All of a sudden, and all at once, the entire industry seems to have come to a realization: Ninjas are cool. There have been a smattering of recent games featuring ninjas who are also turtles, but this seems to be the year that old-school human ninjas are back, baby. We already received the combo shinobi-samurai fantasy in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ninja Gaiden 2 Black was announced alongside an upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4. The retro-styled Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is coming from The Game Kitchen. And finally, Sega is bringing back one of its classic franchises with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. It’s a veritable buffet of ninja action this year, but having played an extended Shinobi demo, I recommend saving some room for it.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance comes from Lizardcube, developer of gorgeous hand-drawn 2D games Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap and Streets of Rage 4. Those games have a distinct visual style, separate from the 3D games or even the pixel art of Ragebound. Instead they look ripped from the pages of a comic book, with sharp inky lines and fluid animation. Shinobi is no different, and seeing it applied to the fast and versatile skills of Shinobi is a real treat.
That artwork feels additive to the flow of the game, which is quick and improvisational. Everything from the platforming to the combat feels tightly tuned to make you feel in control at all times–a capable ninja master who is more than a match for any single foe. The challenge comes from managing the space, presenting several enemy types at once and daring you to prioritize them. You need to close the gap between yourself and the ranged archers before taking on the melee swordsmen. Just when you’ve gotten a handle on that, suddenly there are mystics who heal your opponents, so they become a new priority target. This all takes place on a 2D plane but it carries the Streets of Rage DNA by presenting you with enemies to juggle. Reaching a boss feels appropriately dramatic, as you get a quick cinematic glance of the titular Shinobi from the back, facing off against the monstrous threat.
Making your way between combat encounters is just as engaging thanks to your fast movement and rock-solid platforming level design. I felt particularly nostalgic as a fan of the classic Mega Man X series, making wall jumps and dashing leaps across gaps. At first glance you may mistake this for a metroidvania, due to passages that seem impassable and stage elements you don’t recognize. But then you hit the end of a stage and come to a stage-select menu, and realize that it’s actually a clever hybrid structure. You play stages through to completion, but as you amass more navigational tools, you can go back to previous stages to increase your stage completion and get a better score.
Aside from the traditional stage completion, I also played a round of Arcade mode. That mode, which seemingly can be applied to any regular stage, turns on a combo meter reminiscent of a brawler, challenging you to increase your score by taking down enemies with ninja precision–without getting hit, of course.
The one weak element from my playtime was the story. While the hand-drawn cutscene models are just as gorgeous as the in-game ones, and the voice acting is appropriately melodramatic, the story itself just doesn’t have much to it. The brave Shinobi is facing off against a legion of evil-doers who just seem to like doing evil. There may be more to it, but from the parts I was allowed to play, it was presented very straight-faced. If there is some subversive element that aims to comment on this style of story, I felt like I was seeing the setup without the punchline.
Even if that’s not the case, though, I can live with a hokey story in service of excellent gameplay and gorgeous visuals. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance looks to be a wonderful successor to the original Sega series, and one that will reward skilled and patient fans of old-school action platforming.
