After finally revealing just what the hell Bokeh Game Studio was working on last week at The Game Awards, you’ll probably be shocked to learn that Slitterhead hasn’t even entered full production yet. This is according to Silent Hill and Siren creator and head of Bokeh Game Studio Keiichiro Toyama, who sat down with Video Games Chronicle for an interview to discuss the project.
According to Toyama, Slitterhead has completed its prototyping phase, from which the team is going to be using the feedback prior to entering full production. “Though it’s too early to reveal any details about the game, and it will take some time prior to release, we hope you look forward to it!”
When asked about what horror games he found appealed to him, like many of us, Toyama jumped to Hideo Kojima’s P.T., referring to it as “fantastic”. Toyama said that the game “established a new standard which VR horror games later followed, and I think it’s a legendary game.” He also gave props to Red Candle Games’ controversial Devotion. “The exoticism of the different cultures made me feel nostalgic, while also feeling fear for the unknown.”
Of course, talk turned to Toyama’s Silent Hill and its sequels. When asked about the series’ development past the first entry, Toyama felt that Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito had “perfected his art direction style and completed his vision” when it came to the first two sequels. “I think there was a lot of consistency to it, which completed his vision, which I thought was very good. My only concern was that as an action game, how do these character designs move in the game, and that might have been something they struggled with, in how to make his designs come to life in a game.”
The interview also talked about CG artist Takayoshi Sato and his cutscenes from the first Silent Hill, which Toyama praised as “amazing” and how Konami had “high praise for it”. However, Toyama said that that as Silent Hill was his directorial debut, he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to bring out either Sato or Ito’s strengths in the game, which was one of the struggles he had in directing Silent Hill.
And, since we all love David Lynch, Toyama is asked why the famed director has such an influence on Japanese game creators. Toyama responded simply that Twin Peaks was popular in Japan, as it was in the States. “But that mood where seemingly normal people have a dark side—I think people could really relate to that—especially out in the rural areas where people have two faces, so I felt a symmetry to what was portrayed in Twin Peaks.”
You can check out the rest of the interview from the link above. Slitterhead is currently in development for PC.