We’ve been following the release of Katanaut, a new roguelike action side scroller from developer Voidmaw. The exciting pixel art title is out now on Steam, and we’ve been putting it through its paces and share our thoughts on the first couple of hours of play. Katanaut utilizes the recently popular mechanic of short runs, designed to slowly build the protagonist, Naut, who is on a mission to discover what has gone wrong on an infested space station.
Each run in Katanaut contains procedurally generated levels, broken down into distinct sections connected by doors. You’ll need to fight your way through each section of the space station to uncover the doors, although there are warp points that help to navigate about once you’ve explored lots of places. Getting to each new section is tough; enemies fill the corridors, and you only have a few hit points that can be generated sparingly.
Controlling Naut couldn’t be easier, and there are a host of moves to use in your quest to dive deeper into the station. The two basic attacks are swinging your sword and shooting your gun, but you can only have one of each type at any one time. This does make room for experimenting with different builds as you gain experience in the game. Early on in each run, you come across upgrades that grant access to special moves that require charging after each use.
Naut can also double jump, slide down walls, and roll to avoid attacks. There are a few other more advanced techniques, such as deflecting bullets back at enemies. You certainly have everything at your disposal to learn the basics quickly, and during our time with Katanaut, we started to reach three or four sections before finally dying. We imagine that, as our experience and the inevitable grind of the small upgrades build, it won’t take too long to reach the furthest depths of the station.
As with many other titles in this genre, Katanaut has a huge amount of upgrades, weapons, skills, and perks to unlock and experience. It really is a case of just keep playing runs and finding new things to play about with. Anyone who enjoys tweaking builds and trying out new stuff will love the variety on offer here. On that note, a little tip we learned quickly was to take your time and explore every nook and cranny of each section to maximise the returns on upgrades when you eventually die and end up back at base.
Overall, from the few hours we spent with Katanaut, we had a great time, and it’s clear there is a lot of depth to its almost endless corridors and rooms. There are some great secrets and jump scares to uncover, and the slow, grinding way Naut is upgraded will please fans who enjoy a good challenge. It also has some beautiful pixel art and a soundtrack that matches the dark mood and slow progression of the gameplay. Fans of rogulites and side-scrolling action games will get a lot of joy from this one. Casual fans may not see enough new ideas, but will appreciate the quality presentation and tight controls.
