Bloody, Senseless Violence
HIGH Atmospheric. Exceptional pixel art.
LOW Minimal story and half-baked mechanics.
WTF Cow + wolf = giant monster bone bear?
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi everyone! Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com.
A distress signal sounds. A small response group led by a fierce warrior named Naut heads out to a space station inhabited by thousands of people, only to find it quiet and desolate ā but not empty. They quickly discover that the residents have been turned into terrible monsters. With survival as the only option, this small band must fight the horde to stay alive, while ultimately trying to find out what happened.
Katanaut is a 2D action roguelike where players take on the role of Naut, a warrior with a knack for swords and an exterminator of monstrous creatures. Players will infiltrate the overrun space station, pick up special abilities and power ups, and fight bosses to get to the truth of whatās happening. As players go through each level and defeat enemies, theyāll uncover new things to unlock for future runs, like new weapons, guns, abilities, and passive upgrades.Ā
During play, thereās a lot of emphasis on movement and flow while balancing slicing with swords and shooting enemies. For example, the playerās gun only has a limited number of bullets, and gaining more requires players to get in close with melee, so each encounter becomes a bloody dance of shooting enemies from afar before diving headfirst into the horde to get ammo back.
In addition, thereās a wealth of active abilities that can boost Nautās combat abilities, like a ball of eldritch lightning, summoning a small group of allies, or things like shield generation or damaging enemies if players dodge-roll through them. Thereās plenty of variety overall to make each run feel unique in how players will interact with the environment and the horde theyāre fighting through.
In terms of atmosphere, thereās an eerie and tense energy that Katanaut nails. Every cut paints the walls of the station in blood, and the environments become more and more grotesque as players near the core. There also seems to be a hint of mental manipulation ā is Naut wanting to eliminate the threat and save the world, or is he trying to learn more and harness this power for himself? Is he being manipulated by this unknown power, or will he be strong enough to resist? Only time will tell as players run through again and again.
While this all seems like a recipe for success and Katanaut does give a strong first impression, that feeling, unfortunately, fades quickly.
My biggest issue with the experience is that the roguelike elements are here, but they arenāt quite on target. For example, while there are plenty of varied and interesting abilities, the guns feel too similar and boring. Sure, the damage of a given weapon can go up or down, but none felt that interesting, or even that different from one another, making guns overall seem like an afterthought.
Main melee weapons suffer from this as well, although this might be more of a pacing issue. Katanaut offers six main weapons, but I have yet to unlock more than one additional weapon after all the time Iāve spent with it, and that includes fully completing a run.
Speaking of pacing issues, itās not limited to the main weapon unlocks. Looking at the campaignās structure as a whole, progression from run to run feels so incremental that the time investment doesnāt feel worth it. Increasing health by one point, increasing stamina by five points, increasing katana damage by 5% ā it all feels tiny, grindy and unsatisfying, and it makes the ultimate goal of reaching the end feel like an impossible slog that will take much, much longer than I want to spend with it.
These are all significant downsides, and the story was equally unsatisfying. Does a roguelike need to have a grand, overarching narrative to be good? No. But does it need to at least have some core of a story to motivate me for why I should care about going through this space station? I think so.
I wish I could say that the payoff was worth it, but after finishing a run, I got to see the credits for the game and then opened up an enhanced difficulty ā and that was it! None of the story questions were answered! What was the villainās motivation? Why create the monsters? If I beat the boss, why do I need to go back and do the same run again, but harder? This made the āendingā fall completely flat for me, and after that narrative letdown, I didnāt feel a lot of motivation to continue.
Katanaut looks good and has potential, and honestly, itās getting better by the day. The developer has been dropping frequent updates that offer additions and enhancements that werenāt there when I first started playing, and the push and pull of going between melee and ranged during the action feels on point. However, thereās a lot of competition in the roguelike genre right now, and in order to succeed, Katanautās going to need better handling of its story and adjustments to the grindy nature of the meta-progression. As it stands today, it didnāt land with me and I havenāt stuck with it, but that could change in the future with a few more patches and upgrades.
For me, Katanaut gets 6.5 otherworldly abominations out of ten.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Disclosures:Ā This game is developed and published by Voidmaw.Ā It is currently available onĀ PC. This copy of the game was obtained viaĀ publisherĀ and reviewed on theĀ PC. ApproximatelyĀ 8.5Ā hoursĀ of play were spent playing the game, andĀ the game was completed.Ā There areĀ no multiplayer modes.
Parents:Ā This game is not rated by the ESRB. Players will use all types of weapons (blades, guns, grenades, etc) to slice enemies to bloody pieces. Dead bodies and gore are shown in each level. There are a lot of otherworldly horrors comprised of fleshy tissue, blood, and teeth. While there is no salty language in the game, thereās plenty of disturbing imagery throughout.
Colorblind Modes:Ā There are no colorblind modes.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers:Ā There is text in-game, and the text is resizable. Audio is not needed for gameplay. The game isĀ fully accessible.
Controls: Controls are fully remappable.
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