- Rating - 4/5
- Studio - Askiisoft
- Publisher - Devolver Digital
- Genre - 2D Action-Platformer
(Spoiler-free)
Katana Zero is a retro-style action-platformer developed by Askiisoft and published by Devolver Digital. The visuals and the soundtrack are reminiscent of Hotline Miami, with the core gameplay loop feeling more polished.
Gameplay
You play as a nameless samurai, working for a dystopian government as a hitman. The game follows a one-hit-kill rule, meaning that a single hit is enough to eliminate both you and your enemies. A well-timed attack can parry bullets, and you can slow down time to make parrying and dodging easier. During a conversation, you can choose dialogue with an additional option of interrupting the speaker, which might open up other dialogue paths.
The game is highly replayable and even has a customizable speedrun mode with associated medals, which adds incentive to get faster. New game plus also includes an insanely difficult Hard-mode, which will keep players engaged for quite a while after finishing the game. The Hard-mode adds in new enemies, with the number of regular enemies increased significantly.
Presentation
Katana Zero’s presentation is a cut above the rest. The visuals combine a neo-noir aesthetic and pixelized graphics to yield scenes that, at times, look stunning. The visuals are complemented by a fantastic synthwave soundtrack composed by LudoWic and Bill Kiley.
Evident care has been put into the presentation, making the game feel the best it possibly can. The most notable effects are screen-shake and hit pause, which makes landing an attack highly satisfying. It also offers a few basic options for the player to tweak some of these effects as they wish.
Here’s one of the more melancholic tracks from the game;
A candle that burns twice as bright…
Katana Zero is a relatively short game. It would take roughly 4 hours to complete for the first time. My personal best for speedrunning the game is approximately 26 minutes. Including NG+, it would take around 8 hours to see everything that the game has to offer.
It makes up for this by being effortless to play. I prefer a four-hour game worth replaying many times to a padded-out game barely worth playing once, so this isn’t a negative for me (but it might be one for you). The story is where the game falls short as a stand-alone title. It starts off very strong, but not much is resolved at the end. However, a sequel is in the making, which might answer the many questions posed. (Keyword - Might; which is why the rating is subject to change)
In Conclusion
Katana Zero is one of the most exciting Indie games that I have played to date. The gameplay is exhilarating, the campaign effortless, and the story intriguing. I highly recommend this game, and if you’re not willing to buy this game for full-price, you should at the very least be on the lookout for an offer; because even if you believe this game is not worth your money, I can essentially guarantee it is worth your time.