Katanaut Preview: Gotta Go Fast! Gotta Be Deadly! | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: PC (Steam)

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Sliding. Slashing. SPEED! These are just some of the adjectives that I’d use to describe my initial opinion on the roguelite Katanaut. When I launched the game, I was instantly drawn into the art style. It has that grungy, slightly futuristic, pixelated look that was perfectly complimented by the gore that came from taking down whatever creatures came my way. I chose to play this game with my Xbox controller because from what I saw in the trailer, I had a feeling that Katanaut was going to play better with a controller than mouse and keyboard. Suffice to say, mouse and keyboard is still a viable option if that’s more your speed!

From the start, I felt an urgency to just go as fast as I could. Probably didn’t help that I saw the result of a speedrun and my mind went: “I want that to be me!” My samurai shared my sentiment, as his way through life and was immediately humbled; A creature with horrible tendrils cut me down to my last point of health which a zombie-like being took advantage of and ran towards me to send me back to my point of return. I was not prepared for how fast you can lose your health, especially while you’re still learning how to move around at top speed.

This game feels fast; faster than what I initially thought. Think of a time when you’re playing a FPS, then your mouse sensitivity suddenly goes up and your shooter is looking around faster than the speed of light. That is how I felt. But it's far from a negative towards the game. For me, it took some time to get used to the speed of my character and it ultimately made me slow down a bit. Once I got used to how fast my gun slinging samurai moved, the game felt more manageable.

One of the mechanics I was grateful for was the healing syringe. When I initiated it’s use for the first time, I went from one hit away from death to having all three returned. It was an instant relief. I had, quite literally, fighting for my life amidst a horde of mutated horrors when I finally found an opening for me to make my retreat to a safe place so I could use it. And don’t get me started on the plethora of upgrades that makes each “one more run” slightly different.

I also encountered a funny moment when I traveled down an elevator shaft to explore more into the map, and as I was returning back to the previous room, an enemy clearly missed the first step and zoomed past me into the darkness below. Goodbye cruel, evil, mutated monster!

All in all, the game feels good in this demo and it has a lot of promise. I have a couple minor complaints, a couple were just “Aw man, that’s just my luck” moments; for example when I was choosing a syringe upgrade that was rotating all of the colors, I was hoping for a health based one since I saw red in the mix, but instead I got the others as options to choose from. Bummer. And one is a mechanical complaint. I found when I was pressing “B” to exit out of an NPC menu , my thumb was pressing against the analog stick, and my samurai would do his dodge when exiting. Which, at points, required me to double back as I had slid the opposite direction I was then wanting to leave. I’m unsure if this is unintentional or if it's working as intended since I could do the same when in a menu while I was fighting for my life.

All in all, I’m excited to see where Voidmaw takes Katanaut!

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Final Grade: B-

Katanaut brings to life a dark, futuristic roguelite with a unique setting and plentiful upgrades to make every run a little different. You play as a gunslinging, katana-wielding samurai battling through a ship that is overrun with monstrous horrors around every corner to reveal what dark secret is held in the depths. Overall, the game mechanics are fun, fast, and engaging and while I did encounter a couple of minor inconveniences, they did not outweigh the general enjoyment I had while playing through the demo. Its release is scheduled for later this year and I personally cannot wait to see what Voidmaw has in store!

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Preview code provided by Voidmaw.