Katana Zero blends Gunpoint noir with Hotline Miami ultraviolence
I’m too cheeky for my own good. Moments before arriving at a hotel early into Katana Zero, my psychiatrist tells me to carry out a hit on a billionaire drug trafficker, and to do it swiftly. As I arrive in the hotel’s lobby, a clerk tries to greet me as the game’s dialogue options begin to unfold - allowing me to cut her off abruptly or let the conversation flow. Keen to carry out my mission, I rudely stop her from speaking so I can carry on my merry way, leaving her red-faced with anger.
After finishing the night’s deed, I return to the lobby to find the clerk once again, still red-faced, but now flanked by a horde of police who are here to investigate my wet work. Before I can produce an alibi, the clerk cuts me off and tattles on me. Blam! One of the officers opens fire with a shotgun. I didn’t want to have to do this...
The lesson here is that the small details matter in Katana Zero and the personality you choose to portray imposes itself on the story. As a result of my rudeness, I’m forced to take out the police before leaving the hotel. During a debrief afterwards, I’m told the client wasn’t happy that innocent bystanders were killed, and a news report in my apartment echoes the tragedy I was complicit in.
The broader story this is weaved into puts me in the sandals of a katana-wielding hitman stuck in the middle of an unravelling plot of betrayal. To find out what’s wrong from right, I must dance through the neon-bathed slums of an 8-bit depiction of a city, leaving oodles of goons in my wake. It goes hand-in-hand with stylish gameplay that abides by a simple rule: whoever lands the first blow wins. To some, it’s enough to draw a link between Katana Zero and Hotline Miami. But it puts me in mind of stealth-based puzzle platformer Gunpoint.
from PCGamesN http://bit.ly/2UKC88G
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