Other bits from the interview:
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I got to play the beginning of the game which had me explore the city, and later the insides of a condominium building. Is Slitterhead an open world game, or does it take a stage-based structure?
Toyama: It’s stage based. Everything takes place within the city, but depending on the stage you get to see different situations and can experience the city from different angles.
How long does the average stage take, and how long does it take to beat the entire game?
Toyama: Stages are about 30 minutes long. It should take players around 15 hours to see the credits roll. After that, you can enjoy the remaining challenges.
During combat, you can attack, block, dodge and deflect, covering all the standard bases for a modern action game. What is it that makes Slitterhead’s combat unique?
Toyama: The fact that the character you’re controlling constantly changes. The main concept was my idea, but Okura – who was also the lead designer for Gravity Rush – created the game system based on that concept.
Okura: Toyama said that he wanted me to utilize the possession mechanic as much as possible. It made me think of what would happen in a game in which you can freely possess different characters in a city. What kind of gameplay could we create based on that idea? Actually, we have a few main characters as well, and I came up with a system in which you switch between them. These main characters all have different characteristics and can use different skills.
I played the game on Easy mode and had no real difficulties defeating the game’s enemies. How different are the Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulty modes?
Okura: Depending on the difficulty mode, the frequency and damage of enemy attacks change. That means that combat becomes more challenging, but adventure parts stay the same. Normal is the difficulty that we think will suit the average player best, while Hard is the difficulty we originally wanted to go for. Nightmare is for people who want a real challenge. Actually, I’m making that one for myself! But it still isn’t so difficult that players won’t be able to beat the game.
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I'll be playing this one on Hard mode.
This is the type of horror game that’s a dream come true. I just hope the actual game play has the same value to it.
