Slitterhead, an upcoming action-adventure game, has been rated Mature by the ESRB due to its graphic and intense themes. Set in a fictionalized 1990s Hong Kong, players take on the role of “Hyoki,” a spirit without a physical form or memory, tasked with eliminating monsters called Slitterheads.
As Hyoki, players explore the city’s underbelly, infiltrating dangerous groups and seeking allies among rare human individuals called “Rarities.” The game offers a possession mechanic, allowing players to control various characters by inhabiting their bodies and gaining access to restricted areas and identities. This possession-based ability provides a strategic edge, enabling Hyoki to adapt and slip through barriers. Throughout the story, players engage in high-paced, bloody combat using “blood weapons,” turning life force into formidable weapons against the Slitterheads. Close-range melee battles can become brutal, with beheadings, intense blood effects, and graphic scenes.
The rating summary highlights mature themes, including violence, blood, drug use, and sexuality. The gameplay touches on social themes, such as prostitution and drug addiction, as players explore Kowlong’s chaotic streets. A cutscene briefly depicts characters in a brothel, including toplessness and sexual content. Drug references appear throughout the game, with dialogue like “They smuggle drugs” and “Addicted to drugs to the point of hallucinating.” Explicit language, including mild profanity, adds to the dark atmosphere.
You can read the full ESRB description below.
This is an action-adventure game in which players control a spirit in a fictional version of 1990s Hong Kong. As players shift between living things, they can control their consciousness and actions; as the story progresses, players can use “blood weapons” to fight creatures known as Slitterheads. Players use blood swords, spears, and bladed weapons to attack and kill creatures in frenetic melee combat. Creatures can be dispatched via decapitation; creatures can be seen biting human characters’ heads off. Blood-splatter effects often occur, and several corpses are depicted lying in pools of blood. One cutscene depicts a close-up view of a mutilated corpse inside a dumpster. During the course of the game, players can encounter prostitutes and explore brothels; one cutscene briefly depicts two characters in bed having sex, with toplessness and first-person camera angles. The game contains multiple drug references: “They smuggle drugs”; “A junkie snuck into the clinic”; “Addicted to drugs to the point of hallucinating”; “I…wanted some of the good stuff.” The word “sh*t” appears in the game.
Slitterhead will be released for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC on November 8.
