During the Nindies Showcase Spring 2019, many games caught my eye but Katana Zero stood out. Katana Zero, which is being developed by Askiisoft and being published Devolver Digital, surprised me as it was my first time seeing the retro-inspired gameplay. Soon after, I heard Katana Zero was to be presented at PAX East 2019 at the Devolver Digital booth. I had to make sure that I got my hands on the game to see more. During my adventures at PAX East, I visited the booth twice for hands-on time with Katana Zero and I enjoyed it both times.
In Katana Zero, players control an assassin that wields a katana and also uses a drug called Chronos that can manipulate time. At first, I thought to myself, how crazy could this get by playing a character that’s using a drug? That was answered quickly as some of the puzzles had me stopping time as I zipped through fan blades, jumped from wall to wall to avoid lasers, and hit enemies before they could hit me. Fair warning though, everything in-game can kill the player in a single hit. Knowing this is crucial to success as I was dying a lot during my time with Katana Zero initially. With a game such as Katana Zero and the powers available, it wouldn’t shock me to see other interesting abilities come along during play.
The art style of Katana Zero is gorgeous through each area I went through and it played smoothly. One cool feature of the game is that once you finish a screen it’ll show how the assassin succeeded in black and white, similar to what was in Super Meat Boy. I happened to skip this feature a few times, so that is an option for those wanting to cruise through the game. Another interesting feature involved the way Katana Zero handles conversations with NPCs with timed responses.
During my time with the game, I enjoyed slashing through enemies as the controls were intuitive and made it quick to learn. However, I will admit that I died quite a bit from all of the one-hit deaths from traps and enemies. I had to get used to finding key moments to use the abilities available to get past some of the screens. Some enemies even defend an attack or two as they can have some items that deflect damage. Katana Zero looks to be hyper focused on mastering the abilities available and the ones unlocked along the way.
String of deaths aside, each time I visited the booth I wanted to stay and play more because I was having that much fun.
Katana Zero may seem like a typical hack-and-slash throwback game but it achieves more than expected. So much so, we gave the developers one of our PAX East awards. I really wanted to get to the boss of the demo but I never made it in the allotted time I had. I can’t wait to get more time with the game as it releases very soon.
For more information, check out the official website for Katana Zero; it is releasing on Nintendo Switch, Steam, Humble Bundle, and GOG. For more from PAX East 2019, check out our preview of Alt-Frequencies or Boyfriend Dungeon.
