When the cult indie action game Katana ZERO launched in 2019, it won over players with blistering fast combat, tight pixel art and a story dripping with mystery. It also carried a promise: a free DLC expansion. Seven years later that expansion still has not shipped. The game’s main developer, Justin Stander, has now given an update on where the project stands – and revealed that the DLC has ballooned to the scale of a full sequel, complete with more than 30 new soundtrack tracks. What players are waiting for is no longer extra content. It is a major release in its own right.
The scope keeps running away from the team
This is not the first time Katana ZERO’s DLC has outgrown its original description. Back in 2020, Stander said the expansion had already tripled in size from what was first planned, and by 2025 the team was saying the added content was approaching the size of the base game. It has now escalated again into something closer to a sequel, which makes the endlessly slipping release date easier to understand. Outside outlet GamesRadar+ drew the comparison to Hollow Knight: Silksong, a project that similarly began as a small piece of additional content and gradually evolved into a standalone title. The difference is that Katana ZERO remains classified as DLC – no spin-off or separate game has been announced.
No release date in sight
Facing another long wait, Stander said he is still actively developing the DLC and thanked fans for their years of patience, promising more news in the future. A new trailer did arrive in 2025, but there is still no confirmed launch date for the expansion. For players who have waited seven years, more content is certainly good news – yet it is hard not to ask the question that is on everyone’s mind: when will this actually be playable? A katana that started as a small side project has been sharpened for far longer than fans expected.