The time manipulation mechanic is quite interesting, as it ties into how the stages play out. This, alongside your ability to dodge past most attacks as well as slow time to a crawl for a few moments, makes you a more than formidable threat.
Your sword has impressive range and is able to reflect bullets back at their source. Thankfully, you have a few tricks of your own. That’s easier said than done though, as you’re only one man armed with a sword and your enemies are numerous and more powerfully equipped. Upon killing them all you are allowed to move onto the next screen. Your mission is split into areas filled with enemies. A brief tutorial showing of the button prompts shows everything needed to take out the threats between you and your goal. The game begins with our character, seemingly a samurai, arriving at a facility with instructions to rescue a prisoner. With that said, Katana Zero does enough different, beyond its switch to side-scrolling, to make it a worthy game in its own right. This is, of course, not a bad thing as Hotline Miami was excellent fun. The trial and error gameplay, the visceral combat, and even the presentation have a lot in common with the former. If all that sounds somewhat similar to Hotline Miami, that’s because Katana Zero on Nintendo Switch has a lot in common with it. Kick! Swing! Parried! Shot! Dead! Well, I guess that wasn’t good enough what with my dying within one second. I’ll kick the door into the first meathead, swing my sword to kill the swordsman, throw this vase I found at the second meathead, before dodging behind the gunman and his barrage of bullets to clear the room. Two meatheads who’ll want to punch me to death, a swordsman, and a gun-toting bad guy on the stairs. I stand outside a closed door with my sword drawn, knowing that there are four mobsters on the other side. If that sounds crazy, we’re just getting started.
Katana Zero puts you in the shoes of a notorious serial killer known as The Dragon who is tasked by his therapist to take down the mob using time bending drugs.