In his previous life at Konami and Sony Japan Studio, game designer Keiichiro Toyama was known for his iconic horror games Silent Hill and Siren, then later the PlayStation gravity-defying adventure Gravity Rush.
Realizing his track record then, it’s no surprise that his next game, Slitterhead, feels extremely thrilling. Whether his little indie startup Bokeh is able to achieve its ambitions or not, it’s clear that this game will at least stand out in what often feels like an increasingly homogenized gaming market.
“With Sony, there was a growing motivation to make higher-budget games and wanted to go that way with the Japan Studio brand,” Toyama told VGC in a recent interview, reflecting on the shuttering of the historic PlayStation developer. in home. April 2021 (Toyama left to form Bokeh shortly before this).
“My motive was always to create original games. I feel like I can do this without a massive budget. It allows me to express myself as well. Going freelance has allowed me to do that. Since my time at Sony, I feel like I’m accomplishing what I want to do.”
Slitterhead is set in the fictional East Asian city of Kowlong, a shadowy urban maze filled with neon signage and dirty alleyways. It’s not the sprawling world city of a triple-A production – the game plays out on many ‘levels’ – but Kowlong feels like a believable place and has a core intrigue that compelled us to explore it.
“A decision we made early on in the game was that we originally wanted an open environment for the game, but it didn’t make sense with the budget,” Toyama tells us. “That decision worked well, boxing in the missions and progressing through the story.”
The game casts players as Hyoki, an entity with no memory or physical form, whose sole motive is to destroy the monsters lurking around the city, disguised as humans, known as Slitterheads. These insect-like creatures will burst out of human heads, with their many, razor-sharp limbs, without warning. Since the town is filled with NPCs, it creates a high sense of tension as you navigate the dark back streets.
At its most basic level, Slitterhead is definitely an action game. In our first hour, we’re taught a bunch of standard action game fighting mechanics like grappling and dodging, but combat isn’t the game’s most interesting feature.
Players begin the demo by controlling a stray dog wandering the streets. Eventually, your progress through the back alleys will be blocked by a tall fence. However, flicking the right stick to spot a human NPC on the other side reveals the ability to possess them with the press of a button, instantly returning the player’s perspective to the new host.
Q&A: Keiichiro Toyama
What has been the biggest surprise of the indie release?
The most surprising thing was the publication. We never published a game at Sony because they have departments that do that. That was the most challenging part, building relationships with other companies and getting it funded.
It’s a tough time for gaming workers. Have you felt this?
I think balancing a unique idea with a budget was key to building this game, and that’s why we were able to finish it in four years. This may be why we were able to break away from other studios that were closing down.
How did you react to the closure of Tango Gameworks?
I don’t think it’s my place to give them advice, but I think it’s important to go back to what I said earlier about routine balance and maintaining the style of your games. You look at an example like From Software, they keep making different games, but some styles and aspects of their games remain the same. This is a clear example of how a studio is successful. Not changing everything every time can be the key to life and survival.
Soon, Bokeh starts playing with this mechanic in more interesting ways. A Slitterhead bursts out of a nearby citizen and, being unarmed, the only way to escape is by chaining yourself between NPCs along the path ahead, often going through walls or up to rooftops.
Later in the demo, the possession mechanic is used for all sorts of twisty platformer segments, with us body-jumping between tall balconies and sacrificing NPCs for fast travel by jumping off a building before speeding through to another man on the street just like us. previous host splashes on the pavement.
Suddenly, the fairly standard melee combat mechanics from earlier in the demo also became much more unique, with players able to take on much stronger Slitterheads by using a group of NPCs and jumping between them for backstabbing, as he tries to focus on a single opponent.
Some NPCs are better equipped than others, wielding slightly stronger melee weapons, but during our demo we never felt the need to hang on to them, as there would always be another equally good NPC around the corner . According to Toyama, this is a deliberate design choice to portray humans as food in the world of Slitterhead.
“The person responsible for the possession mechanics was originally working on another game I was working on earlier,” he explained. “For this game, we had a discussion about how to balance what ordinary civilians can do. Originally, they were supposed to be powerful, but that turned out to be no fun.”
What we played felt pretty linear – there doesn’t seem to be much here in the way of side content or exploration – but it’s also a refreshingly tight and unbloated experience.
Slitterhead’s combination of spooky East Asian atmospheres with head-turning perspective feels like the pinnacle of Toyama’s previous games. However, the designer told VGC that, going forward, he wants to stick to the principles that encouraged him to found Bokeh in the first place: creating original games that don’t require a big budget.
“When we opened the studio, the concept was that we would make original games, and we want to continue to do that,” he said. “We have poured a lot of youth into the team and they have learned a lot through this process. I can’t wait for the new generation to make their own games with a lower budget.
“When we opened the studio, the concept was that we would make original games, and we want to continue to do that. We’ve poured a lot of youth into the team and they’ve learned a lot through the process.”
“Action adventure is something we wanted to pursue and we learned a lot about it. We can transfer it to another game. We want to transfer the knowledge we got, but the concept will remain as it is, to make unique games.”
Despite a small number of successful live-action games increasingly dominating the market, the Silent Hill designer thinks there’s still room for smaller, unique games like the ones he built his reputation on — especially if the creators they have financial responsibility.
“I understand that the emerging trend is much more conservative, like with service games. I understand why companies move this way. But there is an importance in balancing this. There is definitely a need or desire for darker, more unique games. There will always be people who want that. As long as you keep the balance right and don’t spend too much on a game, there will be users who want it.”
Slitterhead will be released for consoles and PC on November 8th.