Katana Zero

Katana Zero's gameplay is genuinely fantastic. It's the perfect choice for someone looking for the next frantic and challenging indie darling.

If I have one complaint about Katana ZERO, it's that there's not already a sequel.

Still, even with its lack of replayability, you should buy Katana Zero right now if you’re a fan of action games with great tales to tell. When its thumping music kicks in, you know it’s time for action of the highest calibre. And married with sumptuous pixel art and a mystery you can’t wait to unravel, it’s a match made in heaven. Katana Zero is hands down one of the best games released this year.

There is far more I can say about how much I love this game, including the audial delight that is Ludowic and Bill Kiley’s soundtrack or VHS visual tricks the game employs as the narrative grows more fractured, but at this point, I’ve already gushed enough. It can be frustrating at times. It made me want to break my Switch in half. But even in its most aggressively exasperating moments, Katana Zero remains bleak, beautiful, bloody, and brilliant.

Fighting with a sword in the modern era is a ridiculous concept. Without exemplary skill, lightning speed, and extraordinary luck, you’re guaranteed to meet a messy end. Katana Zero perfectly captures this very specific sentiment while still making you feel like an absolute badass. In spite of the bleak odds and brutal conditions, your nameless avatar can pull off some pretty incredible moves. All of this was more or less as I anticipated. What shocked me was all the madness threaded through every section of the story. Who knew time manipulation came with such drastic consequences?

Katana Zero’s time-bending samurai action is the star of the show here, but its unique presentation and entertaining dialogue go a long way in supporting a plot that suffers from feeling like it’s saving its best ideas for a sequel. As action games go, Katana Zero’s shorter length makes it a quick fix, and I’ll no doubt suffer withdrawal while I wait for the next hit.

Weighing in at over five hours, it’s not the longest game you’ll ever play, but it’s wide open for replayability, and the story is great.

Overall, Katana Zero is an inspired effort. Askiisoft could have easily relied on the action formula alone, called it a day, and it would have been a solid indie release. However, Katana Zero dares to go bolder, with a story that takes more than one left turn, and an innovative dialogue system that can paint both the story and the main character in a different light. No matter how you opt to play this game, Katana Zero is one of the best Hotline Miami homages I've seen yet.

Katana Zero is a game that I loved playing, but I walked away from it with some major reservations. On top of its tight, excellent swordplay, fun time-shifting powers, and pitch-perfect soundtrack, Katana Zero packs some interesting storytelling tricks that I wasn’t expecting. On the other hand, it uses its innovative structure to tell a story rife with ill-conceived takes on disturbing subject matter without a content warning in sight. Katana Zero is an extraordinarily fun experience for the few hours it lasts, but the bad taste it left in my mouth lingered much longer.

Time-bending action platformer Katana Zero is a puzzle full of payoffs.

Katana Zero is a fantastic 2D action game, it's a great stealth game, and it has an interesting story and universe. The action is fast, fluid, and will have you coming back for more over and over again. But this is just a taste of what could be.

The games’ neon, cyberpunk, neo-noir aesthetic is of consistent excellence. The vicious visuals, alongside an engaging synth-heavy soundtrack created by LudoWic that ebbs from dark and dramatic to dreamlike in the blink of an eye, allows you to immerse yourself and enjoy an entirely thematically-correct world.