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Bokeh Game Studio has released more details regarding their upcoming game Slitterhead in the form of a two-part Q&A session. The first part, moderated by Bokeh’s business development manager and producer William Yohei Hart, features Bokeh Game Studio CEO and creator Keiichiro Toyama, CTO and game director Junya Okura, and COO and producer Kazunobu Sato.
In the video, the trio talk about the inspiration behind Slitterhead, which as Toyama had mentioned before, was inspired by Hong Kong. Toyama elaborated further, saying that the game is also inspired by one of his previous games, 2003’s Siren (or Forbidden Siren, if you want to get technical). Toyama wondered what could happen if Bokeh “reinterpreted [Siren‘s] concept” and combine it with the energy that he felt from Hong Kong as a city.
As to the question of balancing between action and horror, Toyama responded by saying that Slitterhead “spans over multiple genres where horror is expressed”, in that he wanted to expand the player base to include those who wouldn’t necessarily play horror games. “I wanted a game that could be enjoyed for its action, yet whose concept doesn’t solely revolve around killing enemies. It conflicts the mind, making the players reluctant to enter certain fights. I want to achieve both action and drama with this game.”
Building on that, when asked what type of combat Slitterhead will have, Okura responded that the team wants to pursue “multiple new aspects” of the combat in melee and firearms, while at the same time doing something that they hadn’t previously done. “We want to make the players surprised upon discovering them. I want to include aspects that will feel completely new to the player.”
And since Toyama had mentioned David Lynch in a separate interview regarding Lynch’s influence on Japanese horror games, Toyama was asked if he would ever return to making games with the Lynchian psychological deepness and odd plots. “I want someday to do something with some classic psychological horror themes like I did with Silent Hill. However, I’d rather do that when working with really limited resources, such as budget or having to focus on one individual. Right now, we have staff with the ability to work on action. I want to leverage their skills to go in another direction. Still, I also want to make something more personal someday.”
Check out the full interview below for more questions. Slitterhead is currently in development for PC and consoles.