Katana ZERO

7 years after the games release and still waiting for the dlc... I still believe...

Man, what a game... It's a masterpiece. If you're yearning for a 2D, fast-paced, brutal, trial-and-error game similar to Hotline Miami, then this is it. Stunning art, insanely satisfying gameplay and an intriguing but unfinished narrative so well integrated into the gameplay that it's rare to see it done this well. (The rest is coming in a free DLC that has been in development for years now, it's Silksong all over again.) The amazing OST is just the cherry on top, I absolutely loved it. Katana Zero quickly became one of my favorite games of all time, don't sleep on it and buy it as soon as you can. 10/10, cannot wait to see how the story pans out.

This is a very reluctant positive review. The first time I played this game I quit a few rooms before the final boss of the game due to the level design, too tired of the game to even bother leaving a negative review. Don't expect a game that tests your mastery of its mechanics. It teaches you how to play and expects just that from you, which is a measured choice as I would argue this is more of a story-driven game than a gameplay-driven one. On that front, I expected to be more invested in the story than I ended up being. The final boss and ending do tie it together in my opinion, and I especially love how intimately the story interacts with the structure of the final boss, but I don't know, it just didn't sink its claws into me during the course of the campaign. Looking back now, I think I just needed some time to digest it, and that's fine, that's just the kind of game it's written to be. Buy it while it's on sale if you like the neon slasher aesthetic, it only takes about five hours on the high end to beat.