GDC 18 Hands On – Headsnatchers (PS4) Don’t Lose Your Head

One of the hidden gems from the indie showcase area at GDC this year was a cute little party game called Headsnatchers. Created by developer Iguana Bee out of Santiago, Chile, the game is a fast paced, multi-player battle brawler where you not only have to rip someone’s head off, but you have to chunk it, or bowl it, or feed it to some critter lurking nearby. I met and played with the small team of developers at their booth and discussed their game as I lost my head again and again.

The game can be played locally with up to 4 players in couch mode as a fun party game, or you can play online with up to 4 people, allowing you to rip people’s heads off all over the world. There are over 25 unique levels, each with their own set of rules and methods of elimination, but all of them require you to rip off the head of your opponent. Head bowling had to be my favorite level, but this isn’t Wii Bowling, so you aren’t really trying to get a strike or pick up a spare. You just need to get that head rolling along and smashing through those pins.

Before jumping into the game, you have to pick a head. Picking your head can be an adventure in itself as there are over 100 unique heads to choose from, or you can use a visual editor to create your own. I didn’t get a chance to use the editor as their booth was pretty busy, but the online videos show it to be fairly simple, yet still had some decent features. There aren’t any advantages that I could tell as to which head you pick, as far as being ripped off of your torso, so your choice won’t be detrimental to your gameplay. Some are cute, some are ugly, and some are just goofy. Who wears a boombox on their head?

The game does include a story mode which can be thought of as a two-hour tutorial, or you can just think of it as a way to blow off steam by ripping heads off and learning how to play the game at the same time. The developers promised it would be fun and entertaining and well worth a play through, but the real fun is ripping off the heads of people you know at a party, or maybe ripping off the heads of people you don’t know online. Either way, it’s a fun little game that I enjoyed playing.

Headsnatchers doesn’t have a release date set yet, but it was announced to be released this Spring, so it should be out soon. The game is some serious fun, so it needs to hurry up and release.