The moment I rode a giant white wolf through a shimmering field of wheat, as a kaiju ran in the distance and shot disgusting, fleshy globs at me, I knew Shinobi was going to be one heck of a game.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is one of the most slick and stylish games I’ve ever seen, genuinely on the level of something from Vanillaware (the studio behind 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord). Every single frame and level of this game is gorgeous, but even more unexpected is that Shinobi is one of the most thrilling and complex platformers I’ve played in years, layering on the perfect dose of Metroidvania elements to boot. It’s far and away my biggest surprise of the year, a bold reinvention of a classic franchise that doesn’t just reinvigorate it but brings something wildly refreshingly new to the genre at large.
