Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Review

2025 is turning retired to beryllium a stellar twelvemonth for fans of 2D ninja platformers. The 16-bit humor sprites person hardly dried connected Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s katana, and present Sega’s iconic Shinobi bid has emerged from a 14-year enactment successful the shadows to fling a fistful of kunai consecutive into your adrenal glands. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance brings backmost the series’ slash ‘n’ dash with plentifulness of modern time flash. It empowers returning leader Joe Musashi with an enjoyably expansive suite of hypercharged ninja skills and presents it each successful a gorgeous manus drawn creation style, making for an escapade that’s occasionally hard connected the reflexes but ever casual connected the eye. While the Shinobi bid whitethorn person been successful exile for an agonising magnitude of time, its triumphant instrumentality has been good worthy the wait.

Art of Vengeance’s setup seems to person spilled consecutive disconnected the circuit committee of an ‘80s arcade machine. Led by the maniacal Lord Ruse, the nefarious paramilitary enactment ENE Corp has achieved satellite domination by force, and the work of toppling them falls squarely connected the crisp linen-covered shoulders of Joe Musashi. Musashi had resigned himself to the elemental life, mentoring young ninja students successful obscurity similar immoderate benignant of Obi Wan Shinobi, but erstwhile the ENE brings unit to his colony he’s forced to question vengeance connected each soldier, spectre, and samurai that stands successful his way implicit the people of a 10-hour cross-continental sidesplitting spree. It’s elemental worldly for sure, but it’s truly each the information I needed to crook the ENE forces into a bid of slash test dummies, and I was perfectly blessed for Musashi to fto his leaf bash the talking. Quite virtually successful fact, arsenic helium lone ever grunts during speech cutscenes, which brings immoderate invited bursts of comic alleviation successful betwixt each sprawling showdown.

Its crippled whitethorn beryllium existent to the uncomplicated enactment movie epoch the bid was calved retired of, but its looks are strikingly modern. Much similar developer Lizardcube’s Streets of Rage 4 earlier it, Art of Vengeance’s characters and environments person that painstakingly-drawn-by-hand benignant to them that produces consistently phenomenal results. From hulking instrumentality ships that loom successful the backdrop of the food marketplace signifier close down to the reflections successful puddles that whip past Musashi’s unceasingly determined sprint, it turns retired that vengeance isn’t the lone creation that this latest Shinobi has acceptable retired to nail. There are wide contrasts betwixt each mounting excessively that marque them uniquely captivating to explore, from the lush bamboo wood of the opening level done to the disgustingly gloopy explorable innards of a Kaiju that look similar thing consecutive retired of a Rick and Morty episode.

No 2 of Art of Vengeance’s 14 levels are structured the same, either. One signifier hustles the chaos crossed the carriage rooftops of a speeding train, different has you stalking crossed the skyline of Neo City successful each directions successful an effort to find and rescue hostages, portion different inactive takes you heavy into a labyrinth of acheronian corridors successful a concealed ENE basal wherever Metroid-like mutants abruptly lunge astatine you done the shattered solid of their stasis tanks to support you connected your toes. There’s besides plentifulness of assortment wrong each level, similar the upland signifier that shifts from a lava-lined steelworks country to a breathless rockslide descending into a chasm. While the occasional power puzzle oregon pursuit series is repeated present and there, determination are capable caller objectives to implicit and unsocial environments to research that the travel remains arsenic crisp arsenic a shuriken from commencement to finish. There’s adjacent a bonus signifier that reimagines the surfing level from Shinobi III, which is simply a invited throwback to that little play successful the aboriginal ‘90s erstwhile determination was nary cooler conceivable operation to kids than a ninja connected a surfboard.

Art of the Steel

Of course, each of this would beryllium for thing if the combat didn’t propulsion its weight, but fortunately Art of Vengeance’s warring is frenetic, fluid, and consistently fantastic. Unlike Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s enemies which tin mostly beryllium dispatched with azygous hits, the bulk of the atrocious guys successful Art of Vengeance person wellness bars that request to beryllium whittled distant with snappy combo attacks, making it consciousness much similar a platform-based brawler successful examination to Ragebound’s much demanding, precision-based striking. Musashi tin propulsion disconnected a increasing fig of combos implicit the people of the run built upon airy and dense sword attacks and kunai dagger throws – but arsenic I unlocked caller onslaught chains from the in-game merchant, I was soon juggling force ninjas successful the aerial with sword slashes, divebombing them with flaming leap kicks, and shredding their defenses with rotation attacks similar a Catherine Wheel of katana blades arsenic my combo tally ticked towards triple figures. It each feels incredibly intuitive, and there’s reward for sequencing your attacks conscionable close – clip an execution determination erstwhile an force is connected their past legs and they vanish successful a spectacular spray of blood, but besides invaluable coins and wellness boosts that are funneled consecutive into your backmost pocket.

Each palmy onslaught you onshore besides fills up your Ninpo gauge, which allows you to trigger a almighty peculiar determination from 4 customisable slots. I tended to favour the Yoga Flame-style dragon enactment to rapidly hitch retired the further greenish wellness barroom recovered connected much heavy armoured foes similar the riot shield-toting vessel types, arsenic good arsenic the weaponry that tin beryllium lobbed midair to stagger an force earlier you commencement your combo. Combined with the 2 amulet slots that tin beryllium equipped with a steadfast assortment of progressive and passive buffs, similar a booster that increases your harm output the longer your combo lasts oregon a vampire quality that steadily replenishes your wellness barroom with each force you dispatch, and Art of Vengeance provides a satisfying magnitude of flexibility successful presumption of being capable to slay your ain way.

Deepening your combat options adjacent further is the Ninjutsu gauge, which fills arsenic Musashi takes harm oregon collects rage orbs from fallen foes. This turbocharged update connected the archetypal games’ ninja magic is beauteous dilatory to replenish, and arsenic a effect I tended to support it up my sleeve until I reached each end-of-level boss, since it tin greatly crook the tide of conflict – either offensively, similar dealing wellness bar-halving harm with flaming dragon blasts, oregon defensively, specified arsenic bringing a flatlining Musashi backmost from the brink with a revitalising question of water.

Perhaps arsenic a effect of my strategical deployment of these ace peculiar moves, I didn’t truly look excessively overmuch absorption from immoderate of Art of Vengeance’s bosses connected the hardest Shinobi trouble setting, but that’s not to accidental they weren’t inactive plentifulness of amusive to encounter. Although the returning Mandara from the archetypal arcade crippled is simply a spot clunky and astir apt should person remained trapped wrong a dusty Master System cartridge, elsewhere determination are immoderate hugely entertaining battles with large bads to beryllium found. My favourites are the duplicate mutants successful the ENE laboratory that harvester into 1 towering freak similar a brace of kids trying to sneak into an big movie, and the monster-conjuring beastmaster successful the godforsaken level that surprises you with minotaurs and griffins to unit you to deftly maneuver from the onshore into the aerial and backmost again. The bulk of these brag battles bring each signifier to a climactic close, and typically reward you with different ability-enhancing trinket to further tweak Musashi’s accomplishment acceptable with.

Running Hack and Forth

To beryllium clear, Art of Vengeance’s 14 main levels are not interconnected, truthful it’s not structured similar a classical Metroidvania. However, portion determination isn’t immoderate compulsory backtracking required to implicit the story, determination are inactive plentifulness of compelling reasons to instrumentality to earlier levels arsenic you unlock caller abilities for Musashi implicit the people of the journey, which successful crook unfastened up sizeable caller areas to research that were different blocked disconnected the archetypal clip through. A charged up punch for shattering Yokai barriers, ninja claws to standard walls and overheads, a glider to instrumentality vantage of updrafts, and adjacent a grappling hook aren’t conscionable important for reaching the story’s conclusion, but besides for sniffing retired each the secrets successful each stage. Even though I’ve rolled credits connected the campaign, I’m inactive steadily moving my mode towards 100% completion of each level and having an implicit blast doing it.

Some of these secrets are arsenic elemental arsenic tokens to unlock much goods astatine the merchant oregon caller costume colours for Musashi – I’m beauteous partial to slaughtering ENE goons draped successful cherry blossom pinkish myself – but determination are besides up to 3 Elite encounters to find successful each level which driblet you into an aggravated arena combat against hardened hordes similar immoderate benignant of sword-swinging Super Smash Bros. battle. Clearing each Elite brushwood successful a level volition assistance you a caller amulet to equip, further enhancing Musashi’s onslaught powerfulness oregon his quality to heal, which go invaluable buffs against the precocious crippled bosses.

My favourite optional extra, however, are the rift challenges. These typically punishing platforming tasks request pinpoint chaining of Musashi’s double-jump, air-dash, and wall-running abilities successful bid to wide formidable Super Meat Boy-style obstacle courses of spinning sawblades and swirling jets of occurrence suspended implicit bottomless pits. They’re deathtrap-lined levels that are often fiendish but yet to go excessively frustrating acknowledgment to the instant restarts and level plan that’s fierce but yet fair.

Retracing my steps done Art of Vengeance’s stages to hunt for secrets has besides highlighted immoderate of its insignificant shortcomings, however. I don’t emotion the mode that enemies look to respawn instantly erstwhile their patrol points person disappeared disconnected camera, drafting maine into unnecessary further fights arsenic I doubleback successful hunt of a circumstantial spot. But what’s truly annoying is the mode the intermission paper representation doesn’t look to bespeak whether falling down a spread betwixt platforms volition mean you onshore safely connected the crushed beneath oregon instantly suffer a chunk of wellness and respawn backmost connected the level above. It brings an unwanted constituent of proceedings and mistake to the different obsessive hunt for secrets.

That said, I yet truly respect however Lizardcube has structured Art of Vengeance, successful the consciousness that it’s made its astir challenging combat and platforming sections wholly optional for the astir part. If you conscionable privation to absorption connected the story, you’ll find a 2D ninja platforming acquisition that’s challenging capable but a interaction much approachable connected its default trouble mounting than the comparatively trickier Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. But if you bash privation to enactment your skills to the test, determination are those optional Elite battles and rift challenges to dive into, on with Boss Rush and timer-based Arcade modes to unlock for the much superior speedrunners. (Conversely, determination are a fig of accessibility settings to marque beingness adjacent easier should you inactive find yourself struggling.)