During the dark ages of the pandemic a few years ago, one way I coped with the horrors was buying a PS2, the console I grew up with, and collecting a bunch of classic games I've heard about for years but never actually played. Grasshopper Manufacture's 2005 title killer7 was one of them, and to this day it's one of the most unique and unforgettable games I've played, yet it's also kinda difficult to describe. If I'm asked, I usually compare it to watching a Tarantino movie on acid, but the cel-shaded visual style, and unmatched atmosphere make it so much more.

It's kinda an on-rail shooter where you walk on predetermined paths and switch to first person for combat, except instead of switching guns your character transforms into one of 7 assassins with a different weapon and personality. As for the story, it's set in an alternate reality where world peace is threatened by a terrorist cult of suicide bombers that plan to disrupt geopolitical relations between the US and Japan... I think? Or at least part of it is. You also play as an assassin that can morph into 7 other assassins but is actually an entirely different assassin in a wheelchair who gets abused by a horny maid inside a TV. You gotta play it to really get it.

In a recent episode of Grasshopper Manufacture's Grasshopper Direct, creator Suda51, mostly known these days for No More Heroes, announced he's collabing once again with Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame to bring back killer7. Mikami said: “I've realised that I want to stay as hands-on as possible when it comes to game creation, and I’d love to see Suda make a sequel to killer7." The two then discussed the possibility of making a complete edition for modern systems, as well as a sequel tentatively named killer7: Beyond. 

Suda and Mikami are currently working on Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, which drops October 28. If you haven't played it yet, killer7 has a PC port on Steam that I strongly recommend if you've never played it before. If you have, let me know in the comments!