large claws - they can employ in battle, all upgradeable via Skill Tokens primarily obtained through successful mission completion. And if you’re ever running low on blood (which also doubles as your HP bar), you can absorb some from nearby downed or wounded enemies. Spirit Power skills, on the other hand, draw from a different bar, and can be replenished through successful attack deflections or by taking damage.

Melee combat unfortunately doesn’t feel particularly satisfying - with strikes lacking any serious weight or “oomph” factor behind them.

Although overwhelming a Slitterhead through a possession-fuelled assault from all angles can be quite enjoyable, melee combat unfortunately doesn’t feel particularly satisfying - with strikes lacking any serious weight or “oomph” factor behind them. While some skills do feel better than basic melee swipes, it’s still not what I’d call ideal, especially for a title that relies so much on its action sequences. When firing off a shotgun at point-blank range into an approaching abomination doesn’t feel great, something is very wrong - even if it is powered by blood. It doesn’t help that enemy variety is also disappointingly shallow, excluding major boss fights (even if it makes sense from a storyline perspective), and running into the same handful of foes time and time again can get stale quickly.



Most missions follow a similar flow – investigating possible leads on a target through exploration or by stealthing your way around an area, culminating in the big Slitterhead showdown at the end. Occasionally you might need to track down a Slitterhead before taking it down by using a combination of a blue airflow tracking indicator appearing on screen (representing the Slitterhead’s presence), or by peering through the enemy’s eyes and using surrounding environmental clues to ascertain its whereabouts via Hyoki’s Sightjack technique.

Once located, more often than not, a chase will ensue, and if you aren’t quick enough with catching up, you’ll need to nail its position down again after it escapes and takes on a new form of human disguise. This sounds a lot harder than it actually is, and there seems to be zero risk of truly “failing” a chase sequence, as they’re either fully scripted events (the more exciting variety) or the Slitterhead in question will sprint around in a clearly defined area over and over again – allowing you to predict its movement patterns and jump from body to body to effectively cut it off.



Overall, mission structure is a lot more linear than I was expecting it to be, and anytime the game throws you one of its rare (and easy to solve) puzzles, it almost always immediately jabs a figurative finger at the screen and basically spells out the solution, where you need to go, or what must be done in order to progress. Couple this with the title’s heavy reliance on waypoint-to-waypoint objectives, and you’d be forgiven for thinking there was zero room for exploration at all – which is, surprisingly, not the case.

It almost always immediately jabs a figurative finger at the screen and basically spells out the solution, where you need to go, or what must be done in order to progress.

Collectibles and smaller side interactions, like Hyoki Memories (which award a set number of Skill Tokens for your Rarities once picked up), shrines serving up higher-difficulty challenges, and conversations with a mysterious elderly lady are waiting to be discovered on select missions – and if you miss anything on your first run through, you can always go back and revisit already completed levels.



In the moments between the action, you can listen to dozens of conversations between Hyoki and any collected Rarities in the Intermission menu – updated regularly as you progress through the story. These don’t just serve a narrative purpose, but also trigger mission unlocks and provide important clues for locating additional Rarities hidden off the beaten path in levels. All of these exchanges can be replayed as many times as you’d like, just in case you skipped over a clue or missed some crucial information. Actual spoken dialogue is used extremely sparingly here, with most lines of text accompanied by a grunt or other sound effect.

As far as performance goes, the game ran consistently well with no serious frame rate drops (aside from one instance involving a plethora of particle effects during an enemy attack), freezes, or crashes to speak of – although the menus seem to have deadzone sensitivity cranked all the way down, which can cause unwanted menu movement even on controllers with no immediately noticeable stick drift. A major early-game fight also bugged out for me, resulting in the Slitterhead not attacking at all. On the visuals front, the neon-soaked city streets of Kowlong (among other locations I won’t spoil here) are all nicely detailed, believably designed, and immersive. Character models, however, especially non-Rarities, are noticeably rougher around the edges – looking very out of place amongst the higher-quality surrounding areas upon close inspection, with some rather stiff animations outside of cutscenes.



There’s an almost arcade-like, PS2-era simplicity to Slitterhead and, depending on how much that kind of experience appeals to you, you’ll either find some enjoyment here or bounce right off it. It might not have the deepest combat, the largest enemy variety, or a massive map packed with places to go and sights to see, but it does have atmosphere in spades – and an appropriately moody and ambient soundtrack to go along with it. Also, those with severe insect phobias should probably avoid this game at all costs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

*PS5 Review code provided by Bokeh Game Studio