2019-07-01_PC_Gamer

With their heads on the floor, I’m
able to take out the guys with guns
above them who are conveniently
standing in the path of several
deactivated lasers, the switch for
which is on the wall beside me
covered in Ricky guts. After frying
those two, I jump and
slash through the
floorboards of another
room, killing one
mobster in the process
and slowing time to
deflect the bullet of the
second one back in his
face. That’s the plan,
anyway. It only takes
me eight tries to pull it off.
Like Hotline Miami and other
action puzzlers, Katana Zero’s levels
are tightly designed with multiple
possible ways to hack and slash my
way through them. The protagonist is
a gritty, urban samurai. His toolkit of
abilities is small enough to quickly
develop muscle memory around but
adaptable enough to make the

I

n the back halls of a nightclub, in pursuit of a drug-dealing DJ, I
watch four pompadoured gangsters hazing the newest member
of the Skinny Rickys. I’m outnumbered, but close by are three
bottles and a butcher’s knife. If I sprint up and throw the
makeshift murder tools with four fast button presses, I can
take them all down. So I do.

combat encounters varied. He has a

sword – good for stabbing enemies,

deflecting bullets, or smashing down

doors to kill anyone unfortunate

enough to be standing near them. He

can roll to avoid damage, which is

important given that being hit by an

enemy even once is

instant death. He can

pick up and throw

helpfully placed

objects. And he can

slow time to a crawl for

a limited duration

thanks to an illicit drug

he’s getting from his

psychologist.

Slowing time is Katana Zero’s core

ability, and turns what would

otherwise be an unfair challenge into

a tactical tango. But it’s a scant

resource that can seldom get me out

of danger alone. I have to chain

together slowed attacks with realtime

ones or I’ll wind up with an empty

slow-mo tank while the bullets and

fists are still flying.

AtonewiththeblAde

Nightly interactions with other

characters are a welcome break

from the death treadmill. They

work a bit like a Telltale game

conversation in which I have a

certain amount of time to decide

on my character’s response. My

favourite part is that while another

person is talking, I’ll usually also have

the option to interrupt them with a

more aggressive or heated answer

that prevents them from finishing

their sentence.

Despite the great dialogue system,

the narrative itself is pretty standard

urban dystopian territory. The

government is shady and corrupt.

The protagonist lives in a ramshackle

apartment. He’s a victim of said

shady government and his own

unfortunate circumstances. But while

its characters don’t bring any new

angles to the neon and noir cityscape,

Katana Zero’s frenetic,

improvisational action make it well

worthyourtime.

NeedtoKNow

What is it?

A strategic action

slash-em-up with visual

novelbookends

EXPECttOPaY

£12

DEvElOPEr

Askiisoft

PublishEr

DevolverDigital

rEviEWEDOn

Windows 10, Intel i7

8700k, 16GB RAM,

NVIDIA GeForce GTX

970.

MultiPlaYEr

No

link

http://www.katanaZero.com

79

Thoughtfully-designed

levels and versatile

combat abilities

make Katana Zero

worthy of a rewind.

vErDiCt

State of Replay

Time-bending action platformer KataNa Zero is a puzzle full of payoffs. By Lauren Morton

I haveto chain

together

slowed

attacks with

realtime ones

Stealth sections are

few, but fun.

A few classic breakaway action

sequences change the pace.

Taking out multiple enemies

at once demands creativity.