Killer Is Dead

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Killer Is Dead
developer	Grasshopper Manufacture
publisher	Kadokawa Games
designer	Goichi Suda
released	Summer 2013
genre	Action
media	Blu-ray disc, DVD-9

Killer Is Dead is an action video game in development by Grasshopper Manufacture for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is expected to be published in summer 2013 by Kadokawa Games. Described as an amalgamation of the play-styles in Grasshopper's killer7 and No More Heroes, Killer Is Dead places players in the role of an Executioner tasked with eliminating S-Level Criminals. The game will illustrate the "dark side" of being a James Bond-esque secret agent, and will feature many "beautiful Bond Girl-like ladies" as well as fighting mechanics involving swordplay.

Plot

Mondo Zappa is 35-year-old assassin who finds himself working for Brian Execution Firm, an undercover organization headed by the half-cyborg Brian Roses. The firm sends Zappa across the near-future globe, where space tourism and cybernetics are no longer unusual, and where Zappa is tasked with executing a series of assassins.

Suda has described Killer Is Dead as, "the story of a man who doesn't show himself much in the public world but still worms his way into society and mercilessly eliminates the evil dispersed in it. It's a personal story, not one that's conscious of the chaos going on in the real world at the moment, but you might get more than a taste of that in the end anyway."

Development

Killer Is Dead was planned as early as the end of 2009, but did not enter development until the spring of 2011. As of April 2012, a prototype of the game was near completion, while the game's scenario had only just been written. Suda told Famitsu that keywords for the game include "Moon," "Earth," "brilliant game" and "love." Love in Killer Is Dead is believed to be illustrated by the lengths its protagonist goes to protect someone, as like Grasshopper's Shadows of the DAMNED, Killer Is Dead conveys the concept of how far someone will go to protect the person who is important to them.

Concept art for the game shows an advanced Japanese city, as well as environments reminiscent of the sites in The Silver and killer7. The game shares its name with the short story killer7: Killer Is Dead written by executive director Goichi Suda, which expands on the killer7 character Dan Smith's background. In spite of this, Killer Is Dead is allegedly not a precursor or sequel to killer7.

In late August 2012, a trailer for Killer Is Dead was shown to attendees at the Lollipop Chainsaw Summer Appreciation Festival. According to Famitsu, the trailer featured "a man with a cyborg left arm and a katana in his right hand," with a cel-shading art style similar to that of No More Heroes, while attempting a "a new style following Shadows of the DAMNED and Lollipop Chainsaw." Suda has stated that he wants to create "a new hero" for Killer Is Dead, whose story will draw inspiration from killer7 and No More Heroes. The trailer which premiered at the August 2012 festival has not been publically released.

Concept art