Slitterhead Reviews
When it's good, it's really good, but it's hard to recommend wholeheatedly with all that confusion and tedium. Hardcore Siren fans who have been longing for another entry in the defunct franchise will certainly like it. Players with open minds and a lot of patience should certainly check it out. Slitterhead has a lot of great ideas: I just wish it was better at doling them out consistently.
Slitterhead is an experience that's fantastic in still shots or in story trailers but the actual gameplay becomes a muddled mess when the player is forced into repetitive chase and combat sequences.
Frustrating at times but fearlessly inventive, Slitterhead is an absolute must-play if you're looking for an original take on the survival horror genre. Serving as a spiritual successor to fan favourites like Siren, Gravity Rush, and Soul Sacrifice, this haunting tale about a body-hopping spirit – who uses humans as fodder to put a stop to the eponymous enemy – is a scintillating albeit occasionally undercooked debut from Bokeh Game Studios. Repetition and an overall lack of refinement do bring it down, but you'll be hard-pushed to find a more imaginative experience this year.
Slitterhead takes an innovative concept and places it at the forefront of the adventure. The possession mechanic leads to a frantic combat system that encourages you to quickly switch between characters to fight formidable foes. This bleeds throughout acting as a method of traversal and stealth. Although a little clunky and lacking polish, the game manages to deliver a truly unique experience that will resonate with fans of action and horror.
Slitterhead is unique. That is the biggest compliment I can give it. There are things here that I love. The mood of the game, the music, and the concepts. It just doesn’t mesh well into a cohesive experience. It feels stuck in the past, which is fine in some instances, but when it comes to its crimes, it really drags it down. I promise I will never forget this game, and it is included in Game Pass, so definitely give it a whirl if you subscribe, but at full price, I might wait a little while to take the plunge.
Slitterhead is a set of fascinating ideas, which with a better application from a technical point of view and with a larger budget would probably have taken flight. Unfortunately, Toyama fails to package a product that is completely enjoyable to play. There are extremely original aspects, Alex and Julee are the most interesting Unicum available and appreciating their skills will be the first thing you will do in the almost 15 hours of gameplay necessary to reach the conclusion.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Slitterhead is the perfect definition of a game that doesn't know what it wants to be. It falters in both the action combat category as well as the horror genre, resulting in a middling experience overall.
Slitterhead's unique premise and experimental mechanics make it a compelling experience, even if it can feel a bit too rough and low-budget from time to time.
While I’m always thrilled to see more sensibly scoped and budgeted games come along at a lower price point, it’s eminently clear throughout that Slitterhead suffered a messy development. While I’m hugely sympathetic to the situation Toyama’s team found themselves in building the studio and starting production just a few months into the unfolding chaos of 2020, Slitterhead’s realisation just misses the mark in almost every area. It’s an incomprehensible slog to play through and I regret spending so much of my week with it.
Slitterhead offers a refreshing and unique experience that pays homage to Bokeh's pedigree while still establishing its own identity. Despite some minor flaws, the game makes great use of its weird but wonderful narrative and ingenious possession mechanics to bewitch you from the beginning. With such a distinctive sense of direction and style, Slitterhead is an incredibly strong debut that firmly establishes Bokeh as a studio to watch.
Ultimately, Slitterhead serves as a cautionary tale of high expectations meeting harsh realities and a reminder of how even the most anticipated projects can falter in execution.
There's a decent time to be had in Slitterhead as a blood-wielding badass dealing with some dastardly demons in the striking and grungy concrete jungle of Kowlong. The game finds a satisfying balance of empowerment and challenge as you hijack body after body to topple your foes. Similarly, it's exciting to use these supernatural powers to traverse the land and uncover mysteries across the city. The game, however, is held back by an obtuse story, a frustrating lack of apt signposting in some missions, and an adventure you never really wrap your head around in its twelve-hour runtime. It may not make a huge mark on the horror action scene, but to the select few that vibe with its freakishness, it'll be an underrated gem for years to come.
Slitterhead is a fun and satisfying horror combat game. It has a lot of variety in designs with plot twists that will keep you guessing after each chapter.
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.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Bokeh Game Studio's debut horror title is a game entirely out of time with its genre contemporaries and all the more wild, compelling, and beautiful for it. Satisfying combat and a generational eye for tone and design collide in the year's strangest beast.
While it is apparent that Bokeh Game Studio was working with a tight budget, they knew how to stretch their dollars. Slitterhead is truly a special horror game that is sure to be a cult classic.
An action game for those who miss the odd Japanese games of the PlayStation 3 era, which were mainly released by Sony Japan Studio. An unusual idea and an intriguing plot are combined with outdated graphics and clunky gameplay – everything is exactly as it should be.
Review in Russian | Read full review
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.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Although Slitterhead has a nice story, the game makes a generic and crazy mix of Parasyte with a Beyond: Two Souls flavor. With plastered gameplay, half-graphics, a very weak battle system, and poor audio, this game isn't worth your time or your money.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review