Akane was the last game that I was playing on my Nintendo Switch when I stopped playing several years ago. Now that I’ve picked my Switch up again, I didn’t expect to start playing Akane again, but the game managed to hook me again.

Title screen and menu for Akane on Nintendo Switch.
Let’s talk about why I played Akane almost non-stop recently.
Game Basics
Akane is an action game developed by Ludic Studios and published for the Nintendo Switch by Qubic Games. In this game, you’ll take on the role of Akane, who seems to have gotten on the bad side of the Yakuza. She’s cornered in the city square with countless Yakuza assassins chasing after her. There’s no getting out of this situation alive, and Akane knows it. The game revolves around killing as many Yakuza assassins as you can before you get killed.

Make sure you go down swinging.
Getting hit by anything will kill you immediately. You don’t get any extra lives or continues. When you die, you lose all your progress and you’ll have to start over. While there is no actual progress, the game will give you several tasks as achievements. Completing these tasks unlocks special gear which usually grant you new abilities. Some achievements can only be earned at high kill counts.

Unlock new gear and change the gameplay.
Unlocking new gear through achievements is quite the hook. Chasing after these achievements made me spend time on this game. And the more time that I spent, the better I got. It also helps that restarting the game is so quick. When you die, you just have to press A to start your next run.
Moves and Abilities
As Akane, you can run around the play area with the left analog stick. Pressing L will make you do a short dash. Pressing B will make Akane defend with her sword, which will block an attack for a few seconds. This can also deflect bullets. The A button is for attacking – the default attack is a katana slash that you can aim in any direction. Except for one enemy, they’ll all get killed with just one hit from your slash. Slashing takes up stamina. If your stamina gets depleted, you won’t be able to do slashes. It regenerates quickly whenever you don’t use your katana.

Slash attack.
Holding down the ZL button will make you draw your gun. Aiming is also done using the left analog stick. Pressing A will make you shoot. You’ll get to unlock different guns with different abilities through achievements. You have limited ammo but it recharges over time. Killing enemies also recharges your ammo bar.

Crosshairs appear when you have your gun drawn.
You also have an adrenaline bar that fills up as you kill enemies. Whenever you have at least a third of this bar filled up, you can press X to go into Adrenaline mode. In this mode, a line is drawn from your starting spot to wherever you go. Pressing the R button will let you do a Dragon Slash, which is a dashing slash attack across that drawn line. The Dragon Slash uses up a third of the Adrenaline bar.

This kills everything onscreen except Katsuro.
I prefer using the Dragon Slayer though. With a full Adrenaline bar, you can press ZR and kill every enemy onscreen. You’ll need to mash A for each enemy but time is frozen while doing this move so you’re safe from counter attacks.
The Yakuza
Most of the enemies in Akane are just Yakuza enemies. Some look like tattooed punks while others look like well-dressed henchmen. They’re all the same, carrying their own katana that they can slash you with. Occasionally, one of three special enemies can appear. Tanks are large enemies that move slowly but it takes several slashes and/or shots to kill them.

Tanks are slow but tough.
Shooters look like the well-dressed Yakuza enemies. But they’re carrying a gun and they’ve got a target icon above their heads. If you don’t kill them right away, they’ll shoot at you three times and then reload. You can deflect their bullets by defending. Don’t underestimate shooters because they’re really good shots.

Shooters are really accurate with their shots.
Cyber Ninjas have a crossed swords icon above them. They will block any shots against them and deflect most back to you, so do not even think of using your guns against them. Their method of attacking is to dash straight towards you and then slash you with their swords when they’re near.

Cyber Ninjas can do long dashes.
These enemies are not too tough on their own but can really be dangerous with a crowd of generic Yakuza. If you take too long to kill one, another might spawn and give you more trouble. Once you’ve had 400 kills, they’ll spawn more often and you’ll find yourself dealing with two special enemies frequently. Save your Dragon Slayer for whenever these guys show up.
The Big Boss Katsuro
Akane’s equivalent to a boss is Katsuro, the pink cyber ninja. He shows up every 100 kills and even talks to you when he first appears. He’ll block and deflect all your attacks unless he is in his vulnerable state. He is at Level 1 when you first meet him. At this state, he only has one attack which is to sprint toward you and do a sword slash. His sword has wider reach than yours so be careful. After he attacks on the third time, he’ll get stunned and will be vulnerable to your attacks. You’ll need to hit him once to make him stagger, then a second time before he recovers.

You’ll need to beat this guy several times to unlock all the achievements.
The second time Katsuro shows up, he’ll be at Level 3. This time, he’s got a gun with him. He can now shoot you from a distance. Like Shooter, he’ll shoot three times. He’s still not vulnerable when shooting, and he’s more accurate than Shooters. What makes this tough is Katsuro can suddenly stop from his sprinting and attack you with his gun, giving you a small window to evade.

When Katsuro takes aim, you better start hiding.
Katsuro will be at Level MAX on his third and succeeding appearances. Yet again, he’s got a new move – he can dash three consecutive times toward you. These dashes can reach very far, like the Cyber Ninja dashes. And he can change direction with each dash. Thankfully, he’ll be stunned and vulnerable after the third dash. You still need to hit him twice though.

Katsuro’s final move.
Max level Katsuro alternates between the three moves randomly, so you have to be on high alert when facing him. He was the toughest enemy for me to figure out. And even after I figured him out, he can still easily beat me whenever I make a mistake.
Visuals, Sound, and Presentation
Akane went for the retro aesthetic but in a good way. Sprites and stage assets are all in pixel art (very 8-bit looking) and that’s about it. Everything else is modern, including the color palette, the lighting effects, and the user interface. Visually, what this game has really works for it.

The retro graphics work well for this fast-paced game.
In terms of sound design, I liked what Akane had to offer. The different background themes used fit the cyberpunk genre of this game really well, and the sound effects used were really apt. The Yakuza have enough scream variations to avoid making it sound too repetitive (there’s even a Wilhelm scream in the game). I love the sound of swords clashing whenever blades are slashed against each other.

One of the two unlockable swords.
When it comes to presentation, I think the developers did good. There’s an eye-catching scene in an elevator at the start of the game, and a short but effective static cutscene that gives you the premise of the game. The tutorial is presented as a view to Akane’s past. Menus are clear and easy to navigate. Some fonts might be too small for some people but they were fine for me.
Final Thoughts
I purchased Akane on a whim because it was often on sale at a very low price. Most games I’ve purchased that way were disappointments, but Akane was definitely worth my money. In fact, I think it’s worth buying at full price. It was difficult at first, but focusing on specific achievements and unlocking new gear became a good motivator to keep playing. And even though I felt that MAX level Katsuro was cheesy at first, I started to appreciate how the game challenged me to keep playing it to learn its mechanics.
Even after I’ve unlocked all the gear, I can see myself continuing to play Akane in the future as a palate cleanser. I think this game is perfect for short gaming sessions when I just want to blow off steam by killing hundreds of enemies. If you see this on sale at the Nintendo eShop, consider getting it.
Click here to check out every Nintendo Switch video game that I’ve played!
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