

Personally, this has been a tough year to play video games. You can often find him streaming on Twitch, or tweeting on Twitter.

Chris has previously appeared at numerous GDQs and gaming websites to promote speedruns and show off Cool Stuff. Remember, one hit and you are dead, so every second that passes in your run can bring you one step closer to death.Chris Grant is a project coordinator at MZ who you may remember as the former media relations manager at Games Done Quick. There is also a Boss, who shows up at every 100 kills, growing stronger each time you kill him, furthering the challenge of this arcade style slasher. There are also shooters who can snipe you out if you do not close in on them first, and cyber ninjas that have the edge in the speed department. Basic thugs rush you, while tanks need a bit more work to kill. Just like the gameplay, there is a small variety of enemies too. You can die just as quick as you restart, and get right back into it without any fuss. I think it controls pretty well, but I still need to practice much, having only ever made it past 200 kills once leading up to this writing. You can either throw your sword (which you have to manually recover) or do a sweet whirlwind move, the latter of which I prefer. Once you unlock them, certain skills can be used with your katana. You also have limited ammo, which you can recover off your dead enemy’s bodies to make them pile up higher in turn. You have a stamina bar, so you need to pace your slashes. Now you cannot go trigger or slash happy without warrant, you need to be precise and systematic as a good warrior should be.

These will help on you on your quest to send a few extra Yakuza to hell. Beating these challenges allots you new equipment, whether it be visual changes or ones that grant you new skills for your swords. It is simple, slash and shoot as MANY bad guys as you can without taking a hit, and test yourself against challenges along the way. Gameplay wise, this game is pretty tight in terms of controls. The aesthetics hit all the right cords for me, but does the substance match the style? Several stands provide shelter against the occasional shooter, but more on that soon. Little details line the perimeter, with by standers watching the action, and news/adverts light up the night on bright screens. Though you only get to play on one map, it is a good looking one.

An awesome song accompanies your game time, only further pushing that sense of style that the visuals set the standard for. It is very appealing to my personal pallet, but I think most players can appreciate Akane’s style. It’s got a clean bit style, with striking neon colors that give that distinctive neo-futuristic vibe. Immediately upon booting the game up, you will notice the eye catching style. There is no happy ending, you will die, so take as many of the bastards down as you can. Akane is a new entry in the genre, which is currently available on Nintendo Switch for the low price of $4.99 (yet another game that also features discounts if you own other games from the publisher.) What you get for the price is an easy to pick up slasher, where you and your katana take down as many Yakuza as you can in a futuristic Tokyo plaza. Some can be just okay, as is the case with Mr. One hit, one kill games can be quite the fun experience when done right, as is the case in the Hotline Miami series.
