where should I start? this game holds a really special place in my heart, katana zero was the first game that really got me into playing indie games, before playing this title I wasn't that interested in games with pixel graphics, then all of a sudden a game journalist that I knew recommended this game, I saw the cheap price and low specs, so I bought it (this goes back to 2019), when I opened the game menu, I was amazed by how beautiful it looked. then I started playing it, this game was like everything I ever wanted from a video game, an amazing artstyle, great soundtrack, a wonderful fast-paced gameplay that you never get bored of, and I hadn't even scratched the surface at that moment

first, I wanna talk about the story, this title shares many similarities with hotline miami and I love that, I don't wanna spoil anything for you, but plot twists, characters, everything is well-written in this game, I saw people calling the story and the ending unsatisfying, but what ending are you guys talking about exactly? the story is nowhere near finished, but everything we learned so far is freaking amazing, the symbolism, the dreams, everything is perfect in my opinion, but I'm not a writer so who cares lol

askiisoft nailed it with the artstyle and the graphics, I loved everything, level backgrounds, the little attention to details, everything is perfect, I don't think there was any better ways to represent the game, I love the pixel art

about the gameplay, I read some reviews about it, one of them said : "if you want something beyond style, if you want a precise action game, you should look elsewhere." (mind that this was a review on metacritic and it was written by a game journalist) I really want to ask this guy what's a precise action game in his opinion but I guess everybody has their own opinion. anyways, the gameplay is literally perfect, especially when you get into the speedrun mode and start learning things that you didn't knew before, I don't think you'll get bored of it that easily, I'm still learning more and enjoying the gameplay to this day, you can have access to 4 swords other than the default one by getting some achievements, I personally prefer the savant knife because of the fast attack rate, but most speedrunners I saw use the prism sword, you can try out all of them and see which one fits your playstyle, it's all about personal preferences

if you wanna get into the speedrun mode, trust me, it's gonna be fun, yeah it may be hard at first, but it's the most fun I ever had speedrunning a game, you can also learn more ways to clear stages faster by watching world records on yt, I started with speedrunning the normal mode and I set my goal to get a plat high score on every level, when I achieved that I quit playing the speedrun mode for a while, then I came back recently to start speedrunning the hardmode, yes I know it's hard, but it's so fun at the same time

the last thing I wanna mention is the soundtrack, the soundtrack is so freaking amazing, you're basically buying a soundtrack that comes with a free game, even after listening to the soundtracks for 3 years, I still love every last one of them, they are all amazing in their own genres

thank you Justin for this amazing game, I hope you do well in your future projects.

Edit: guys they just added katana HERO, and it's so much fun. it's the base game with visual changes and a completely different story. also, THEY ADDED HOLY WATER. they added a new soundtrack and new sound effects to the V boss fight and it's so funny. they added some funny details, like they changed the police car symbols to spirits and dragons, also they added 15's soldier outfit for the tape which was nice. they turned slaughter house to meat facility and it's so freaking funny, also in the bunker you see the body of bunch of nulls in the army suit that 0 and 15 wear, I personally think this will become some important part of the story in the future. I just finished the game, they changed the secret boss fight to a dragon and it's so freaking cool, once again, you guys who worked on this have my thanks.

so basically this is how each fight works : the boss will go through several phases and within each phase there are two sections of battle, one that utilizes the entire arena dodging bullets or whatever they throw at you and another that is a close melee section, you have three lives and if you die you have to start that phase from the beginning and if you lose all three of your lives you'll have to do the battle all over again from the start, and also you get a life back for every stage you beat, sounds simple, right? well the general idea is simple, but the battles are FREAKING HARD AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.

you can attack with your sword and your gun which both can be charged up for higher damage and for defense you can dodge or parry, but let me tell something, just learn parrying bro, you'll get the hang of it after like 5 minutes, trust me there will be bosses that you can only parry their attacks, you can't run away all the time (also you regain a little bit of hp after a successful parry). the parry mechanic is where this game truly shines, there is just something so satisfying about parrying in this game, if you time the parry closer to when you would get hit it initiates a cutscene which not only looks and feels cool to pull off but it gives extra damage to the boss, each boss is a huge challenge that feels amazing when you overcome it and none of the bosses are similar to each other, you'll have to master all of your abilities in order to defeat the bosses and finish the game, some bosses are purely melee focused while some other ones literally fly off to freaking nowhere and you must shoot them.

when you finish the game once it unlocks the furier mode and unlike most other hard modes in games, all the bosses now have completely different and much harder attack patterns than before. you're gonna have to relearn how to take each down in new ways, also they have a speedrun mode which is a blessing (seriously though, why can't all games have a dedicated speedrun mode?! )

other than the gameplay there are a tons of more great things about this game, like the aesthetic and graphics, the cutscenes you get after defeating each boss, even better the soundtrack, OMFG I LOVE THE SOUNDTRACK, it's definitely one of the best OSTs in the video game industry, also it has a japanese VA which is amazing, they hired better voice actors than most of the AAA companies do, and about the story, while it might look simple at first, trust me, there is a lore and meaning behind it ...

couldn't ask for a better game, thank you Game Bakers for this amazing masterpiece.