This game surprised me a lot. Sure I heard the music and gameplay were fantastic, which I would say its solid in that department. The music outside of combat was wonderful but once I got into the slicing and dashing I rarely even noticed it. The gameplay is mostly fun, felt bullshit at times but never like It was impossible. I think I prefer the Hotline Miami shooty shoot more but it was good and addicting. But what really made the game for me was the story, which was incredibly compelling start to finish. It's not complete yet, there's a planned DLC that will finish the story but even the way it ends now i'm 100% satisifed. Its filled with intrigue and is told wonderfully, with a twist at the end that sliced my head off. Actually fantastic stuff. Only real complaint would be that a few levels dragged especially near the end, but otherwise this is an easy recommend. Thank you to my friend @GringoELMexican for getting this for me for Christmas, you're a cool dude :p

Time Played - Under 5 hours
Rating - 95/100
Completion #21 of 2022

I'm blown away.
I wasn't expecting anything unique of Katana Zero, until I read and heard it's praise in this community. Before that I thought this is just another game with 80's noir aesthetics, just another game with an atmosphere I might like or just another game with cool fighting mechanics that would be fun for a couple of hours or maybe just another try at Hotline Miami. And Katana Zero sure excels in all of that, but ends up being so much more. I can't praise this game enough for the way it's built. The fighting feels absolutely amazing, every ability is fun and feels good. The sound design is impeccable. The music ranges from the expected cool adrenaline-pumping synthwave tracks, to the most beautiful atmospheric soundscapes I've heard in a while. And I've been praising video game soundtracks a lot lately, this is one of my favorites. Every moving part in here is stylishly crafted to a level of perfection I haven't seen in a very long time.
The way it's story is told is also mind blowing to me, because of the way they used narrative and audiovisual tricks to tell it in a non-linear fashion through unexpected twists and turns. I've never would have expected to find any of this in Katana Zero. And maybe that's why it ended up being so impactful for me, because I've never played a "2D fighting game" that had me at the edge of my seat for its entirety, because I wanted to know more about the story and the main character.
I urge you to play this game if any of the info you get on it speaks to you. Whether that may be the aesthetics or the fighting or you now knowing that It's story is great. You won't be disappointed, that's a promise.

Katana Zero is a cool ass game, easily my second favorite game that starts with ‘K’ and ends with ‘Zero’. The action-platformer gameplay is about as crisp as you could wish for, every option feeling both useful and satisfying in every situation, an impressive feat even some of the best of its ilk can’t pull off. The dodgeroll, the time slowdown, deflecting bullets with your sword, and the item throw all feel great to pull off, and chaining them into each other induces massive dopamine blasts into my stupid little brain.

The way every death and subsequent retry on every room actually makes sense and is accounted for within the game is brilliant. Rather than simply going through the act level as the character, when you are in control and trying to clear rooms, you’re actually planning it out using the protagonist precognition, an idea that I cannot understate how much I adore. In almost every single game, any given death or loss has no impact on the actual story of the game, just disappearing into the ether for the eventual successful attempt to take its place, and seeing this subverted in such a way is so fun and interesting.

The games looks amazing as well, the pixel art is all great and I love the flashy neon everywhere, which looks great in a literal sense rather than a ‘it’s great in the context of the narrative but can be sort of ugly to actually look at’ sense like in Hotline Miami. Hotline Miami, of course, being an obvious inspiration not just in the visuals and adrenaline-fueled gameplay but also in the music, which unfortunately is a mixed bag. The level music isn’t ever offensive, but I found it rather forgettable in the whole, a shame considering the music for story scenes was great, and not something I expected.

Speaking of, the story is actually really damn good! I found myself much more invested than I thought I’d be going on, which made me all the more disappointed by the end of the game. Katana Zero doesn’t really end, but rather sets itself up for a DLC or sequel, both of which I’ve heard rumblings of. Until then, I can only judge Katana Zero on what is present, which is quite good albeit not groundbreaking in a literal or thematic sense.

As a whole, Katana Zero is amazing for what it is, and left me wanting more in a way that I don’t find myself feeling as often anymore. This is an easy recommend for anyone who thinks the game looks even a little interesting, and the short run time makes it a great game to go through on a rainy day.

Already played this game, but suggested to be reviewed by SunKabir77.

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Ok yeah this doesn't leave much of An Impression nor much to say on it that isn't just a comprehensive rundown :/. It's Hotline Miami, sure, but filtered through its own lens that results in something arguably much more shallow? Fun to play as quick stop and pop popcorn, but story is ironically gestural insomuch that any point it COULD be making about violent video games as a whole and player commentary is ultimately facile and its leading threads don't coalesce in any other real point. I won't say this part is "offensively handled" but it sort of backing a lot of that subtext on real imagery of ptsd, mental health, and cycles of therapy and then rewarding you with some super cool ultra hard boss fight for saying fuck you to your corporate AND government led therapist (lol) is a wee bit uh, well ok then. Was never particularly excited for the dlc or sequel stuff whatever is the state of that now. Credit where it's due, it's a nice crisp presentation altogether (although apparently riding a lot of that backing on games I Still Haven't Played Yet ;-;) and with it I can still remember everything about this game a couple years later in pretty good detail.

Hotline Miami is one of my favorite games because of its fast-paced, instant-death combat accompanied by a great soundtrack. There are a lot of games that try to mimic that Hotline Miami feeling, but not a lot of games come even close to it but Katana Zero does. Instead of a top-down view, Katana Zero takes the 2D approach and it works so well. But to say that Katana Zero is nothing more than a 2D Hotline Miami clone would be wrong. It does enough things to set itself apart.

You start every level by taking on a contract containing a target. To get to the target and kill it, you need to fight through these well-made levels. You can slash, dodge and slow down time to take down the enemies in those levels. But take one hit and you start back at the beginning of the room. I really like this gameplay loop and it's fun to find a path that works best for you. Sometimes it felt a beat cheap during the few boss fights or when you get killed by an enemy that's offscreen for example.

The story itself is interesting enough. It follows an assassin that's trying to figure out its past by taking on those contracts. The story can be a bit confusing sometimes and when I felt it was finally going somewhere, it ended with a 'To be continued. The ending left me with some questions that I would've liked to be answered during the game. But apparently, the devs are working on some DLC for the game so it's not that big of an issue for me.

TL:DR: Katana Zero is a fun fast-paced action game that ends abruptly. Recommended to fans of Hotline Miami.

Wife’s Reaction:
“I bet all this dying is humbling, isn’t it?”

Play That Back For Me:
Katana Zero hooked me with its style; the VHS-design and incredible soundtrack will be what I remember from my time playing. The game’s combat seems simple, but its focus on absolute precision can be as frustrating as it is rewarding, especially in later levels and bosses. I loved it, but it’s hard to recommend.

Hot DAMN, this game is good! This game is excellent at giving off a supreme sense of "flow" when everything goes right, a zen-like state of leaping from one action to another. Open a door by cutting someone down, at the same time toss a cleaver diagonally to hit an enemy on next floor from below, slowing down time to slash a bullet away at the gunman on the other side of the room and finally leap over the last, shielded enemy in slo-mo to cut them down from behind, all fluidly one after another! That is the essence of what makes Katana ZERO's quick-twitch, one hit kill gameplay work so well!

It feels a lot like a blend between the difficult, checkpoint-based platformers like Super Meat Boy and Celeste and action-platformers or even character action games, such as Ninja Gaiden with a hint of No More Heroes. Room-based action where your goal is to kill everyone and get to the exit, turning it into an almost puzzle-action game where it is all about planning out the most efficient route of murder. Your toolkit is largely simple: You can jump, slash with your sword or grab certain stage objects to throw as projectiles. But the game mixes this all together to create some wicked areas, especially with the secret sauce of the game's last mechanic, which is that you can slow down time by holding down L2 (or w/e button you want) on a limited, regenerating timer. Slow down bullets to send them back with your sword, roll around opponents, but don't abuse it too much since you'll still die just as quickly. I BELIEVE the game can technically be beaten without ever using it, but only if you're a god at it, instead working out when and how to use it is a pretty strategic and tactical choice. The checkpoint-based retries encourage exploring multiple paths to completing your killing spree and helps with the frustrating that might otherwise arise, this game is very clearly designed with it in mind.

Enemy variety could definitely stand to be a little better, at the least in terms of visual appearance it feels like more could have been done at the end, but ultimately there is plenty enough to challenge your knowledge of the tools at your disposal and bosses end up challenging you in unique ways, since they're 1v1 killfests rather than room-based challenges, with more of a focus on tight dodging and attack windows. Given the svelte playtime, I finished in 4 hours 40 minutes on the nose, it doesn't overstay its welcome at all throughout the run time. The levels keep throwing different challenges at you as well, which helps with keeping things feeling fresh: Even your standard thug or guy with a gun can be fun when they're in a room designed to make you tackle them in different ways, after all!

But while the gameplay is great, it was the story that ended up really drawing me in to the point I would say that by the end I was much more interested where that was going then on the next gameplay challenge! I'm not going to spoil it, as I think it's probably best enjoyed without that, so allow me to just say that it is a lot more than you'd normally get out of this kind of game, something I quite enjoy in a 2D Platformer. Funny enough, the other games that come to mind for this also have "Zero" in the title: Mega Man Zero. I will also say one thing I loved was how the game's mechanics are so woven into the story, with pretty much all of it coming in-universe, even stuff like the checkpoint basis! Hell, even the soundtrack is almost entirely diagetic, either being played by someone in-universe or listened to by the protagonist on his headphones which even brings up the title of the song as if you were using a cyberpunk iPod.

And ooooooh man, the music, the graphics, this game is slick when it comes to aaaaaaall that. Synthwave-inspired, so many tracks fill in nicely with the mood of a given scene and the thrill of the momentum-based gameplay, to the point I'd say the music is a critical part of how the game's "flow" works. It knows when to be bombastic, techno-infused and keeping you on your toes, but there's slower tracks best in tune with more quiet moments as well, a good blend. Some of my favorites are Overdose, Katana ZERO and Third District. This has to be a contender for best video game soundtrack of 2019! Visually, it's got a super neon look that feels right at home with games like Hotline Miami and Hyper Light Drifter, along with obvious inspiration from classic cyberpunk works. While some of the spritework is pretty simple, the aesthetic stylings do more than carry it along with some swift animations and stuff like how blood splatters on walls or injections look. I was also quite impressed with how this game utilized some "glitchiness" aesthetic, especially since the game already uses VCR stylings for menus or security tapes so it fits in really well.

There's a few things keeping it out of 10/10, one of which is the ending, which isn't bad (I'd even say I liked it) but feels like it is tacking too hard on a sequel or DLC. It isn't that it just has a sequel hook, but that it leaves too much kinda unresolved and hollow, desperately in need of completion, even if there is stuff about it I like. Another pertinent reason is that decent chunks of the final level dipped a bit too much into frustration rather than challenge, in particular there are multiple "Gotcha!" moments where if you didn't essentially know it was happening before it did you WILL die, which fits flavorfully but feels bad. One of them is rather easy to trip, too. And then there's just a few slight random quibbles that don't hurt the game much but add up overall, this game just would have been perfect if it went on another two hours, but it's a bit too short for the narrative.

Overall, though, these are more minor issues that keep it from a "perfect score" than anything to worry about. Absolutely anyone who is interested in this kind of action platformer should play this and it has enough going for it I'd even recommend it to people normally disinclined by that if they're up for trying it. Given this game has received widespread attention, I think this one's on track to truly be an action platformer classic as time goes on. Out of the 10 games I've completed to date this year, it was easily my favorite, so I'm very excited for where that (free!) DLC takes us, or even a sequel!

+ gameplay divertida e não muito complexa
++ plot interessante que se entrelaça com as mecânicas de gameplay
+ diálogos bem feitos
++ visuais memoráveis
+ ost deliciosa
+ curto o suficiente pra dar gostinho de quero mais e quando tu começa a cansar o jogo acaba
+ eu daria um ponto negativo por ser um jogo curto que terá dlc, mas a dlc vai ser gratuita, PUTA QUE PARIU TÃO DE PARABÉNS!!!

must play

Katana Zero is a game I’ve been meaning to play ever since it got released, I just never got around to it until now. Two and a half playthroughs later, I have experienced almost everything the game offers in record time. Despite the short length, Katana Zero is a quality experience with plenty to talk about.

Katana Zero’s gameplay is simplistic, yet its demand for you to master it is what gives it rich depth and addictive replayability combined with its short length. You can kill enemies, toss objects, and reflect bullets, you also can slow down time for more precision, and dodge rolls with invincibility frames to avoid hazards, and roll through enemies. It might seem like a lot when I list it, but really all of it ties together nicely for a smooth learning experience I enjoyed. Katana Zero is about trial and error throughout a section, with plenty of checkpoints and open-ended design which allows players to tackle obstacles in their own ways, complementing its short length and strong replayability nicely. I found solving each room satisfying, and every mechanic I could utilize felt impactful and necessary due to how simple it all is in practice. Slowing down time helps alleviate tighter timings that require more skill like reflecting bullets, or more generous opportunities to dodge but is never required but a single time in the game, which I really liked. Reflecting bullets might be the most demanding mechanic right from the start, but slowing down time very much helps with learning the timing, audio cues are especially important and well implemented into this game which is another plus. I never found the game too demanding or too fast-paced for me to keep up with what it asked me to do, and the variety of gameplay mix-ups present is impressive and kept me engaged the entire time.

Katana Zero’s setting and history is also very fascinating. It’s very much a metropolis setting with the right amount of sci-fi, dark humor, and history behind it that makes it feel very realized and immersive to experience. Every locale struck all the right notes that embodied the setting without ever feeling out of place until the end, however that drastic shift in setting is justified by the story and how it plays out, so it never felt shoehorned in or out of place at all. Combined with the incredible synth-wave style of music Katana Zero presents, it creates this beautiful atmosphere that elevates the metropolis setting, but creates an impression of something being beyond the curtain you can only see at that given moment, giving both the music and the setting further depth that makes it imprint itself upon your mind that much more. It’s also just incredibly complementing to the slow strategic nature of the game, and/or the incredibly fast-paced decision making and vitriol on display, it’s truly universal in its effectiveness.

Narratively, Katana Zero does not disappoint either. It’s full of twists and turns, shocking revelations, impactful decision making, and enough variation for me to say the agency of the player’s choices feels important. While I can’t say with utmost certainty how impactful every dialogue option is, I don’t think it really matters since the writing of the characters you interact with, as well as the one you play as are incredible and consistent. While I do think the emphasis of cursing and everyone just being unhinged could turn a lot of people off, or just become grating, it all serves the tone the game is going for, so I never minded it or batted an eye at it really. What I will especially praise however is the psychological elements this game presents, they’re incredibly surreal and compelling, it was by far my favorite aspect of the game, and thought they did way more with it than I expected. There’s one specific instance that absolutely floored me, and for that reason alone, Katana Zero is very much worth experiencing.

While I have done nothing but praise Katana Zero so far, let’s get into the negatives, particularly the one negative I did have with the game, which is Hard Mode. Now since Hard Mode is entirely optional and doesn’t unlock anything but an achievement, it seems arbitrary to complain about, however if I were to neglect something in the game I thought was flawed, that would be negligent of me as a reviewer I think, so let’s go over it. Hard Mode as the name implies is a harder variation of the main story without cutscenes and much harder enemy placements. To me, a lot of Hard Mode boiled down to simply increasing the difficulty artificially by increasing the number of enemies in a given room to create a challenge. While I do believe many rooms have smart enemy placement that flows incredibly well and is beyond satisfying to figure out, most of the time it felt bloated and unfair to the point of pure frustration. Hard Mode has its perks, such as new enemy types that change how you approach rooms, and I’m sad to see these enemies not implemented in normal mode, since it would’ve helped the small pool of enemies you’re always fighting and made everything just a bit more dynamic. Instead, these new enemies are shoved in with tons of older enemies which dilutes their impact overall to me, even though mechanically they are unique and present specific restrictions I really liked. Overall, Hard Mode was a disappointment, though again, it being entirely optional does not taint my overall outlook on the game at all, it’s merely a blemish I wanted to talk about.

This is definitely on the shorter end of my reviews, but really I don’t have too much more to say. Katana Zero is short and simple but was a very fun and worthwhile experience I can’t wait to see more of in the future. Katana Zero has superb presentation with the pixel art, setting, and music accompanied by gameplay that you can play at your own pace, whether that be fast or slow for the most part. Amazing potential with the story, psychological aspects are done exceptionally well and really make the narrative that much better. Fantastic variation in gameplay, good humor, and is very consistent. My only issue with the game is Hard Mode, but it's optionality makes it easily excusable. Four stars may seem low for all my praise, but I will say I personally don’t feel I can rate it higher for the simple fact that I didn’t always find it so fun and high quality while playing, but it’s definitely there, and I recognize that. Excited to see where it goes from here all the same. Thank you all for reading my review, next up will be God Hand, thanks to a “secret Santa” event, but I’ll go more into that in the next review. Until next time!

Katana Zero has reminded me of feelings I had forgotten that a game could generate in me. It has reminded me that games can be really immersive and that they can have a mysterious aura and that made me more interested in simply letting myself be carried away by the moment and leave a little bit of analyzing aside.

This game caught my attention because of how good its pixel art looks, its atmosphere and the gameplay with that solid and fluid character control, I thought that was the only thing I was going to find in this game, but besides that, Katana Zero also has a very interesting story that will keep you hooked to the game all the time, I'm not kidding when I say that I only opened this game before going to sleep just to try it a little, and in the end I ended up staying up all night just to reach its conclusion. Although the story could be said to have themes already used or seen in other media, it is very good and unfolds in a way that will always keep you intrigued. Our character is basically an assassin for hire who works for some sort of organization in exchange for medicine and therapy treatment. The missions consist of eliminating a specific target that is usually guarded by a lot of security.

The gameplay is very addictive due to the frenetic pace of the sections of this game and thanks to the excellent music that accompanies each of the levels. The levels consist of rigorously slaughtering a bunch of thugs, this we will do with only our Katana, and also thanks to the special ability that our protagonist has to put things in slow motion. Although by the end the levels can get difficult, with a little determination there will always be a way to get through that seemingly impossible section.

Conclusion
It's only about 4 hours long, but it was one of the most polished and unique games I've ever played.

I'm a little sad not to talk much more about the game and end the review here, but I think it's the kind of game you have to play without knowing much about it, or at least I think it will be more memorable that way. I'll definitely do a review with spoilers once the DLC arrives.

this games gameplay is whats inside my head when I listen to high octane boss battle music

the main meat and potatoes gameplay here is fantastic, but the overall aesthetic and plot feels very derivative. I know hotline miami is an easy comparison to make, but the plot just kinda felt like a hodgepodge of the stories of the last indie darlings of the last 10 or so years. Doesn't really leave much of an impression on me, but ill probably return to this as just like an ADHD toy cuz slashing dudes and goin' fast is fun as fuck.

To me, Katana Zero was nigh perfection.

It is a simple game in some respects, but a very deep one at the same time. It bases itself on a Hotline-Miami-esque frame, and pushes it pretty far in how it constructs its combat machanics. It lasts exactly how long I wanted; just enough to fully use its ideas and tell a compelling narrative, and not long enough to become repetitive and tedious.

The style on display in how the dialogues unfold, how every character moves and expresses pain or slashes someone in half is just astounding as well.

The music might be the only thing that over promised a bit. It's a good soundtrack, but nothing that blew me away in the style it was going for.

Katana Zero is a fantastic game, a short but very tight experience that knows what it wants to do and does it superbly.

+lovely clear pixel art that is legible even at the fast speeds this game requires. the game is good at presenting a lot of visual information without there being clutter
+the game has a surreal tone similar to games like hotline miami and killer7, and it dripfeeds its secrets over the course of the short running time. each thread is taken care of, it never feels drawn out, and it manages to walk the tightrope between complete surreality and having a cohesive narrative that you can follow
+the ending as well is very distinctive, with a pseudo-cliffhanger as the hidden elements of the main character's life come into focus. it doesn't wrap up the game in a bow but it sets up a sequel while also giving a fitting end to Zero's arc
+the time traveling elements are well incorporated both into the narrative and the gameplay; this is the real selling point of the game imo. the slow-down ability is very generous and applicable to a wide variety of situations, and certain bosses and cutscenes take advantage of it and the ability to see the future/move back in time to great effect. it's hard to go into details without getting into spoiler territory but in a game like this that wears its influences on its sleeve this is the one set of tricks that I think were very well presented

-I could have done without some of the stealth sections, as they don't have very deep mechanics and slow the pace down quite a bit. this is really only an issue in the middle though
-towards the end the game starts running out of steam a bit, with few new ideas, some pretty bare areas, and a couple instances of unadorned rooms with waves of enemies coming out of doors
-insane control nitpick but having a fast fall, a downward aerial slash, and a landing roll clutters up the options when approaching from the air... I only bring this up because there were multiple times I was attempting something from the air and ended up, say, fast falling and sliding when I was attempting to just slash at a downward diagonal

there are other games in this style that get the job done better but this game certainly holds its own. it's a quick game that could easily be beaten in a single sitting, and it packs a lot of great content into that runtime. I'm looking forward to seeing the dlc that eventually comes out plus further works... a longer, more developed game in this style could be a lot of fun.

This one grabbed my attention with its cool slick cover art and I finally managed to pick this one up since I missed my opportunity to playthrough this on game pass. You are the Katana Zero in a way dude! The more you play it the better you get at it and it's cool how pretty much it's part of not just the premise but the game's story as well. Super interesting story with some cute heartfelt and deep moments for such a short and action-packed indie game. The cyberpunk synth-style soundtrack blends perfectly as you are cutting down all those pesky bogeys. My only regret is that I did not play it sooner!

Katana zero foi um dos poucos a me surpreender de verdade, talvez pelo pre- conceito que tinha do jogo e de como ele poderia ser ate o fim, vi que era um jogo curto, então decidi zerar, afinal poderia ser uma experiência divertida.
Mas contudo, todavia recebi algo completamente diferente do que esperava, foi uma surpresa bem interessante em sua execução.
Muitas mecânicas e feels aqui possuem fortes inspirações a hotline Miami, até a música e isso é genuinamente belo e atraente a mim.
A narrativa e a gameplay fluem numa sinergia precisa e catalisam mais subtemas não completamente verbalizado e o Twist do storytelling.
É magnífico um jogo acertar tanto em sua gameplay e fazer uso dela em dia narrativa, o level design é bem bonito e bem funcional ao jogo como um todo, estética muito dosada, isso é um pinto bem interessante.
Foi uma experiência divertida, me surpreendi e por fim estou no aguardo da sequência.
Obs: A metaliguagem inserida em algumas partes realmente me deixaram mais hypado pra sequência.