Killer is weird.

I want to like Killer Is Dead. But it isn't making this easy.

From the start, the game is inscrutable in pretty much every way. The introductory scene is a total non-sequitor. The dialog and interactions don't explain anything, and it isn't even clear if this is due to awkward translation, or some kind of haiku-like storytelling technique, or what. The graphics are so over-oversaturated that it's sometimes legitimately hard to tell where on-screen elements begin and end. And then when the scene is over, wait, that was the first episode? There's a world-map menu? But I can't navigate anywhere except the next mission? What's going on?

At least that last mystery has started to clear up a bit -- after the third episode/mission, there's finally more than one map choice (some bonus missions start to unlock), and a between-missions management menu becomes available. But the plot and the overall world logic are still baffling. This is narrative obfuscation on the level of Killer7 and Flower, Sun, and Rain. Yeah. It's weird.

Finally, there's the actual gameplay. I've been in a handful of basic combat encounters, which seem to just be button-mashing sessions that don't require all that much mashing. And I've also done one boss fight, which was much more mechanically interesting, but showed how awkward the blocking and dodging controls can be. Some combat moves require not only having two buttons pressed at the same time, but pressing them simultaneously, which is ... irritating, so far. I wonder if I'll be able to develop this skill set over time, or if it will really remain this frustrating.

I'll admit that at this point, I'm only really playing Killer Is Dead because of Goichi Suda's track record. But my waning opinion of Grasshopper's post-NMH games, Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw, is not looking anxious to reverse itself.

Progress: Finished Episode 3.