9 Monkeys of Shaolin
Main game
3.39 average rating based on 31 ratings
- Developers
- Sobaka Studio
- Publishers
- Buka Entertainment, Koch Media
- Event
- The Game Festival: Autumn Edition
- Platforms
- Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Genres
- Adventure, Arcade, Fighting, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Indie, Role-playing (RPG)
- Themes
- Action
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is 9 Monkeys of Shaolin?
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A beautiful looking beat em up.
This game is quite a gem. Its visual presentation is stellar and it also plays quite well.
The game truly is gorgeous, especially if you are a fan of Asian aesthetics as myself. Every level had a bit different setting so I kept playing just to see what nice landscape comes next. The graphics looks a bit similar to Firewatch - at least the color palette - so you know that it is gorgeous.
When it comes to gameplay it is also not bad. The game offers many upgrades through your progression, including weapons and stat upgrades. You also gain some new abilities along the way that spice up the combat. Otherwise it is quite a standard beat em up. The gameplay can get a bit repetitive as there isn't much variety in enemy types. There are various enemies with different levels of armour/damage or a bit different set of attacks, but none of them (except necromancer) force you to fundamental change your strategy when fighting them. Boss fights are especially disappointing because they have the same problem. They are just another enemy with more damage and slightly different attack pattern.
The game features several difficulty levels. The "normal" difficulty …
This game is quite a gem. Its visual presentation is stellar and it also plays quite well.
The game truly is gorgeous, especially if you are a fan of Asian aesthetics as myself. Every level had a bit different setting so I kept playing just to see what nice landscape comes next. The graphics looks a bit similar to Firewatch - at least the color palette - so you know that it is gorgeous.
When it comes to gameplay it is also not bad. The game offers many upgrades through your progression, including weapons and stat upgrades. You also gain some new abilities along the way that spice up the combat. Otherwise it is quite a standard beat em up. The gameplay can get a bit repetitive as there isn't much variety in enemy types. There are various enemies with different levels of armour/damage or a bit different set of attacks, but none of them (except necromancer) force you to fundamental change your strategy when fighting them. Boss fights are especially disappointing because they have the same problem. They are just another enemy with more damage and slightly different attack pattern.
The game features several difficulty levels. The "normal" difficulty was a bit easy for me, while one level harder felt quite nice. But this harder difficulty also disabled all the check points in the level which was a bit too punishing. So I remained playing on normal difficulty, which made many levels a breeze to beat. Nonetheless it was fun to crush all the enemies.
I also played in local coop mode. I always love when the games are fully designed to be beaten with your buddy alongside you. Coop experience was mostly smooth although the camera just focuses player 1 which is fine for the most part. However there was a particular level where that posed a serious problem and player 2 kept falling out of the view port.
The story is ridiculous. I have no idea what is it about but essentially you are the good guy and there are several bad guys that you need to beat. The problem is that such basic concept gets way too complicated in this game's narration, without really giving a good reason for that. Lucky the story is not essential to enjoy in this game. I must also compliment the voice acting which was quite good.
Overall I give this game a thumbs up. I had a great time beating up enemies and I recommend it for all couch multiplayer enthusiasts. And also the graphics are truly beautiful.
A sorely needed example in the beat 'em up category - a Kung Fu game
As I was playing this game, it occurred to me that I rarely ever see Kung Fu movies translated to the video game genre. That struck me as a strange oversight since the stylized fighting would translate so well. This game feels like an old Kung Fu movie where a fisherman talented with the staff joins up with Shaolin monks to take on the forces of evil in the form of hordes of less talented thugs. In form, it's a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The combat has enough variety that it's fun. My favorite part is that you kill gunmen by deflecting their bullets back to them. There aren't any puzzles or anything else but there is an developing storyline. The characters fit their roles but they're not much more developed than that. I also like how the difficulty adjustment works (same difficulty but the game autosaves after every combat on a stage) and that it could be raised up or down in the same playthrough. It made it so I could advance but also enjoy the challenge when I wanted. The levels are all quite short. One thing I really liked about this game was that I could pick …
Read MoreAs I was playing this game, it occurred to me that I rarely ever see Kung Fu movies translated to the video game genre. That struck me as a strange oversight since the stylized fighting would translate so well. This game feels like an old Kung Fu movie where a fisherman talented with the staff joins up with Shaolin monks to take on the forces of evil in the form of hordes of less talented thugs. In form, it's a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The combat has enough variety that it's fun. My favorite part is that you kill gunmen by deflecting their bullets back to them. There aren't any puzzles or anything else but there is an developing storyline. The characters fit their roles but they're not much more developed than that. I also like how the difficulty adjustment works (same difficulty but the game autosaves after every combat on a stage) and that it could be raised up or down in the same playthrough. It made it so I could advance but also enjoy the challenge when I wanted. The levels are all quite short. One thing I really liked about this game was that I could pick up my Switch and play for 10 minutes and put it down again having advanced the game. Altogether, the game is quite short. It took me a little over 4 and a half hours to beat the game. It's no masterpiece but it's fun if you want a decent game for the Switch.
Read Less
Good combat mechanics, nice story. Fun and challenging. Had a good time playing.