“This is just sidescrolling Hotline Miami,” was one of my first thoughts upon starting Katana ZERO, and I have to say that I wasn’t immediately sold on the concept. Sure, it had the same fun brand of gory, balls-to-the-wall action, but it didn’t feel as visceral and animalistic as its top-down cousin; it felt, dare I say, sanitized. Fast forward a few hours, and I found myself spiraling deeper into a gradually unfolding non-linear narrative, punctuated by bursts of hectic gameplay that had me simultaneously holding my controller in a death grip and wanting to hurl it across the room. Katana ZERO is a harsh game, both to the player and its characters, but it managed to draw me in like few games in recent memory have and transcend its inspirations to become a real hack n’ slash gem.
Tag: Groundhog Day
Omensight Review
Several games have attempted the Groundhog Day format, to varying degrees of success. What tends to be the biggest stumbling block is also what makes the premise so interesting: you’re repeating the same day over and over. From a narrative perspective, this allows the story to focus on the same events from different points of view, or see how minor changes can impact the final outcome. However, it’s a lot harder to incorporate those subtle variations into gameplay, meaning that it’s easy to find yourself going through the same actions ad nauseum, simply to get from one story beat to another.
Last Day of June Review
Life is a series of choices. What to do, where to go, how to act, and so on. Some choose to live in the moment, focusing on their pursuits with reckless abandon. Others live for those around them, eager to help in whatever way they can. Regardless, everyone is their own person. It’s easy to look back on a series of events and think, “What if?” For instance, what if you had turned down that job offer? Then again, suppose you were dead broke and days away from ending up on the street. Suddenly, that job offer doesn’t seem like a choice. You may know of some potential repercussions; you may not. The decision remains the same, because, regardless of what hindsight may later tell you, it seems like the only option at the time. Such is the case with Last Day of June, a story-driven title that feels like a puzzle game version of Groundhog Day meets The Butterfly Effect.
Olive's Game Garden 