Katana

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	Katana.hqx Mac OS Application (Encoded in Macintosh Bin/Hex format.)
	Katana.bin Mac OS Application (MacBinary format. Files in this format are primarily for MacOS use.)
	katana.gam For all systems. To play, you'll need a TADS 2 Interpreter - visit tads.org for interpreter downloads.

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Katana
by Matt Rohde

Eastern/Historical
2002

(based on 3 ratings)
1 member review

Game Details

Language: English (en)
Current Version: 2.0
License: Freeware
Development System: TADS 2
Baf's Guide ID: 1795
IFID: TADS2-D2FFBE1858FEEFDE392EECE4F7EC6A8D
TUID: cpjghpdd3q80at2r

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide

Set in the modern day, but with magical flashbacks to historical Japan, reconstructing some details about your character's distant ancestors. Some of the puzzles are either clichéd or of the variety where you would have to read the author's mind, but they're lent charm by the Japanese mythological details. Worth playing for the atmosphere.

-- Emily Short

IF-Review
So I do recommend this game. I think it will be better a version or two down the line, if Rohde chooses to polish it up based on initial player response, because there are some points where the implementation makes things unnecessarily frustrating. But it succeeds at much that it attempts -- to offer an old-school game with a cool, fresh setting. And it is ambitious enough to take more than your standard-issue two-competition-hours to play, which is a nice change, these days.
See the full review

Member Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
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Average Rating:

Number of Reviews: 1
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Bittersweet and Satisfying, January 20, 2009

by Andromache (Hawaii)

I enjoyed this game because of its plot orientation, its encouragement of exploration, and a lack of "guess the verb" issues. It also has a built-in walkthrough, which I found really useful. I tend to give up on games that don't have solutions somewhere or are too mechanically frustrating, such as having limited inventory space.

True, some of the puzzles weren't immediately intuitive, but they were well-clued and, as stated above, the walkthrough was available. The game was even nice enough to provide syntax for some commands, which made solving puzzles easier. (Spoiler - click to show)Bringing my long-dead ancestors peace gave me a sense of accomplishment.

I'd recommend this game if you like plot-driven games with reasonably gentle puzzles, good mechanics, and a vibrant, exotic setting.

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Polls

The following polls include votes for Katana:

Games with "logical" puzzles by Victor Gijsbers
Some puzzles--like chess problems or sudokus--can be difficult even though you know all the rules. I'm looking for IF games with this kind of puzzle: you can get to know the rules by simple exploration, and then you still have to solve...

This is version 3 of this page, edited by Emily Short on 8 May 2008 at 10:38pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item