Developer: Askiisoft
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Rrp: £11.39 (Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam)
Release: 18th April 2019
Available on: Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam
Played Using: Xbox 360 Control Pad
Approximate game length: 6 hours
How many times have you died? Can you really say? There’s a school of thought that says that you die every second but are reborn so quickly you don’t notice. Personally I think that idea is a load of old bunk but there’s not way to prove or disprove such an idea. There is a reason I bring up this concept, but you’ll have to play this game to understand.
Katana Zero is a pixel art action platformer where every combat is one part puzzle and one part test of skill, all of which is wrapped up in a dark sci-fi story. You play as an samurai who has the special ability to accurately predict the outcome of any given combat. This might seem overpowered, and it is, but you get to play out each of his thought experiments.
As I just mentioned you get to play as this samurai’s thought experiments meaning that when you die that it wasn’t the right action to take and therefore is discarded and you get to try again, and again and again. This part is called the ‘planning’ stage and once you manage to complete a room you get to watch a successful video of your run, just without any time slowdown effects etc.
That’s right I did say you could slow down time, its only for a short period and recharges slowly but it allows you to time your strikes to the point that you can deflect bullets. This is increadibly useful as you die in a single hit (as do all the enemies apart from the bosses).
The warning on this game are right, this isn’t a game anyone who is epileptic should play, not without changing the settings anyway. This will greatly reduce the effects that might trigger it.
Annoyingly this game is actually only part one of the story, apparently there are going to be some free DLC’s coming that will complete it. I have to say I certainly hope so as I have so many questions that remain unanswered.
This a great game with tight controls and a wonderful soundtrack, I eagerly await the DLC’s so that I can find out the whole story.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Dead Cells
ICEY
Hotline Miami
