Ninjin: Clash of Carrots (2018)

Ninjin has you playing the role of two ninjas, ready to take back the storage of carrots that has been taken by the evil shogun. It's a simple story with a few worlds to go through, but has a distinctly unique and fun beat-em-up loop to it that manages to finish itself up just as it gets dull.

The game consists of levels with several stages, each consisting of the character ninja running through enemy waves. The player can move and dash throughout this run, and can either use long distance shuriken and kunai or attack with a blade. The game is very customizable, with carrots dropped from enemies buying new weapons or others being dropped from enemies. It's a bit of an overload and can feel about as expansive as a set of weapons in Diablo, but at least gives the player enough to work with.

The enemies themselves are memorable and challenging - each of them have their own little introductory segment, and can consist of nasty oni babies, masked assassins, and giant bears. It helps that the world and characters are cute and colorful, making everything stick out.

The game itself is charming, and while its gameplay loop can wear out pretty quickly, the game understands this and doesn't spend too long on each gameplay element. For its price you might not be getting a heap of content, but it's a compellingly unique gameplay element that's implemented well.