As bounty hunters in a disturbing future, players must sneak by, strong-arm, and shoot down those who would flee from justice. This action-adventure is built upon the story and gameplay of the original Headhunter (also developed by Amuze), released in 2001 for European Dreamcasts and ported to North American PS2s the following year. Unlike the original, however, Headhunter: Redemption offers two main characters and two different, urban game worlds for them to patrol and protect.

Played primarily from a third-person perspective, Redemption has players taking the role of either headhunter veteran Jack Wade or his new associate, a punky street kid called Leeza X. Acting as a force for order, the two will travel to the city's wealthy, well-lit "Above," as well as its dark and downtrodden "Below," to enforce a justice once common to both of these two, disparate places.

Jack and Leeza share a number of skills and talents with the heroes of stealth-action games such as Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell. They are able to walk or run, crouch and sneak, and climb, hang, or roll. They also can fire their weapons at foes, of course, through an auto-targeting interface. A selection of firing modes allows the characters additional options; taking the time to crouch on one knee for stability, for example, improves accuracy.