Slitterhead Review

ign.com:

Given its interesting body-swapping system, gnarly blood-based weaponry, creepy Lovecraftian monsters, and the fact that it’s sprung forth from the mind behind the original Silent Hill, Slitterhead certainly sounds like an action-horror game that could be razor sharp. Unfortunately, while this time-looping murder mystery set in the neon lit streets of a fictionalized Hong Kong serves up a solid slash ‘em up combat system, its story has been hacked to the bone, its enemy variety is surprisingly sparse, and its uninspired mission objectives are repeated to a truly tiresome degree. As it turns out, Slitterhead isn’t just an adventure that’s frequently out-of-body, it’s also one that’s quickly out of ideas.

It’s a real shame too, since Slitterhead’s intriguing premise certainly got its hooks into me early. After the bodies of local citizens are discovered in the back alleys of the Kowlong slums with holes in their heads where their brains used to be, we’re cast in the role of a mysterious spiritual entity known only as the ‘Night Owl’, acting as a disembodied detective in an effort to uncover a murderous menace known as the slitterheads who can disguise themselves in human form. To do so, we’re free to hop in and out of almost every person within a small radius, temporarily taking control of human hosts in order to hunt for clues through back alleys and brothels, and providing us with some interesting ways to infiltrate otherwise off-limits locations by beaming straight into another body through an open window or the bars of a locked gate, for example.

These easily manipulated meat sacks are basic in appearance and wooden in their movement, which perhaps makes some sort of sense given that they’re basically just mind-controlled marionettes. Unlike the similar crowdsourcing system in Watch Dogs: Legion, there are no discernible skills or traits that distinguish one controllable citizen from another – that is, with the exception of the small cast of unique playable