Review for ZERO Katana. Game for Mac and PC, the video game was released on 18/04/2019
Apparently 2019 will be the year of the samurai and, after the brilliant debut of the shinobi Sekiro, the new title of Askiisoft arrives on Nintendo Switch and PC: Katana ZERO, which sees us once again playing the role of an atypical samurai, catapulted into a chaotic world in two dimensions with noir hues, in what then translates into a successful final product: Katana ZERO is one of the most pleasant surprises of this first part of the year.
The extravagant protagonist, struggling with memory problems and a dangerous addiction to a drug called Chronos, works as a hitman for a mysterious client who communicates through the psychologist of the samurai - at the end of the unprofitable sessions - the tasks constituted by targets to be eliminated creating as little disruption as possible.
This is how our days will proceed, interspersing a refreshing nap between one mission and another in the hovel where the warrior lives, next to noisy and stoned neighbors and a mysterious little girl who seems out of place in a city that seems to have lost all kind of humanity.
To complete the contracts the deadly "Dragon " - so the swordsman is nicknamed - he must make his way through levels divided into several sections, harnessing your own warning power: in fact, in each area the actions we will perform will be a simulation in the mind of the Dragon who imagines an action plan to advance, then implementing it if free of smudges. A bit complex written like this, but what will it entail in practice? We will have to overcome each area without errors, that is without suffering any blows and getting rid of all enemies present at the same time.
A very onerous request that will require a cautious and careful study of the level design and the various patterns of the NPCs, which can be easily circumvented if taken individually, but still able to provide a good level of challenge, especially in the more advanced stages of ZERO Katana. The difficulty of being punished at the first mistake, which is a brilliant idea in its original way of justifying the trial and error mechanism for which the lethality of the samurai must go hand in hand with his precision in avoiding smears, is however well balanced by the length of the various sections, almost always very short and such that they can be repeated willingly and quickly for a large number of times.
In our favor we will have the faithful and equally lethal katana which gives its name to the title, capable of crushing in one stroke the unfortunates who will have the misfortune of being in the wake of the extremely sharp weapon; it will also be possible take advantage of the various objects present in the scenarios, throwing them to hit the farthest enemies from a distance in order to make your way more easily among the large groups of opponents that will block our way.
A fundamental need will be to fully exploit the skills of the swordsman, able to dodge quickly and, above all, to exploit his abilities - amplified by the use of the powerful and mysterious drug Chronos - to slow down time, consuming an indicator visible on the screen which will then automatically recharge. Slowing down the time will facilitate the clash with the numerous enemies equipped with firearms, even going as far as to be able to repel the bullets to the sender with a powerful blow of the sword, in a combination of shots with exceptional timing that we will be able to review continuously at the end of the section, when the samurai will implement the plan dictated by our actions in the initial study phase.
Although the level design is designed to bring out the very fast movements and freedom of choice in the Dragon's action modes, we would have preferred to see some type of enemy more, since these fall into four macro-categories, then increasing in number and places in more complex arrangements to be circumvented in the more advanced stages of ZERO Katana. Boss Fight are a nice variation on the theme, although they are not high as a level of difficulty, allowing you to test the skills of the samurai against more tough and equipped opponents a pattern of deadly moves (but on the other hand, what a blow is not in a title like that) that we will have to understand before taking the sweaty and bloody victory home. Here, too, we would not be sorry a few more boss fights, which would have indisputably elevated production, helping to provide greater variety to an already exciting and fun gameplay in its basic structures.
A peculiarity of the title is also the development of the various multiple choice dialogues: the player can often choose, in addition to the canonical answers to be selected within the time limit, a dialogue option even before our interlocutor has finished his sentence, ending up with make him nervous. The same multiple choice seems to give a slight margin of maneuver in the choices of the player, even if - with rare exceptions - the consequences will flow into a single common result. Slight minus point is lack in the available languages, but we can assure that in a title mainly focused on a dynamic and uninterrupted action this small flaw, for those at least more in difficulty with the Anglo-Saxon language, will immediately pass into the background.
The story provides several interesting insights and is pleasantly followed for all the 5-6 hours needed to complete the game; noteworthy are some twists, including the final one, which move a not too deep plot, with particular characters and out of the lines - such as V. - on which, however, we do not dwell too much, perhaps precisely for an in-depth study in the future sequel to the game.
Final comment on the soundtrack of ZERO Katana, perfectly wedged in the mood of the game and able to transmit the right adrenaline in the various levels, thanks to the audio cassettes so loved by the Dragon - which will accompany the otherwise obsolete noise of the blade that chops the flesh of the unfortunate - and to some darker tracks in conjunction with the most tense situations.
We live in a wonderful age to be gamers, where titles that have arrived under the radar are able to deeply amaze us with the quality, care and love that exude from every pixel on the screen. Katana ZERO is a small gem that, devoid of the heavy burden constituted by the excessive hype of which today's productions are victims, consecrates itself as one of the biggest surprises of this beginning of 2019. The title is fun and dynamic and the cyberpunk atmosphere mixed mechanics already familiar to those who have played the famous Hotline Miami shape a video game that can be played all in one breath and of which we look forward to a worthy sequel.
► Katana ZERO is an indie-Platform game developed by Askiisoft and published by Devolver Digital for Mac and PC, the video game was released on 18/04/2019
