Cyber Shadow (Steam) Review

When it comes to indie developers, Yacht Club Games is the poster child of dreams coming true. Shovel Knight knocked it out of the park and continued to do so with every additional campaign added to the Treasure Trove. They captured the nostalgia of classic retro platformers while including decades of quality of life improvements. Moving forward, when Yacht Club Games decides to attach their name to something, I will make the safe bet and trust they know what they are doing. This is the story of Cyber Shadow, developed solely by Aarne “MekaSkull” Hunziker and backed and published by Yacht Club Games. Cyber Shadow promises to capture the spirit of classic Ninja Gaiden on the NES while having challenging gameplay combined with smarter level design, and perhaps slightly kinder enemy placement. I distinctly remember only being able to get through the first few levels of Ninja Gaiden games due to their notorious difficulty; despite that, I’ve got a fondness for them because who wouldn’t want to be a ninja, especially in the 90s? Will I suffer the same fate as 90s child Joe or will I come out victorious?

A few things stood out to me upon first starting Cyber Shadow: the visuals and the music. Shortly after that, the gameplay immediately felt solid and responsive. Visually, Cyber Shadow shows off the potential flair of pixel art. There’s clearly a mastery on display here. Cutscenes that capture key moments and characters are simply cool. Level designs feature ruined cities, subway lines, sub-tunnel systems, skylines, spirit temples, all while including some very smart shortcuts. Only once did I ever mistake a background element for a safe-to-land platform and thinking about it probably had more to do with me panicking and not paying attention than a design flaw, but it did happen. There’s also the option to play with scanlines which can really add to the nostalgia factor.

Some of the most stand-out designs are found in the stellar boss fights. Equal parts cool factor and intimidating. Giant tanks, flying mechs, an underwater Mekadragon, a turret-controlling AI security program, and more threaten the heroic ninja! Each one immediately got me excited, and then frustrated, and then elated as I finally overcame them.

On a few occasions, the soundtrack grabbed my attention and I found myself really digging it, to the point that I died a few times when getting into the groove. It sounds suitably cyberpunk and techno with some grit, contrasted by Blade Runner-esque soundscapes and emotional moments within the story. While a few tracks I would gladly add to my regular listening rotation, most of the soundtrack is good in the game but that’s where it should stay. Sound effects attached to attacking and being attacked are satisfying and give good auditory cues to the action happening on the screen. Later in the game when the sword receives an upgrade, the sound effect changes to reflect its increase in power adding to that sense of character progression. About the only thing I’d say got old was the death scream, as it gets heard plenty of times throughout the game. That feeling perhaps comes from me being salty about dying so much but who could say?

Gameplay in Cyber Shadow is as solid as it can get. I immediately felt good and confident about where jumps were going to land, the timing and responsiveness of attacks, and new elements were added as I mastered the ones that came before them. Wall jumps, sprinting, dash attacks, parrying, and new attacks and weapons all have their utility. The controls do quite a bit with very little. For example, holding a direction when pressing attack activates the various special moves. Mastery comes with some immense satisfaction as you chain them together. One key moment in my playthrough that changed how I played involved discovering that sprint could not only be activated with a double-tap of a direction but also with the R button. It took a little retraining to do but once I did the results proved positive.

Boss fights all had unique approaches, difficult challenges, and were full of satisfaction once defeated. The Mekadragon, the subway chase, and the final fight were the most fun for me despite Mekadragon being probably one of the most difficult boss fights I’ve encountered in a game in a while. A few other incredibly fun moments include a motorcycle section, a boat auto-scroller level, and racing a spirit monkey, but overall Cyber Shadow is full of moments that make you feel like a badass.

Cyber Shadow uses a checkpoint system for progression and uses it well. The looping level design mentioned earlier results in solid progression without adding more checkpoints. Checkpoints also have varying utility above and beyond simply saving progress. In-game currency can be spent to upgrade some checkpoints to give more SP (spirit points) or to grant a useful tool. SP points are spent to use things like throwing stars, fireballs, and lightning strike attacks. The tools include a yo-yoing spinning blade that whips around, a little robot that pumps out SP, a small drone gunner, and more. The tools stick with you for three hits before they are lost.

Two of the more satisfying game mechanics are chaining dash attacks, allowing you to kill and clear many enemies and level obstacles in one go if done correctly. The other is parrying, which involves tapping a direction towards an incoming attack at the right time, stopping the attack, and changing it into a blue orb. Slashing at the orb sends the attack flying in the direction you hit it.

Cyber Shadow certainly feels like a modern but nostalgic Ninja Gaiden, and unfortunately, one big thing that followed that spirit and rears its ugly head here, KNOCKBACK.

Knockback killed me more times than any other element in the entire game. It’s difficult to recover from and results in so many missed jumps that it can be infuriating. It’s honestly somewhat surprising how difficult it is to recover from in a game that typically offers so many options to approach every problem it presents.

Like most retro-inspired titles, the story in Cyber Shadow is fairly simple. A robot ninja awakens to find the world torn apart and sets out on a mission to rescue his comrades and regain his former power to defeat a doctor's misguided efforts to save his daughter. While key moments are captured with some absolutely stellar classic retro cutscenes, most of the story is found from interacting with various computers and defeated robots you encounter. Each time a small piece of the bigger picture is added and by the end it all comes together pretty well. 

Cyber Shadow is an excellent game full of satisfying combat, smart level design, cool boss fights, driving music, and responsive controls. However, the difficulty and knockback can be enough for some to put down the controller and never pick it back up. For others, there’s some definite replay value here, especially for speedrunners, but a quick glance at the feats/achievements list reveals some sadistic and downright torturous challenges that I will not be pursuing. Perhaps a New Game+ would make a replay more interesting.

If you are looking for the next solid top-tier indie title, look no further, Cyber Shadow has it where it counts.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 9/10

VISUALS - 10/10

SOUND - 9/10

CONTROLS - 10/10

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

OVERALL - 9/10

More information on Cyber Shadow can be found on the official website.

For more retro-inspired games, check out my thoughts on Panzer Paladin or you can read about our review of Prinny 1-2 Exploded and Reloaded. Of course, we also covered Yacht Club Games’ flagship title Shovel Knight Treasure Trove and we talked to Sean Velasco on the podcast a while back. If you’re looking for something more serious in tone, check out my thoughts on The Last of Us Part II.