2025 is popping out to be a stellar 12 months for followers of 2D ninja platformers. The 16-bit blood sprites have barely dried on Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s katana, and now Sega’s iconic Shinobi collection has emerged from a 14-year keep within the shadows to fling a fistful of kunai straight into your adrenal glands. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance brings again the collection’ slash ‘n’ sprint with lots of modern-day flash. It empowers returning hero Joe Musashi with an enjoyably expansive suite of hypercharged ninja expertise and presents all of it in a stunning hand drawn artwork type, making for an journey that’s sometimes onerous on the reflexes however at all times straightforward on the attention. Whereas the Shinobi collection could have been in exile for an agonising quantity of time, its triumphant return has been nicely well worth the wait.
Art of Vengeance’s setup appears to have spilled straight off the circuit board of an ‘80s arcade machine. Led by the maniacal Lord Ruse, the nefarious paramilitary group ENE Corp has achieved world domination by drive, and the duty of toppling them falls squarely on the crisp linen-covered shoulders of Joe Musashi. Musashi had resigned himself to the straightforward life, mentoring younger ninja college students in obscurity like some kind of Obi Wan Shinobi, however when the ENE brings violence to his village he’s compelled to hunt vengeance on each soldier, spectre, and samurai that stands in his path over the course of a 10-hour cross-continental killing spree. It’s easy stuff for certain, however it’s actually all of the motivation I wanted to show the ENE forces right into a collection of slash take a look at dummies, and I used to be completely completely happy for Musashi to let his blade do the speaking. Fairly actually actually, as he solely ever grunts throughout dialog cutscenes, which brings some welcome bursts of comedian reduction in between every sprawling showdown.
Its plot could also be true to the uncomplicated motion film period the collection was born out of, however its seems are strikingly fashionable. Very like developer Lizardcube’s Streets of Rage 4 earlier than it, Art of Vengeance’s characters and environments have that painstakingly-drawn-by-hand type to them that produces persistently phenomenal outcomes. From hulking container ships that loom within the backdrop of the fish market stage proper right down to the reflections in puddles that whip previous Musashi’s unceasingly decided dash, it seems that vengeance isn’t the one artwork that this newest Shinobi has got down to nail. There are clear contrasts between every setting too that make them uniquely fascinating to discover, from the luxurious bamboo forest of the opening degree by way of to the disgustingly gloopy explorable innards of a Kaiju that appear like one thing straight out of a Rick and Morty episode.
No two of Art of Vengeance’s 14 ranges are structured the identical, both. One stage hustles the chaos throughout the carriage rooftops of a rushing prepare, one other has you stalking throughout the skyline of Neo Metropolis in all instructions in an effort to search out and rescue hostages, whereas one other nonetheless takes you deep right into a labyrinth of darkish corridors in a secret ENE base the place Metroid-like mutants all of the sudden lunge at you thru the shattered glass of their stasis tanks to maintain you in your toes. There’s additionally lots of selection inside every degree, just like the mountain stage that shifts from a lava-lined steelworks space to a breathless rockslide descending right into a chasm. Whereas the occasional swap puzzle or chase sequence is repeated right here and there, there are sufficient recent aims to finish and distinctive environments to discover that the journey stays as sharp as a shuriken from begin to end. There’s even a bonus stage that reimagines the browsing degree from Shinobi III, which is a welcome throwback to that temporary interval within the early ‘90s when there was no cooler conceivable mixture to children than a ninja on a surfboard.
Art of the Metal
After all, all of this is able to be for nothing if the fight didn’t pull its weight, however fortuitously Art of Vengeance’s combating is frenetic, fluid, and persistently improbable. In contrast to Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s enemies which may largely be dispatched with single hits, the majority of the dangerous guys in Art of Vengeance have well being bars that must be whittled away with snappy combo assaults, making it really feel extra like a platform-based brawler compared to Ragebound’s extra demanding, precision-based placing. Musashi can pull off a rising quantity of combos over the course of the marketing campaign constructed upon gentle and heavy sword assaults and kunai dagger throws – however as I unlocked new assault chains from the in-game service provider, I used to be quickly juggling enemy ninjas within the air with sword slashes, divebombing them with flaming bounce kicks, and shredding their defenses with spin assaults like a Catherine Wheel of katana blades as my combo tally ticked in direction of triple figures. All of it feels extremely intuitive, and there’s reward for sequencing your assaults excellent – time an execution transfer when an enemy is on their final legs they usually disappear in a spectacular spray of blood, but in addition beneficial cash and well being boosts which are funneled straight into your again pocket.
Every profitable assault you land additionally fills up your Ninpo gauge, which lets you set off a strong particular transfer from 4 customisable slots. I tended to favour the Yoga Flame-style dragon breath to rapidly wipe out the extra inexperienced well being bar discovered on extra closely armoured foes just like the riot shield-toting tank sorts, in addition to the bomb that may be lobbed midair to stagger an enemy earlier than you begin your combo. Mixed with the 2 amulet slots that may be outfitted with a wholesome selection of energetic and passive buffs, like a booster that will increase your injury output the longer your combo lasts or a vampire capability that steadily replenishes your well being bar with every enemy you dispatch, and Art of Vengeance offers a satisfying quantity of flexibility in phrases of with the ability to slay your personal manner.
Deepening your fight choices even additional is the Ninjutsu gauge, which fills as Musashi takes injury or collects rage orbs from fallen foes. This turbocharged replace on the unique video games’ ninja magic is fairly sluggish to replenish, and consequently I tended to stick with it my sleeve till I reached every end-of-level boss, since it might probably vastly flip the tide of battle – both offensively, like dealing well being bar-halving injury with flaming dragon blasts, or defensively, equivalent to bringing a flatlining Musashi again from the brink with a revitalising wave of water.
Maybe consequently of my strategic deployment of these tremendous particular strikes, I didn’t actually face an excessive amount of resistance from any of Art of Vengeance’s bosses on the toughest Shinobi issue setting, however that’s to not say they weren’t nonetheless lots of enjoyable to come across. Though the returning Mandara from the unique arcade recreation is a bit clunky and doubtless ought to have remained trapped inside a dusty Grasp System cartridge, elsewhere there are some massively entertaining battles with large bads to be discovered. My favourites are the dual mutants within the ENE laboratory that mix into one towering freak like a pair of children attempting to sneak into an grownup film, and the monster-conjuring beastmaster within the desert degree that surprises you with minotaurs and griffins to drive you to deftly maneuver from the land into the air and again once more. The bulk of these boss battles carry every stage to a climactic shut, and usually reward you with one other ability-enhancing trinket to additional tweak Musashi’s talent set with.
Working Hack and Forth
To be clear, Art of Vengeance’s 14 foremost ranges are usually not interconnected, so it’s not structured like a traditional Metroidvania. Nevertheless, whereas there isn’t any obligatory backtracking required to finish the story, there are nonetheless lots of compelling causes to return to earlier ranges as you unlock new skills for Musashi over the course of the journey, which in flip open up sizeable new areas to discover that have been in any other case blocked off the primary time by way of. A charged up punch for shattering Yokai obstacles, ninja claws to scale partitions and overheads, a glider to take benefit of updrafts, and even a grappling hook aren’t simply essential for reaching the story’s conclusion, but in addition for sniffing out all of the secrets and techniques in every stage. Although I’ve rolled credit on the marketing campaign, I’m nonetheless steadily working my manner in direction of 100% completion of every degree and having an absolute blast doing it.
Some of these secrets and techniques are so simple as tokens to unlock extra items on the service provider or new costume colors for Musashi – I’m fairly a fan of slaughtering ENE goons draped in cherry blossom pink myself – however there are additionally as much as three Elite encounters to search out in every degree which drop you into an intense area battle in opposition to hardened hordes like some kind of sword-swinging Tremendous Smash Bros. battle. Clearing each Elite encounter in a degree will grant you a brand new amulet to equip, additional enhancing Musashi’s assault energy or his capability to heal, which turn out to be invaluable buffs in opposition to the late recreation bosses.
My favorite elective additional, nevertheless, are the rift challenges. These usually punishing platforming duties demand pinpoint chaining of Musashi’s double-jump, air-dash, and wall-running skills with a view to clear formidable Tremendous Meat Boy-style impediment programs of spinning sawblades and swirling jets of hearth suspended over bottomless pits. They’re deathtrap-lined ranges which are usually fiendish however but to turn out to be too irritating because of the moment restarts and degree design that’s fierce however finally honest.
Retracing my steps by way of Art of Vengeance’s phases to seek for secrets and techniques has additionally highlighted some of its minor shortcomings, nevertheless. I don’t love the way in which that enemies appear to respawn immediately as soon as their patrol factors have disappeared off digicam, drawing me into pointless extra fights as I doubleback in search of a selected spot. However what’s actually annoying is the way in which the pause menu map doesn’t appear to point whether or not falling down a spot between platforms will imply you land safely on the bottom under or immediately lose a bit of well being and respawn again on the platform above. It brings an undesirable aspect of trial and error to the in any other case obsessive hunt for secrets and techniques.
That mentioned, I finally actually admire how Lizardcube has structured Art of Vengeance, within the sense that it’s made its most difficult fight and platforming sections solely elective for probably the most half. When you simply need to concentrate on the story, you’ll discover a 2D ninja platforming expertise that’s difficult sufficient however a contact extra approachable on its default issue setting than the comparatively trickier Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. However when you do need to put your expertise to the take a look at, there are these elective Elite battles and rift challenges to dive into, together with Boss Rush and timer-based Arcade modes to unlock for the extra severe speedrunners. (Conversely, there are a selection of accessibility settings to make life even simpler do you have to nonetheless end up struggling.)