John Romero's Daikatana (Daikatana)

Daikatana is a first-person shooter directed by id Software’s co-founder John Romero.

Plot and setting

The game is divided into four episodes each of which takes place in a different location: 25th century Japan, Norway in early Medieval, ancient Greece and San Francisco in 2030. The story revolves around Daikatana, a mysterious sword crafted in medieval Japan that lets its wielder travel through the time. The plot follows Hiro Miyamoto, famed swordmaster from Japan of the future. He finds out that the current ruler of the world used Daikatana to alter the history and conquer the world by controlling the cure from a fatal disease that struck humanity in 2030. The hero now must go back in time to fix the story and take Daikatana from the hands of evil.

Gameplay

The game consists of 24 levels. The gameplay shares many similarities with other first-person shooters in that era.
You have to complete a series of levels killing hordes of enemies and solving puzzles. In each of four episodes, you get new sets of weapons and new monsters to fight with. One of the most notable gameplay mechanics of Daikatana is that on the most level you have two sidekicks. The help you in battles, can wield different weapons and their health meter. If they die in a battle, the game is over. The player can issue seven commands to your companions such as attack, stay, get, come, back off, yes, no.

Game versions

The game got its Game Boy Color version the same year. It had drastically different gameplay more reminiscent of dungeon crawler and was only released in Europe.