GAME · released

Katana ZERO

Askiisoft · Devolver Digital

Quick read

Katana ZERO is a timed slash with rewind: nights, neon, and a sword that is a metronome. A floor is a song you retry until the slash lands on the beat.

What kind of game is it?

Authored side-view action where time is a resource you spend and take back. You clear a room, rewind a miss, and keep the night's dialogue. The corridor is written, and the blade is a clock you learn.

Who is it for?

For players who miss a room they clear, then a conversation they cannot slash.

How it plays

Loop: Action combat
Sessions: Short sessions
Progression: Campaign
Players: Single-player
Structure: Linear
Tone: Dark · Challenging

Game DNA

What playing it feels like, out of 100. Our reading, separate from Steam reviews.

Progression80
Estimate
Social18
Estimate

Key Steam facts

Steam store figures, checked 17 Aug 2026.

Release

released

2019-04-18

Review score

97.9%

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Steam positive percent.

Review count

75,928

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Store price

€14.79

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Languages

Demo

Early Access

Players

Single-player

How many people play Katana ZERO?

Estimates from public Steam data, not figures from the studio. Ranges, not exact numbers.

Estimated copies

1.9M – 4.2M

Steam reviews × 25 to 55. For a free game: players, not sales.

All-time peak players

1,520

Most people playing at the same moment, per SteamCharts.

Average players, Aug 2026

124

Peak that month: 292.

Median playtime

9.4 h

Half of 300 recent reviewers played 5.4–17.9 h. 3% under 2 h.

Players over time

Sept 2023Aug 2026

Where the players are

Languages of the last 300 Steam reviews. A proxy for regions, not a country split.

English29%
Simplified Chinese19%
Russian15%
Portuguese (Brazil)12%
Spanish (Spain)9%
Korean5%

Steam data checked 4 Oct 2026

What makes it different?

Rewind sits on a scripted night.

Core mechanics

Similar games

Full games-like page →

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2 is authored top-down assault: enter, clear, die, retry the room. A floor is a song of violence, and the mask is the only meta that matters.

Open →

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is a Wario-like score attack through kitchens that collapse into a joke. A rank is a lap you ran, and the building falls when you finally leave.

Open →

Rhythm Doctor

Rhythm Doctor is a timing hospital: hit on the seventh beat or the patient dies as a joke. A level is a chart, and the editor is how the night continues.

Open →

Celeste

Celeste is a precision climb: a mountain of authored rooms, cheap deaths, and a panic you manage as carefully as a dash. Assist mode is there; the mountain is still written.

Open →

Related games

Nearby games. Not always a direct substitute.

Shared: Platforming, Melee combat, Mastery, Action combat

Helvetii

Helvetii is a Celtic action roguelite with short runs and a small review sample: 94% positive on 49 reviews (checked 17 Aug 2026).

Open →

Shared: Platforming, Mastery, Action combat

Cuphead

Cuphead is a boss-rush cartoon: patterns, parries, and a run that is a level someone painted rather than a seed you reroll. A song is a boss, and the letter is the only meta.

Open →

Genre / subgenre

Strategy

Steam genre: platformer.

Related rankings

Sources

Store price checked 17 Aug 2026.

Are you the developer of this game? Claim this game. Missing a game? Submit a game.