Keiichiro Toyama says he considered a ‘AAA Siren successor’ while at PlayStation

Game designer Keiichiro Toyama has claimed that while working at PlayStation he conceptualised a sequel to his cult PS2 game Siren, which would go on to become indie title Slitterhead.

Speaking to Denfaminicogamer (via Automaton), the creator explained that while working at SIE, he began to wonder what a sequel to Siren would look like with a large budget.

SIE allegedly wanted this title to be an AAA title, so Toyama conceptualized a large budget game that had a “Siren-like concept.” He said that one of the ideas led to the prototype for Slitterhead.

“Slitterhead was born out of the idea of What if I were to make Siren 3?” Toyama said. According to Toyama, Siren, while still a cult title, was seeing an emergence in popularity which made Toyama consider the possibility of bringing the series back.

“It all started back when I was working at SIE,” Toyama continued.  “At the time, the popularity of “SIREN” was reviving, so there was talk of making a related work. However, the company wanted a AAA title.”

He went on to say that he didn’t think that the style of horror games he likes to produce work well in the triple-A space. “Recently, there are more and more games that are labelled ‘horror,’ but I personally think that the horror genre and AAA game development don’t go well together.”

VGC’s Slitterhead review called it “a PS3 game that never existed.”

“Slitterhead isn’t very good, but it is very interesting. In an age of remakes, sequels and safe bets, it’s heart-warming to see something that’s so clearly such a singular vision. We’re disappointed that vision is sold short by basic combat and a focus on the game’s ugly characters, but we’re glad it exists and would welcome more attempts like it.”