In a twist of fate I deeply appreciate, we are at a stage where a game that comes across as it came out on the sixth generation of consoles is seen as a selling point by some.
Well, in that line of thought, Slitterhead is a nippon jank of the early PS3 days that is very experimental, quite flawed, but the heart and soul it has makes it so easy to like and look past the shortcomings.

This is a body-horror themed hack-and-slash by former developers of Siren and Gravity Rush, featuring a gameplay blend of Prototype, Driver San Francisco and Watch Dogs Legion, set in a decayed asian urban setting with the vibe of Kane and Lynch 2 and Sleeping Dogs, with a presentation and storytelling style that screams 80's tokusatsu (such as Kamen Rider) with an OST by Akira Yamaoka.
If this sounds like a salad of inspirations and references, is because it is. The joke is that all of this is combined into something better than the sum of it's parts.

You play as a spirit capable of taking over normal people and collectable "rarities" that act as your cast of characters to advance the plot, who get involved in all sorts of shenanigans, from cult investigation to chasing down monsters in the street.
The combat is deceptively simple if quite repetitive, as bad positioning is punished fast, and not using your abilities well makes fighting groups and bosses so much harder. At it's best, the game nails the power fantasy of controlling an entire squad of minions, acting as a group of monster exterminators while you move across the city like a demon of blood. At it's worst, it's just a dull or annoying boss fight with an uncooperative camera when backed into a corner.

My biggest qualm with the game is that not all rarities are as fun to use, and the plot is easy to loose track of. Another annoyance is that to replay levels to unlock things to progress the story, the text dialogue cannot be skipped, leading to a pace halt that adds up frustration with time.

And sadly, while the art direction and character/monster designs are generally very good, the game suffers from a clear lack of budget that hurts the experience, with some unfortunate visual bugs, a very limited enemy roster for how long the game is, and lack of voice acting and audio.

However, I still consider this my favorite game of the year despite the faults for one simple reason- it's something unique that had genuine passion, and took a risk doing something experimental even if in parts it fell flat on it's face -and that makes this game more worthy of your time than some AAA slop.

If the description from early sounded remotely interesting to you, buy it. It's rough around the edges, but games that take a gamble and aren't afraid to be flawed deserve more attention.

In a twist of fate I deeply appreciate, we are at a stage where a game that comes across as it came out on the sixth generation of consoles is seen as a selling point by some. Well, in that line of thought, Slitterhead is a nippon jank of the early PS3 days that is very experimental, quite flawed, but the heart and soul it has makes it so easy to like and look past the shortcomings. This is a body-horror themed hack-and-slash by former developers of Siren and Gravity Rush, featuring a gameplay blend of Prototype, Driver San Francisco and Watch Dogs Legion, set in a decayed asian urban setting with the vibe of Kane and Lynch 2 and Sleeping Dogs, with a presentation and storytelling style that screams 80's tokusatsu (such as Kamen Rider) with an OST by Akira Yamaoka. If this sounds like a salad of inspirations and references, is because it is. The joke is that all of this is combined into something better than the sum of it's parts. You play as a spirit capable of taking over normal people and collectable "rarities" that act as your cast of characters to advance the plot, who get involved in all sorts of shenanigans, from cult investigation to chasing down monsters in the street. The combat is deceptively simple if quite repetitive, as bad positioning is punished fast, and not using your abilities well makes fighting groups and bosses so much harder. At it's best, the game nails the power fantasy of controlling an entire squad of minions, acting as a group of monster exterminators while you move across the city like a demon of blood. At it's worst, it's just a dull or annoying boss fight with an uncooperative camera when backed into a corner. My biggest qualm with the game is that not all rarities are as fun to use, and the plot is easy to loose track of. Another annoyance is that to replay levels to unlock things to progress the story, the text dialogue cannot be skipped, leading to a pace halt that adds up frustration with time. And sadly, while the art direction and character/monster designs are generally very good, the game suffers from a clear lack of budget that hurts the experience, with some unfortunate visual bugs, a very limited enemy roster for how long the game is, and lack of voice acting and audio. However, I still consider this my favorite game of the year despite the faults for one simple reason- it's something unique that had genuine passion, and took a risk doing something experimental even if in parts it fell flat on it's face -and that makes this game more worthy of your time than some AAA slop. If the description from early sounded remotely interesting to you, buy it. It's rough around the edges, but games that take a gamble and aren't afraid to be flawed deserve more attention.