Silent Hill, Gravity Rush creator Keiichi Toyama is recruiting for a “new large-scale project”

Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush creator Keiichi Toyama is recruiting for a “new large-scale project”.

While Toyama popped up briefly last summer to confirm that Bokeh Game Studios isn’t making Slitterhead 2, we’ve heard little else until this staff call appeared on a Japanese recruitment site.

Citing the studio’s aim of “being original”, Toyama said his team doesn’t specialise in “things that anyone else could make” nor is eccentric for the sake of it, but is committed to “never giving up” and always pushing forward.

“We don’t make things that anyone else could make. This isn’t about being eccentric, but rather about never giving up on the questions, ‘Why are we making this?’, and continuing to search for expressions that only we can reach,” the studio’s founder said, as translated via machine.

“And we want to create things with people who resonate with this attitude and who, even amidst worries and doubts, have the will to ‘still make something interesting’ and continue to challenge themselves in the creative process.

“We are currently working on a new project as a studio,” Toyama added. “It’s not an easy path, as we’re going through a lot of trial and error from the very beginning.

“However, this means you’ll be deeply involved in the core of the work, and your choices and struggles will directly take shape in the game. Being involved from this phase will be an invaluable experience.”

Bokeh was established in 2020, and 2024’s Slitterhead was the studio’s first release.

“I love Slitterhead. I love it despite the fact there’s a lot about Slitterhead I don’t like very much,” I said when I reviewed it back in 2024, awarding it 4/5 stars.

“A little like that lad you went to school with that you barely liked then and like even less now in adulthood, Slitterhead is crass and seedy and pretty gross. Your other half keeps asking why you don’t just ghost him if he’s that bad, but the truth is, you’re kinda crass, seedy and pretty gross, too. He just brings it out in you, the same as Bokeh Game Studios apparently brings this out in me.”