On November 8th, Slitterhead made its world debut, marking a new stage in the career of Keiichirō Toyamathe visionary creator of classics like Silent Hill and Siren. This is the developer’s first major project after his own goodbye to Sony Japan Studio in 2020 and represents a surprising evolution, with roots that lie in an idea initially conceived for a possible sequel to Siren.
In ainterview with DenfaminicogamerToyama recounted how, during his final years at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the Siren franchise had met one renewed popularity. This awakening had pushed Sony to propose the creation of a new chapter, but with a precise ambition: a titolo tripla A. Toyama, inspired by the idea, began to imagine an impressive game from a production point of view:
It all started when I was working at SIE. At that time, the popularity of “Siren” was returning, so there was talk of making a related work. However, the company wanted a AAA title.
Despite his initial enthusiasm, Toyama found himself reflecting on the difficulties of adapt the essence of his games horror to the needs of a high budget project:
Lately, there are more and more games labeled as ‘horror’, but personally I think that the horror genre and AAA game development don’t go together.
As the project took shape, Toyama decided to leave Sony to pursue an independent path, founding Bokeh Game Studio. This change has profoundly transformed perspectives of the game: without the resources of a large publisher, the original idea had to be scaled back. However, instead of abandoning the project, Toyama and his team chose to adapt it to a new realitykeeping his creative soul intact.
Finally he was born Slitterhead. The game represents an innovative balance between the artistic roots of the creator and a new creative freedom, free from strict commercial needs of the AAA industry. Slitterhead isn’t just a tribute to Siren’s legacybut also a bold expression of desire to innovate and surprisewithout compromises.
