OMEGA in Media: Katana Zero
An SSH video game character analysis
It is always interesting to see how accurate a creator’s of fictional works can get to depicting the known SSH profiles. The hit indie game Katana Zero caught my attention for its depiction of Zero, the game’s main character. Analyzing a video game character like Zero is not as straightforward as it would be in other media because the player can alter the way Zero behaves, particularly in his dialogue options. Despite this ambiguity, we can still glean much about how Zero is meant to be understood from the things about him we can’t change and the preselected options the developer has given us.
For background, Katana Zero takes place in a Blade Runner-esque urban dystopia called New Mecca. In the game, you play as the assasin Zero, who when not on missions, lives a completely reclusive life in a small apartment. His living room is adorned with samurai movie paraphernalia. Zero himself wears Japanese style robes all the time and wields a katana as his primary weapon. Already we are getting very strong low-status vibes. Our main character is quite literally a katana wielding cosplayer whose room is full of his niche and nerdy merchandise. However unrealistic the setting might be, Zero is clearly intended to be in OMEGA territory, though, closer inspection will reveal even more.
If you really want to know what SSH perspective is really dominating and informing a work, the key seems to be focusing on the sexual aspect. What exposes many depictions of Batman as being GAMMA informed is not usually something wrong with his secret crime-fighting career or his ultra wealthy mysterious playboy reputation, it is his inexplicable oneitis for certain female characters that gives it away.
Similarly, Zero being a completely freakish recluse who is actually a badass assasin may already seem somewhat unlikely by itself, but consider the following interaction with Zero and a female receptionist, which is basically the only time Zero flirts with anyone:
In order to get into this hotel, Zero can just barge through and cause some unnecessary commotion or try to smoothly talk his way in with the receptionist. The way to her affection is talking specifically about anime. You can lead the dialogue so that she will remark about your interesting clothing. By the end of it, she is literally trying to “Webflix” and chill with you.
This particular interaction has some self-aware humor in it, but when you consider that this may as well be Hypergamouse’s Doof’s fantasy about how he would want to talk to a girl, the self-awareness cannot overcome the cringe. Zero does not say anything remotely charismatic or interesting to ellicit this response. The line before this one depicted above is simply:
“Uh, sure.”
For anyone that think’s Zero’s athleticism or good looks might be doing the heavy lifting, consider that this possibility is explicitly precluded by the developer’s:
“The reason Zero doesn't visibly age between the end of the war and the start of the game is because taking Chronos at a young age caused it to act as puberty blocker, leaving him permanently prepubescent.”
So basically Zero is a baby-faced anime cosplay wearing recluse who also happens to be mentally ill from the combat drugs he takes, who girls are inexplicably attracted to. If anything, Zero being muscular and looking “prepubescent” would be more off-putting and strange than anything else.
It is because of this scene that I see Zero’s depiction as being GAMMA or perhaps low-DELTA informed. I think the intention was more to play off of the SIGMA lone ranger archetype, but if someone like Zero were to exist, they would be far from SIGMA. Other dissonant things stick out too.
Consider the obviously high-status and borderline sociopathic Russian gangster named V, who Zero deduces through his drug enhanced abilities, just really wants his approval and attention:
The game also has many melodramatic pronouncements as dialogue options that make you cringe. A pure SIGMA run of the game would probably involve a lot of the more disagreeable and laconic dialogue options, which also happen to piss the other character’s off if selected.
Zero may be a very good assasin, but this unrealistic elevation of his occupational skills, or in the case of the receptionist, like of anime, leading to real status effects, is very far-fetched to say the least. I will be continuing to explore the relationship between reclusive figures like Zero, status, and violence in the future.
Who makes this game and how platforms is it available on? Sometimes things that are cringe or awkward become memorable such as the "All your base are belong to us" from the 2000's.