Cyber Shadow review — Through the past, darkly

cre: Cyber Shadow review — Through the past, darkly

It’s not uncommon to see games doing their best to return to the NES era. That muted 8-bit color palette, the chiptunes, the nail-hard gameplay… all of it carries a ton of nostalgia for the people who grew up playing them. Likewise, an 8-bit style ninja game is incredibly familiar territory. Cyber ​​shadow wears his influences on his sleeve and at first looks well done, albeit unambitious. But as this progresses, it becomes clear that there is much more to it. The game may be derivative, but the level design, gameplay, and difficulty are nearly perfect. These elements not only make it a great game overall, but are a testament to the extent to which pure talent can go into a game.

Cyber ​​shadow throws you into the role of an android ninja. If you played Ghostrunner recently it’s a very similar premise. Shadow is a member of a ninja clan and his master vanished after some sort of war broke out. This master is the daughter of a mad scientist named Progen who builds robots and does all kinds of sketchy experiments, while his daughter has sort of become the matriarch of a techno-spiritual ninja clan. it’s honestly very stupid. At various intervals, Shadow will reunite with the digital essences of his not quite deceased clan members, as their souls still exist. Shadow also has a soul. I have no idea what this all means.

There is a surprising amount of intrigue in Cyber-shadow. It is well presented, despite the stupidity. The cutscenes are all NES style and look really good, plus there’s quite a bit of dialogue and notes to read. Truth be told, the game is well written for what it is, as long as you don’t roll your eyes. But the fact that there are enough stories for me to even laugh at demonstrates one of the main characteristics of the game: it might seem like nothing more than a flashback, but it couldn’t. to be further from the truth.

Ninja Scrap

Enough about that though. The game has 11 chapters which are basically levels and it seems to be completely linear at first glance. But then you realize that there is a certain degree of interconnectivity. Additionally, you can use teleporters to return to find bonuses with newly acquired abilities. At the beginning of Cyber ​​shadow, Shadow is about as standard as a gaming ninja you’ve seen in most side-scrollers. He can jump, slice his sword, and die horribly. But as you locate your clan members, you’ll get new abilities that vary between special attacks and things that fundamentally alter gameplay as if it were a Metroid-As.

Special capacities are mostly at the standard rate. You have the option of throwing energy shurikens, shooting upwards with fireballs, and knocking down. Later, however, you gain the ability to jump the wall and dash, which allows you to perform a teleport slash which grants you iframes. By the last parts of Cyber ​​shadow, you will go through the levels with ridiculous levels of precision. Going back to previous levels with your new abilities clearly shows just how much more powerful Shadow becomes as the game progresses. The game just does a fantastic job of steadily making you more powerful and it feels perfectly fine tuned.

Of course, it wouldn’t mean much if the controls weren’t good, but they are not Well. they are unbelievable. The controls are so accurate that I just don’t think they could be any better than they are. The shadow has always moved exactly however I wanted, whether I was carefully gliding over instakill spikes or landing as close to an enemy as possible in order to make a jump without taking damage. The collision detection and hitboxes are pretty amazing. At some point in Cyber ​​shadow, you get a parry that allows you to block the bullets and send them back against your enemies. The controls are so accurate and precise that it works better than it looks. And his so satisfying.

Put yourself on my level

But what is good gameplay without the level design to back it up? Cyber ​​shadow glue that landing too. To be frank, this game is very difficult. The slightest mistake will often result in your death, and the checkpoints can be quite scattered. However, everything seems perfectly balanced in this regard. I can’t remember a single time when designing the levels seemed impossible or too difficult. With practice and patience, anything is extremely doable, although your jaw can sometimes hit the ground due to the daring of the game.

I would like to make another parallel between Cyber ​​shadow and Ghostrunner. They are two difficult games, but they are difficult for different reasons. The latter is frustrating and can make you feel like you are at a disadvantage just because of the way the design was designed. You would die just because the game was in first person and you just couldn’t see something was going to go wrong. Trying things again in this game was obnoxious to me, as I felt like luck was involved. Cyber ​​shadow does not have this problem. Even when it was cruel and punitive, I relished and enjoyed the challenge.

The only real problem I have with Cyber ​​shadow is when it comes to his boss fights. Almost all of them are much easier than the levels themselves, with a few exceptions. A boss is a dragon robot that you fight for water, and it completely throws the rulebook away and ends up bumping into the rest of the game a bit. But the final boss fight is the only time I have felt there had been a major misstep.

The one who stumbles

The final boss is a tedious three-phase fight, and it only took me so many tries as the game introduces new mechanics specific to that phase. On top of that, you have to rely on a move that you might not know you could do just to deal damage safely. It’s a bit similar to the final boss in Solid metal gear 4 where the gameplay changes totally for no reason except worse. Because of this, I hated the last boss fight and wished the third phase was different, as it’s easily the only part of the game that I thought was anything below fantastic.

But that’s a minor complaint regarding what a truly magnificent game is. In the end, I spent about 8.5 hours on it, but that includes going back to older areas to search for bonuses and secrets. Cyber ​​shadow is derivative, yes, but it is derivative in the best possible way. It not only recalls many aspects of classic titles, but enhances them with better gameplay and carefully thought-out modern sensibilities. Not only is Cyber ​​shadow a truly impressive accomplishment, but it’s also quite possibly one of the best games I’ve ever played. Until the very end, at least.

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