Platform(s): All current platforms, reviewed on Xbox Series X
Release Date: January 26th, 2021
Cyber Shadow burst onto the indie scene back in January to mostly positive feedback. Being published by Yacht Club (the developers of Shovel Knight) is enough of an endorsement for me, so I was excited to check it out when it launched on Game Pass. The game is a clear throwback to 80s titles such as Ninja Gaiden but with modern improvements (not to be confused with the other Ninja Gaiden-inspired game, The Messenger that was released a few years back). Does the game live up to the hype, or does it get stunlocked into a bottomless pit? Let’s find out.
Story
Cyber Shadow follows the titular Shadow, the last in a clan of ninjas who is revived in a cyborg body to avenge his clanmates and rescue his beloved master from the clutches of the evil Dr. Progen who overran Mekacity with robots and wiped out the ninja clan. On the surface, the story seems like your classic MegaMan-esque plot, but as the game goes along the player finds the spirits of fallen ninja, text journals, and flashbacks that really flesh out the world and add a lot of mystery. I was seriously impressed with how deep the game’s story was, for its medium, presenting easily-digestible story chunks that made you think about how everything tied together without being overlong and outstaying their welcome.
Along the way, you even learn more about Dr. Progen and why he’s doing what he’s doing. The game never excuses his actions, but definitely makes you feel like you understand his motives in a believable way.
Aside from that, there’s not much to say about the story! This is an action game, so the writing necessarily takes a back seat while still establishing the world and motivations.
Gameplay
Cyber Shadow is a platforming action game in the vein of classic Ninja Gaiden games from the NES days. The game is presented across a series of levels where the goal is to survive to the end and usually defeat a boss. Along the way, you’ll have to contend with various mechanical enemies, environmental hazards, bottomless or spiked pits, laser beams, toxic sludge, and more. It’s all pretty standard stuff, but don’t get complacent, as the game is quite challenging. Enemies are near constant, and spikes and pits mean instant death, so getting through levels requires precision and mastery of the game’s movement and combat mechanics. Fortunately, there are no lives or game overs. When you die, and you will die over and over, you merely go back to the last activated checkpoint and can immediately continue. This means that even though the game is challenging, you never feel like it’s impossible, and you can always keep trying. Additionally, the game lets you spend its currency on upgrading the checkpoints to allow them to completely refill your health and/or spirit gauge instead of only doing half, as well as dropping a bonus weapon. This allows you to make difficult sections slightly easier for yourself without completely spoiling the game’s challenge.
When you start out, Shadow only has the very basic techniques: running, jumping, and swinging his sword. At first, it seems frustrating that you can only attack in front of you, and it feels like being able to slash upward and crouch would be useful, but the game makes up for these in time. Soon you gain access to multiple special attacks that use your special gauge, such as shuriken projectile attacks, a burning uppercut that sends multiple projectiles upward, a dash attack that can one-hit KO weaker enemies in your path and propel you forward, a charge attack that can modify your other special attacks, and more. The shuriken is mostly situational, however all the other special attacks are highly useful, and the game actively rewards you for trying them out, as defeating enemies with special attacks is much more likely to drop special gauge refills, and with the dash attack it always does so. By the time you unlock the dash attack, it becomes an essential part of your moveset. One gripe I had with it, though, is that by default the binding for this ability is to double-tap the D pad in the direction you want to dash, which can be tricky to do in tight situations. Fortunately, the game allows you to remap the dash to the right bumper, which felt more natural for me. By the end of the game, you can constantly chain together dash attacks, double jumps, pogo attacks, and more to skillfully zip through the game’s later levels. This is a great example of the game making the player feel more powerful as they advance, making you feel like a true cyber ninja by the end.
The other main gameplay mechanic is bonus weapons. These are temporary upgrades such as a longer sword attack, an orbiting laser attack, a special gauge refill dispenser, and more that slightly augment your abilities. You can only have one at a time, and as you take damage the bonus weapons will degrade until after only a few hits they’re completely gone. I found these to be slightly useful, but mostly extraneous. They never felt like a tipping point between failure and success and were more distractions than anything.
Finally, the boss battles. About half your play time in Cyber Shadow will just be hammering away at bosses. Despite this, they never feel grueling or unfair, more, it’s just a matter of learning patterns and improving your skills to dodge their attacks and strike at just the right time. My favorite boss was the Mekadragon, a water-based boss which heavily reminds me of Serris from Metroid Fusion. Half of the challenge is just knocking down the whirligig robots in the boss arena to create temporary platforms for you to stand on just so that you can hit the boss.
Presentation
Cyber Shadow is a gorgeous 8Bit-inspired pixel art game that follows in the footsteps of similar games like Shovel Knight that present a modern take on 8bit visuals and music. Some of my favorite bits of art were some of the cutscene vignettes, which were highly detailed and expressive. The game’s music is a banger of heavy chiptunes that perfectly portray the dark and somber atmosphere juxtaposed with the bright and flashy 80s cyberpunk aesthetics.
Conclusion
Cyber Shadow is a quick but challenging game that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but does a great job at what it sets out to do, which is being a hard-but-fair throwback to retro titles, which I personally think blows them out of the water. If you’re a fan of retro-inspired games or just like a challenge, definitely give this game a shot. You won’t be let down.
Cyber Shadow Announcement Trailer Nintendo Indie World Showcase Dec. 2020
Mechanical Head Studios’ Cyber Shadow is an action-platformer set in a world taken over by synthetic lifeforms. Shadow will need to navigate the ruins of Mekacity to unlock the ninja clan’s secrets. Players can also can a Shovel Knight series character’s amiibo for a little help.
Cyber Shadow releases to Nintendo Switch on January 26, 2021.
Cyber Shadow llegará el 26 de enero de 2021 a PC y consolas – Nuevo trailer.
La editora Yacht Club Games y la desarrolladora Mechanical Head Studios han anunciado que Cyber Shadow se lanzará el 26 de enero de 2021 para PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One y Nintendo Switch. También estará disponible en Xbox Game Pass.
Acerca del juego:
El mundo se ha visto invadido por formas de vida artificiales. Una súplica de ayuda desesperada embarca a Shadow en un viaje para descubrir lo que inició el camino a la perdición eterna. Atraviesa la multitud tecnológica, salta las trampas y navega ágilmente por las ruinas de Mekacity.
Solo tú puedes desbloquear los secretos de los ancestrales poderes de tu clan en Cyber Shadow, el juego de acción y aventura ninja por excelencia.
Características principales:
• Corre, corta y salta por niveles diseñados de forma magistral, repletos de acción en un escenario ninja considerablemente perfeccionado.
• Una verdadera presentación 8-bits con sprites hechos a mano, una estética de píxeles detallada y controles perfectos. Toques modernos como la animación fluida, entornos de paralaje multicapa y un diseño mejorado del juego.
• Derriba docena de enemigos, desde enormes máquinas de guerra a rivales del clan artificial.
• Revive los clásicos retos en 8-bits o experiméntalo con alguna facilidad extra.
• Rescata a tu clan para desbloquear las habilidades y destrezas permanentes de ninjutsu, combinándolas sin esfuerzo como el guerrero de la leyenda lo haría.
• Busca secretos a medida que exploras el mundo en ruinas. Vuelve a tus antiguas guaridas para encontrar suministros, elementos y mejoras.
• Vive la fascinante historia que se cuenta durante el juego y en las escenas animadas. ¿En quién puedes confiar? ¿Hasta dónde llegará Shadow para proteger a su clan y seres queridos?
• Banda sonora rítmica de Enrique Martin, producido por Jake Kaufman.
