🏯🎎⚔️ Katana Zero | REVIEW | PC | "A Must Buy For Any Indie Gamer" 🏯🎎⚔️ #GameDev #IndieGames

Katana Zero is set around a Samurai Assassin type character who can shift through time to kill targets. It’s a 2D action platformer developed by Asjiisoft and published by Devolver Digital. It seems to take something from the Hotline Miami collection, not a lot, but I see some similarities in the game. The game is very fast-paced so be ready to play as a fast, time travelling Samurai with a complicated background. 

Katana Zero is a one kill game but it also has a one-hit death with the dodge mechanic helping you by slowing down time. Using the dodge mechanic enables you to dodge through attacks which is a good mix of mechanics and balances out the fast-paced gameplay with technical focussed combat. 

Katana Zero has some great mechanics, the one which surprised me the most was the choice you get within the conversations giving you a different storyline depending on the choices you make. A small example of this is that there was a target you had to kill but you could talk to him and decide not to kill him and find out a bit more lore, but the outcome remains the same. 

The time travel mechanics are simple as you can slow down time for a limited timeframe so you can pick off enemies in many more ways than you thought you could due to the slow-motion. It’s a great way to slow down the fast-paced gameplay which this game still has a lot of.  

Katana Zero is a very enjoyable game with action-packed gameplay around every corner and that makes this game amazing as even when you die, you press one button to start again and you are right back into the fight.

This keeps you engrossed in the game and also makes retrying that bit you’re stuck on until you finally get past it more enjoyable. You’ll know which bit I’m talking about when you play it, it’s very annoying and I hated it! Sorry, I must admit that I did struggle at that point. I’m not going to spoil it for you though. There’s a good sense of achievement when you get past a very tough part of a game. 

There’s a lot of elements that stand out in Katana Zero but one of the mainstays of the game was the soundtrack. It really gets you into the game, it hypes you up to start the mission. It’s also the type of soundtrack you can just listen to outside of the video game.

This game is very good, and I didn’t see much wrong but being very picky, between missions, it did slow down slightly too much as you are experiencing action-packed gameplay. You don’t want to feel slowed down, but I get why that part was there, to tell the story more fluently and to make the game slightly longer but it did kind of get too out of the action for me. 

The way the story is told is very weird and I wasn’t expecting to have two possible endings to the game and it really added replayability to the game and add some layer and depth to the game which I wasn't expecting from this type of game. 

In summary, this game is fantastic with so many different amazing elements to it. All mechanics seem to be very balanced and easy to get the hang off. The fast-paced gameplay with the time-control aspects works well.

The story in the game is complex and in-depth which was very enjoyable with multiple endings adding replayability to the game.

Katana Zero is a must-buy for any Indie gamer and it’s a fantastic game to start you on your indie gaming journey into the unknown of the indies.