Cyber Shadow

Could've been great. But I guess similar to its NES roots, every screen needs to be replayed dozens of times until you've memorized every single enemy movement and platform pattern. 30 years later, that's just boring. There are a ton of cheap insta-deaths that are entirely avoidable, and the further in the game you get, the longer you have to walk between save points. Eventually you get so bored traveling to the actual game (aka the farthest point you made it) that you die before reaching the real game. Just boring. I listened to a bunch of podcasts while grinding to memorize the levels, but there's a limit. There are also some nasty what I'd consider bad gameplay decisions. The hitbox is wrong. Getting damage often pushes you in the wrong direction, sucking you into an enemy to take even more damage. Lots of enemies have projectile attacks where you don't know where they'll shoot, so you have to take an educated guess and then you die because you guessed wrong. When you take damage and fly, you briefly lose control of your character, often turning a regular hit into insta-death because you were pushed into spikes or a void. Often times, the timing of animations seems misleading, meaning you get hit when you shouldn't, or you can't jump and get caught by a trap. Projectiles usually travel so fast you can't avoid them unless you already memorized where they'll go. Practically every enemy type is insta-death until you've rote memorized his attacks. It just gets old real quick. I'd love if someone made a game like this with modern gameplay mechanics, as I love the graphic and music style and the precise controls.

I remember when I used to turn on the NES and let the Ninja Gaiden Cinematic to play out, it will hype me to go and reach the castle Cinematic. I couldn't beat the game at that time. I get the same vibe now... Cyber Shadow is influenced by Ninja Gaiden but Also Shatterhand and Ninja Warriors. You start with a shell of your former self but once you progress you become a Cyborg Splitting Machine just like in the opening cinematic. You had to cheat to beat the original Ninja Gaiden, making enemies de-spawn and most of time getting killed by the lag caused by the NES hardware, insane flickering, etc. In Cyber Shadow it's all skill based. Many people get angry for the controls, the knockback on every hit, not been able to rebind the parry move. It helps if you also like Fighting games since the moves you acquire are based on movement- All together makes it replayable and fun. Also there's a remarkable sense of progression embedded in the game. So no doubts and go for it! a great game that every ninja - platformer lover should have! This game, it's atmosphere and soundtrack are top notch!

While other retro-style platformers like Shovel Knight and The Messenger paid homage to the games they were inspired from while also learning from their mistakes, Cyber Shadow feels like it wants to hit every frustrating beat from the retro platformers we love so much. For starters, yes the game is pretty frustrating... even in the beginning. I'm over an hour in and my problem is how the character feels to control. I don't quite know why you're a ninja who's unable to wall jump... or at the very least crouch, but that already bogs the game down. Limited movement brings limited fun. While in a game like The Messenger where a central mechanic is being able to hit enemy projectiles and having infinite jumps off said abilities, Cyber Shadow doesn't really give you anything special off the bat. The music is great, and the presentation is a huge plus, but this game really left a bad first impression on me. As you continue you get more abilities that are your standard platformer fare, but I don't quite know why they'd want to limit your movement options dramatically from the go-get. The most fun part about a platformer is how your character feels. To me, Cyber Shadow feels sluggish. I heard someone point out the BS in this game as a positive and, sure, if you want a purely retro game this is right up your alley. To me, this game is pretty meh. I give it a 2 because I keep going back to the same question: "Would I play this over other retro style platformers?" and I can't say I want to. It just feels less satisfying to play than the classics that came before it and the indie darlings like Shovel Knight.

It is genuinely one of the best games in this genre ever made, and I grew up playing the original Ninja Gaiden.

Especially by the end, the controls are insane. Why the hell did they decide on fixed controls, and you tap a direction to parry?? That makes zero sense, doesnt work in practice, and sprinting is so random its infuriating. Double tap or LB to sprint, ok fine. Except it should just be if IM HOLDING LB I SPRINT. IF NOT I DONT. No, of course not. Just randomly sprint depending on if you stop for a single frame or not, i guess? This game could have been The Messenger big. But the controls completely ruin the experience. I always feel like I am just suggesting what to do. It sucks even more as I love the visuals and premise, the actual powerups and everything, but the controls... the decision they made, from not allowing customization (they use like 4 buttons, they have both triggers free and a ton of others) Man this sucks. Everygthing else is honestly great. I hope to god they try this basically entire game again with totally reworked system for the controls. I even tried using a wired controller as maybe it was introducing weird latency issues (some games in the past have had that) still just doesn't do what I tell it to the way many other simlar games do. I play tons of Indies, Vengful Guardian Moonrider and Messenger were some of my fav ninja retro games lately, great controls, smooth and fluid and very tight. This becomes more and more finnicky as time goes on. Why, dear god why is there not just a damn parry button? Blows my mind entirely. Could still make it you have to hit the energy ball after, but making it a directional button... with perfect timing, if placement is off by a pixel i guess it just doesn't work. I think, still havent figured it out. Here's to hoping a Cyber Shadow 2 is made, and they use an engine with better controls, allow customization/keybinds, and keep all the rest really.