Katana Zero

There’s this extremely satisfying feeling that surfaces when a game manages to capture a perfect balance between speed and difficulty. Soaring through levels, while needing to perfect your skills. There’s no downtime, no unnecessary loading screens, just instant fun.

Katana Zero, is one of those games.

You play as an addict ronin.. or ninja, or samurai, or just an addict. You wield your sword, your throwing weapons and go to town. It’s bloody. The gameplay loop of Katana Zero is very reminiscent Hotline Miami, except it’s a sidescroller and not top down. The premise is the same though. Each level you need to complete a task, but in your way are a plethora of “goons” that need to be dealt with. You dash, slice and throw shit to kill – and kill you will.

You can tackle the challenges by either brute forcing it, or by taking a more stealthy approach. There are no penalties by doing either, so you’re left to your own devices. It’s a choice I really respect and appreciate, since I feel like a lot of stealth oriented games punish you for playing more aggressively. Personally I prefer a mixture of both, and so Katana Zero never ended up feeling dull or like it punished me. It allowed me to really appreciate the content it offered in all forms, while still providing me with a challenge. Both you and the enemies die very easily, but once you’ve gotten the hang of a level and you start breezing through it like a murderous whirlwind, the satisfaction is difficult to beat.

Storywise the game is fairly obscure. It slowly drip feeds you, and at the end I still felt unsure on whether I had understood everything correctly. It’s a psychedelic experience, but not a bad one at all. Some twists are easy to see coming, but I never felt that it took away from the charm.

The music and art style are some of the best I’ve seen in pixel games. It sets the tone perfectly, and it never loses focus. Again, very similar to Hotline Miami… but I still gotta give Hotline Miami the win in terms of music.

The game is very short, so writing about its content without spoiling any of it is difficult. I beat the game and most side content within just a couple of days, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. It keeps its pacing perfectly, and I’m so so tired of games overstaying their welcome with meaningless padded content. 8/10!