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.
