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There’s a part of all of us that wishes we were effortlessly cool. Masters of that vogueish non-chalance that is just on the right side of complete tosser status. But alas, most of us just aren’t cut out to transact with that rarified social capital. Where am I going with this? I promise it sounded really cool in my head. Proving my point here. Anyway, today I bring you a demo for Katanaut, a neat little indie that is, well, effortlessly cool, a descriptor not every game can claim without raising some eyebrows.
So what is it? A 2D fast-paced action-roguelite blending fluid combat and cosmic horror if the Steam blurb is anything to go by. You play as Naut, a cyberpunk ronin tasked with clearing out fleshy once-humans turned gross aberrations aboard a space station. It’s always space stations isn’t it? It makes me think of Dead Space or, for the niche metroidvania heads among you, the underrated Environmental Station Alpha. Good game that.
Image credit Voidmaw
Image credit Voidmaw
Armed with a katana, you’re set loose on runs through increasingly-labyrinthine floors of said space station. Katanaut’s sharp combat system is a convincing concealer that it’s very much developer Voidmaw’s first game (at least as far as I can tell). You’ll also get a gun and a neat traversal toolkit that includes a double jump, dodge, and a slide. The pace and compulsive urge to progress reminds me of Dead Cells. Like any good roguelike, each run plays out slightly differently as you pick from a rotating buffet of upgrades and skills, including one that unleashes a micro-tornado and another that lets you teleport to enemies. Die and you’re booted back to the start.
If you’re not already sold, it’s all rendered in lovely pixel art. The kind where lightning and particles do some major atmosphere-setting heavy lifting. It’s packed with cyberpunk neon but it’s also seriously gory. After every fight, the walls are stained by Rorschach-ish blood patterns, viscera, and god knows what other constituent parts make up the internals of the station’s twisted denizens. The residue of a grisly Mortal Kombat finisher, but it’s everywhere. Throw in some thumping synthy head-nodders and Katanaut offers up quite the package. Again, very cool.
The demo is up on Steam at the moment. It’s only 1 GB, which, after stewing through a 100 GB download for a certain upcoming remake, is a gusty breath of digital fresh air. As for the full release, you’re looking at an unhelpfully vague Q3 2025, but a little birdie (it’s PR) tells me it might be worth catching the Future Games Show broadcast from Gamescom next week for a firm date.
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