Talk:Katana Engine

Nioh game engine

An IP user added Nioh and Nioh 2 as using Katana engine. But there isn't a good source for this. Personally I think steamdb is reliable in general but you have to keep in mind that Katana engine started out as more as a library used in other game engines (Koei Tecmo Game Library). So even if Nioh 1 was using KTGL/Katana Engine it still might not actually be made in Katana Engine. The vg infobox says to "not list common middleware engines such as Havok, SpeedTree or Euphoria." I would add that we should not list middleware in general, especially in this case where it can be confused for the version that is not middleware.

The only allowed video game news site that mentions the Nioh engine says this:

>Team Ninja games look roughly similar to one another. Character models have similarities in graphical appearance since the studio is using the same graphics engine first utilized in Ninja Gaiden 3. This one was then used in Dead or Alive 5 and carried on with a few refinements in Nioh and Wo-long respectively. ()

This is a strange statement as Wo-long and Rise of Ronin definitely do use Katana Engine while Ninja Gaiden 3 was released in 2012 and almost certainly did not use Katana Engine (except perhaps as a library). Dead or Alive 5 uses the Yawaraka Engine, which is explicitly different from Katana Engine since that is the engine Venus Vacation switched from to Katana Engine. So this statement is incorrect unless Yawaraka Engine and Katana Engine share a lot of the codebase and can then be considered either the same or different depending on how you look at it, but this seems unlikely. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 15:45, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Based on pcgamingwiki's article, the answer may be in this article: テクモとの統合なければ完成しなかったゲーム「仁王」 but I do not have access to it. I am relying on the quote given by PCGW for it's use in this article. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 15:33, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Atelier Yumia (2025) uses Katana engine

Confirmed by the display of the Katana engine logo in the ending credits of the game. I'm not sure what the best way is to add this as a source. 135.180.113.10 (talk) 18:36, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks! I found a timestamped video that shows this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KcGQ3Zy9bjg&t=75601. Will add. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 15:34, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (2025) uses Katana Engine

Confirmed in the ending credits of the game. Link around 0:27 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW0D_Fvy32o ~2025-33572-46 (talk) 08:27, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Dead Or Alive 6 seems to be confirmed to use the Katana Engine?

https://teamninja-studio.com/doa6/lastround/us/stages/ As mentioned in the DOA6LR promo material with regards to updates: “OBORO” is a new lighting system introduced to the KATANA ENGINE™. ~2026-26492-56 (talk) 04:48, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Good catch, here's an article that explicitly states it uses the Dynasty warriors 9 engine: https://www.4gamer.net/games/422/G042216/20180615175/ which is itself confirmed to be Katana engine

It's worth noting DOAXVV released in March 27, 2019 and still used Yawakara engine while DOA6 was released on March 1, 2019 and used Katana engine. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 16:14, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Does Pokemon Pokopia really use this Katana engine?

just playing the game it doesn't look even remotely like any of the other games that use this engine, Pokopia doesn't even have a battle mechanic. Pokopia appears to use an evolved version of the game engine form Animal Crossing New Horizons what may have been called "Katana" but there appears to be no relation to this engine. ~2026-29007-03 (talk) 15:13, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

They claim to have used it in the Credits as seen here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FOgd2c0NEBE&t=332 and they do state they they plan to use Katana for most future games. I'm certain it's not just a name collision. They also say that Omega Force used a lot of developers for this game: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/pokemon-pokopia-boasts-largest-development-team-in-omega-force-history-with-dragon-quest-builder-2s-game-and-art-director-on-board/. We can't discount the possibility that the engine was modified for this game's needs. Then again, that is true of many engines, including Unreal games, and we still call those "Unreal Engine games." The only other way to understand it would be that instead of using Katana engine, they simply brought in the Katana engine dev team to work on the Animal Crossing engine, but that seems unlikely. I guess in this case it would be preferable to have a third party mention it. I didn't add this game to the list but I did add the reference to the credits. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 00:22, 29 May 2026 (UTC)

CGWorld have released two articles covering a technical breakdown of Nioh 3's development.

Part 1: https://cgworld.jp/article/202605-cgw333-nioh3-a.html

Part 2: https://cgworld.jp/article/202605-cgw333-nioh3-b.html

Oboro is mentioned as the name of Katana Engine's global illumination (GI) system, among other interesting tidbits. ~2026-31949-22 (talk) 23:49, 28 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! I added a paragraph and updated the ref in the table to use that instead of the credits. I'm unsure how best to incorporate the current LoD and lighting features with the old ones, should I move the old ones into the history section, put both in features, or remove the old features? Or maybe combine the entire features section into history? For now I just put the new features in the history section, which is not satisfying. Also the new GI system is quite cryptic. It says:

>Katana Engine's new GI system, "OBORO," automatically determines observation points based on the density of the scene and achieves photorealism by simulating light paths and occlusion using material and geometry information.

All I can glean from "simulating light paths and occlusion using material and geometry information" is they are doing some level of ray tracing/path tracing. "using material and geometry information" seemingly would just meant that objects can block light (geometry), and material information is how the light is absorbed/reflected.

"automatically determines observation points based on the density of the scene" is interesting. At first I thought maybe this is an automated lighting aesthetic feature of some kind. The term "観測点" actually seems to refer to light probes. Eg. these articles:

https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/3dcg/340280.html

https://www.4gamer.net/games/032/G003263/20140911067/

https://www.4gamer.net/games/251/G025177/20160413073/

In a previous article they said they are using reflection probes (リフレクションプローブ). However looking at the provided images in that article, I don't think those are really reflection probes at all, I think they have always been lighting probes:

>With the reflection probe turned OFF. Even the parts of the room that would normally receive little light are brightened, resulting in a very flat image.

>With the reflection probe turned ON. The inside of the room, where light does not reach, is dark and in shadow, and the reflection of sunlight illuminates the ceiling as indirect light. The lighting has more contrast, creating a picture with a greater sense of depth. The outside appears relatively brighter, making it easier to guide the viewer's gaze.

In another page they say:

>In stages designed to support OBORO, lighting is rendered with a natural and realistic quality by utilizing light derived from the environment itself, combined with occlusion data.

https://teamninja-studio.com/doa6/lastround/jp/stages/

And in English:

>OBORO is a new lighting system introduced to the KATANA ENGINE™, offering more realistic illumination created by natural ambient light and shadows.

https://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/news/the-king-of-fighters-xiv-collaboration-characters-mai-shiranui-and-kula-diamond-enter-the-fray-in-koei-tecmos-dead-or-alive-6-last-round/

These are even more sparse on details. J2UDY7r00CRjH (talk) 03:06, 29 May 2026 (UTC)