8 Games Like Katana ZERO for Fast, Stylish Action on PC

Hotline Miami is the game most often named next to Katana ZERO, and for good reason. Every shot is deadly, for you and for them, so each floor of enemies becomes a fast puzzle you solve by dying and trying again. It's played from above, set in an alternative 1989 Miami, and driven by messages on your answering machine.

The violence is extreme and the neon look and soundtrack are a big part of the appeal, much like Katana ZERO's. Both games share a publisher, Devolver Digital. If you finish it, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is under Also worth a look.

My Friend Pedro is a 2D gun ballet: you twist through the air in slow motion, aim each hand at a different target and line up ricochets to hit enemies from behind. A talking banana tells you who to go after next.

It has Katana ZERO's slow motion and acrobatics, with guns instead of a sword and a sillier tone. Stylish window breaches are part of the routine, and Steam leaderboards reward the cleanest runs.

SANABI is a 2D cyberpunk action platformer about a retired veteran with a chain-hook prosthetic arm. You swing over cliffs and skyscrapers, zip through bullets and traps, and climb a mega-city where every citizen vanished after a sudden blackout.

Like Katana ZERO, the movement is fast and the story keeps you guessing, with a chatty hacker named Mari opening locked doors and revealing enemy weaknesses along the way. It has some of the best Steam reviews of any game on this list.

Anomaly Agent makes you Agent 70, sent to stop anomalies that threaten to tip the world into chaos. It's a 2D cyberpunk action game with a time-bending story, odd characters and a synthwave soundtrack, and it opens with a nod to Katana ZERO: your boss calls to ask whether you've reached the target, as GamingTrend's review points out.

The big difference is the combat. Katana ZERO kills in one hit, both ways. Anomaly Agent is closer to a beat 'em up: you punch and shoot through crowds, toss enemies around with anomaly weapons, dodge with acrobatic moves and upgrade your character, and your choices change how the story unfolds. GamingTrend scored it 90 out of 100 and said its combat lives up to the comparison.

Ghostrunner is Katana ZERO's idea in first person: a cyber ninja with a katana, enemies who die in one hit, and a hero who dies in one hit too. You climb Dharma Tower, the last shelter of humanity, slicing through enemies with a monomolecular blade and dodging bullets with superhuman reflexes.

Frequent checkpoints keep the retries quick, which is exactly what made Katana ZERO's deaths feel fair. It's harder on the reflexes than the 2D games here, and a sequel, Ghostrunner 2, is under Also worth a look.

DEADBOLT puts you in the robes of the reaper, sent by a mysterious fireplace to put down an undead uprising. The reaper has a big arsenal, from a scythe to an automatic grenade launcher, but one flaw: he dies in one shot.

That one-hit rule makes it play like a mix of stealth and Katana ZERO's room-clearing. Over 25 missions can be done quietly or loudly, and the soundtrack comes from the composer of Risk of Rain.

Furi is a run of one-on-one duels: you escape a prison by beating each guardian in fast sword fighting mixed with twin-stick shooting. Every boss has its own patterns to learn, and the bosses were designed by Takashi Okazaki.

It isn't a platformer, but it shares Katana ZERO's sharp, all-or-nothing fights and a synth soundtrack, here by Carpenter Brut, Danger, Lorn and others. Steam recommends a gamepad.

RUINER is a brutal top-down action shooter set in 2091 in the cyber city of Rengkok. A wired killer goes after a corrupt system to get his kidnapped brother back, guided by a secretive hacker.

You can blast through crowds or slow time and pick your targets before letting loose, which feels close to Katana ZERO's bullet-time moments. Gadgets include an energy shield, dashes and a gun that can hack enemies to your side. The store page carries a warning about flashing lights.