Katana Zero
PC
Here, the drugs really do work. Katana Zero casts you as a contract killer, a former soldier in a brutal war who, thanks to a military drug, is able to see the future. Its levels play out in opposite fashion to Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time, which memorably justified its checkpoint system with the line, ‘Wait… that’s not how it happened.’ Here, you play the game in theory, precognitively; kill all the enemies on screen and the protagonist mutters, ‘Yes, that should work,’ before your successful run plays back on a grainy black-and-white display.
It’s a fine idea, and immensely satisfying to see your grisly wetwork played back in realtime, shorn of the sphincter-clenching tension that’s par for the course in a game where a single mistake means death. Combat is stylish enough in the hands, but is even more so when you’re watching it back – you’ve cheated the odds, not only by way of the instant restart after a failure, but by the time-slowing ability you used to make it easier to pass through bullets with your invincible dodge, or to deflect them at the shooter with a well-timed sword swipe.
Your moveset is slender – a roll, a jump, a slash – but you’ll rarely want for anything else, especially as there’s such flexibility within it. Sword swipes can be angled upwards or diagonally, and can kill a target through the floor or ceiling; a well-timed slash can be used to extend a jump or shift momentum after you spring off a wall. Throwable items are helpfully, though sparingly, left around the place, and range from statues and knives to smoke bombs and flamethrowers. Enemies have clearly defined silhouettes and attack in predictable ways; the slugger will charge you down, the rifleman will ping you from afar.
The real source of variety is Askiisoft itself, which uses the purity of Katana Zero’s core concept as a springboard into some unexpected, and frequently wonderful, places. A hit on a big-time DJ has you stalking through a nightclub, dancing among pockets of ravers to evade the prowling guards’ gaze. You’ll fight off a helicopter while speeding down the highway on a motorbike. Your heart may sink when you’re sent out on a stealth mission, but Askiisoft flips the script smartly. Elsewhere, there’s a charming little love letter to the 16bit era, a hoary old cliché updated in pacy, thrillingly bloody fashion. It’s an excellent action game, then, but there’s more to Katana Zero than pleasingly snappy controls, a stern challenge and rivers of claret. It also tells a surprisingly complex story, and affords you unexpected control over it. Entire plot threads will vanish if you’re not in the mood – on a second playthrough we abandon a burgeoning friendship with a young next-door neighbour – and conversations can be cut brutally short. When an NPC starts speaking, it takes a few seconds for your dialogue options to appear, but prior to that you can interrupt them, often brusquely. That, in turn, affects their response to you, both at the time and as events play out later on.
And things really do take a turn. Early on there are hints at where your time-warping powers come from; your assassination contracts come from a therapist who shoots narcotics into your arm at the end of every session. But events quickly spiral, your time powers glitching out and used to have both player and protagonist question what is real, or merely being previewed.
That’s something we can relate to: it’s not often we’re given so complete a package this far in advance of release. There will be further polishing in the final weeks before launch, but Katana Zero is already in excellent shape. As we watch the credits on our preview build roll, an appropriate line comes to mind. Yes. That should work.
Your moveset is slender – a roll, a jump, a slash – but you’ll rarely want for anything else