This sentiment carries through Cyber Shadow. Gone are the days of restarting the entire game just because you died five times. I have long appreciated how even difficult games, especially platformers, are more forgiving than they were in the 80s. These are collected mostly after defeating bosses and receiving the dying lifeforce of some of your captured clansmen. As you progress, you will unlock more moves, including ranged attacks, direction attacks, parries, and traversal abilities. There is no ducking, which is hard to reconcile initially but adds to the challenge and the need for tight maneuvering to avoid taking damage. In classic sidescrolling ninja game fashion, your main moves are jumping and slashing to start. It’s a little bit of a Mega Man type plot, but with enough spin to make it feel original without becoming over-complicated or essential to your enjoyment of the game. The plot is thin and confusing to start, but as you venture through the ruins and face hordes of robot enemies, you slowly uncover the truth through the essences of your fallen brethren, notes left behind, and perfectly reminiscent cutscenes. Robot-ninja Shadow awakens suddenly to learn his clan has been decimated, his master missing, and the world in chaos.
This 8-bit aesthetic, Ninja Gaiden-inspired mecha-ninja game is an excellent and challenging platformer that more than successfully pulls off classic gameplay within a modern engine. Cyber Shadow is a sidescrolling action-platformer developed by Aarne Hunziker, the one-man studio Mechanical Head Studios, and published by Yacht Club Games.