Transcript

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to season four of the Gaming Backlog Book club. We just wrapped up season three about Stray and enjoyed the laid back five and positivity in that world. We are now ready for season four.

This yet again will be another quick bottle season where we play a game that is short enough to be completed in a week and after that we might get a little bit longer.

So coming up for season four we will be playing through Katana Zero Katana Zero was released in 2019, developed by Ascisoft and published by Devolver Digital, who has a fantastic library of crazy, wacky and diverse indie games across a bunch of genres. I personally can highly recommend most games that they do publish. I’ve played a bit of Enter the Gungeon, all of Death’s Door, played Fall Guys when it released and was free on PS plus. My friend Pedro is a fun, funny slow mo weird platformer action game Heave Ho and my favorite of all of the ones that I’ve played is Ape out, which was basically like Hotline Miami, but you play as a gorilla and it has an amazing jazz soundtrack that adapts to you as you play.

Other developer digital games on my backlog are the Talos Principle, the Plucky Squire, Gunbrella, Cult of the Lamb, Trek to Yomi, Inscryption, Gato, Roboto, Boomerang X, Carrion, Gris, the Messenger, Titan Souls, Hotline Miami, and I can’t wait to play Baby Steps which is by the Ape out developer, so obviously there’s plenty to chew at here. Katana Zero is a side scrolling action game set in a neo noir city. Movies like Sin City and John Wick were used as inspiration for many of the details as mentioned by the developers, and the setup of the story is that you play as Subject 0, an amnesiac assassin with a katana who has to remember his past by taking on assassination contracts. It’s a very simple premise and it has an actual story with dialogue trees in between the levels, so we’ll just have to see what Zero uncovers.

Alex, you’ve played some some devolver Digital.

[00:02:04] Speaker B: Or I I’ve played for devolver Digital wise I’ve played I played Fall guys when that came out actually played it. I’ve been playing it for a little bit. I haven’t played it in a little while but was playing it for a while but most of their other games I’ve heard of and I either own or want to own or I like I own but I I haven’t got to them yet like you Said Cult of the Lamb I own Carry on is another one I have.

And those are two that I’m definitely really excited to throw are on my backlog and that I really want to get to in the future. I know they make they publish some really, really good games, really unique games.

[00:02:44] Speaker A: It has a deep well of items on our backlog. So yeah, at least we’ll scratch one off here.

[00:02:50] Speaker B: Yes, we will.

[00:02:52] Speaker A: Outside of that brief synopsis, what do you know about the game going in, if anything?

[00:02:58] Speaker B: So I do not know much about Katana zero.

[00:03:01] Speaker A: All right, I can give you the render.

[00:03:05] Speaker B: I’ll say though, I agreed to this game. This is one of your main picks for this podcast and for the book club.

And I agreed to it because it’s not something that I would usually play. I’m not a big side scrolling genre type player. But the point of this podcast is one of the points of this podcast that I wanted for us to do was to also get out of our comfort zones and try different games.

And that’s what this is for me, is me getting out of my comfort zone and trying something new and completely different. So yeah, I don’t know too much about it. As I said, I know it’s a side scroller, really quick hack and slash, but I’m excited to try, I’m excited to play it and get through it.

[00:03:51] Speaker A: Wonderful. That is absolutely part of why we’re doing this in the first place. And indie games are definitely one of the best, better sources of 2D platformers or 2D action games or anything in between, especially in the last 10, 15 years. Obviously most of the major developers created these when games really hit it big. And you know, the indie genre has taken over for the most part. So to give you a bit more of what I know, and I still don’t know a whole lot, I watched some trailers leading up to it because the art style looked really cool and I’m a sucker for any game with a katana in it, especially after Ghost of Tsushima. But basically I know that you can stop bullets with your katana and slow down time Matrix style and supposedly you die in one hit. So you really need to learn the best way to approach any given situation so you can stay alive.

That might make things tough, but a trial and error until we figure it out. I am also aware that a DLC had been announced many years ago and supposedly was to be released for free, but it hasn’t come out yet and fans of the game are holding their breath waiting for it to arrive so they can get more time in one of their favorite worlds, much like those like me eagerly awaiting Hollow Knight Silksong.

I also know it has an awesome soundtrack. I really enjoy it. I’ve listened to it on Spotify a bit. It seems to be a cross of some funky electronic music and more traditional cyberpunk sounds. Even if you don’t play this game with us, I highly, highly recommend listening to the soundtrack at some point because it really is that good all on its own.

Is your curiosity peaked now Alex?

[00:05:30] Speaker B: Yes, I will say.

Yes, I’ll say my curiosity is definitely peaked more now. I did. I did watch a trailer for it. I did think the trailer looked really quite interesting, quite cool definitely. As I said, different to anything I usually ever play. But I’m excited to give it a try, try something new out of my comfort zone and get into this world of Katana Zero. I mean as you said, anything with a katana is amazing, especially after Ghost of Tsushima. So yeah, definitely excited to give this give.

[00:06:05] Speaker A: Cool on my end. I think one of the reasons I’m you know I’ve been watching this, I wanted to play it years ago back when it released.

I think that makes me want to bring it up now. After doing something so relaxed like Stray, I got the itch for something more intense and fast paced but not quite ready to commit to a bunch of weeks of the same game yet. So Katana zero seems like a perfect match.

I’m going to be playing this on my Nintendo Switch and I’ve had it installed there for years actually. Just never got to it before but always wanting to. I can also tell you that as long as it’s an option, I will 100% be playing this using a Switch Pro controller specifically to use the D pad typically unless it’s a requirement to use a Joystick in a 2D side scroller or platformer, I always use a D pad. I also have one of those hoary left Joy Con specifically for the D Pad as well as a satisfye grip to make the Switch more comfortable to play with my big hands. But this one is short enough. I’ll probably just use a Pro controller in front of a tv. Where are you going to be playing it?

[00:07:08] Speaker B: I will be also will be playing this on the Switch actually on my Switch too. I actually just bought it the other day. I’ve had it like on a wish list for a while and then when we decided like some of the games we wanted to go through and getting up to this I just, I purchased it obviously since we this was one of our this is our pick and yeah, so I’ll be playing on the Switch 2 probably the same as you, not with a Switch 2 Pro controller, but just with a regular pro controller.

[00:07:36] Speaker A: I have not plugged into the Switch too. There’s not much reason unless you need to use the chat feature. So just use your Switch 1 Pro controller.

[00:07:44] Speaker B: I’ll just use the Switch 1 Pro controller.

Yeah, so that’s how I’ll be playing it.

[00:07:53] Speaker A: Perfect. Katana zero is supposedly fairly short and can be completed in about four to six hours, so this should be another good weekend or couple day playthrough. Give you some time for other activities or other games before we chat about it next episode.

If this fast paced palate cleanser sounds like a good time to you, then please join us in our playthrough of Katana zero this week and we’ll catch you next time for our post Play Chat.

[00:08:18] Speaker B: Thank you everyone for listening.

If you want to follow along and discuss our playthrough of any games on the Gaming Backlog Book Club Podcast, please give us a follow on your podcast platform of choice, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts, as well as our Discord and Instagram account under the same name. Thanks.