Cyber Shadow (2021)

This videogame is a retro-inspired action platformer that successfully channels the spirit of classic 8-bit ninja games. Its pixel art style, energetic soundtrack, and fast-paced gameplay create an authentic old-school atmosphere that feels both nostalgic and polished. The controls are tight and responsive, making combat and platforming satisfying, while bosses stand out as memorable highlights with challenging patterns to master.

The game is very very difficult, and while checkpoints help ease the frustration, some late-game sections can feel punishing with sudden difficulty spikes and tricky hazards. So if you don't have the patience to fail multiple times, and you dislike experiences such as the classic Ninja Gaiden titles, then I would stay away from this one, otherwise, this is one of the best modern representations of this idea. Core abilities like the double jump and dash unlock later than expected, which can make early areas feel somewhat restrictive.

Exploration is present but limited, leaning more on linear progression than open-ended backtracking. Despite these drawbacks, this title is a strong recommendation for fans of tough, precise action platformers. It offers a rewarding challenge that pays homage to its inspirations while carving its own identity through sharp design and modern refinements. I'm a big fan of this kind of game, especially because they are short enough to make the 100% worth it, which is something I highly recommend doing, it is very satisfying and it feels like the intended way to experience this.

Wrapped this up before moving on to Mario Wonder, I think it's pretty solid! The back half of the game is focused heavily on using the chain dash to blaze through strings of enemies; long corridors that would take 5+ minutes to play through normally can be cleared in like 10 seconds without ever touching the ground if you get your dash timings just right. These later levels are overreliant on memorization, and the game fumbles by refusing to explain important aspects of how the dash actually works, but even so it's incredibly satisfying to nail the perfect line and leave a trail of exploding robots in your wake.

Really impressive effort for a game made mostly by one dev, and I hope they get a chance to make more stuff!

Really enjoying this one so far, it's a slick update on the old NES Ninja Gaiden series. Looks great, sounds great, pretty good level design and solid ninja movement. There's a nifty chain dash attack that can cross huge gaps and zip back and forth between enemies, and a forgiving checkpoint system that lets you spend gold to adjust the difficulty of the next section of the level.

Only real complaint is that the game's strict adherence to the 2-button controller setup of the NES means that a lot of moves are awkwardly doubled up on the attack button and d-pad, would've definitely preferred them all to be spread out across the unused triggers and face buttons. Parrying feels especially terrible since it's double bound to the d-pad along with running left/right, had to delve into Steam Input to find a better spot for it.

Cyber Shadow is a pretty good old-school inspired 8-bit pixel perfect platformer that most of the time balances challenge and fun game flow. It's not punishingly difficult like The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Video Game, Super Meat Boy, or Celeste on its hardest levels. I guess what I am saying is that perfect memorization and established pathways aren't overdone. There is room for expression of approach and play in Cyber Shadow.

The worst aspects of Cyber Shadow are some design choices when it comes to controls. The dash and counter are both on the left and right directions by default, and you can often screw up the counter as a result, especially when the action gets heated. I found that switching the dash move to be a combo of left or right plus RB to help solidify my control of Shadow.

Now, Cyber Shadow isn't Shakespeare, but the story is enjoyable that is equal parts Mario, Mega Man, and Ninja Gaiden. I'm a little on the fence about the "saving the princess" style mission, but it does fit the gameplay -- there isn't much of a twist on the plot, and it can still have the damsel in distress problem if you look for it. The ambiguity of Shadow and The Master's relationship adds a nice wrinkle and the light touch is a reflection of a modern sensibility when it comes to a video game plot.

The music is good with lots of deep synth bass lines, and it never becomes tedious or repetitive. All the levels have unique tracks and the boss music is appropriate. It's good, but I wouldn't listen to it outside the game like the aforementioned Celeste's soundtrack.

Visually, Cyber Shadow pops and is a great pastiche of other cyberpunk style NES games. The cutscenes are very reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, but are far more complex than anything the NES could have mustered. There were a few instances of not being able to tell what was a background design and a platform, but for the most part everything was clean, obvious as to what it was supposed to be, and distinct even though the game's setting limits the style of locations (industrial locations, caves, forests, waterfronts, sci-fi labs, and alien like textures.)

Playing Cyber Shadow Reminded me of The Messenger and I see them pretty much on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of novel vs challenging. I do wish that Cyber Shadow had some of The Messenger's levity and I do wish The Messenger had some of Cyber Shadow's challenge.

I would recommend Cyber Shadow if you like modern versions of old school style games, but it isn't a masterpiece like Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Game's previous release. When I played Cyber Shadow, I ran into some technical problems where the game would dramatically slow down when in full screen mode, but it wouldn't do it in windowed mode.

Cyber Shadow is a pretty good old-school inspired 8-bit pixel perfect platformer that most of the time balances challenge and fun game flow. It's not punishingly difficult like The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Video Game, Super Meat Boy, or Celeste on its hardest levels. I guess what I am saying is that perfect memorization and established pathways aren't overdone. There is room for expression of approach and play in Cyber Shadow.

The worst aspects of Cyber Shadow are some design choices when it comes to controls. The dash and counter are both on the left and right directions by default, and you can often screw up the counter as a result, especially when the action gets heated. I found that switching the dash move to be a combo of left or right plus RB to help solidify my control of Shadow.

Now, Cyber Shadow isn't Shakespeare, but the story is enjoyable that is equal parts Mario, Mega Man, and Ninja Gaiden. I'm a little on the fence about the "saving the princess" style mission, but it does fit the gameplay -- there isn't much of a twist on the plot, and it can still have the damsel in distress problem if you look for it. The ambiguity of Shadow and The Master's relationship adds a nice wrinkle and the light touch is a reflection of a modern sensibility when it comes to a video game plot.

The music is good with lots of deep synth bass lines, and it never becomes tedious or repetitive. All the levels have unique tracks and the boss music is appropriate. It's good, but I wouldn't listen to it outside the game like the aforementioned Celeste's soundtrack.

Visually, Cyber Shadow pops and is a great pastiche of other cyberpunk style NES games. The cutscenes are very reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, but are far more complex than anything the NES could have mustered. There were a few instances of not being able to tell what was a background design and a platform, but for the most part everything was clean, obvious as to what it was supposed to be, and distinct even though the game's setting limits the style of locations (industrial locations, caves, forests, waterfronts, sci-fi labs, and alien like textures.)

Playing Cyber Shadow Reminded me of The Messenger and I see them pretty much on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of novel vs challenging. I do wish that Cyber Shadow had some of The Messenger's levity and I do wish The Messenger had some of Cyber Shadow's challenge.

I would recommend Cyber Shadow if you like modern versions of old school style games, but it isn't a masterpiece like Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Game's previous release. When I played Cyber Shadow, I ran into some technical problems where the game would dramatically slow down when in full screen mode, but it wouldn't do it in windowed mode.

Played the PC version.

I have seen a lot of people saying it's a hard game. It is not. You just need patience to learn enemy spawns and in second, third try you would pass the section. It has nice pase, nice power ups, an ok story (never really cared for anybody) beautiful music and color pallete. And it's not a long ass game. It took me around 5-6 hours to finish the game on normal.

If you have Xbox gamepass, give it a try.

This is one of the better retro-style games I've played in a while. It completely delivers what I wanted from a game like this. The combat and platforming is challenging and satisfying. I also feel cool while doing it. Mastering the parry is pretty badass.

The couple of issues I have are that all attacks are on one button. The basic attack is X, throwing a shuriken is Up + X, and throwing fireballs into the air is Down + X. The shuriken and fireball attacks cost SP. I would end up doing them by accident when just trying to do a basic attack wasting my SP. The other issue is the dash which is done by moving the thumbstick left or right twice in quick succession. I never got a handle on how quickly or slowly I needed to move the thumbstick twice leading to some frustration.

I feel the same way about this game as I did about Bloodstained Curse of the Moon; The game is faithful to its spiritual predecessors both to its benefit and a fault. In the same way Curse of the Moon pays homage to the old Castlevania games whilst including more modern elements, Cyber Shadow does the same for the Ninja Gaiden games. If you really love those kinds of games then it's worth trying out. To me though, this is an incredibly cookie cutter game and nothing that hasn't been done countless times already. The presentation is fantastic and whilst this is a solid example of "if it ain't broken don't fix it", I personally find it a bit dull. There's absolutely nothing really wrong with the game, it's a pretty solid experience, albeit a bit short, but I just can't get too excited playing games like this too much, especially when the difficulty of these "Retro inspired" games is greatly offset by the modern elements it adds.

It's difficult for me to talk about difficulty because often times I don't find most games difficult to begin with so I can't really see eye to eye with many people on this matter so really BIG disclaimer: I'm not saying the game is very easy or anything like that, but my view on difficulty is VERY personalized to my experience so take everything I say with a grain of salt please. Unlike retro games that are meant to make you spend as much time on them as possible through sheer difficulty, modern games like these provide plenty of tools that often trivialize many portions of the game and ones that are very common nowadays (mid air control, double jump, some sort of dash, etc). Cyber Shadow's difficulty generally stems from dying to an enemy spawn you had no way of knowing beforehand that knocked you into the void but not much else. Once you've seen it once it's only a matter of properly executing and reaching the next "oh how could I have know that would happen" portion of the stage. Bosses are incredibly easy and most can be killed really quickly thanks to all the power ups you eventually get. I'd say bosses are the weakest part of the game which is bit of a shame to me. There is a story but.. really it's mostly flavor so I don't really have anything to say about it.

Ultimately, there's nothing inherently wrong with the game. If this sounds like your thing definitely check it out. Speedrunning might be a fun aspect of it, which seems to be a thing developers are actively trying to make easier to get into with these kinds of games so there's that too. I will say one more thing actually; stages whose difficulty entirely relies upon enemies knocking you off a very tiny moving platform into the void or death floors is one of the most dull and boring level designs ever and I wish this would stop being a thing in any side scrolling, metroidvania, action platformer, 2d souls like, whatever you want to call it kind of games. Please stop.

You know I love 'retro-action-platformers', right? I mean? I went crazy for Shovel Knight, enjoyed The Messenger and I'm still singing praises for Huntdown... but there's a point when enough is enough, and that point for me was Cyber Shadow.

Look. this is a good game, no doubt about that, but I can't find anything that it does better than similar games I already played.

... and there's the difficulty.

I'm not as good as I was for this kind of games, but Cyber Shadow was really kicking my ass. There's a lot AND I MEAN A LOT happening between checkpoints and I no longer have the patience to try the same obstacles again and again until I get it so perfect I could speedrun it.

Anyway, here's my full review in spanish. Tha pixel art and music are great and it can be actually fun in parts... but my thumbs hurt now.

My review will be up tomorrow, but the embargo is over so I can tell you something.

This game is hard.

Is really, really hard.

Is "my thumbs hurt" hard.

Is the Dark Souls of Ninja Gaiden clones.

Edit: Hey @peter, that's not the cover of the game and it seems OK in the actual game page. I did something wrong?