There's a bonus version of the video on my Patreon with an extended intro if you want to support me further. The extra version also has the original song from the game at 22:35. For some reason it was copyright claimed by an artist who sampled it in 2021 and not by the Katana Zero team so I made an entire different version of the video for RUclips out of spite.
Hey, great video, and what an amazing game to discuss. Just a few little things. "Shinkage-Ryu" translates to "New Shadow Style", not "True Shadow Dragon", although that would be cool and it sounds exactly the same. It's the real-world martial art of the Yagyu clan. About killing the homeless vet, I think it's because Zero actually is a serial killer, like V says. If he doesn't kill the guards, he's unsatisfied and can't help himself.
I want the dlc so bad man. I've been playing since the year it came out, at least doing level select from time to time. The dev put a lot on his shoulders but it shows his efforts through the quality of the game
@@TheController_0Free story DLC has been being worked on for ages now. It's supposed to be like, three times the size of the basegame and the few glimpses we've gotten have been amazing.
A fun detail I remember connecting back then was, when the little girl asks you to find Leviathan using the Behemoth toy she has, she says that "Behemoth only glows when Leviathan's nearby." And when you do find it, the screen glows a bright red with black silhouettes. Eerily similar to how Zero's katana glows upon first meeting Fifteen on the highway. Also, spoilers for the next part: I always thought that the stuff the psychiatrist injected himself with during the secret boss fight was some mind-altering medication, since everything goes back to normal after the fight immediately and Zero's just sitting there on the chair. He also said "Did you really think Chronos was the only thing the government developed for the war?" So if Chronos can grant the user pre-cognition, who's to say there isn't some other thing out there that could grant the user the ability to attack others via their mind or hallucinations? But apart from that one line and the different colors in the vials, I have no way to support this theory.
Say that is true that the latter part is the case... one thing I could see it is that by attempting to attack the mind directly, specifically that of someone who can just loop endlessly, unless they are also able to handle the same situation, it causes an indefinite loopback onto themselves until someone wins.
In the final cutscene, Zero stabs himself with multiple doses of the drug, but it would be interesting to find out if not all of the drugs he took were Chronos.
the reason why you have no choice to kill the homeless man if you stealth through the prison is most likely that zero is addicted to killing. he isnt a good guy, after all. "killing someone else is the closest thing we can get to something we can never have", he likes killing and i'd say hes addicted to it, and being denied to kill the guards and his target i think leaves him... dissatisfied, which causes him to take it out on a drunken alcoholic homeless man who in a different life tries stealing his medal. thats what i like so much about the men in the masks comparing you to him, it just has less impact if you dont kill him. "the drink is all this man ever was, and when it is gone, what remains is the bottle", the drink, in zero's case, is his chronos. exited for the DLC, i know the entire point of katana zero is that you arent supposed to understand everything and you're just as confused as zero but i still want to know: who are the men in masks? deities of time, yin and yang, or hallucinations, and everything they've done and every time they interact might have been an hallucination. is the little girl fake? if the men in masks are fake she is also fake, the men in masks could be his sub-conscious mocking him and making him confront the bad side of himself "the drink is all this man ever was, and when it is gone, what remains is the bottle", and the little girl is a hallucination made to make zero feel better about himself to make him feel like he did one good thing in his life before the men in masks make him confront himself by taking that away, or they could just be deities somehow tied to time or chronos (of which they only appear as symptoms of chronos withdrawal or faintly in glitched sections (where your screen glitches) while still on chronos) and they're messing with a man they find pathetic whos bringing back chronos? who does V work for? why dont we have a cool boss fight with snow already!?!? i know at least the last 3 are going to be answered in the DLC, theres a lot to add to the story but those last 3 at least have to be answered for the story to continue
The bottle line is good, because it really does imply that it traps zero in the bottle just like a model ship - which is the side effect of the drug. You could also go with the trio of Comedy, Tragedy and Girl with a greek twist: the Moirai. Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis for their roles, which certainly fits the theatre theme. I sort of like the idea of a norse take for the fates: Past, Present and Future. If the LG is Future, then it implies zero does survive (somehow) and might even have a kid, and is hallucinating his a further future.
Bro..CHILL..Its never as deep as you think...the men in masks are obviously two of the people who made chronos and are actively controlling the main character from the background..they are intelligent and childish..and they take pleasure in watching how their experiments play out.
Also in one of the psychologist sessions when questioning him about null if you choose the “my psychopathy?” Response and then the I like killing option Zero actually speaks and talks about how it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive.
oh btw for anyone who's waiting for the dlc, I would recommend the game Sanabi! Its a criminally underated game that the devs have said was heavily inspired by KZ !!!
Second this! Having fun with it right now, but had to change some the resolution and other settings since it kept crashing (just some stuff to keep in mind for others trying it out).
@@okok-fd8yu dude that shit hit so hard more than i ever expected....and the twists with the story.....and even tho u sorta knew what was gonna happen....when it did it told it differently and made u feel worse LMAO an amazing game
The biggest lie of all was that the dlc would come out in just a few months. In the time its taken I've graduated high school, graduated college, become a priest, and have held 5 different jobs
This does sound like the story isn't done. While it concludes the stuff the story focuses on, it also introduces new plot points that will probably lead to more developments. So it comes across as more of an ending to a chapter in a bigger story.
I love the narration in this part 33:18 “katana zero gets his very own Vergil and you don’t have to buy a special edition just to play as him” I bloody love that line 😂also amazing review mate! you did a really good job on the video! And one last thing hopefully you have an amazing day
i have a weird theory that's kind of flimsy but if anyone can find supporting or contrary evidence to it let me know (and please be civil, it is not that serious, we are just throwing theories out there and seeing what sticks :D): The kid is the psychiatrist's daughter. -In one hallucination, the daughter is stabbed onto a pillar in the office and the shrink is dead on the ground -Interacting with the paperweight on the desk will prompt the shrink to tell you that it's his daughter's. So much thought is put into this game, for what reason would the shrink have a daughter? not just a child, but a child that he refers to with a specific gender? -When the shrink is packing up, he is also angry that he's been unable to reach his daughter. Right after you kill him (with the same paperweight from his daughter), you'll find the girl is gone.
the daughter is supposed to have gotten the "paperweight" while travelling, the psych says as much. a 5 yo girl probably isnt travelling the world by herself, so this contradiction makes the theory not really work.
The best part of this game is when you don't use slo-mo imho. When the game is left to breathe while letting you use your own reactions it feels AMAZING
Idk why the theory that the little girl is Snow isn't more popular. First few reddit results I checked on the topic instantly shut down that theory, when it seems so obvious.
@@volty883Eh, I could see it. I think the clues that the person we play as is the child and *not* Zero are compelling. The girl being a hallucination taking the form of his memory of his friend/sister is a real possibility, and perhaps the real Zero taking Leviathan (that we see her silhouette turn into) is an indication that they took the girl. Then Snow and the PC were raised separately, both turned into weapons by different factions (and possibly different means, I don't think we know that Snow is a Null, though she's got some kind of power). Narratively, I think it's believable, and I don't think it's as unsupported as you say.
@@Raithul The child being Zero is a very unlikely theory judging that at the end the soldier responds with "This is Zero" and then the file has an image of us with the name Zero. It also goes to show that the final version of the hallucination doesn't show the girl and also her being Snow makes no sense as when V leaves a tape for Zero to watch he very much gives it to the girl. The girl and Snow are very likely two completely separate entities
@@volty883 I don't think there's any question that the player is currently being referred to as Zero, only that the "Zero" we play is different from the one in the "reveal" flashback.
The whole game is great. But boy, the music is just PEAK. But I also love Zero as a character. While he is incredibly cool, he is just as pathetic on an entirely different level. And he ia on one hand a massive, funny weeb, while also being a remorseless, cold blooded killer. And it all just somehow works. He also canonically listens to the music that plays on each level, which is just such a CUTE detail And at last... The detail that he picked up the toy back in the war. He is 22 during the game. The war was seven years ago. He was 15. Years old. Just a child. Why wouldn't a child keep a toy they found?
God, I do NOT see enough Katana Zero video essay on RUclips, it's such a masterpiece in storytelling, especially when it comes to heavier topics like ptsd, drug abuse, critique of war, etc. There are so many facets of the story that are just perfect for this kind of essay, but I only ever see a few pop up every now and then from smaller channels. God this game is so good
35:55 This was the moment I fell in love with the game. I also threw my medal away too. Probably still out in the sand in the middle of nowhere. Instead I threw in right on the ground in front of them. Katana Zero felt weird for me to play not only cause of the usual frustation. I suffer PTSD for my whole life in many different ways. I came into the game on Steam completely by random a while and had a hard time watching, playing, or even reading any forms of media revolving around violence. I was and still am the kind of person who has a hard time being around others with a pocket knife or restaurant with knives on the table. And guns. I hate guns. I know guns way better than most. I have shot so many guns that I once didn't touch them for two years until recently. I was forced into helping others as an advisor in training cause of people convincing my mother and sister. I didn't want to be there, yet I ended up helping cause others who knew me know I don't have a job.(and still don't) cause getting a job especially locally where I live is almost impossible(still is). I was there been cause they all were hoping that after enough time I would be hired. I was going back onto the range and I hadn't touched a gun in years and was regreting it. I ended up during my "demostration". I ended up doing a couple of passovers and ended up hitting targets over 200 yards while running through our course. I hit all targets while cutting down the time alot for "improvised shots". Or at least what they said. Everybody else was "amazed" for some reason. I was angry at myself cause I promised myself to never shoot again. I ended up throwing the emptied gun to the ground and just walked away. And just kept walking through the woods until I made it to a town where I got an Uber by walking up to someone who just happened to be a driver. And I just left. Best decision I felt I made recently. And funny enough part of my own therapy honestly was Katana Zero a long while ago. Nobody told me about it. I saw it around nowhere. I saw the game on Steam and just played the game. And even despite the horrible depictions in the game. It was strangely, morbidly "good" for my head. Without it, I wouldn't have played Cyberpunk 2077 which also has been a rollercoaster. And, I can just enjoy media again. Still don't carry around pocket any pocket knife though. I am still working on that. And the gun thing. Never again. Katana Zero is strange in that it is fiction in the realest sense. Yet, I never felt more relatable to a character the moment he threw the stupid medal away. I really love this game.
Something to add onto Theory 1 since I was actually coming to a similar conclusion on a recent playthrough, but one that covers a few more holes than what you present- Namely that Zero is a Chromag child who was captured and used as the first test subject for Chronos and turned on his own country His dreams come from the perspective of the children because he was quite literally one of them, and he's going on a warpath against his own blood. This also explains why he would keep Behemoth as a keepsake- He's literally just keeping a part of his old home with him to try and remind him of his heritage whether he knew this or not. Side note- Pretty sure it wasn't some unspecified injury that causes Zero's amnesia, it stems from the long-term use of Chronos warping his perception of time. In the Katana Hero DLC's stinger there's even dialogue from Tragedy implying this is the case, as (Spoilers for those who haven't played it) the entire story is implied to be Zero's hazy recollection of the main game's events- Only natural to assume Fifteen likely suffers from the same memory loss effect since he's been on Chronos about as long as Zero
Shinkage Ryu (new shadow style) was founded in the mid 16th Century by master Kamiizumi-Ise-no-Kami, and is Kamiizumi's own variant of his teacher Aizu-Hyuga-no-Kami Iko's Kage Ryu. A later variant of Shinkage Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, would be developed by Kamiizumi's own student, Yagyu Munetoshi.
it might be a representation of zero's body beating the chronos out of him. by defeating the boss you defeat the effects chronos would have had on the body. why? I don't know
@@anonymousfox4620 it seems a bit odd, but it *could* be a way to represent getting past the withdrawals. Though, I’d imagine chronos isn’t exactly the kind of drug you can quit
I don’t think he does. In the final phase, which is laden with Chronos-related imagery, the puppet is struck three times to kill. It would make sense that these are the same three doses of Chronos that Zero injects in the normal ending. the reasoning for this being Chronos-related and not particularly psychiatrist-related is a bit long-winded, but I can type it out if you’d like.
@@birdup1_2 it’s a really curious one - here - During the psych fight, whenever you die in the second and third phases (throwing energy balls and the psychedelic eyes) he will taunt you in the death messages - the drug he is using allows him to alter your mind and essentially fight you inside your own head. Upon slashing out his eyes during the third phase, he begins his weird Akira-esque monster transformation - which has you go through a bunch of glitching, for the matter, which is mostly used to convey temporal discontinuity - in this phase, the psychiatrist’s taunts cease and are replaced with “…” when you die. My guess is that the psychiatrist is dead by then - when you complete the fight the sword is stuck in his eye, and he becomes unresponsive after the phase where you slash out his eyes. My guess is that Zero ends up hallucinating the grotesque monster as related to his withdrawal - the psychiatrist is relegated to being a puppet, the level is filled with syringes, and - again - the puppet is struck three times to end the fight, much like the three Chronos syringes. It could be that this is actually representative of a threefold rejection of each syringe, given getting hit by them, yknow, kills you, but it’s not entirely implausible that after killing the psychiatrist during the eyes phase that zero goes deranged and the monster represents his use of Chronos whilst affected by the mind-altering drug the psychiatrist used. it’s a shame we probably won’t see more of this - askiisoft confirmed this ending isn’t canon (though the drug the psych used is) so I suspect we will see nothing more about this in the DLC. (Even when you inject the Chronos in the normal ending you still have to root through the desk for the dossier on Zero - this doesn’t seem particularly sufficient.) (Not sure about being in the seat because this is entirely dependent on what actually happens when Zero’s perception of reality does that temporal glitch.)
One day we'll get that DLC/Expansion. If I can wait in that period of time between Hotline Miami 1 and the DLC that eventually became Hotline Miami 2/Wrong Number, then I can wait for as long as it takes for this.
NO WAY BRO. I LOST MY MIND WHEN I SAW THIS. Katana zero is my favorite platformer and i never see anyone talk about it because of hotline miami. looking forward to watching this video!
1:03 - It's a masterpiece of a game. That kind of game is not my favorite, but what Katana Zero does with the narrative is simply one of the best stories ever delivered, via games or any media.
Not sure if you mention this later, but you can avoid triggering the continued fight on the return in the hotel after the receptionist conversation, with one of the dialogue paths giving you an achievement later. Telling her you're just for a bath there is possible as well, and can be maintained later too, but doesn't give an achievement.
in my run through, the little girl was your sister, you were the child that hid under the stool, she was killed by the soldier and you were abducted to be experimented on.
20:20 I think it's interesting because of all the smallest details added that point to specific directions, I'm a personal believer this "shadow-dragon" naming was more like the author trying to get at "shadow _of_ the dragon", what with Thirteen coming later. It'd make sense for Zero's arc. Still very capable and worth of being _a_ dragon, but not _the_ dragon. Also, 28:24 yeah we all know that the Leviathan and Dragon toys look like 0 and 13, but I would think it's REALLY FUNNY this little red splash effect is saying Zero is remembering subconsciously who Thirteen is, and if the cutting of V's arms is more or less a really funny hint that, "Thirteen is Zero's... Brother... In arms..."
I’ve been following askiisoft since tower of god, and they always deliver. Easily my favorite indie dev, and Bill Kileys soundtracks should ABSOLUTELY never be overlooked and it’s a crime this game and soundtrack doesn’t get more recognition. Let them cook, cause god damn, we’re gonna eat good
I loved playing through the game. trying to piece together his fragmented reality. Seeing how choices influence his perspectives and such. But also the effect he has on those around him. You video really got my mind racing again about possibilities. Awesome vid. Wrote something I thought of afterwards. (contains major game spoilers) The thing about the memory feels like he used the blood of headhunter to stabilize his own withdrawal. (the same thing she mentioned doing with his blood 40:05 ) However due to Chronos having the effect it does and being in their bloodstream, Makes me believe there's a chance of memory bleed. Meaning they could be the one who Zero met back when he was a child. However due to the combination of withdrawal and amnesia. He has warped headhunters memory with his own. Causing him to think he was the one shooting, while in fact. it was headhunter. This would explains why fifteen and headhunter don't recognize him. Let me explain how I think it fits together. The leviatan and the girl are memory issues he's having. The girl was there and so was the leviathan. However the girl tried protecting the old man and most likely Zero. (who hid) Which plays into the way she keeps saying how she's going to ''Kick his ass''. (something he must've rememered from her last moments) Most likely being what she said to headhunter. Causing headhunter to have thrown her aside and ''turning'' her into Leviathan. (Like she said, killing means nothing to them) Zero's childlike mind must've connected his sister to his leviathan toy. (She most likely had Behemoth as a toy. which is why he can keep leviathan and not behemoth) Due to the trauma endured and most likely being caught and everything after. The memory probably got repressed. Which is why in the end that could very well be why the memory changed and fragmented. Like how we see it the first time. A known form of self defense of the mind, to deal with extreme traumatic events. The girl being outside could be his mind trying to confront this repressed past, caused by his withdrawal. As his mind is suffering less from the effect that gets caused by Chronos. going through the story. There is, as the masked men said. A choice to be made. Basically Zero has to choose whether he wants to continue on or not. (The first ending.) The masks basically being a manifestation of his inner turmoil. Asking if he's willing to continue on as the past is killing him. The agent saying to move away, most likely seen something in the expression when facing zero that scared him enough to yell. ''wh- what the fuck?! Get back, now!'' ( 32:09 ) (He staring at a man known mass murder, who literally contemplating his own existence.) After Zero has consciously chosen to continue his live. The masks seemingly kill all the police. However, Considering he is considered a psycopath according to the therapist. And subjected and used as experimental soldier. There is a chance that during us making the choice, he unconsciously killed them. This triggers his mind to find a way to deal with the trauma. Which it considers a good thing, as it won't longer be bogged down by trauma of the past. This is seen as his apartment suddenly is cleaned up afterwards. (a clean home is sometimes regarded as a sign of a healthy/healing mind) A mind is however a fragile thing. And Zero's mind being broken as it is had consequences. Trying to deal with that trauma and getting to the truth of his past and current situation, his mind started altering events in an attempt to recover the fragmented memories and heal his broken psyche. (Memory alteration is a documented occurance in people, especially those with extreme trauma) When after the fight with headhunter there's a memory of headhunter being in the same place, Zero's brain mistook that memory as Zero's due to it being infused with chronos. Which leads up to him believing he was the headhunter who worked with fifteen. And not the child who got traumatized and taken for experimentation. Giving Zero what he need to continue his life without being hindered or trapped by his past memories. All ofcourse mere conjecture. Although I love how it fits together in my mind. I would like to apologize for any misspellings and the giant amount of grammatical errors. It does remain a second language. Hope it can entertain or bring others to new idea's and theories.
This games one of the trippiest of all time. I literally dropped my controller in shock from one of the twists lol Also the replay-ability is huge cuz of the slo mo feature that makes you want to be able to beat the levels without using it at all!
A theory that's probably a stretch is that when Zero refuses chronos on day 2, he's already going through the withdrawal as scene from the dossier and killing the old man no matter what you choose, and since then his therapist has been giving him chronos unwillingly since then.
Best part about the psychiatrist’s last words is that it’s exactly what Zero said about V in the limousine. It’s amazing how this game forces the player to realize that the protagonist is a bad a person
@@cas_thekid I mean heck, we see him murder tens of people every single night. But because it’s gameplay, players tend to just not register how awful that is
@@unseenasymptote4976 honestly that's a really good point and the fact that it's easily overlooked reinforces said point it's really interesting how things like that end up
To be fair to Zero, V's characterization very much suggests that V's habits and lifestyle were of his own doing, and he reveled in it. We can assume up until the game's events, Zero was more than likely being treated as if he had some kind of debilitating condition and was lied to about everything since he got his amnesia. He was still a contract killer, but one literally crafted and groomed by the government to be a perfect killer. You also can see that he's not just a junkie by how he treats the girl before tragedy and comedy take her. If given the option, Zero very much likely would have quit the life he was forced into. He's not as bad of a person as V is despite V trying to bring Zero down to his level.
@@D_Abellus I hear you, and I think you’re kinda right, but Zero also literally says he enjoys killing, and he goes on a monologue about it to his psychiatrist. The fact that clearing a room requires killing everyone inside is telling. When he has the choice to not kill at the prison, he still kills a homeless man in cold blood because he just needs to kill. We’re told he was selected for the Null program because he had violent and psychopathic tendencies as a child. Obviously it’s not his fault those were nurtured, but he DOES enjoy his crimes. Additionally, V’s issues probably ARE the result of a crappy childhood in gang territory with no healthy parental influence. Kids who end up in organized crime often are groomed into it from a young age by older men, and that’s where he would have gotten hooked on drugs and taught to not treat women as human beings. I don’t say any of this to defend V or to argue that him and Zero are the same. What I’m saying is, everyone has reasons for becoming who they become. You can’t separate a person from their circumstances. Zero chooses to personally end dozens of lives every night to preserve his own, and he honestly sees nothing wrong with that. That’s monstrous.
I remember back in 2020 when I bought this game! After completing it I looked into future DLC and remember reading articles telling me that the DLC was gonna be big. He I am in 2024 with no DLC
It's been I dont know how long since I chose to just die with tragedy and comedy Just to keep the little girl safe. Today I get to know what happens if you choose to live instead. Safe to say, my Zero is still happily dead.
This video was so fantastic ! Great humor and story summary / analysis Had a blast watching it ! Remember to make a vid on sanabi too , its simialr to k0 and is also fantastic . Love your style
I hadn't heard of Sanabi until now and just checked it out. It looks amazing and is on sale so I'll pick it up. Thanks for the support and for putting the game on my radar!
What a great video! I'm not a huge playing these types of games, but I love the lore and worldbuilding that goes behind them. Thanks for taking me on a journey through Katana Zero, the story is definitely interesting and I'd love to see more conclusions drawn if a DLC is added or if people ever discover some new secrets! I would never get to here these cool ideas that these developers came up with without videos like these, and I appreciate your effort in sharing them.
Hear me out the little girl is the daughter of supplier for zero chronos (sorry I can’t type his name)and tragedy and comedy looks like government scientists and the supplier for zero said he lost contact from his daughter
There’s a theory my brother proposed to me, but I sont know if he found if he read it somewhere else or if he came up with it. SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED BOTH THE MAIN GAME AND THE HIDDEN BOSS. The theory goes like this: What if Comedy and Tragedy were the result of other non-Chronos government drug experiments? The Psychiatrist mentions “other drugs” that the New Mecca government worked on, and when he uses them he gains some abilities that alter reality and/or one’s perception of reality. [Teleportation. Summoning balls of energy, large hands, and clones of himself. Changing Zero’s vision during the eyeball phase. Becoming an impossibly huge creature that should not fit in the room they are in, etc] Comedy and Tragedy are dressed in lab coats, a possible hint that they were a few people behind government experiments. They are shown doing and knowing things that conflict with reality [Teleportation. They talk with each other in Zero’s hallucination, a conversation where they seem to know the nature of Chronos before Zero does. They kill the police squad surrounding Zero without moving. Etc] A possible counterpoint is that they are hallucinations within Zero’s mind. They don’t need to abide by physics because they are not real. Many other characters in hallucinations talk about things that Zero doesnt know yet, and could be a result of Chronos altering his linear perception of time. Anyone have thoughts on this?
It was 11 P.M., and i had an exam for a class that i had neglected the entire semester. If i didnt get a B in that exam, i would fail the class, and go on academic probation. I decided that i needed a break from studying to play some mindless game on the xbox. I looked at katana zero and said "yeah ill kill some dudes with a katana". Wasnt expecting cyberpunk samurai Metal Gear Solid. Finished it in 1 sitting. 10/10 would fail that class again.
Katana Zero is a great game with good storytelling and some interesting things here and there. Too bad the DLC will never come out and our questions will remain unanswered. Oh well.
It may. It's become full meme status tho by now, I'll give you that. If and when it does come out i feel that it would give the game another, longer lifespan. Dont give up man
Important to note Katana Zero was developed in six years. The art takes a lot of time among other things like inconsistent developers working on the game.
theories: hey you are the one who pointed out that the game lies to you. 1) it's open ended so you ultimately decide, are you the 15 year old just 7 years later, or are you stuck in a state of arrested development? there's evidence of both of these. on one hand the original 0 is psychotic, but in game you never kill children. on the other hand you are some kind of null. personally, i think that... 2) zero is a clone, or, maybe a time clone? - based on the number of bodies in tubes, and all the numbered code names (zero, V, Fifteen) zero isn't just a soldier number, its a model number. you're a clone of the original 0. and 3) comedy and tragedy are your neighbors. comedy, tragedy, and your friend are all outside of time, and *probably no longer alive. but you can see them because you're not where you're supposed to be in time either. perhaps the samurai cosplay is a clue as to where the amnesiac zero has been. his first setup is telling his psychiatrist about masked men, but it's a little odd that they don't really enter the story until after V gets to them. basically, no one is where they should be in time. chronos allows you to see these people whether they're departed or just otherwise displaced. V is the soldier, and the kid. all of your memories are real, but they're not necessarily YOURS, and chronos is allowing us to re-live moments in time. the masked neighbors, the girl and V are all stuck in the hallucinatory nightmare world, and the only people with real answers are those you were sent after. the gaps can probably be filled in by fifteen, roses boss, comedy and tragedy, and you.
You know… the side effects of Chronos withdrawal are as follows: Time stops for you, and your life becomes a living nightmare that you can’t escape from without more Chronos. You the player are seated in front of a TV watching each of those episodes of the game. You are effectively seeing Zero’s fate play out in front of you, and finding the one path of Zero’s fate that reveals everything about the story… no matter how many die in the process. This suggests the following: Zero is foreseeing HIS ENTIRE LIFE. From wherever he is now all the way to whatever grisly end at the end of the DLC awaits him. It’s a nightmare, because the ending is just so bleak. Zero cannot believe his life is just as a meaningless hit man wielded by those in power, a fragment of the losing side of a war that he didn’t even really care about. Zero’s nightmare is knowing every. single. tiny. step. towards. his. eventual. demise. The head injury, causing memory loss. The government of New Mecca, taking advantage of that. The hallucinations, the nightmares, the killing of everyone in Project Chronos. The ultimate failure of a soldier, of a man, of a human being with at least a basic sense of empathy or decency. And he cannot look away. His body desperately searches for any sliver of a good timeline that isn’t some pathetic and meaningless death, some hope that this nightmare is worth trudging through… and fearing that there is no way out. It’s the future, and once he finally decides “Yeah… that should do it,” that he would lock himself into the very nightmare that now torments him. If you read the second book in Frank Herbert’s Dune series (SPOILERS AHOY) Paul Atreides falls into the same trap: his precognition locks him into one future that he cannot escape no matter what he does, and it leads to his own downfall. Something tells me that Zero is going through something similar, and we the player are a mere witness to the sheer size and scope of this comedic tragedy. A tragedy because of the death and slaughter and waste of good life… a comedy in that this tragedy hasn’t actually happened yet. It is about to happen, once Zero (meaning the player) loses the will to keep fighting for a “suitable end”. But… will an end ever come? Honestly… I don’t think so. We humans are just too stubborn to not loggerheadedly bash our dumb brains through whatever seemingly impossible barriers we put in place to stop the ridiculous from overturning the expected. Zero can’t stop fighting. He must keep going, he must keep fighting, **IT CANNOT END LIKE THIS….**
Uhhhhhhhhhh yeah so, this is all referencing Metal Gear. Zero and V figure heavily into MGSV. I could probably help sort out the supposedly "missing" context here. Just, wow, there's a lot going on. Foxes and swords and Snakes and guns, V is the key you're missing. V is the split. The missing arms, the hallucinated young girl, it's all there in MGSV too. This is nuts.
So like for example. The men in masks. The 2 men in masks are Zero and 15. The two of them showed up and killed the scientist and the girl. Our MC is the boy who hid under the bed and saw this happen. And the Chronos. The boy grew up and found Zero and 15's power, and began using Chronos. He styled himself after the man who killed his sister and added some anime style for the costume. The 2 men in masks always get the girl in the end because the MC is linked to that moment via the Chronos, and those 2 assassins are never stopped by him, which was his original motive for doing everything. He just forgets it due to amnesia.
![[Katana ZERO] Flirting with the receptionist](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2Nd1C2JVUyU/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Katana ZERO] Flirting with the receptionist](/img/tr.png)
There's a bonus version of the video on my Patreon with an extended intro if you want to support me further. The extra version also has the original song from the game at 22:35. For some reason it was copyright claimed by an artist who sampled it in 2021 and not by the Katana Zero team so I made an entire different version of the video for RUclips out of spite.
Hey, great video, and what an amazing game to discuss. Just a few little things. "Shinkage-Ryu" translates to "New Shadow Style", not "True Shadow Dragon", although that would be cool and it sounds exactly the same. It's the real-world martial art of the Yagyu clan. About killing the homeless vet, I think it's because Zero actually is a serial killer, like V says. If he doesn't kill the guards, he's unsatisfied and can't help himself.
I want the dlc so bad man. I've been playing since the year it came out, at least doing level select from time to time. The dev put a lot on his shoulders but it shows his efforts through the quality of the game
piracy
@@TheController_0 pirate something that doesn't exist?
@@peachpink2831 aren't they talking about katana hero? the unofficial "dlc"?
Katana Hero is also free if you have the game already so, no need for piracy
@@TheController_0Free story DLC has been being worked on for ages now. It's supposed to be like, three times the size of the basegame and the few glimpses we've gotten have been amazing.
A fun detail I remember connecting back then was, when the little girl asks you to find Leviathan using the Behemoth toy she has, she says that "Behemoth only glows when Leviathan's nearby." And when you do find it, the screen glows a bright red with black silhouettes. Eerily similar to how Zero's katana glows upon first meeting Fifteen on the highway.
Also, spoilers for the next part:
I always thought that the stuff the psychiatrist injected himself with during the secret boss fight was some mind-altering medication, since everything goes back to normal after the fight immediately and Zero's just sitting there on the chair. He also said "Did you really think Chronos was the only thing the government developed for the war?" So if Chronos can grant the user pre-cognition, who's to say there isn't some other thing out there that could grant the user the ability to attack others via their mind or hallucinations? But apart from that one line and the different colors in the vials, I have no way to support this theory.
Say that is true that the latter part is the case... one thing I could see it is that by attempting to attack the mind directly, specifically that of someone who can just loop endlessly, unless they are also able to handle the same situation, it causes an indefinite loopback onto themselves until someone wins.
How do iget the secret fight
the devs have confirmed that while the fight isnt canon, the drug he uses *is*. make of that what you will
@@karimabenhammou1753 look it up. It's mostly just choosing the most uncooperative dialogue option every time you interact with the Pychologist.
In the final cutscene, Zero stabs himself with multiple doses of the drug, but it would be interesting to find out if not all of the drugs he took were Chronos.
the reason why you have no choice to kill the homeless man if you stealth through the prison is most likely that zero is addicted to killing. he isnt a good guy, after all. "killing someone else is the closest thing we can get to something we can never have", he likes killing and i'd say hes addicted to it, and being denied to kill the guards and his target i think leaves him... dissatisfied, which causes him to take it out on a drunken alcoholic homeless man who in a different life tries stealing his medal.
thats what i like so much about the men in the masks comparing you to him, it just has less impact if you dont kill him. "the drink is all this man ever was, and when it is gone, what remains is the bottle", the drink, in zero's case, is his chronos. exited for the DLC, i know the entire point of katana zero is that you arent supposed to understand everything and you're just as confused as zero but i still want to know:
who are the men in masks? deities of time, yin and yang, or hallucinations, and everything they've done and every time they interact might have been an hallucination.
is the little girl fake? if the men in masks are fake she is also fake, the men in masks could be his sub-conscious mocking him and making him confront the bad side of himself "the drink is all this man ever was, and when it is gone, what remains is the bottle", and the little girl is a hallucination made to make zero feel better about himself to make him feel like he did one good thing in his life before the men in masks make him confront himself by taking that away, or they could just be deities somehow tied to time or chronos (of which they only appear as symptoms of chronos withdrawal or faintly in glitched sections (where your screen glitches) while still on chronos) and they're messing with a man they find pathetic
whos bringing back chronos? who does V work for? why dont we have a cool boss fight with snow already!?!?
i know at least the last 3 are going to be answered in the DLC, theres a lot to add to the story but those last 3 at least have to be answered for the story to continue
The bottle line is good, because it really does imply that it traps zero in the bottle just like a model ship - which is the side effect of the drug.
You could also go with the trio of Comedy, Tragedy and Girl with a greek twist: the Moirai. Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis for their roles, which certainly fits the theatre theme.
I sort of like the idea of a norse take for the fates: Past, Present and Future. If the LG is Future, then it implies zero does survive (somehow) and might even have a kid, and is hallucinating his a further future.
Also, sick video dude.
Do metal gear rising next
Bro..CHILL..Its never as deep as you think...the men in masks are obviously two of the people who made chronos and are actively controlling the main character from the background..they are intelligent and childish..and they take pleasure in watching how their experiments play out.
@@flewis02 thats an interesting idea, but seems a bit far fetched
Also in one of the psychologist sessions when questioning him about null if you choose the “my psychopathy?” Response and then the I like killing option Zero actually speaks and talks about how it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive.
God, this game was a fucking incredible experience, i wish i could play it for the first time again.
Hoping the dlc comes out one day
oh btw for anyone who's waiting for the dlc, I would recommend the game Sanabi! Its a criminally underated game that the devs have said was heavily inspired by KZ !!!
Second this! Having fun with it right now, but had to change some the resolution and other settings since it kept crashing (just some stuff to keep in mind for others trying it out).
This look siiick thanks for the recomandation!
dude sanabi made me ugly cry holy fuck the story was too good for that game
@H3NRY121 SAME the art at the end had me bawling
@@okok-fd8yu dude that shit hit so hard more than i ever expected....and the twists with the story.....and even tho u sorta knew what was gonna happen....when it did it told it differently and made u feel worse LMAO an amazing game
The biggest lie of all was that the dlc would come out in just a few months. In the time its taken I've graduated high school, graduated college, become a priest, and have held 5 different jobs
Holy shit man, you move around a lot, don't you?
@@felixangelpazovila1350 only moved once in all that time lol
You've been taking some Chronos, that's why
Cricket?
he wavedashes to all his destinations
This does sound like the story isn't done. While it concludes the stuff the story focuses on, it also introduces new plot points that will probably lead to more developments. So it comes across as more of an ending to a chapter in a bigger story.
They do have a DLC planned.
I love the narration in this part 33:18 “katana zero gets his very own Vergil and you don’t have to buy a special edition just to play as him” I bloody love that line 😂also amazing review mate! you did a really good job on the video! And one last thing hopefully you have an amazing day
Thanks for the support and your comment made my day! I hope you have a great one mate.
A katana zero essay in 2024? Not complaining though lol
i have a weird theory that's kind of flimsy but if anyone can find supporting or contrary evidence to it let me know (and please be civil, it is not that serious, we are just throwing theories out there and seeing what sticks :D):
The kid is the psychiatrist's daughter.
-In one hallucination, the daughter is stabbed onto a pillar in the office and the shrink is dead on the ground
-Interacting with the paperweight on the desk will prompt the shrink to tell you that it's his daughter's. So much thought is put into this game, for what reason would the shrink have a daughter? not just a child, but a child that he refers to with a specific gender?
-When the shrink is packing up, he is also angry that he's been unable to reach his daughter. Right after you kill him (with the same paperweight from his daughter), you'll find the girl is gone.
the daughter is supposed to have gotten the "paperweight" while travelling, the psych says as much. a 5 yo girl probably isnt travelling the world by herself, so this contradiction makes the theory not really work.
@@Sad_Mercy forgot that detail augh. maybe she's a young version of the daughter that zero is hallucinating for whatever reason?
Feels like that would be stretching. Also there is nothing explained or anything understood for the little girl being the shrinks daughter
The best part of this game is when you don't use slo-mo imho. When the game is left to breathe while letting you use your own reactions it feels AMAZING
Idk why the theory that the little girl is Snow isn't more popular. First few reddit results I checked on the topic instantly shut down that theory, when it seems so obvious.
I've always chalked the kid up to being your therapists child they talk about
I mean, there is almost nothing to suggest it. And just because there isn't anything that doesn't suggest it doesn't make it plausible either
@@volty883Eh, I could see it. I think the clues that the person we play as is the child and *not* Zero are compelling. The girl being a hallucination taking the form of his memory of his friend/sister is a real possibility, and perhaps the real Zero taking Leviathan (that we see her silhouette turn into) is an indication that they took the girl. Then Snow and the PC were raised separately, both turned into weapons by different factions (and possibly different means, I don't think we know that Snow is a Null, though she's got some kind of power).
Narratively, I think it's believable, and I don't think it's as unsupported as you say.
@@Raithul The child being Zero is a very unlikely theory judging that at the end the soldier responds with "This is Zero" and then the file has an image of us with the name Zero. It also goes to show that the final version of the hallucination doesn't show the girl and also her being Snow makes no sense as when V leaves a tape for Zero to watch he very much gives it to the girl. The girl and Snow are very likely two completely separate entities
@@volty883 I don't think there's any question that the player is currently being referred to as Zero, only that the "Zero" we play is different from the one in the "reveal" flashback.
The whole game is great.
But boy, the music is just PEAK.
But I also love Zero as a character. While he is incredibly cool, he is just as pathetic on an entirely different level.
And he ia on one hand a massive, funny weeb, while also being a remorseless, cold blooded killer. And it all just somehow works.
He also canonically listens to the music that plays on each level, which is just such a CUTE detail
And at last...
The detail that he picked up the toy back in the war.
He is 22 during the game.
The war was seven years ago. He was 15. Years old. Just a child. Why wouldn't a child keep a toy they found?
God, I do NOT see enough Katana Zero video essay on RUclips, it's such a masterpiece in storytelling, especially when it comes to heavier topics like ptsd, drug abuse, critique of war, etc. There are so many facets of the story that are just perfect for this kind of essay, but I only ever see a few pop up every now and then from smaller channels. God this game is so good
hella underrated video, but it’s due to the small timeframe (at time of writing - 1 day). well researched, finely spoken about & great editing.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I like how the letters of Judgement slide sideways like that.
Almost like Judgement was Cut...
Is that a Storm that is approaching!? 👀
@@ComboTrigger Should've added reference at the end,uncultured swinr,idiotic bafoon
35:55 This was the moment I fell in love with the game. I also threw my medal away too. Probably still out in the sand in the middle of nowhere. Instead I threw in right on the ground in front of them.
Katana Zero felt weird for me to play not only cause of the usual frustation. I suffer PTSD for my whole life in many different ways. I came into the game on Steam completely by random a while and had a hard time watching, playing, or even reading any forms of media revolving around violence.
I was and still am the kind of person who has a hard time being around others with a pocket knife or restaurant with knives on the table. And guns. I hate guns. I know guns way better than most. I have shot so many guns that I once didn't touch them for two years until recently.
I was forced into helping others as an advisor in training cause of people convincing my mother and sister. I didn't want to be there, yet I ended up helping cause others who knew me know I don't have a job.(and still don't) cause getting a job especially locally where I live is almost impossible(still is). I was there been cause they all were hoping that after enough time I would be hired.
I was going back onto the range and I hadn't touched a gun in years and was regreting it. I ended up during my "demostration". I ended up doing a couple of passovers and ended up hitting targets over 200 yards while running through our course. I hit all targets while cutting down the time alot for "improvised shots". Or at least what they said.
Everybody else was "amazed" for some reason. I was angry at myself cause I promised myself to never shoot again. I ended up throwing the emptied gun to the ground and just walked away. And just kept walking through the woods until I made it to a town where I got an Uber by walking up to someone who just happened to be a driver.
And I just left. Best decision I felt I made recently.
And funny enough part of my own therapy honestly was Katana Zero a long while ago. Nobody told me about it. I saw it around nowhere. I saw the game on Steam and just played the game. And even despite the horrible depictions in the game. It was strangely, morbidly "good" for my head. Without it, I wouldn't have played Cyberpunk 2077 which also has been a rollercoaster. And, I can just enjoy media again. Still don't carry around pocket any pocket knife though. I am still working on that. And the gun thing. Never again.
Katana Zero is strange in that it is fiction in the realest sense. Yet, I never felt more relatable to a character the moment he threw the stupid medal away. I really love this game.
Katana Zero easily has the best dialogue system I've seen in any game ever no diff
this game don't need a DLC this game need a whole sequel
apparently the dlc is 2-3x the size of the original game so for all intents and purposes, a sequel that’s free.
That sounds a lot like Silksong, which explains why it isn't out yet
Something to add onto Theory 1 since I was actually coming to a similar conclusion on a recent playthrough, but one that covers a few more holes than what you present-
Namely that Zero is a Chromag child who was captured and used as the first test subject for Chronos and turned on his own country
His dreams come from the perspective of the children because he was quite literally one of them, and he's going on a warpath against his own blood. This also explains why he would keep Behemoth as a keepsake- He's literally just keeping a part of his old home with him to try and remind him of his heritage whether he knew this or not.
Side note- Pretty sure it wasn't some unspecified injury that causes Zero's amnesia, it stems from the long-term use of Chronos warping his perception of time. In the Katana Hero DLC's stinger there's even dialogue from Tragedy implying this is the case, as (Spoilers for those who haven't played it) the entire story is implied to be Zero's hazy recollection of the main game's events- Only natural to assume Fifteen likely suffers from the same memory loss effect since he's been on Chronos about as long as Zero
Shinkage Ryu (new shadow style) was founded in the mid 16th Century by master Kamiizumi-Ise-no-Kami, and is Kamiizumi's own variant of his teacher Aizu-Hyuga-no-Kami Iko's Kage Ryu. A later variant of Shinkage Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, would be developed by Kamiizumi's own student, Yagyu Munetoshi.
There actually is *one* change, from beating the secret boss.
Zero doesn’t suffer any withdrawals after.
Why?
it might be a representation of zero's body beating the chronos out of him. by defeating the boss you defeat the effects chronos would have had on the body. why? I don't know
@@anonymousfox4620 it seems a bit odd, but it *could* be a way to represent getting past the withdrawals. Though, I’d imagine chronos isn’t exactly the kind of drug you can quit
I don’t think he does.
In the final phase, which is laden with Chronos-related imagery, the puppet is struck three times to kill. It would make sense that these are the same three doses of Chronos that Zero injects in the normal ending.
the reasoning for this being Chronos-related and not particularly psychiatrist-related is a bit long-winded, but I can type it out if you’d like.
@@meme6738 but you stay seated, until the end of the fight, the psychiatrist’s desk isn’t rooted through.
@@birdup1_2 it’s a really curious one - here -
During the psych fight, whenever you die in the second and third phases (throwing energy balls and the psychedelic eyes) he will taunt you in the death messages - the drug he is using allows him to alter your mind and essentially fight you inside your own head.
Upon slashing out his eyes during the third phase, he begins his weird Akira-esque monster transformation - which has you go through a bunch of glitching, for the matter, which is mostly used to convey temporal discontinuity - in this phase, the psychiatrist’s taunts cease and are replaced with “…” when you die. My guess is that the psychiatrist is dead by then - when you complete the fight the sword is stuck in his eye, and he becomes unresponsive after the phase where you slash out his eyes. My guess is that Zero ends up hallucinating the grotesque monster as related to his withdrawal - the psychiatrist is relegated to being a puppet, the level is filled with syringes, and - again - the puppet is struck three times to end the fight, much like the three Chronos syringes. It could be that this is actually representative of a threefold rejection of each syringe, given getting hit by them, yknow, kills you, but it’s not entirely implausible that after killing the psychiatrist during the eyes phase that zero goes deranged and the monster represents his use of Chronos whilst affected by the mind-altering drug the psychiatrist used.
it’s a shame we probably won’t see more of this - askiisoft confirmed this ending isn’t canon (though the drug the psych used is) so I suspect we will see nothing more about this in the DLC.
(Even when you inject the Chronos in the normal ending you still have to root through the desk for the dossier on Zero - this doesn’t seem particularly sufficient.) (Not sure about being in the seat because this is entirely dependent on what actually happens when Zero’s perception of reality does that temporal glitch.)
One day we'll get that DLC/Expansion.
If I can wait in that period of time between Hotline Miami 1 and the DLC that eventually became Hotline Miami 2/Wrong Number, then I can wait for as long as it takes for this.
NO WAY BRO. I LOST MY MIND WHEN I SAW THIS. Katana zero is my favorite platformer and i never see anyone talk about it because of hotline miami. looking forward to watching this video!
An under-appreciated masterpiece. Wish the game hadn’t finished on such an open-ended note though.
1:03 - It's a masterpiece of a game. That kind of game is not my favorite, but what Katana Zero does with the narrative is simply one of the best stories ever delivered, via games or any media.
I'm glad I found someone as perplexed by this game as me
Not sure if you mention this later, but you can avoid triggering the continued fight on the return in the hotel after the receptionist conversation, with one of the dialogue paths giving you an achievement later. Telling her you're just for a bath there is possible as well, and can be maintained later too, but doesn't give an achievement.
not having blue room in the church section felt really strange
good video !!
in my run through, the little girl was your sister, you were the child that hid under the stool, she was killed by the soldier and you were abducted to be experimented on.
20:20 I think it's interesting because of all the smallest details added that point to specific directions, I'm a personal believer this "shadow-dragon" naming was more like the author trying to get at "shadow _of_ the dragon", what with Thirteen coming later. It'd make sense for Zero's arc. Still very capable and worth of being _a_ dragon, but not _the_ dragon.
Also, 28:24 yeah we all know that the Leviathan and Dragon toys look like 0 and 13, but I would think it's REALLY FUNNY this little red splash effect is saying Zero is remembering subconsciously who Thirteen is, and if the cutting of V's arms is more or less a really funny hint that, "Thirteen is Zero's... Brother... In arms..."
I’ve been following askiisoft since tower of god, and they always deliver. Easily my favorite indie dev, and Bill Kileys soundtracks should ABSOLUTELY never be overlooked and it’s a crime this game and soundtrack doesn’t get more recognition. Let them cook, cause god damn, we’re gonna eat good
Funny detail Comedy and tragedy can be seen in the game in some of the level, the hotel is one of them
honestly, i damn love this video and made me appreciate creative writing again, what a fun treat! love me some katana zerooo
I loved playing through the game. trying to piece together his fragmented reality. Seeing how choices influence his perspectives and such. But also the effect he has on those around him.
You video really got my mind racing again about possibilities. Awesome vid.
Wrote something I thought of afterwards.
(contains major game spoilers)
The thing about the memory feels like he used the blood of headhunter to stabilize his own withdrawal. (the same thing she mentioned doing with his blood 40:05 )
However due to Chronos having the effect it does and being in their bloodstream, Makes me believe there's a chance of memory bleed. Meaning they could be the one who Zero met back when he was a child.
However due to the combination of withdrawal and amnesia. He has warped headhunters memory with his own. Causing him to think he was the one shooting, while in fact. it was headhunter.
This would explains why fifteen and headhunter don't recognize him.
Let me explain how I think it fits together.
The leviatan and the girl are memory issues he's having.
The girl was there and so was the leviathan.
However the girl tried protecting the old man and most likely Zero. (who hid)
Which plays into the way she keeps saying how she's going to ''Kick his ass''. (something he must've rememered from her last moments)
Most likely being what she said to headhunter.
Causing headhunter to have thrown her aside and ''turning'' her into Leviathan. (Like she said, killing means nothing to them)
Zero's childlike mind must've connected his sister to his leviathan toy. (She most likely had Behemoth as a toy. which is why he can keep leviathan and not behemoth)
Due to the trauma endured and most likely being caught and everything after. The memory probably got repressed.
Which is why in the end that could very well be why the memory changed and fragmented. Like how we see it the first time.
A known form of self defense of the mind, to deal with extreme traumatic events.
The girl being outside could be his mind trying to confront this repressed past, caused by his withdrawal. As his mind is suffering less from the effect that gets caused by Chronos.
going through the story.
There is, as the masked men said. A choice to be made.
Basically Zero has to choose whether he wants to continue on or not. (The first ending.)
The masks basically being a manifestation of his inner turmoil.
Asking if he's willing to continue on as the past is killing him.
The agent saying to move away, most likely seen something in the expression when facing zero that scared him enough to yell. ''wh- what the fuck?! Get back, now!'' ( 32:09 )
(He staring at a man known mass murder, who literally contemplating his own existence.)
After Zero has consciously chosen to continue his live.
The masks seemingly kill all the police.
However, Considering he is considered a psycopath according to the therapist. And subjected and used as experimental soldier.
There is a chance that during us making the choice, he unconsciously killed them.
This triggers his mind to find a way to deal with the trauma.
Which it considers a good thing, as it won't longer be bogged down by trauma of the past.
This is seen as his apartment suddenly is cleaned up afterwards. (a clean home is sometimes regarded as a sign of a healthy/healing mind)
A mind is however a fragile thing. And Zero's mind being broken as it is had consequences.
Trying to deal with that trauma and getting to the truth of his past and current situation, his mind started altering events in an attempt to recover the fragmented memories and heal his broken psyche.
(Memory alteration is a documented occurance in people, especially those with extreme trauma)
When after the fight with headhunter there's a memory of headhunter being in the same place, Zero's brain mistook that memory as Zero's due to it being infused with chronos.
Which leads up to him believing he was the headhunter who worked with fifteen. And not the child who got traumatized and taken for experimentation.
Giving Zero what he need to continue his life without being hindered or trapped by his past memories.
All ofcourse mere conjecture. Although I love how it fits together in my mind.
I would like to apologize for any misspellings and the giant amount of grammatical errors.
It does remain a second language. Hope it can entertain or bring others to new idea's and theories.
Amazing write up! Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Its not fair taht you only have 2k subs, this video is nicely done
this deserves a whole lot more views
this is my favorite game of all time. so glad its having a small resurgance, cant wait for more dlc or even a sequel
They need to drop the dlc or a sequel I loved this game
Sick video dude, you will definitely make it big.
nvr mind that, just checked your channel, you're already big lmao
Thanks man, hopefully the number keeps going up.
The intro is so fuxking good well done mate
Awesome review, I'd love to see other game reviews like this.
This games one of the trippiest of all time. I literally dropped my controller in shock from one of the twists lol
Also the replay-ability is huge cuz of the slo mo feature that makes you want to be able to beat the levels without using it at all!
Killer Video dude!!! Never played Katana Zero, but your video made me want to check it out for sure. Thank you!!
A theory that's probably a stretch is that when Zero refuses chronos on day 2, he's already going through the withdrawal as scene from the dossier and killing the old man no matter what you choose, and since then his therapist has been giving him chronos unwillingly since then.
Best part about the psychiatrist’s last words is that it’s exactly what Zero said about V in the limousine. It’s amazing how this game forces the player to realize that the protagonist is a bad a person
erm,,,he killied kieds....sooooo 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩💯💯💯💯
@@cas_thekid I mean heck, we see him murder tens of people every single night. But because it’s gameplay, players tend to just not register how awful that is
@@unseenasymptote4976 honestly that's a really good point and the fact that it's easily overlooked reinforces said point
it's really interesting how things like that end up
To be fair to Zero, V's characterization very much suggests that V's habits and lifestyle were of his own doing, and he reveled in it. We can assume up until the game's events, Zero was more than likely being treated as if he had some kind of debilitating condition and was lied to about everything since he got his amnesia. He was still a contract killer, but one literally crafted and groomed by the government to be a perfect killer. You also can see that he's not just a junkie by how he treats the girl before tragedy and comedy take her. If given the option, Zero very much likely would have quit the life he was forced into. He's not as bad of a person as V is despite V trying to bring Zero down to his level.
@@D_Abellus I hear you, and I think you’re kinda right, but Zero also literally says he enjoys killing, and he goes on a monologue about it to his psychiatrist. The fact that clearing a room requires killing everyone inside is telling. When he has the choice to not kill at the prison, he still kills a homeless man in cold blood because he just needs to kill. We’re told he was selected for the Null program because he had violent and psychopathic tendencies as a child. Obviously it’s not his fault those were nurtured, but he DOES enjoy his crimes.
Additionally, V’s issues probably ARE the result of a crappy childhood in gang territory with no healthy parental influence. Kids who end up in organized crime often are groomed into it from a young age by older men, and that’s where he would have gotten hooked on drugs and taught to not treat women as human beings.
I don’t say any of this to defend V or to argue that him and Zero are the same. What I’m saying is, everyone has reasons for becoming who they become. You can’t separate a person from their circumstances. Zero chooses to personally end dozens of lives every night to preserve his own, and he honestly sees nothing wrong with that. That’s monstrous.
I loved the video, please continue to make more stuff in this style I’d love to see more
13:11 - Best line from the day.
When i played the game i was expecting a casual platformer with fun mechanichs , but the deep story is an extremly pleasant surprise
A great video on one of my favorite games of all time.
I have nostalgia for this game it was one of the first times I watch a full Playlist on RUclips in 2020
Ah good times
43:18 if i only knew.. she is only a kid, i.. I promised her...
I remember back in 2020 when I bought this game! After completing it I looked into future DLC and remember reading articles telling me that the DLC was gonna be big. He I am in 2024 with no DLC
Man, I’m dying for DLC
katana zero is one of those indi game i LOVE
The foreshadowing on the 13:44 ahhhh
I can't wait enough for the DLC. I know its not going to answer everything which just says so much about this games writing.
51:05 - I'm still waiting for a follow up or DLC...
Anyways, thanks for the video, mate! Much respect, and Please Come to Brazil.
Interesting video, that I, however, will not finish watching for now - because you've inspired me to buy the game and play it by myself. Thank you! 😇
I hope you have a great time with it! 😁
I hate to nitpick, but Shinkageryuu is 新陰流, or "new shadow style/school."
All good, thanks for letting me know. I couldn't tell if they wanted the shin to be true, new or God tbh haha
It's been I dont know how long since I chose to just die with tragedy and comedy Just to keep the little girl safe.
Today I get to know what happens if you choose to live instead.
Safe to say, my Zero is still happily dead.
I hope to see you make more content this was good.
43:02 - Wow, Zero's 5'10". Japanese guy indeed.
46:33 - It's hard as nails. One of the most difficult boss fights I've ever had ('cause I'm bad like that).
This video was so fantastic ! Great humor and story summary / analysis
Had a blast watching it ! Remember to make a vid on sanabi too , its simialr to k0 and is also fantastic . Love your style
I hadn't heard of Sanabi until now and just checked it out. It looks amazing and is on sale so I'll pick it up.
Thanks for the support and for putting the game on my radar!
What a great video! I'm not a huge playing these types of games, but I love the lore and worldbuilding that goes behind them. Thanks for taking me on a journey through Katana Zero, the story is definitely interesting and I'd love to see more conclusions drawn if a DLC is added or if people ever discover some new secrets! I would never get to here these cool ideas that these developers came up with without videos like these, and I appreciate your effort in sharing them.
50:25 solid argument, however, you could also argue that he DOES know what he looks like, due to the whole time fuckery thing with chronos
JUST PUT IT ON PLAYSTATION I AM BEGGING
I recommend playing Sanabi too
Got it on the list 🙂
Maby the child from the flashback is us, but he was a copy of actual zero?
8:48 - *Someone* really learned with Hideo Kojima.
Hear me out the little girl is the daughter of supplier for zero chronos (sorry I can’t type his name)and tragedy and comedy looks like government scientists and the supplier for zero said he lost contact from his daughter
There’s a theory my brother proposed to me, but I sont know if he found if he read it somewhere else or if he came up with it.
SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED BOTH THE MAIN GAME AND THE HIDDEN BOSS.
The theory goes like this:
What if Comedy and Tragedy were the result of other non-Chronos government drug experiments?
The Psychiatrist mentions “other drugs” that the New Mecca government worked on, and when he uses them he gains some abilities that alter reality and/or one’s perception of reality. [Teleportation. Summoning balls of energy, large hands, and clones of himself. Changing Zero’s vision during the eyeball phase. Becoming an impossibly huge creature that should not fit in the room they are in, etc]
Comedy and Tragedy are dressed in lab coats, a possible hint that they were a few people behind government experiments. They are shown doing and knowing things that conflict with reality [Teleportation. They talk with each other in Zero’s hallucination, a conversation where they seem to know the nature of Chronos before Zero does. They kill the police squad surrounding Zero without moving. Etc]
A possible counterpoint is that they are hallucinations within Zero’s mind. They don’t need to abide by physics because they are not real. Many other characters in hallucinations talk about things that Zero doesnt know yet, and could be a result of Chronos altering his linear perception of time.
Anyone have thoughts on this?
It was 11 P.M., and i had an exam for a class that i had neglected the entire semester. If i didnt get a B in that exam, i would fail the class, and go on academic probation. I decided that i needed a break from studying to play some mindless game on the xbox. I looked at katana zero and said "yeah ill kill some dudes with a katana". Wasnt expecting cyberpunk samurai Metal Gear Solid. Finished it in 1 sitting. 10/10 would fail that class again.
Shame I discovered this at 10pm
one of my favorite game of all time
i enjoyed it a lot. thank you!
heres a theory the one we believe is zero IS the child from the dreams but said child is a CLONE of the original zero
KATANA ZERO LIVES ONNN
Katana Zero is a great game with good storytelling and some interesting things here and there. Too bad the DLC will never come out and our questions will remain unanswered. Oh well.
Let's have some hope it'll come out
It may. It's become full meme status tho by now, I'll give you that. If and when it does come out i feel that it would give the game another, longer lifespan. Dont give up man
It was only a couple months ago that we got a teaser trailer for the dlc, we know its still coming out
Important to note Katana Zero was developed in six years. The art takes a lot of time among other things like inconsistent developers working on the game.
I thought that the person who killed the scientist was snow
yup instant sub cant wait to watch more of your content
Masterpiece of a game
i would be so down for a katana one man
I hate how amazing games are left unanswered and will most likely never have the full story completed.
theories:
hey you are the one who pointed out that the game lies to you.
1) it's open ended so you ultimately decide, are you the 15 year old just 7 years later, or are you stuck in a state of arrested development? there's evidence of both of these. on one hand the original 0 is psychotic, but in game you never kill children. on the other hand you are some kind of null. personally, i think that...
2) zero is a clone, or, maybe a time clone? - based on the number of bodies in tubes, and all the numbered code names (zero, V, Fifteen) zero isn't just a soldier number, its a model number. you're a clone of the original 0.
and
3) comedy and tragedy are your neighbors. comedy, tragedy, and your friend are all outside of time, and *probably no longer alive. but you can see them because you're not where you're supposed to be in time either. perhaps the samurai cosplay is a clue as to where the amnesiac zero has been. his first setup is telling his psychiatrist about masked men, but it's a little odd that they don't really enter the story until after V gets to them. basically, no one is where they should be in time. chronos allows you to see these people whether they're departed or just otherwise displaced. V is the soldier, and the kid. all of your memories are real, but they're not necessarily YOURS, and chronos is allowing us to re-live moments in time. the masked neighbors, the girl and V are all stuck in the hallucinatory nightmare world, and the only people with real answers are those you were sent after. the gaps can probably be filled in by fifteen, roses boss, comedy and tragedy, and you.
i just finished this game i 100% recommed
I love katana zero
Katana zero's ost is my chronos
Are doing a visual play by play or not?
top notch game.... wish there was more
22:34 seeing that scene like this really shows how important the original music is. it feels nowhere as impactful.
this was very enjoyable
You know… the side effects of Chronos withdrawal are as follows:
Time stops for you, and your life becomes a living nightmare that you can’t escape from without more Chronos.
You the player are seated in front of a TV watching each of those episodes of the game. You are effectively seeing Zero’s fate play out in front of you, and finding the one path of Zero’s fate that reveals everything about the story… no matter how many die in the process.
This suggests the following: Zero is foreseeing HIS ENTIRE LIFE. From wherever he is now all the way to whatever grisly end at the end of the DLC awaits him.
It’s a nightmare, because the ending is just so bleak. Zero cannot believe his life is just as a meaningless hit man wielded by those in power, a fragment of the losing side of a war that he didn’t even really care about.
Zero’s nightmare is knowing every. single. tiny. step. towards. his. eventual. demise. The head injury, causing memory loss. The government of New Mecca, taking advantage of that. The hallucinations, the nightmares, the killing of everyone in Project Chronos.
The ultimate failure of a soldier, of a man, of a human being with at least a basic sense of empathy or decency. And he cannot look away. His body desperately searches for any sliver of a good timeline that isn’t some pathetic and meaningless death, some hope that this nightmare is worth trudging through… and fearing that there is no way out. It’s the future, and once he finally decides “Yeah… that should do it,” that he would lock himself into the very nightmare that now torments him.
If you read the second book in Frank Herbert’s Dune series (SPOILERS AHOY) Paul Atreides falls into the same trap: his precognition locks him into one future that he cannot escape no matter what he does, and it leads to his own downfall. Something tells me that Zero is going through something similar, and we the player are a mere witness to the sheer size and scope of this comedic tragedy. A tragedy because of the death and slaughter and waste of good life… a comedy in that this tragedy hasn’t actually happened yet. It is about to happen, once Zero (meaning the player) loses the will to keep fighting for a “suitable end”. But… will an end ever come? Honestly… I don’t think so. We humans are just too stubborn to not loggerheadedly bash our dumb brains through whatever seemingly impossible barriers we put in place to stop the ridiculous from overturning the expected. Zero can’t stop fighting. He must keep going, he must keep fighting, **IT CANNOT END LIKE THIS….**
yo guys whats the name of that game where you play as a person with a sword and you can deflect bullets in slow motion
9:45 - We've all been there.
What happens if you leave the game for a few months and return to the sword room?
15:58 - Isn't she the sweetest girl you've ever seen in a video game?
Uhhhhhhhhhh yeah so, this is all referencing Metal Gear. Zero and V figure heavily into MGSV. I could probably help sort out the supposedly "missing" context here. Just, wow, there's a lot going on. Foxes and swords and Snakes and guns, V is the key you're missing. V is the split. The missing arms, the hallucinated young girl, it's all there in MGSV too. This is nuts.
So like for example. The men in masks.
The 2 men in masks are Zero and 15. The two of them showed up and killed the scientist and the girl. Our MC is the boy who hid under the bed and saw this happen.
And the Chronos. The boy grew up and found Zero and 15's power, and began using Chronos. He styled himself after the man who killed his sister and added some anime style for the costume.
The 2 men in masks always get the girl in the end because the MC is linked to that moment via the Chronos, and those 2 assassins are never stopped by him, which was his original motive for doing everything. He just forgets it due to amnesia.