Thankfully Cyber Shadow doesn’t know the meaning of bad stage design and graces you with a cavalcade of excellence from the word go. The ability to kill enemies and traverse the environment would be wasted if the stages you interacted with were a bit crap. Mistakes are entirely on the player – you simply didn’t use the master-crafted tools bestowed upon you effectively enough. Jumping through the air whilst throwing a shuriken at one enemy, and slashing another coming from behind, before landing on a tiny platform is effortless and immensely satisfying. Shadow is responsive, quick, and most importantly, weighty.
Cyber Shadow is a brutal game but remains mostly fair throughout thanks to the game being tighter than my jeans after lockdown. Touching the ground becomes a choice, and the game is never the same again.įor all of its mechanical depth the thing that keeps it feeling good from start to finish, is its controls. One moment you are casually strolling through a goop-monster infested lab, and the next you are moving with the elegance and grace of a thousand tiny gymnasts and hurtling through the air like a ninja launched from a trebuchet. This turns Cyber Shadow from a Castlevania/Ninja Gaiden hybrid, to its own, completely distinct thing.
About halfway through you will unlock the game-changing Sprint ability. It doesn’t end there, as it also propels you in the direction you are moving, so you can use it as a jump extender without actually hitting any enemies. It also lets you bounce off enemies and can be used over, and over to clear large gaps – essentially acting as a double, or even quadruple, jump. There is a wonderfully animated downward strike that allows you to kill enemies below you. Many abilities also unlock new ways of travel. You eventually acquire an ability that covers that weakness. For example, attacking anything above you is risky and probably unwise. These range from simple attack upgrades to entirely new ways of engaging with your enemies. As you carve a path of destruction through your various mechanical enemies, you will gain new skills that will allow you to do more things. Needless to say, you are limited to the extreme. You can move, jump and swing your sword directly ahead of you and that’s about it. Shadow starts off with the stamina of a virgin and the strength comparable to overcooked tagliatelle. What is engaging, however, is the gameplay. It is told mostly through exposition dumps, and whilst they can be visually stunning to witness, what is going on isn’t necessarily engaging. It was shortly after this point Cyber Shadow’s plot started to fall a bit flat. You are brought up to speed by a tiny – yet adorable – robot and then you are on your way to do…something.
He’s been in a pod for an indeterminate amount of time, the world is in a bit of a tissy, his clan is missing and his master might be dead. You play as Shadow – a ninja who finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Developed by Machine Head Studio and Published by the aforementioned Yacht Club Games, Cyber Shadow stealths onto the scene and mercilessly murders any notion that this game isn’t a mechanical masterpiece. Whilst one could argue we have already had a Ninja Gaiden inspired outing with The Messenger, there is no reason why someone else couldn’t give it another swing. Since then we have been hit with a bevvy of stellar attempts at rekindling, and more importantly, improving, those old-school masterpieces. It’s also been confirmed that Cyber Shadow will take anywhere between 4-10 hours to finish- read more on that through here.Retro-inspired 2D action-platformers have been all the rage since Yacht Club Games released the utterly sublime Shovel Knight way back in 2014. You can check out some more gameplay footage from Cyber Shadow through here, or get more info on the game via our interview with its creative director. Oh, and some pretty rad retro music is constantly blaring in the background. Beyond that, there’s plenty of gameplay footage as well, showing the platforming, combat, and some really cool looking boss fights. The trailer focuses on the narrative premise of the title, laying down the foundations for what will serve as the game’s story. Releasing on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, those getting the game on Nintendo’s hybrid platform will get an interesting extra perk- amiibo support with Yacht Club’s own Shovel Knight series.Ī new trailer for Cyber Shadow has also been released. Yacht Club Games have announced that the Mechanical Head Studios-developed retro action platformer Cyber Shadow will be releasing this Fall.
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