There are some small faster-paced platforming elements found in places like the Catacombs, but not nearly as much as I would have liked to have seen just to break up the formula a bit. The gameplay can become repetitive as a result of focusing too much on stealth alone. This is obviously the game’s way of telling you that ninjas deal death from the shadows, which is a good thing really as the gameplay is at its best when you abide by the rules and cautiously plot your way forwards.
Fighting enemies head-on is a bit of a no-no because ninjas seemingly fight back with feather pillows for fists. You work from A to B trying not to get detected or killed, while assassinating as many goons that stand in the way. The whole concept may not necessarily be an original one, but in two-dimensions, it’s certainly a practical way of expressing the gameplay.Įach level has an objective that differs in context, but pretty much has the same outcome nonetheless. One nice little feature, as a result, is the ability to lean against a closed door to “sense” the presence of enemies that may be lurking behind it. On the other hand, your ninja can only see his enemies if his line of sight isn’t blocked in some way. For example, running along a rooftop will cause large ripples of sound that will attract a guard’s attention should the ripples activate near them. The visual language that bleeds across the screen notifies the player’s hidden presence by displaying any sound and sight reached within a certain radius. The team down at Klei Entertainment has done a wonderful job at sinking the player into the shoes of what a ninja assassin is traditionally portrayed as. Sound is a dead giveaway of your position after all. Just remember to bear in mind to make sure that you keep the volume down. What does make this particular version special though, is that, for the first time ever, you can now play the game while perched in a tree at nightfall waiting for that bully who used to steal your dinner money to gormlessly wander past. There’s a few quality of life improvements such as improved audio and visual upgrades, along with the small amount of downloadable content that was released to support the game back in the day. It certainly did so for me at least, as I had no idea of its original existence before Nintendo had spotlighted it earlier this year.įor many new players like myself, Mark of the Ninja Remastered probably won’t feel like much of a remaster at all. Despite receiving critical praise in its own right, the shadow-dwelling original may have easily passed you by in 2012.
The first was the excellent, time-swapping Ninja Gaiden-esque adventure The Messenger, and, of course, Mark of the Ninja Remastered – a remastered port of the original Xbox Live Arcade game. When Nintendo had broadcast their Nindies Showcase Spring 2018 presentation back in May, there was not just one, but two side-scrolling indie adventures starring a lead ninja protagonist.
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