By Jatin Gundara

Of every genre I expected to come from the gaming world this year, a roguelite about a space samurai fighting through hordes of the undead in the midst of a cosmic horror hellscape certainly wasn’t on my list. However, it makes sense to expect the unexpected when a publisher founded in the 90s by former Activision employees makes a resurgence in 2025. Acclaim Entertainment, the famous studio behind the NBA Jam series (among other titles) recently announced nine indie games that will be released in the coming months, a welcome revitalization of the company which had previously dissolved in 2004. And among these new additions to their catalogue is the wildness of Katanaut. 

Set in a derelict space station, Katanaut follows the endeavors of astronaut and samurai Naut as he looks to uncover the secret behind why its inhabitants have mutated into bloodthirsty abominations. The premise of the game’s narrative had me hooked from the start. 

The blend of cyberpunk and eldritch horror elements creates an immersive atmosphere clearly inspired by the Dead Space franchise. The feeling of being trapped in a hostile labyrinth in the vacuum of the cosmos while knowing something sinister is unfolding brings an air of unease and intrigue that’s hard to resist. 

However, even though Katanaut has a remarkable story to tell, it isn’t utilized nearly enough. In its entirety, only a few NPCs exist to interact with, and almost none of them have any role within the plot whatsoever. Besides the lore snippets for each enemy (which can be accessed after you’ve defeated them), which provide interesting pieces of information, and short excerpts which can be found within the levels themselves, there isn’t much more for the player to uncover story-wise. Part of me almost feels like Katanaut should have been a Metroidvania instead of a roguelite simply due to the fact that I would love to see a fully fleshed-out map and plot which take full advantage of the storytelling gold the game has at its disposal.

Yet devs’ main focus is in its good gameplay and wondrous visuals. It certainly delivers on both fronts. With each run, the goal is to travel deeper into the space station until you’re (inevitably) torn to shreds by the monsters you face. The beauty of the roguelite format is that it fuses arcade-like replayability with metroidvania-esque upgrades to keep the player coming back, a design philosophy that Katanaut is no stranger to. 

With each run I found myself becoming more and more addicted to seeing how far I could get, longing for the thrill of discovering a new weapon (memory fragments can be found that unlock weapons for future runs), using a new skill, or exploring a new area. The main weapon used in combat is a katana. The sword added a light, fluid feel to combat as I endured a level of sweet suspense that resulted from being forced to be up close and personal with such grotesque abominations. 

The range of special skills within is somewhat limited, however. While there were some fun options to toy around with, in the end I felt that the most viable strategy was just to pick up what dealt the most damage (particularly for boss fights). There are five big fights which all provide a unique challenge. While the bosses are fair enough, they can at times feel impossible if the player doesn’t have the right gear and abilities. Luckily, I found that while the selection of skills and weapons was small, the amount of access I had each run to those options made me feel like I could always prepare to the best of my ability even if item and skill drops were random.

After a few playthroughs, the procedurally generated maps can start to feel repetitive, especially since the enemy assortment stays largely the same and the lack of new content to discover. One exception to this is a secret portal I found during one playthrough which teleported me to an area off the map filled with monsters clearly different from the rest. After defeating them I was able to collect a tentacle item that seemed to somehow connect to the game’s overarching mythology – before being sent back into the level I was in. 

A less repetitive map scheme would further increase the feeling of tension in Katanaut, which is already influenced by its stellar pixel art visuals, with realistic blood splatters and palettes of crimsons and burgundy to effectively portray the carnage surrounding the player at every moment. The dark synthwave soundtrack, bumping and echoing throughout every corridor, fits the game. But it can also feel a little repetitive at times. As such, it’s almost as though the mystery and intrigue of Katanaut’s atmosphere can fade away over time. And while the enemies were incredibly well designed, there were few moments where I truly felt like I was in danger after playing a couple of runs.

Overall, Katanaut, the cosmic katana-slinging horror roguelike, is certainly a great offering for fans of the genre and the themes its story portrays. While content could be added in places to flesh it out, I’m not exaggerating when I say that this game was the most enjoyable I’ve reviewed in quite some time. Even if you’ve never picked up a roguelite, I would argue this is the perfect game to start with. It has the right amount of depth and length to cater to casual as well as hardcore players. If this is only the publisher’s first venture, I’m truly excited to see what Acclaim Entertainment will do in the future (I’d personally love to see this IP get a sequel/spinoff/metroidvania adaptation). I can’t help but hope that this is the start of a long-awaited comeback for a publisher steeped in gaming history.

California-based intern Jatin Gundara serves as the Circle’s West Coast correspondent.

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