Katana Dragon: Chapter 1

TheAwakening
6 days ago
4 min read

Overview

In the first chapter of Katana Dragon, you control one of the ninjas, Shin or Nobi, on their first adventure to restore the land of Sogen against the elder gods. It features hack-n-slash combat against the fabled Gokais and several puzzles to resolve along the forest. Exploring the land yields dragon gems to change your stats, cursed seals that heavily modify stats, and, as you progress with the story, more ninja powers. A local co-op mode is also available.

Story

A thousand years ago, a dragon razed the land with his fire, consuming almost all the life in the prosperous, peaceful land. Five monks defeated and captured the dragon in a cage made out of pure Ki energy. But the dragon broke free one day. A weaponsmith managed to create a powerful sword that they said cut through rock like it was paper and trusted the blade to a legendary champion. The blade thrust into the dragon with ease, releasing dark energy that killed its wielder, but it got stuck in the belly of the beast ever since. Thus became the legend of… Katana Dragon.

On present day, trainees ninjas Shin and Nobi are assigned an actual mission: find out what happened to the inhabitants of the land, and those answers can be found deep in the heart of the forest’s ruins…

Gameplay

You start the adventure by selecting which character to play; it doesn’t matter a lot, as they have the same lines of dialogue. Later in the game you can change characters or enable local co-op mode.

Your abilities include attacking as real fast as you can smash the left click within melee range. Dashing at the last second before an enemy attacks grants time for a bullet. Further in the game you learn Shadow Clone that taunts gokais and mimics your attacks. Dashing and using any power costs Ki, which can be recharged faster by meditating or by drinking from your flask, which also restores health. All these skills will be used both in combat and solving puzzles, particularly dashing through gaps and creating a shadow that activates pressure plates.

Gokais are a varied lot and capable of fighting against you. If you played Sengodai, you’ll meet familiar gokais along the way. They attack with melee or ranged projectiles; some can be deflected with your sword. It is very difficult to dodge an attack to trigger bullet time, as the window is very, very small. A defeated foe drops dokais, experience, and sometimes food that will restore health. Enemies seem to scale according to your level, increasing their stats.

Leveling up increases your stats by 5% of your base ones. The real upgrade comes from dragon gems; these will increase two stats, but only three can be equipped at a time. There is no limit in obtaining dragon gems; they can be acquired from gokais or treasure chests scattered across the land. Caves and dungeons are a main source for treasures; the entrance to those will show if you opened every single chest. Outfits can be obtained exclusively from gauntlets (waves of gokais) found in wells.

Puzzles are a big lot; dashing through gaps is the most common. Wooden boxes can be picked up and thrown to places, or to make bridges, you can dash with them. Some of those puzzles resulted in confusion at first because I had no idea what to do or where to go. Exploring the map and wandering aimlessly is what worked until I got a bearing of my surroundings. There is no hand-holding or textual explanation, which might trouble new players. Moving black boxes is a bit slower, and they respond with some lag to my inputs.

To say there are a lot of builds to make is an understatement; there’s barely a lot to equip besides common gems, with the rare ones left by the end game. I have only found one cursed seal; whether they unlock as you progress the story or in difficult dungeons, I’m not sure. There is a final boss deeper in the forest that will end the first chapter; I hope to reach it one day soon.

Bugs Found

Playing in window mode, choosing to maximize the screen, when you check the map in the pause menu, the game resizes to the original resolution.

Audio & Graphics

Using the same voxel graphic style from Sengodai is the highlight of the game. The foliage reacts to any object and our attacks. The physics from objects are a bit clunky, but they are far from bad. Its music is what I enjoyed the most, capturing the land in its fullest on every location, house, or dungeon. I only wish for my enemies an indicator when they’re attacking with an attack dodgable to trigger bullet time, as it is currently difficult to tell. As performance goes, I disabled every graphic filter, and the game looked good and smooth still. There were areas with a lot of fire particles where framerates dropped considerably, though.

Pros & Cons

Pros-

Classic Zelda-like adventure.
Beautifully crafted land with good graphics.
Good and hilarious dialogue.

Cons-

Combat could use a bit of improvement to use more bullet time.
Puzzles are slow and tedious to do, some without logic or somewhat complex.

Rating: 7/10

Sensei is wise; do as he says and listen closely. Then do the opposite and slash everything in your path.