The game industry has seemingly made 2025 the «year of the ninja» with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound earlier in the year, as well as the upcoming Ghost of Yotei and Ninja Gaiden 4. Amid all these high-profile ninja releases, Sega’s iconic Shinobi franchise returns with what could be its best game in the series.

Dormant for more than a decade, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance ($30) does everything right when it comes to reviving the beloved franchise. It has a stunning visual style, new abilities, bigger levels, tough bosses and callbacks to older games as a treat for longtime fans.

In Shinobi, players take the role of the series’ hero Joe Musashi. The ninja was living in a seemingly peaceful village until it was destroyed by the evil ENE Corporation led by the tyrant Lord Ruse. Joe will exact his revenge on the military organization — which, naturally,  is out to conquer the globe — as he uncovers the vast amount of horrors and destruction it’s responsible for.

If that sounds like a plot typical of ’80s or ’90s action movies and games, well, it is. There are some interesting storyline beats that occur throughout the game, which play out mainly in dialogue exchanges and a few beautiful cutscenes. Still, the story of this Shinobi game comes down to revenge, and that’s never a bad motivation for a ninja game.

The art of sight and sound

What struck me about the visuals of this particular Shinobi game is the smoothness of the animation. Developer Lizardcube did a tremendous job of making a 2D game look like it could be an anime without replicating an anime style similar to Guilty Gear Strive or Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. The animation of the characters is so good-looking that it almost feels unreal.

The presentation for Shinobi, in general, is just spot on. This is one of those instances where you can tell the developer was trying to replicate the look, sound and feel of an older game — from graphics to animations to even the way enemies and bosses move — to feel just like it did when older gamers like me experienced those early Shinobi games for the first time.

Playing Shinobi III at home on a Genesis (or Mega Drive outside of the US) and all the details in Joe’s movements and the electronic rock soundtrack were blowing our minds when we were 10 years old. Decades later, Art of Vengeance is doing the same to me.

Who put a Metroidvania in my Shinobi game?

My time with the Shinobi games is long yet minimal. I played the original 1987 arcade game and others in the series here and there. What I appreciate about this new Shinobi game is how it builds on the framework of the franchise’s best games: the action-platforming of Shinobi III and the swordplay in the PS2 Shinobi reboot.

It’s just so much fun to play as Joe in this game. He learns many moves as you progress, making use of light and heavy sword attacks, kunai throws and dashing. As you string these together, combos become a ballet of strikes: You hit one enemy, pursue them with a dash or switch to another target. The combo tracker quickly climbs toward a hundred, yet Joe still has more moves to unleash.

Joe also has at his disposal a series of Ninpo abilities, which are special attacks that can be equipped and activated with a specific button combination. These abilities can be found or purchased, with each requiring a segment of the Ninja Cell gauge that will replenish whenever Joe attacks opponents. There are eight in total, with varying capabilities such as using the Fire Ninpo to deal heavy damage to end combos or using the Shuriken Ninpo to wear down an enemy’s armor.

My favorite combos are extensive, but flow smoothly: start off with a few light attacks, string that into two power slashes to knock the enemy into the air, do a dash into a flying knee attack into another enemy, begin the string of weak and strong attacks, knock this enemy into the air and time it to where the first enemy is close to landing, unleash a Fire Ninpo to kill it, then jump up to do an air combo for the airborne enemy and finish it off with a Wind Slash Ninpo that should be ready after I land all the hits. Then you get to do it again. 

And like in all the other Shinobi games, Joe has his Ninjitsu, or ninja magic, that builds when attacking enemies, although at a much slower rate than Ninpos. These Ninjitsus can do a ton of damage, but toward the end, I kept to the one that refilled my life bar.

The level design and enemies are new but reference older games. Levels offer plenty to explore if you have the right abilities, adding a bit of Metroidvania flavor. Each area has remarkable detail, such as the ENE Corporation Laboratory, where cutting the power midway through the level unleashes an army of bio-horrors to fend off. Exploring every spot rewards collectibles and secures a 100% completion rating.

For most of the game, difficulty rises steadily with occasional spikes from enemy numbers or environmental traps. Bosses have multiple stages, providing a challenge without overwhelming players.

Then, in the last two stages, the game ramps up to another level of toughness by trimming the number of checkpoints and flooding you with hazards that both hurt and reset your progress. Mind you, at this point in the game, you have the general rhythms of how the game flows and the spacing, but this is the point where your frustration might spike high enough that you throw a controller — consider that a warning. 

Even with the difficulty spike, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a remarkable 2D action game. For $30, it provides substance and fun, and Lizardcube escalates difficulty just enough to make finishing a level satisfying. If you’re rebooting a 2D action franchise to appeal to fans of its older games, Art of Vengeance is a perfect example of how to do it.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance will be released on Aug. 29 for $30 and will be available for digital purchase on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S consoles.