Katana X

Prepare to slice and dice your way through an electrifying virtual reality experience with Katana X!
This game is a razor-sharp delight for fans of Fruit Ninja VR.
While it may be a light version, it still delivers a killer combination of addictive gameplay and immersive graphics.
With lightning-fast reflexes and precision strikes, you'll feel like a true samurai warrior. Get ready to unleash your inner ninja and enjoy hours of satisfying, sword-slashing fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN-gkXbBSnI

Edit: You get a katana in Steam VR for playing this game for 2 hours. As of this writing, I myself have successfully sold that katana for the exact price of this game.

Katana X - the game that used to be Zenblade, a somewhat blatant Fruit Ninja knockoff - has been abandonware for a very long time. It is now sitting at $2, which puts it at a price range that makes people consider cheap knockoffs of better games.

This game has two key modes - Tatami and "Flying Fruit" - and a few sub-modes of each. "Flying Fruit" is the Fruit Ninja knockoff, and Tatami is original to this game - tatami spawn, you cut the tatami in the straw spot.

Scoring in this game is very different from Fruit Ninja - good scoring relies more heavily on combos in this game, while good scoring in Fruit Ninja relies on getting more critical hits (cuts through the center of the fruit). Mistakes in survival persist in Katana X, but in Fruit Ninja your misses go away after a certain amount of points. The feeling is very different, and that's enough to make them meaningfully different to someone who is score chasing.

This game's stated draw is realism and interesting physics. The tatami and fruit are cut "where the blade hits them," which gives you an idea of how off center you were. It's good feedback, and seeing it makes you a better player. This is the only point where the realism makes the game better - the blade physics make the game very unforgiving. Having your blade's angle be off by a few degrees causes the cut to fail - this can result in your blade getting stuck in the tatami mat or having a fruit fail to get cut. If the game environment is clean, then making mistakes due to this is absolutely on the player - however, fragments of tatami and fruit interact with both the blade and other fruit, so it's entirely possible to have your blade get deflected a little bit by debris - something which can ruin a cut.

Your blade isn't exactly rigid - it lags a little bit, and it can get caught on things. This is a huge problem in the Tatami mode, where your blade can easily get stuck *in* the tatami. Removing your blade from the tatami is time consuming, and it's often a worse mistake to make than actually missing the straw part. Moreover, small bits of fruit and tatami deflecting your blade as much as they do breaks the feeling of realism quite a bit - the weight of half an orange does not change the path of even a light blade as radically as it does in this game.

The game also is prone to glitches - especially when your blade jams in the tatami. These glitches are not game-ending, but they are cause for concern when the draw of your game is realism at the expense of fun.

All of this could be forgiven if development was active - the game really does only need some polish and improvement, but that is something that will absolutely never happen. It's a problem, but as of a year ago it wasn't a showstopper - the tatami slicing would've been worth $2, even if it isn't perfect.

Katana X's biggest problem, however, is that Shibainu now exists. That means it gets outshone everywhere by something else that exists today. For realism and tatami slicing, Shibainu still has active developers and seems to be in better shape. For fruit cutting and raw fun, Fruit Ninja VR 2 exists -again, by active developers. If you're really looking to save $30 on two better games, then this is where you should come - otherwise, it's best to just accept that this game has aged poorly and is now outdone.

Even at the $2 price point, a failure to deliver the big selling point - "it's realistic" - isn't really forgivable. This, combined with a lack of content not found elsewhere, makes it impossible to recommend.

Imagine if Fruit Ninja cost 7 dollars but the physics were a little janky and the game was very picky about blade angle.
Although rumor is that you can get a Katana for steam vr if you play this game for 2 hours. I have at least 8 and I dont have that katana.

oh yeah, also this game says early access but seems abandoned.

Very bad, the first time I got the game it was in early release stages and was bad, so I uninstall and come back a few months later, its still just as bad. Blade frequently glitchs through tatami, blade angle is often very inaccurate, unless you are running on a NASA computer good luck enjoying this game.

The center for this game kept pulling me forward till I smashed my arm on my table. I'm pretty sure I wrote this review a long time ago. Weird it disappeared.

If you like swinging swords around this is a great game to zen out to, plus it's a hell of a workout.
Just make sure you play on lower graphical settings as the low fps or lag can mess with the cutting.

Solid purchase for the price.

dead abbandon ware crap which the dev gave up on in 2017 while still using their dev account to bitch and moan to other game companys about the slightest bugs thinking they are better then them ...
only purchased cause the katana drop in home is cheaper than the market price .. will attempt to see if i can get a refund once i have the katana...

I like the idea of accuracy based slicing, but I ran into a problem right away where my arm would swing but the blade had a delay.

Once I thought I had adapted to the delay, my sword would cut through 1 of 2 fruits in a row, the second fruit being bounced off the edge of the blade causing me to lose.

This game has 1 mechanic, slicing fruits, I expected the blade to cutting mechanics to be more fine tuned.

Sword physics are good and feels reasonably realistic. However, the game is still in early access and there has been no word from the developer in several years. In addition, there are some view centering issues with Oculus HMD's that severely impacts gameplay.

So sadly, another thumbs down for abandonware. :/

40% of my cuts went straight through the fruit its a cool idea just not published at the write time cut vr isnt fast enough to track you sword properly

I got this game hoping for a more in-depth "fruit ninja" experience. It does many things right, unlike fruit ninja you need to have edge control of the weapon and follow through with your strike much like a real sword. This is great, however, there is a delay between the way you turn the blade and the game registering it has been turned. In short there is latency. This causes frustration since you need to angle the weapon for the strike you require in advance of making the strike. In a game that requires fast reflexes and quick turns of the sword to hit the fruit that you missed on the first pass, latency is unforgivable and to a degree makes the game unplayable.

TL:DR It is good, the ideas are there but due to latency and edge control I cannot recommend.

way too much blade latancy, yes it tries to respect blade orientation but it cannot keep up with it. probably gonna refund this

Not satisfied with product, nothing personal, but the content is very limited and it's clear no updates will be coming.

The game has exactly two modes (fruit and tatami), 6 blade types (which really only change the hamon and the tsuka) 3 handles (and guards), the game only allows for one handed swings, and it seems like they will not ever leave early access.

look at some of their projected roadmap in the EA page and see just how far off those things are. This is NOWHERE near their EA goals and it seems like they're throwing in the towel.

part of buying EA is helping devs to release fantastic games by providing proactive feedback and monetary support. you buy an unfinished product expecting it to go somewhere. it's clear this game is dead. So if nothing else changes...

save your money. this is not worth the price.

God i wish this was a little bit better. But there are a couple serious problems.

First of all, unlike most VR games i play, i'm actually experiencing poor tracking. like the sword will strike at an angle you were not holding it at and frequently desync with your arm movements, lagging behind them with a delay. In a game that absolutely demands precision, this is a serious problem.

Secondly, the way the play area is set up is unsafe. I have a reasonable amount of room, but the game positions me in the *centre* of the play space. Considerign how targets only seem to appear in the *front* why am i not positioned at the *back*? I mean with things the way that they are, my targets are an inch or two from a wall. This is a game which absolutely demands violent, fast arm movements, to cut the bamboo mats. If you hit a wall with the force required to cut a bamboo mat, you will break your arm. And if theres a TV or window there? You no longer have a TV or window.

In closing, the only other issue is the simplicity of it. Theres two mini games. And if they played *perfectly* and *safely* that would be enough. They don't, so it isn't. I love the idea, but i cannot recommend.

Just buy it. The best implementation of swords in VR yet. Tracks wonderfully and slicing feels true and satifying, requiring planning, timing and agility to perfect the appropriate cuts. ONLY wish there were more modes and eventually some dueling mechanic, but until then this is my go to samurai wannabe application. Great job devs! Keep it up.

Highly recommended. As someone who has trained with a sword for years, and who has competed in (and very occasionally won) cutting tournaments, I like this game a lot.

It's definitely not Fruit Ninja, where you can kind of flail around randomly and still kill fruit. Superior blade mechanics, and the tatami cutting mode set this game apart. In KatanaX , sure you can have fun and get a workout cutting flying fruit. But you can also get in some practice that can actually help your r/l swordsmanship.

Likes:
Cutting mechanics are about as realistic as you'll find in VR right now. You have to maintain extension and accurate blade angle to cut. Wrist flicking won't do the job.

The graphics are nice. Environments are lovely and unobtrusive, the swords look good,

Music and sound are effective, and non-distracting.

Virtual tatami! Not nearly as messy and expensive as the real thing. Ditto for the fruit.

Dislikes:
Nothing, really.

Things I'd like to see:
A non-timed tatami cutting mode, so I can really check out my targeting and cut angles.

Some way to incorporate blocking too -- maybe get points for blocking bombs that would hit your body?

A way to preset cutting target sequences for Kata and tournament practice would be super fun.

A few more environments would be nice too, but that's really far down my list. Almost as far as...
More types of fruit!
And different fruit types should make different sounds when you cut them!

I'm running a Rift with two sensors on an I7-2600k w/a GTX 1080. Frame rate is constant, and tracking feels just fine. I did have to move my sensors higher on my wall (to about 7 feet) to get the Rift to track hands-above-head sword positions. I also built a sword handle for my touch controller out of 1 1/4" PVC pipe and a little bamboo. (The handle really helps, and I doubt it cost more than a buck or two to make. I'll post pictures and instructions in discussions if anybody's interested.)

Before playing Katana X, I did not believe a game could be both frantic and deeply relaxing. The core gameplay of this game may seem overly simple, but the action is astonishingly addictive. Unlike the classic mobile game Fruit Ninja, the nuanced physics and demanding rigor of Katana X touches to something more significant within me. The smooth sweeping strikes one must perform to score well in Katana X deceive me into believing that I may have missed my true calling as a swordsman.

And therein lies the draw of Katana X. Not once before in VR or in any other medium have I felt like I was actually using a sword. Whether it be Wii Motion Plus's 1:1 sword battles or the swordsman in Raw Data, eventually all these previous experiences have resulted in me seeing beyond the presentation and result in me waggling my "sword" around violently, without any care or elegance, like someone trying to distract a free throwing basketball player with a foam finger. In Katana X the sword has finally become real.

(Disclaimer: bought Zenblade in the past, played it for 6 hours; bought Katana-X to support developers despite being eligible for a free key)

First of all, everyone who owned Zenblade should head over the forums to claim a free key for this game.

Katana X is an very obvious improvement over Zenblade, now offering more game modes, more cutting puzzles, more environments and more polished visuals.

Compared to Fruit Ninja, this game is going for a 'realistic' route, requiring the player to use actual forceful strikes to cut tatami mats, be precise with their cutting angle when slicing fruit and carefully prepare and line up your strikes to get more points through combos. Personally I prefer Katana X over Fruit Ninja.

The tatami mat cutting mode is my favorite past time in this game. It is both challenging and very satisfying as it feels like it requires more skills, more careful cuts and the physics system is on point to give you a feeling of really cutting through something more robust.

The 'puzzle' mode (this time called 'training') consists of pre-determined fruit patterns that you have to slice with a certain amount of slices. This mode has also been expanded compared to Zenblade and now offers various difficulty modes and more puzzles overall.

I do NOT recommend the game if you:

- don't like playing games where it is primarily about getting a better score, improving yourself
- don't like swords in VR

I do happily recommend the game if you:

- want to check out the best blade physics in any VR games out there
- want to feel like a Japanese sword master
- like swords in VR
- enjoy fighting for a better position on the leaderboards

The developers additionally have shown to be very communicative on the forums and are receptive to community feedback, a good sign for an early access game.

This game gets a thumps-up from me and I'm looking forward to the updates the devs will deliver in the future.

Fun and worth the price with multiple modes of fruit and tatami slicing with global leaderboards. There are two areas, each with a day and night, for a total of four different looking scenes. I was originally having frame rate issues with tatami sometimes, but the dev patched it the very next day after I showed him a video of the issue, and it's fixed! When doing tatami, I feel like I'm this guy: http://www.fightersgeneration.com/np5/gm/ss-intro.png

Fans of Zenblade rejoice: the hit Slicing Simulator is back. Now with new modes, physics, and environments, this Early Access title is already an improvement over its already impressive predecessor. Hone your samurai skills as you mercilessly murder fruit and tatami mats in your quest to bring honor to your family.