History VideoGame / KatanaZero

* {{Americasia}}: Played with. It seems like a standard cyberpunk example of the trope, except that the country of Neo Mecca, despite having the feel of immediately post-Vietnam America, is an Arab country with Japanese influence instead. This occasionally pops up to add flavor (for instance, a war medal is the Distinguished Service ''Crescent'').

** [[spoiler:The song ''Full Confession'' can be completly skipped if you already know how to defeat the boss, as it struggles to play even for the drop section of the song.]]
** [[spoiler:The song ''Kill Your Tv'' can also be skipped if you instantly go for the kill on electrohead.]]
** [[spoiler:The song ''The Voilition'' that plays during Josh Rose's suicide, can also be skipped quite fast, as you can also go instantly for the kill, which will trigger him to jump over the railing and plummet to death below.]]

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:The protagonist refers to V as "[[FrazettaMan fucking subhuman]]" when V asks the protagonist to help him in his snuff film. At the end of the game, if you haven't unlocked the TrueFinalBoss, the psychiatrist calls the protagonist subhuman while being beaten to death.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: In-universe example; while torturing the neighbors, V will wink at the screen.

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:The protagonist refers to V as "fucking subhuman" when V asks the protagonist to help him in his snuff film. At the end of the game, if you haven't unlocked the TrueFinalBoss, the psychiatrist calls the protagonist subhuman while being beaten to death.]]

* {{Gorn}}: Downplayed. Unlike previous games published by Devolver Digital, the violence in this game is relatively tame as enemies (apart from spraying blood everywhere) all use one death animation, and they disintegrate bloodlessly if killed with an electric gate. And in the times it does show up (such as V's brutal murder of an apartment neighbor), GoryDiscretionShot is in play. [[spoiler:The only exception is in the normal ending where the Psychiatrist's head gets reduced to a crushed water melon.]]

A free Beta Branch called [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct "Katana Hero"]] was released on 01.04.2023 on Steam, changing the story into a strange hunt for evil spirits and altering some small aspects of the game.

A free Beta Branch called [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct "Katana Hero"]] was released on 01.04.2023 on Steam, changing the story into a strange ghost hunt and altering some small aspects of the game.

A free Beta Branch called [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct "Katana Hero"]] was released on 01.04.2023, changing the story into a strange ghost hunt and altering some small aspects of the game.

* LighterAndSofter: The Katana Hero campaign is a retelling of the main story, but with the protaginist as a heroic spirit hunter and a far less serious atmosphere.

--->'''Mook:''' ''WHAT DID YOU DO TO STRONG TERRY???''

* CodenameTitle: The title references the codename of [[spoiler:"Subject]] [[spoiler:Zero]][[spoiler:", making it a ProtagonistTitle, and who was the first person tested for the perception-enhancing combat drug Chronos]].

* DevelopersForesight: Once returning home, Zero's TV will tune in on a news channel detailing the aftermath of the killing spree he caused. A lot of small actions done by the player will be mentioned in the report:
** For example, Josh Rose is typically DrivenToSuicide, but can also be killed by the Sword of Masters, or other throwables like the statue and the cleaver that also spawn in the segment. This will change the way his death is described. If the player pisses off the receptionist on the way in or admits to killing people on the way out, two police officers have to be killed, in which case the news changes the body count and specifically mentions the officers.

** The little girl whom the protagonist can befriend appears in the first few nightmares, and [[spoiler:is indicated to be a hallucination by two police officers who state that the man whom the girl claimed was her father lived alone]].
*** Furthermore, to the observant player, [[spoiler:what seem like gameplay inconsistencies are actually hints to this effect. When she cleans your house, it's spic and span — but after you go out and get movies, the house returns to the same state of disrepair. Even minor things, like the girl sticking pictures of smiley faces to the walls, are reversed. It's almost like they never actually happened… (The game will swap back and forth here — when he wakes up the next morning? Clean again. …In other words, when he's paying attention, it all looks clean.)]]

* MundaneUtility: The all-powerful precognition of the protagonist can be turned to alternate uses, such as winning money at the gambling table. [[spoiler:This is key to entering the Chinatown level without violence.]]

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Playing the game as cruelly and abrasively as possible will piss off your [[spoiler:psychiatrist]] enough that [[spoiler:he takes some form of combat enhancement drugs in an effort to kill you]].

* WhamLine: One that proves just how detailed the protagonist's precognition abilities can get.
-->'''Player Character:''' I want answers, V.\\

-->'''V:''' You think you're tough shit? The Dragon!? Well I'm the DRAGON SLAYER!\\

* TheWorfEffect: After being the only character in the game to survive more than one encounter with the protagonist, V is [[spoiler:effortlessly disarmed and then abducted by Fifteen, who [[KilledOffScreen tortures him to death offscreen]]]].
** This is ''slightly'' downplayed by the fact that [[spoiler:the protagonist did most of the work, having already left him concussed and bleeding out on the freeway after a high-speed motorcycle chase]].

You are a katana-wielding assassin, known only [[spoiler:(and mistakenly)]] as The Dragon, who leaves no one alive. How do you do it? By utilizing Chronos, a drug that lets you screw around with time and even look into the future. Pretty sweet, right? Problem is, you've got some personal issues going on. For starters, you don't know much about yourself and the stuff there is to know is pretty nasty. You've also been having some really vivid nightmares. But you're seeing a therapist, so it evens out, right? Still though...

You are a katana-wielding assassin, known only (and mistakenly) as The Dragon, who leaves no one alive. How do you do it? By utilizing Chronos, a drug that lets you screw around with time and even look into the future. Pretty sweet, right? Problem is, you've got some personal issues going on. For starters, you don't know much about yourself and the stuff there is to know is pretty nasty. You've also been having some really vivid nightmares. But you're seeing a therapist, so it evens out, right? Still though...

** One of the floors of the movie studio level is [[Franchise/SilentHill Quiet Hills]], complete with an animatronic Pyramid Head expy called "Coffin Head".

* BodyHorror: The TrueFinalBoss appears to have elements of this, but it's highly implied that the ''{{Manga/Akira}}''-esque monstrosity you fight is just the protagonist suffering through Chronos withdrawals, and the actual fight is much more mundane.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Null Zero runs away from his apartment pursued by the police, likely in search of the kidnapped girl.]]

** Averted regarding [[spoiler:the psychiatrist's daughter. Early in the game, the protagonist can observe a picture of her on his psychiatrist's desk, and he remarks that someday the protagonist might meet her. After killing a female NULL, during an angry rant the psychiatrist remarks that he can't contact his daughter. However, the NULL, known as the Headhunter, is not his daughter.]]