Daikatana (2000)
Daikatana is a 2000 shooter video game made by Ion Storm and Square Enix.
Ambitious, troubled, and carrying more weight than any game should. Daikatana puts swordsmaster Hiro Miyamoto in possession of a legendary blade with the power to open time itself, pulling him through ancient Greece, medieval Norway, a plague-ridden future San Francisco, and 2030 Japan. Developed at Ion Storm under years of chaotic production, the game arrived with a reputation it could never fully shake, though it contains genuine ideas about time-travel FPS design that its execution only partially realized. Its place in PC gaming history is secured less by quality than by the mythology around its making.
Quick answers
What is Daikatana about?
Ambitious, troubled, and carrying more weight than any game should. Daikatana puts swordsmaster Hiro Miyamoto in possession of a legendary blade with the power to open time itself, pulling him through ancient Greece, medieval Norway, a plague-ridden future San Francisco, and 2030 Japan. Developed at Ion Storm under years of chaotic production, the game arrived with a reputation it could never fully shake, though it contains genuine ideas about time-travel FPS design that its execution only partially realized. Its place in PC gaming history is secured less by quality than by the mythology around its making.
When was Daikatana released?
Daikatana was released on 23 May 2000.
Who made Daikatana?
Daikatana was made by Ion Storm, Square Enix and Eidos Interactive.
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Daikatana in our writing
- Companion guide: Eidos Interactive: Lara Croft, Deus Ex and the British Golden Age
A few thoughts on Daikatana
The time-spanning ambition connects thematically to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which gave the sword-and-magic first-person RPG the space and craft Daikatana never quite found.
Time Travel as Level Design
Ancient Greece, medieval Finland, far-future San Francisco: Daikatana changed the entire visual and mechanical vocabulary between chapters. These games and stories treat time periods as distinct worlds rather than window dressing.
90s FPS: The Architecture of Speed
Daikatana came from the same era and design philosophy as these corridor shooters. Rocket jumps, secret passages, arena gunfights: the vocabulary of a specific moment in games.