In SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance, I got to live out the ultimate ninja power fantasy, feeling every bit the legendary shinobi, Joe Musashi. It’s so easy to slip into the flow-state in combat, chaining together attack after attack in a deadly juggle.
In a matter of seconds, I could be dodging a barrage of shuriken and rolling behind an enemy’s guard to slash at their back, before kicking off their body into the air and spraying kunai in my wake. From there, I’d dive-kick another enemy, perform a somersault slash with my katana, and finish off the remaining opponent with a fireball ninpo — this game makes you feel like a badass.
Revengeance
Joe Musashi returns to the Shinobi franchise once more, as the head of the Oboro Clan. When the village is all but destroyed by Lord Ruse and the paramilitary organisation ENE Corp., Joe leaves his family behind to seek vengeance — and justice. With the help of some unexpected allies, Joe delivers blow after blow to ENE Corp., drawing Lord Ruse out for a final confrontation. While the story isn’t deep or complicated, it’s enough to connect the various levels together.
The game drops you right into the action, with the attack on the Oboro Clan, but it does itself a disservice by not allowing us to see the village in happier times. Just a few minutes of Joe walking through the village, greeting his students and other clan members, would’ve gone a long way to making their later destruction more impactful.
The story is coloured by a fantastic voice cast, including the talented Suzie Yeung (Yuffie Kisaragi – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Fuuka Yamagishi – Persona 3 Reload). It’s this experience that really helps to bring NPCs and boss characters to life.
Joe himself takes the silent protagonist trope to the extreme, resigned to mere grunts, which made it hard to make any sort of connection with the character.
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Visual Tour De Force
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance might just have my favourite look of any game I’ve played this year. Its hand-drawn 2D art-style is reminiscent of a comic book come to life and complemented beautifully with detailed animations, dynamic backgrounds and flashy effects galore. The games’ combination of shinobi tradition, modern day military, and mystical demonic forces works beautifully.
Level designs are vast and varied, offering intense vibes and stunning spectacles. Dynamic backdrops move and shift with action: a colossal kaiju stomping through the background, fireworks lighting up the night sky, enemy shinobi running parallel to you, a bubbling tank of green liquid housing an unseen horror — it all builds depth to the presentation.
There’s over a dozen stages to cut through, each offering a unique setting to explore. Whether it’s the orange glow of thousands of floating lights at the Lantern Festival, the packed stalls of exotic seafood at the Fish Market, or the neon dripped skyscrapers of Neo City… The game is pure eye candy.
Enemy and boss designs are also on point, with a host of foes to take on: paramilitary grunts, enemy ninjas, demonic beings, grotesque lab experiments, vengeful spirits — all visually unique and lovingly designed. One of many stand-out boss designs was Kijima, a yakuza-turned-demon with tattooed red skin, devil horns and a huge Ōdachi impaled through his stomach!
All-out Action
Art of Vengeance absolutely nails its combat. It’s fast, flashy and fun, making you want to stop and fight every single grunt along your journey to the final boss. Whether I was knocking a death-drone out of the air with a kunai, juggling an axe-wielding lunatic with katana strikes, or unleashing everything I had left in the tank against a Cthulhu-looking level boss — I relished it all.
The optional Elite Squad combat challenges were some of my favourite parts of the game, taking on waves of formidable foes, and being handsomely rewarded for my efforts.
Basic light and heavy attack combos are your bread and butter, chipping away at enemy health as you build your Ninpo cells. Ninpo are special attacks that require an energy cell to use, my go-tos were a giant shuriken that decimates heavy armour, and a close-range firebreathing attack that could be devastating to enemies grouped together. As you take damage, your Ninjutsu meter slowly builds, when full you can unleash a powerful ability in spectacular fashion.
There are also amulets which alter your abilities. Passive amulets are always active and provide effects like explosive kunai or vampiric katana slashes. Combo amulets only activate when your hit-combo reaches a certain number, and give bonuses like extra gold or enhanced ninpo abilities. At the Yokai shop you can purchase new attacks and extensions to your combos, furthering your ability to kick ass. Among other things, they also sell a few outfit colourways to change up your style.
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Platforming Purgatory
Another key aspect of SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is its platforming; Joe can jump, double jump and dash to get around. As you progress, you’ll unlock Ningi tools like the Ninja Claws that let you climb certain walls, the Ninja Hook to launch off grapple points, and the Glider to harness air currents.
The game requires very tight and precise platforming in sections, often asking you to be perfect with your jumps to vault over deadly spikes, or have split second accuracy to avoid a rotating flamethrower. The level of difficulty can get to sadistic levels, with one wrong move sending you right back to the start of the gauntlet. Thankfully, most of the hair-pulling, frustration-inducing sections are optional side-content; entering Ankou Rifts transport you to Purgatory itself, where a series of deadly challenges await you.
There are some gripping platforming sequences, where you have to escape an encroaching wall of fire or a gushing torrent of water… But for the most part, the platforming felt like more of a chore than a thrill.
While part of my trouble is undoubtedly a ‘skill issue’ the difficulty of some of the platforming sections felt at odds with the reasonable difficulty of the rest of the game. (For the record, I doggedly persevered and completed every challenge in the game).
My only real desire from the game would be the ability to skip any cutscene. When you’re taking on a particularly tricky platforming section that starts with an animated sequence, after multiple deaths, cutscenes really start to add up and break your rhythm.
Should you buy SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance?
If you’re a fan of action-platformers, this one is a no-brainer. SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance shines in its visual presentation, showcasing incredible style and attention to detail. Combat is a standout, allowing you to feel like a master Shinobi as you bounce from foe to foe, unleashing your arsenal of attacks.
The game has a serviceable story that gets you from A to Z, though I would’ve liked more emotional weight to the events of the game. I personally didn’t enjoy the harder platforming sections, finding more frustration than flow-state, but I can see platforming fans relishing the challenge.
After finishing the Story Mode, you’ll have access to Arcade Mode, Boss Rush Mode, and the LAB Key Secret Challenge, so there’s plenty of replay value to the game as well.
Quest Daily scores SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance:
8.5/10
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance releases onto consoles and PC on August 29th.
Access to SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
