Yacht Club Games is no stranger to 2D side-scrolling platforming games, having developed Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope and its handful of follow-ups. It’s no surprise, then, that Yacht Club made the decision to publish Cyber Shadow - another 8-bit action platformer developed by Mechanical Head Studios. Cyber Shadow may not breathe new life into the genre,❀ but its take on ♛retro platforming is executed near-flawlessly while being great for players of any skill level.
In Cyber Shadow, you take on the role of Shadow, a former human ninja who has been brought back to life as a cyborg. As the sole surviving member of your clan, it’s up to you to take out Dr. Progen’s menacing robots who▨ control Mekacity, which now lays in ruins. As Shadow, you’ll use your combat skills to take out the synthetic lifeforms, gaining new abilities along the way to aid you on your quest.
These types of retro action platforms usually have forgettable - often laughably so - storylines that really don’t mean much to the overall experience. That’s not the case in Cyber Shadow. Right away, the game conveys a sense of mystery and deeper connection in Shadow’s relationship with the enemies encountered along the journey. It made me want to know more. With so many games in the genre focusing on gunplay, swordplay, and bullet-hell combat, it's refreshing to be told a good tale.
That’s not to say the combat takes a backseat to the narrative. Far from it. In a seemingly endless sea of available side-scrolling retro platformers, it’s all too easy for these types of games to be thrown together without much thought in terms of platforming strategy. Cyber Shadow avoids this by being intentional with its placement of platforms, enemies, and projectiles, requiring 🧜you to be careful and precise. There is a flow in the platforming that feels oddly satisfying as you jump, dodge, and slice your way through the game’s levels. It may take a death or two to make it happen, but there’s a weird, ballet-like fluidity when you’re able to quickly string together a handful of platforming moves.
Oh, and you will die. Probably a lot. The typical quirks you’d expect from the genre are here and they will kill you unceremoniously. You’ll make the usual mistakes, such as mistiming a jump and landing in a spike pit or enemy projectile. Fair. But I have also encountered things like hitbox inconsistencies when battling enemies, which doesn’t feel fair at all. Sometimes, slicing at an enemy results in me receiving damage because I’m standing too close, despite my sword animation clearly cutting through the enemy first. This doesn’t happe𓄧n too ofte🐟n, but it becomes an issue when you die because of inconsistencies like this right at the end of a level. It’s even more frustrating when it happens at the end of a long level, and there are plenty of those.
I love Cyber Shadow’s platforming, but boss battles are the highlight of the game - again, an element that this type of game should highlight. Boss fights feature patterned attacks and become harder as the fight progresses - you know, the usual. The bullet-hell fights are fast-paced and can get pretty intense, requiring you to be on your toes at all times. However, the grandiose bosses, including everything from massive mechs to robot♔ dragons, are incredibly fun to wage war upꦯon. Honestly, they are some of the more memorable boss battles that I’ve encountered in the genre recently.
The first boss feels like you’re fighting Dark Avengers’ Iron Man with his rockets and thruster attacks. It’s not the hardest fight, but it shows off exactly what you can expect from future encounters - phase progression keeps you on your toes and you quickly learn to be aggressive to stay alive. You’ll eventually get to a point where you’ll be taking on mobs of weaker enemies in addition to a bo📖ss, creating a flurry of chaos on the screen as you dodge attacks coming at you from all angles. These fights are almost like a chess match, requiring you to think one or two moves ahead to be proactive about avoiding attacks. Though it can be overwhelming, it feels ludicrously cool when you take a boss down in a smooth assault.
I think what stands out most, though, is Cyber Shadow’s accessibility. I often steer clear of these retro platformers because they wear their dif🦄ficulty like a badge of honor. This limits the playability of a game to anyone other than those looking for a hard experience. It is, of course, fine if that’s your thing, but with ninja platforming action having the appeal that it does, I’m glad that this game is challenging without bein൲g overly difficult. Cyber Shadow feels like a game for everyone, from hardened 8-bit veteran to genre newcomers. Future titles should use Cyber Shadow as a template for success.
With its interestin✃g storไy, mechanics that are easy to pick up but difficult to master, and its overall fun factor, Cyber Shadow is a retro platformer that is easy to recommend.
A PS5 copy of Cyber Shadow was provided to TheGamer for this review. Cyber Shadow will 🐟be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on January🌳 26, 2021.
Cyber Shadow 🍷is a retro-style side-scrolling platformer from solo dev Aarne Hunziker, launched in 2021. As Shadow, a cyborg ninja, you must battle a series of deadly machines in order to res⛄cue his clan.