Slitterhead review

From the creator of Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren, we present a game that spits in the face of survival horror. Slitterhead is a bloody absurd slaughterhouse of action. True, there are a lot of Cronenberg’s monsters to fight, and a lot of unpleasant things happen to the constantly poking human heads. But it’s pure, goofy, mushy nonsense with little to be truly scared in a game where you throw spears made of blood at beasts and try not to giggle when the word “blood” is a prefix to practically every other word in this dictionary.

You play as a mysterious floating creature with no memories (of course) that can possess almost any NPC in the game. You spend the initial moments bouncing between bodies until someone in a murky alley greets you with an exploding head, revealing the first Slitterhead – the game’s monstrous antagonists – underneath. They’re incredibly awful, especially when they reveal their massive final forms, as if the designers saw a typical Resident Evil boss battle and thought, “hmm, definitely too understated and subtle.”

Fortunately, you can fight any NPC you have. Less happily, most people are easily murdered by Slitterheads in a few hits. So we encourage you to constantly jump between civilians, each time with a tiny damage bonus. But if you die three times before escaping the host’s body, it’s game over. Slitterhead isn’t an open-world game, but its immense NPC-filled levels are still a great showcase for this impressive body-hop technology, bringing back fond memories of the criminally underrated Driver San Francisco.

Punching Slitterhead in the back and watching him turn his understandably furious attention to you, then jumping into another body behind him and punching him in the back Again it’s a delightfully affordable pleasure. NPCs can also throw something like a blood grenade, although ripping the necessary fluids from your own body understandably comes at a significant health cost. Fortunately, you soon meet Julee, a “rarity” who unlocks a number of novel powers when you first possess her.

Julee can grow huge Wolverine-style claws from hands made of (you guessed it!) surprisingly solid blood. Rarities are made of slightly stronger material and can be discovered in a decent magazine, adding variety to combat with novel powers. Anita’s devilish scent summons a crowd of NPCs, which pairs perfectly with her Mind Hack, which makes everyone attack without the need for annoying possession. Blake’s Blood Shot is basically an OP minigun that fires blood bullets, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for helping me finish this review on time.

Enraged, hapless Alex also gets an excellent bloody shotgun, which, combined with its power to pull every enemy to the same spot, allows for incredibly satisfying killing blows. Remember that it takes ages to recharge, so you naturally want to employ rarities that complement each other’s power sets (you can take two per level). Sometimes it feels like I’m trying to play a single-player hero shooter, and it’s often as stunningly satisfying – and sometimes incomprehensible – as it sounds.

Simple blood

However, outside of the fierce core combat, the game has problems. Slitterheads can disguise themselves as regular people, and levels often start with them hunting them down. This isn’t much of a challenge as the screen distorts and almost points in the right direction. You can even press a button to see the action from Slitterhead’s point of view – a mechanic that will be familiar to Forbidden Siren veterans. Once you’ve locked onto your target, you check to see if it’s a Slitterhead by brilliantly spraying it with blood. Inconspicuous!

Often, Slitterhead will then attempt to escape, initiating a chase sequence. These can be exhilarating as you jump between bodies to make up the distance and follow up with attacks like poison darts to destroy them. The problem begins with a “blood rush”. Or, to give it its full, unofficial name, “bloody nasty jump.” These huge leaps into the sky are completely context dependent, it’s a tiresome element of game design that I really can’t wait to see die out. They often break up the chase as you pan the camera, looking for a silly hint that will tell you a specific location to jump to next. Good thing there is no time limit.

Wait why is not is there a time limit? Surely the desperate pursuit of Slitterhead before it devours its next victim should be a great motivator for the game? No, you have all the time in the world. Running around a corner during a dramatic chase just to catch the patiently waiting Slitterhead is truly exhausting.

Similarly, Slitterhead’s initial exploration seems frustratingly confined. You can’t spray blood on anyone other than the target, which seems like a missed opportunity for some fun detective work. The game never uses the fact that these are monsters that feed on humans to add urgency. Step into their point of view and you’ll see they’re just hanging around, basically on a cigarette break, rather than feasting on a novel victim that only you can save.

Maybe I just want to save people for my guilty conscience, since the game is hilariously blasé about collateral damage. Julee joins forces with you because she wants to stop Slitterheads from killing people. Unfortunately, it occurs in a game that openly suggests throwing possessed NPCs off buildings to be able to reach ground level faster. The game then has the audacity to yell at one of its characters for taking the life of an innocent man later in the story, seemingly forgetting that it recommended throwing people off buildings beforehand because it’s easier than walking up the stairs.

By the way, that’s not a complaint at all, as Slitterhead sings when he gets stupid. Like a gratuitous sex scene interrupted by a monster attack (perverts annoyed that Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake toned down the sexuality will be delighted to hear that Slitterhead is often hornier than the average orgy). A sporadic housewife who uses kitchen gloves as a weapon AND a villain so evil that he probably burns down orphanages on his days off, both of them are invited to this party. I almost applauded when one rarity dropped the case and the hero started talking to all the other rarities as if they were going through a bad breakup. Bless his melodramatic, absurd heart.

Still, after fifteen hours, with all the rarities unlocked and the game running out of novel enemy types to throw at you, Slitterhead begins to feel unwelcome. Especially when it forces you to replay previous levels to progress. There are more skill points and optional boss battles to find, but it just feels like an unnecessary addition to a game that could easily waste a few hours anyway.

This is probably the closest Slitterhead comes to breaking down, as repeating levels makes mistakes in combat more obvious. For God’s sake, unblock it All the ability of your rarities to quickly get back up after falling as quickly as possible. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been cornered in one of Slitterhead’s battle arenas, with the camera blocking me from view and my opponent waiting patiently to hit me again while it took me about five hundred years to get back up.

One fight, taking place in a small room that was at least lucky to be optional, hit me with constant, unblockable attacks while giving me no room to dodge. Slitterhead’s character switching struggles can be exhilarating, but I don’t think they’re precise enough to reward true mastery.

But it’s still a stylish, gleefully silly, playable B-movie with a great body-hop idea, and I’d be first in line for a sequel that found more innovative uses for it. Until then, the stupid slaughter will be more than enough.