Killer Is Dead

Your ultimate goal is to slay your enemies with your katana in the most stylish way as possible. Just like in No More Heroes. Killer is Dead is actually surprising similar to No More Heroes. It is all about dodging and countering at the right time. [September p.78]

A unique experience embedded in a disc format. A must-play action oriented game for veteran/experienced players.

Bizarre moments and a great combat system, mixed with a psychological thriller that raises more questions than it gives answers; Killer is Dead is a typical Suda51 game. The game is therefore only suitable if you’re open to an anime-style of storytelling or if you have an unquenchable thirst towards hack and slash action games out of Japan.

Killer is Dead is a hymn to the multifaceted creativity of a game designer still capable of enhancing the vision of the Japanese video game industry.

Those who enjoyed Grasshopper’s previous work or are tired of repeatedly being spoon-fed the same game should check out Killer is Dead before it’s rightfully put on “most underrated game” lists in several years by the same people who criticize it now.

This is what Suda51 fans want. It's fresh, unique and very, very fun, even though we think it could have used some extra weeks of development to erase that feeling of being a little bit rushed, and become a better game.

Just don't play it around any significant others if you value the future of your relationship at all. [Issue#235, p.80]

Killer is Dead has an excellent technical department, but it's short duration, alongside certain graphic issues, prevent it from sticking out of the crowd. Fans of Suda 51 will love it, while the rest may very well hate it or just be overwhelmed by it's particular gameplay.

This is definitely one hell of a weird experience. The art style is magnificent, the combat exhilarating and the soundtrack interesting. Interesting is also an apt word to describe the humor in the game. However, the level design is rather repetitive and the much advertised 'gigolo' missions are rather limited in options. If you liked similar titles like No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw, you might just like Killer is Dead, if you're willing to overlook its flaws.

While the narrative is bonkers, Killer Is Dead iterates on tired gameplay to make a gorgeous game playable. [November 2013, p84]

Killer Is Dead is some great concepts marred by flawed executions. If Suda51 and company do a sequel, hopefully they can spend a bit more time working on story exposition.

An unusual adventure with better-than-average fighting mechanics and a mostly likable cast. But it falls short nearly everywhere else.

Killer Is Dead is a competent, and oftentimes superb, action title that is held back by an overly obtuse plot and a dating minigame that did more to turn me off from the game entirely.

Its combat is neat if still a bit limited, and its dark direction and weird narrative a bit tainted by self-indulgence, but this is still a Grasshopper grindhouse romp worth most of its issues. The danger, I guess, will always be one drink too many.

Taking cues from its contemporaries, particularly Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Grasshopper’s hack and slash tale of moon power and misogyny is an entertaining diversion, particularly narratively and artistically, but its gameplay unfortunately lacks the inventiveness or ingenuity to see it mature into a truly timeless action game.

Killer Is Dead successfully separates itself from the pack, but it doesn’t live up to all its potential. It ends too soon, is padded with reused areas, and suffers from tech problems that should be defunct.

Overall this is a middle of the road experience out of Grasshopper Manufacturer, and I hope to see something bolder and better for their next effort.

Killer is Dead is probably the weakest Suda51 game that I have played, but it has a very enjoyable combat system that might draw in some players like it did with me.

Stylish and most of the time entertaining as well, this carnage from the mind of a well known weirdo designer Suda 51 doesn't bring anything new to the table, except for its bizarre aesthetics that may or may not suit you. [Issue#234]

Brilliantly mad and visually striking, but the combat can feel repetitive. [Nov 2013, p.64]

A strikingly beautiful game that suffocates its solid action core with clumsily scripted waffle and a hodgepodge of bizarre ideas. [Oct 2013, p.90]

Arguably the main theme of the game is revenge, like many of the games in the Kill The Past Series, but it’s wrapped in an incomprehensible package.

Killer is Dead is playable, but it commits a far worse sin than being awkward or glitchy. It takes the fantastic and makes it boring.

Killer is Dead is a pure Suda51 game, crazy in its story, background, sequences and graphics. But despite some flashes of genius, it is actually quite classic and not so surprising.

Intriguing – despite a mounting pile of evidence showing that it should be terrible. The characters and story are so outlandish and bizarre that they are fascinating – but the nonsense and clunky mechanics never coalesce into a satisfying experience. It lures you in with the promise of something unique, then botches the execution.

Killer is Dead functions decently, the art is occasionally nice, and it has shades of greater ideas, but beyond that I can't find a reason to spend money or time exploring its gradual deterioration.

Killer is Dead has a lot going for it. The foundation is there. But the positives are mired beneath a poor gameplay mechanic that makes even simple control a chore. The story isn’t allowed to shine due to simplistic writing and stereotypical characters, the difficulty can be very erratic, and too many deaths feel cheap and unfair.

Killer is Dead is a decent action game, but seeing as the genre is brimming with other titles that offer a much more complete experience, there’s little reason to spend your time here rather than elsewhere.

The visual style is fantastic and the Gigolo Mode certainly will catch the attention of many players given its nature, but behind it hides an empty game with little to offer.

If you’re an experimental gamer who seeks out the weird and unusual, no matter how unintelligible it is, Killer Is Dead will be right up your alley. For everyone else, the game is bargain bin at best.

Besides mildly satisfying swordplay (Grasshopper failed to come up with a really good combat system) Killer is Dead offered me nothing that could raise my blood pressure. [CD-Action 10/2013, p.60]

Shallow, sexist, and largely nonsensical. The action is amongst Suda51’s best but it’s not leveraged in any way that justifies the failings of the rest of the game.

This is not a bad game, it’s just a boring one – and we never thought that we’d say that about a release that sees you chasing a tiger on a motorcycle.

Killer Is Dead is a real missed opportunity. The fighting mechanics are there, the ideas are there, but the end result is just so totally average. It’s a game that’s hard to dislike, but also one that fails to impress on pretty much every level.

Killer Is Dead is filled with Suda 51 eccentricity, but it struggles to stay relevant with inconsistent combat, a poorly told story, and some awkwardly sleazy moments.

Grasshopper has made one of their more mechanically satisfying titles, but to enjoy it you have to put up with all of the other muck. You’ll have to choose whether Killer is Dead is the loveless romance for you.

Suda 51s latest piece manages to be both predictable and hollow. As an action game it is unfinished and poorly built and as an art game it only manages to shallow posing. The graphics may be beautiful and the soundtrack even more so, but that is not enough to make Killer is Dead worth your time.