Bokeh Game Studio will release Slitterhead on November 8 for the PC (Steam), PS4/PS5 and Xbox Series X❘S. In a new pre-launch interview with Game*Spark, the developers gave some detailed insight into the upcoming title’s battle system and its inspirations.

Slitterhead is a 3D action-adventure game coming from Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of horror classics such as Silent Hill and Siren. Toyama has previously mentioned that his latest title is, on a fundamental level, a reinterpretation of Siren as a modern action game. Slitterhead takes Siren’s sightjacking mechanic (that allowed you to take over your opponents’ senses) and expands upon it with its morally ambiguous human possession system, steering the game towards battle rather than stealth.

Talking to Game*Spark, Toyama provided some more details about Slitterhead’s battle system. The developer says he decided to pursue battle mechanics (rather than just horror) in Slitterhead to broaden the game’s target audience. In order to create an attractive, modern-feeling battle system, Bokeh Game Studio looked to Elden Ring developer FromSoftware for inspiration.

Slitterhead using humans as weapons to battle monsters

“In terms of the game system, we wanted to follow in the footsteps of recent battle action games, so we were conscious of FromSoftware’s games. In short, you lock on to the enemy, face them, then attack, dodge, and parry. It’s no fun if everything’s the same though, so Okura added the right stick parry.” By Okura, Toyama is referring to Junya Okura, Slitterhead’s game director and battle system designer, who has previously worked on the Siren and Gravity Rush series.

On the other hand, Slitterhead’s difficulty will be different to FromSoftware’s notorious Soulborne titles. Players will get to choose their preferred difficulty level from four options, the easiest being clearable even without getting into the game’s complex human possession system.

Toyama also mentions that Slitterhead’s ratio of battle to exploration is almost fifty-fifty, so you won’t be fighting all the time.