The narrative scenes take place in the same 2D platformer worlds, but they’re meticulously animated. The main story isn’t really altered by my choices (barring a couple quirky exceptions) but they options enrich my connection with Zero and the price he pays for immortality. In another scene I decide to be nice to the little girl who lives next to me, cooking her dinner (a packet of protein paste, regrettably). When a therapist interviews me, I can press for more information about the drugs he administers or I can clam up and seethe. Dialog options provide more insight into Zero’s plight. Interactive moments between levels offer me some control of the shape of the journey. The narrative gradually unpacks this dreadful choice: endless violent repetition or infinite oblivion. Going cold turkey means a terrible fate: Perception of time stops, with every second stretching into infinity. The only way to get more Chronos is to continue working for his supplier. Zero lives alone in a shitty studio apartment.
Katana zero platforms professional#
Despite its professional benefits, Chronos takes a brutal toll on its addicts. These are well-worn game mechanics, but Katana Zero shrewdly builds its story around them to give them weight. But many times these scenarios feel inevitable and brute-forceable as my muscle memory kicks in for the 20th replay.
And there is that feeling of satisfaction I get when perfectly executing a scenario. Even small encounters with two or three enemies may require a half-dozen attempts before getting it exactly right. He doesn’t fail missions so much as he repeats them, rewinding time until each attack breaks in his favor.įor all the gameplay’s limitations, the repetitive nature aligns well with the themes. In practice, this means bullet time and infinite lives. He’s been treated with an experimental drug called Chronos, granting him a unique perception of time. Players take on the role of Zero, an amnesiac samurai assassin tasked with killing anyone he’s told to kill. Katana Zero is a game about this cycle, weaving the notion that “mastery that comes from defeat” into a gory tale of revenge and redemption.ĭeveloped by Askiisoft, Katana Zero is a 2D side-scrolling action game in a dingy, neon-burnt metropolis. What threat is a band of pirates to Nathan Drake if he’s immortal? Acknowledging failure would spoil tension in a game’s story. Most games are built upon this cycle, but few call attention to it.
Numerous botched attempts through a stage can lead to the knowledge (or just simply precognition) required for survival. “A single success is often built upon countless failures” is hard to conceptualize in real life, but is obvious in the world of a video game.
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