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Digital Trends
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
I'm loving how fast and furious Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is
When I think about the 2D action games I loved growing up, 'fast' isn't a word that usually comes to mind. Something like a Ninja Turtles side scrolling beat-em-up looks a little slow in my mind, filled with heavy one on one punch outs. The exact pace changes from game to game, but it's not usually what I'd call quick. So I was in for a bit of a shock when I booted up a demo of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance at Summer Game Fest. Sega's new revival may call back to some of the retro games I played as a kid, but it leaves them all in the dust in its constant blitz of sword slashing. Developed by Lizardcube, the studio behind the terrific Streets of Rage 4, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance looks to take a classic Sega series back to its roots. It's a side scrolling action game where I need to slash through enemies, vanquish bosses, and do a bit of platforming for good measure. My 45-minute demo let me run wild through two of its gorgeously animated levels, getting a feel for the balance Lizardcube is striking here between retro and modern. When I try to describe it on paper, it might sound a little boilerplate. The platforming has me double jumping and air dashing around 2D environments. Combat is a matter of dishing out sword combos, hitting evasive rolls, tossing out a shuriken or two, and spending energy to activate special skills. It's all par for the course, I know, but those familiar ideas are made thrilling once I start to realize just how quickly I can take out a screen full of enemies. Recommended Videos Art of Vengeance is designed in such a way that I never felt like I needed to stop moving during a fight. If an enemy tries to attack me during a combo, I can hit my evasive dodge and exit it into a new combo. If I need to jump in the air to avoid an unblockable attack, I can come back down with a dive kick by hitting my heavy attack button and chain into a combo from there. My favorite detail comes anytime I stun an enemy. When a red mark appears above a foe, I can press both bumpers to launching into a finishing strike that will also ricochet through every other stunned enemy in the room. The more I get all of this down, the more I realize that I simply never have to stop moving once I get on a roll. It feels as much like a fighting game as it does a side scroller. That sense of lethal speed goes a long way towards making Art of Vengeance feel more exciting than a lot of recent retro brawlers that are very similar to it on paper. It aims to make Shinobi feel like a phantom that cut through waves of enemies in the blink of an eye. Even when I'm dropped into familiar scenarios, like when I need to stay on a boat as enemies fall in around me, it feels like I'm playing something entirely new rather than another cookie cutter retro cash-in. I'm eager to see how much deeper it all goes. My demo only gave me a taste of its exploration, as I could occasionally find platforming challenges that led me to hidden collectibles. Each level has five to find and those can be spent at shops to unlock even more maneuvers, like one that extended my combos even further with additional hits. I had tons of moves to work into my attack strings by the end of the second level I played, including a charged punch and a counter stance skill. I hope more moves keep trickling in in later missions, giving me more attacks I can pepper into my ballet of blades. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance launches on August 28 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Shinobi Art of Vengeance confidently retools a 2D platforming Sega classic
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is on track to be one of the biggest smaller scale surprises of the year, getting Sega's classic franchise revival project off to a strong start. Art of Vengeance is successfully reinventing the Shinobi series for a new generation, complimenting its gorgeous hand-drawn art style with tight combat and platforming. As soon as I heard that Lizardcube – one of the studios responsible for the mind-bogglingly excellent Streets of Rage 4 – was behind Sega 's upcoming Shinobi reboot, I knew we were in safe hands. Cut to trailers and gameplay slices demonstrating the same beautiful hand-drawn art style shared between both games that I expected. What I didn't expect, however, was that Shinobi: Art of Vengeance would turn out to be one of the tightest-handling 2D action-platformers since at least Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown last year – no small feat! In several ways, Lizardcube's new take feels like a far cry from the classic Sega Mega Drive game I remember. While in others, more flexible combat mixes with snappier platforming and bombastic special attacks to render Art of Vengeance easily the most ambitious Shinobi instalment ever. My 45-minute demo of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance dropped me in right at the start of the game, with me donning the guise of protagonist Joe Musashi, who shortly after returning to his village has found it under attack by outside military forces. Believe me when I say that absolutely no knowledge of prior Shinobi adventures is needed to enjoy Art of Vengeance. It's a statement I feel confident making since the stakes for Musashi's titular thirst for revenge are appropriately set almost immediately, as I rush through to save students at the local ninja school by learning how to roll, dodge, and air dash alongside traditional light and heavy attacks. What initially impressed me most was how quick and natural it felt to battle reams of baddies. What with solid and slick beat-em-up chops already under its belt, Lizardcube has done just as good of a job making pulling off combos in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance equally as impactful. Rolling into the air and landing a punch from above simply flows a lot smoother in a way that past Shinobi games could only ever dream of, and this was evidenced nearly right away in the opening stage of Oboro Village. I was pleased to see the franchise's trademark Kunai weapon also return, and it worked well to help me maintain my combo whenever rolling wasn't possible by letting me damage enemies located across the screen. What became clear the deeper I delved into Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, in addition to its gorgeous, comic book inspired art style of course, was how much of a Metroidvania it's turned out to be structurally. The two levels I got to play through as part of my demo were linear in the sense that they had a start, middle, and end, true, but both were absolutely littered with secret areas (often containing precious Oboro relics) that are made purposefully awkward to get to. It makes mastering Musashi's core platforming skills a must, since relics are the only way to unlock and purchase new movement and combat abilities from the travelling vendor. READ MORE: PlayStation State of Play June 2025 start time and how to watch the 40 minutes of major reveals Mark of the ninja All these extra powerful attacks and manoeuvres I was able to put to the test in the second stage of the preview, Lantern Festival, which I played in Arcade Mode free of any usual story disruptions. Easily my favourite was what's called the Shinobi execution, where after hitting an enemy's health down low enough a symbol appears above there head, indicating that they can be taken out Shinobi style instantly. These types of execution can be chained across the screen from foe to foe, too, meaning if you hit enough people's health low enough, Musashi will dart across the screen slashing endlessly to take rivals down in one fell swoop. For a 2D action-platformer it feels wildly spectacular and cinematic. Complimenting your move set further are what's called Ninpo, which as far as I can tell serve as elemental special attacks tied to a rechargeable meter. The first introduced centres on fire and is a good way to deal a great deal of damage in a short distance out front. The second based on water, meanwhile, I couldn't quite work out, but temporarily surrounding Musashi in a bubble seems to indicate a type of protective effect. Regardless, the takeaway here should be that Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is no slouch in the combat or traversal department, since there are multiple ways to roleplay as ninja master. Just like a ninja master, I was pleased to learn how the platforming side of this action-platformer can still often be quite the challenge – particularly when trying to navigate optional areas. There's nothing especially difficult about hitting switches to reveal new pathways, of course, but getting there sometimes takes a lot of precision when it comes to timing wall jumps, wall slides, and air dashes. The latter is a manoeuvre that can be boosted and sustained in specific instances where there is a green energy source in the air, and I'm not ashamed to admit how tough I found it to get out of one of these tricky scenarios. Were I not against the clock for the preview I'm sure I would have found the exit solution. For now, though, just know that Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's best secrets are well tucked away and require a bit of platforming skill to reach. I came away from my Shinobi: Art of Vengeance demo impressed by just how much Lizardcube's take is less iteration and more evolution. Similar to its work on Streets of Rage 4, the studio has taken the core of what made the original games great and build upon this solid foundation for an all-new generation using an expressive art style, flexible combat, and some supremely tight platforming. Better yet? Between new unlockable moves and the score-centric Arcade Mode, there's so much about Art of Vengeance I wasn't able to glean in just 45 minutes of playtime. If this truly is the first of Sega's new wave of reinvented classic franchises, it's certainly off to a strong start. Shinobi: Art of Vengeanceis set to launch on PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo consoles this August 29, 2025.
