One of our stops during our PAX East 2016 tour was Adult Swim Games’ booth, where Justin Guillou and I had a chance to look at two of their titles in development, Rise & Shine and Katana ZERO. Our time was sadly brief, but we definitely liked what we saw from both of these games, so read on and let us know what you think.
Rise & Shine
Rise & Shine, from developer Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team, tells the story of a boy living on Gamearth, a world inhabited by video game character pastiches, whose peace is suddenly threatened by the invasion of space marines who start gunning everyone down. Rise & Shine feels like your typical run & gun at first, but you’ll have to overcome tricky puzzles by using different bullet types, such as an RC bullet you can manipulate the trajectory of, as well as deadly enemies and traps that will kill you if you make one wrong move. I died a LOT playing this game, but I think it looks fantastic with its comic book styled cutscenes and amazingly detailed hand drawn environments. Look for Rise & Shine to come out pretty soon this year around the 2nd quarter.
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Trailer
Katana ZERO
Next up is Katana ZERO from Akiisoft. Katana ZERO has you play as a ninja-like assassin in a dark 1980’s neon environment, making use of your trusty katana as well as objects in the environment to deliver quick, deadly kills to your enemies, with the aid of a drug called Chronos which slows down time and gives you the edge you need before you’re struck down or shot yourself. Katana ZERO’s gameplay should feel pretty familiar to players of Hotline Miami, the main difference being rather than using a top-down view, Katana ZERO is a skill-based platformer that asks you to plan ahead, and think of ways to overcome tricky and deadly situations on the fly. From time to time you’ll get phone calls about your assignments, and you can listen to your mysterious operator, or be a jerk and constantly interrupt them to just get on with it. Katana ZERO is one to watch if you crave tough platforming action with a dark retro aesthetic, and will be coming in 2017.
Screenshots
Trailer
