That’s what we’re used to, right? Well, Katana Zero takes it a step further and spares none of its style. When someone is talking, a black box will appear above them and text will be typed out with some unintelligible noise to indicate speech. While speaking of the visuals, I have to talk about the text boxes themselves in this game. The blood, while pixelated, will flow from your blade and paint the walls with each strike, and makes for some truly chaotic scenes once your work is done. This also works perfectly for the dark themes of the game, as there is blood and gore aplenty as you slash your way through never-ending enemies. The colours, the lighting, and the style of each and every person is undoubtedly both beautiful and retro. All of the characters and environments are pixelated, with some excellent details and effects thrown in there alongside. Visually, Katana Zero is beautiful and the perfect fit for its overall theme. Between each of these action-packed segments, you’ll be talking to all manner of characters and get a choice of dialogue a lot of the time, which offers up new information and even some important choices you’ll make. Having a final view of your character masterfully taking out everyone in an area without a scratch is a worthwhile reward for each area, and is a perfect mechanic to make you get up and try it again. Keep playing out these attempts until you succeed, in which case you’ll then get to see how it played out via the Security Camera footage.

Click the button and time will rewind back to the start of that stage. When you fall, everything stops and you get the text “that won’t work”. The workaround for this is where it gets fun: as you attempt the level, you have the ability to slow down time, deflect bullets, and use the environment to your advantage. The catch? You have a sword, they have guns, gadgets, and all manner of defences. Katana Zero will have you blasting your way through many different levels and environments in no time, killing everyone that stands between you and the exit.

How long to beat katana zero