Since its first reveal, I’ve eagerly anticipated Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. The combination of handing the keys to a classic franchise to a proven indie studio like Lizardcube (Streets of Rage 4, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap) and the utterly stunning art style had me ready to don the Oboro Clan shōzoku as Joe Musashi after a long hiatus. The one thing that could deflate my eagerness to jump into Shinobi: Art of Vengeance would be if it didn’t play well. However, we don’t have to worry about that, as after spending 30 minutes with a controller in my hand, I’m pleased to report that Shinobi: Art of Vengeance plays as well as it looks.
The story of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel: an evil corporation led by an oppressive villain known as Lord Ruse has seized control of the planet, and it’s up to Joe Musashi to put a stop to it. My quest starts in Oboro Village, the home to Joe and his clan, and the first stage in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. The peace of this serene ninja village doesn’t last long after Joe says goodbye to his wife, as the ENE Corporation forces attack.
Platforming and pulling off combos is a breeze, thanks to fluid controls and an appropriately weighted protagonist. Making my way through this first stage felt terrific, and even though most of the encounters were little more than thinly veiled tutorials for Joe’s impressively large suite of moves, I relished in each slash of the sword. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance feels endlessly rewarding for creativity. Though the first combo I learned was punctuating a series of light attacks with a couple of heavy attacks, experimenting gives me more options to play with. This rewarding combo system only improves as Joe’s move set grows.
To start, Joe only had his sword and kunai (which are initially extremely limited until you upgrade how many you can carry). However, as I progressed through the stage, I began unlocking new moves. Though you can use collected currency throughout your journey to upgrade your character with new moves, kunai upgrades, and a bigger health bar, the most effective moves in my hands-on time with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance were the ones I uncovered by progressing the main story.
Through his Ninja and Ninjutsu stances, Joe can use a variety of powerful moves once they’re unlocked. Holding a shoulder button lets me put Joe into a different stance, granting him access to different signature moves I unlocked during my gameplay. Shinobi Execution allows you to strike at staggered enemies, killing them and granting additional rewards after defeat. Later, I unlock Fire Ninpo, which blasts a fireball at a nearby enemy. There’s also the Water Ninpo ability, which isn’t an attack as much as a defensive ability that surrounds Joe with water and lets him parry incoming attacks. Finally, there’s Karyu, which is from the Ninjutsu Stance. This move engulfs all enemies on screen, dealing massive amounts of damage.
If these stance-based moves seem powerful, it’s because they are. Thankfully, you can’t just spam them; each one operates on a type of gauge or can only be used under certain conditions. For example, Shinobi Execution can only be used when an enemy is staggered after taking a lot of certain kinds of damage. The Ninpo moves use a dedicated gauge that charges when you attack enemies. And finally, Karyu charges when you take damage or collect Rage Orbs from fallen enemies. During my time playing, the moves feel appropriately balanced and not too rarely available.
The first stage was extremely straightforward with minimal exploration, but it gave me my first test: the Ghost Samurai miniboss. This hulking warrior uses dark attacks and employs uninterruptible heavy swings to deal significant damage if I’m not careful. After taking a couple of hits, I learn his attack patterns and when to strike to deal the most damage. I blast him with a Fire Ninpo, land several combos on him, and deal enough damage to stagger him and open him up to a Shinobi Execution to put a bow on the tutorial stage.
As I move on to the second stage of my play session, it’s evident how little of the surface of Oboro Village I’ve scratched. The Lantern Festival feels like a true action-platforming stage, full of exploration, more intricate platforming, environmental puzzles, and more difficult encounters. Starting out in a swamp with platforms that lower into poisonous waters and various creatures to slay, the stage eventually opens into a stunningly beautiful village with floating Japanese lanterns, extravagant decorations, and fireworks. Oh, and tons of enemies.
Thankfully, Joe Musashi now has access to Amulets, bonuses granted based on their type. Passive Amulets are always active in the background, while Combo Amulets activate once your combo level reaches a specific number. Thankfully, the combo meter doesn’t reset based on elapsed time from your last strike landed, but rather the time you go between taking damage; that means you don’t have to sprint to find another enemy just because you cleared the screen before any more spawned.
I also now have access to Ningi abilities, which are primarily for mobility and traversal. The two Ningi abilities I used were the Ninja Claws, which let Joe climb on special walls, and the Cannon Punch, allowing Joe to punch through certain walls and break enemy armor. These truly opened up the levels with a ton of new paths, and it made me want to revisit the previous stage, which you can do through the checkpoint statues, to see if there were any new areas I couldn’t previously get to. I’m excited to see the rest of the moves you can unlock, as there are 17 combat moves, 8 Ninpo, 7 Ningi, and 4 Ninjutsu slots on the upgrade page.
Working through the Lantern Festival stage revealed the challenges of the platforming and combat encounters; shielded enemies required me to carefully time my dodges to get around back, while archers proved to be the bane of my existence as I sometimes didn’t even know they were around until the marker appeared by me indicating they were about to rain an arrow down. These new enemy types required me to think differently about how I approached each group of baddies, and I can’t wait to see what other challenges await in the final version.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was already one of the most promising games of 2025, but after getting my hands on this early build, my interest in the title has skyrocketed. If what I played is any indication, Lizardcube and Sega clearly understood what makes a great 2D action game and a great Shinobi game more than a decade after the last all-new entry.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on August 29. To go behind the scenes and learn about the making of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, head here.
